Standard 5: Program Management and Administration: Candidates plan, develop, implement, and evaluate school library programs, resources, and services in support of the mission of the library program within the school according to the ethics and principles of library science, education, management, and administration.
Although I have never had the opportunity to purchase print and non-print resources for a library collection, as part of my collection development plan and analysis for LIS 653, I created a five year purchasing plan for Huntersville Elementary’s school library collection to fulfill the collection management standard 5.1. I used Wilson Catalog and ALA award winning lists to recommend titles for purchase that fit two specific curriculum content areas whose collection was insufficient in size and age to serve the research needs of the students. The preliminary demographic assessment ensured that the books recommended were “designed to meet the diverse curricular, personal, and professional needs of students, teachers, and administrators.”
My LIS 617 nonfiction selector assignment allowed me to identify popular authors and series who wrote juvenile nonfiction books in the 600s Dewey range and then recommend the top 10 best of the best nonfiction books for purchase based on Wilson Catalog and ALA nonfiction selector criteria and rankings. Through my LIS 692 practicum at Cornelius Elementary, I’ve had the opportunity to help process new books the librarian received through the Junior Library Guild; I updated and added each title’s record to the collection, printed and placed spine labels on each books, and covered paper covers with protective wrap.
The more reviews published in professional selection journals that you’re able to read before purchasing the book, the better (and even better if you’re able to read some of these titles cover to cover before purchasing them). In a school library, you have such a limited budget that it’s even more important to read the reviews carefully so as not to throw your money away on unwanted materials that won’t circulate widely. For that reason, I would recommend reviewing circulation stats as a strong indicator of what types of books to purchase, in addition to filling holes in the collection and filling students and teachers’ purchase requests (maybe sit out a suggestion box to gather purchase suggestions throughout the year).
The school library collection of the 21st century is far more about accessibility than ownership as students need to be able to access not only physical but also digital formats including databases, eBooks and more. Most importantly, the school librarian should "align the school library collection with the needs of its users and with the school’s mission and curriculum” (Bishop, 2013). The more closely the collection is tailored to the needs assessment of the students the more likely student achievement will be improved through the collection.
While I’ve not had an opportunity to model digital citizenship best practices, I have fulfilled the professional ethics standard 5.2 by closely studying ethical rules and guidelines that effect school libraries specifically. Through the LIS 653 group policy assignment, our group examined scholarly articles as well as ALA standards and guidelines related to confidentiality, privacy, and copyright issues within a school library setting. We carefully examined the ALA code of ethics to discuss ways in which student’s circulation history records should be protected and we examined copyright laws in relation to eBook policies and research paper citations to discuss how school librarians can advocate for intellectual freedom and privacy rights being protected.
I did not know about some of the particular laws pertaining to upholding a minor’s confidentiality rights, such as FERPA which prevents parents from looking at their child’s circulation record, and I now more clearly understand the complexity of fair use copyright laws. I indirectly implement many of these ethical principles every day when working with juveniles at the public library; for instance, I’m not allowed to verbally give out a child’s library account number or student ID number (One Access account) to a parent or caregiver unless the child is also present. I am also not allowed to assist patrons in the creation (or re-creation) of any passwords for accounts they can’t remember their login to as a way of protecting their privacy.
Practicing ethical behavior in the access, use, and creation of information is found throughout AASL school library standards and best practices. School librarians are to teach students to “follow ethical and legal guidelines in gathering and using information” (1.3.3), “use information and technology ethically and responsibly” (3.1.6), and to “practice safe and ethical behaviors in personal electronic communication and interaction” (4.3.4) (AASL, 2009).
The School Libraries Work! Report identifies that 70 percent of school librarians provide information literacy instruction, which includes using information ethically and using information technology responsibly (School Libraries Work!, 2016). Teaching and modeling ethical behavior for students involves research and continuing interaction with faculty (Lincoln, 2009).
I have not had the opportunity to educate the school community on the ethical use of information and ideas. However, if I was in the position to do this, I would try to get my school certified for digital citizenship, where every student in the school must go through a series of modules to prove everyone knows how to be safe online and how to use their digital rights responsibly. The Digital Citizenship program made available through Common Sense Media allows families to get involved in the process. Parents lead their children in small discussion groups on "sensitive topics such as sexting, cyberbullying and digital drama, digital footprints, privacy, sharing and disclosure, and social media and body image." The program also comes with a family toolbox including a family media agreement contract, tip sheets for handling different digital situations with their child and so on. In addition to teaching this information in the library to all students, I might also host a couple evening programs for parents and their children to attend together to make sure everyone is aware of the information and how to best implement it when not at school but online at home.
Having never worked a school library, I have not had the opportunity to implement or change polices related to personnel, funding, or facilities (standard 5.3). However, at Cornelius Public Library where I work, I am partially responsible for budgeting our children’s services programming funds for each fiscal year. Each month we have to submit receipts for materials purchased pertaining to children’s programs while also planning and budgeting for paid children’s presenters to perform during summer break.
I am also the volunteer point person (volunteer coordinator), which means I manage all adult volunteers at my branch, including interviewing, recruiting, and training new volunteers, providing all volunteers the resources needed to complete their tasks, recognizing volunteers for their hard work with small incentives and an annual volunteer breakfast, and managing the volunteer budget.
My public library work has given me more confidence to managerial type tasks. With managing volunteers, I have learned the art of people management and conflict resolution skills. Balancing a budget has helped me recognize how to ration my funds to be able to spend responsibly over the course of a fiscal year. And rearranging some of the library furniture has allowed me to conceptualize how library spaces can be used differently.
Librarians should act in a supervisory role, delegating more clerical tasks to library aides, assistants, and other volunteer helpers by “integrat[ing] the program’s goals and objectives into staff duties” (Butler, 2015). Additionally, the librarian should continually provide feedback to the work the staff does for them and let them know that the work they do is important in helping the library achieve its larger goals and mission (Butler, 2015).
In regards to the facility, I have organized our public library facility to accommodate more shelving space for shelving sub-collections (a separate graphic novel shelf, a separate audiovisual shelf, etc.) and to make room for more children’s book displays. School librarians are tasked with creating inviting learning centers in both their physical spaces and virtual spaces to ensure equitable access to all resources for all students. Libraries should offer a warm, stimulating, and safe physical environment, but they are “rapidly evolving in the direction of a learning commons concept” as they add online databases, accessible 24 hours a day from digital devices, as well as digital reference librarians (Butler, 2015).
The facilities assignment from LIS 653 allowed me group members and I to examine photographs of an elementary school library that poorly utilized its space and offer suggestions for improving the space, such as rearranging the furniture, creating collaborative group areas, buying new furniture, etc. This assignment helped me understand how simple changes can make a world of difference when it comes to using the library's space more productively to effect student achievement.
The budget proposal I wrote in LIS 653 allowed me to rationalize and justify why certain materials should be purchased for a fictious school library, in the hopes that the principal would see worth in my expenses supporting student achievement. In regards to budgeting, while there are many sources of library funding, librarians must advocate with strong data to increase their budget and must always be mindful that their budget is being spent in ways to improve student achievement and growth (Morris, 2010).
Strategic planning and assessment, standard 5.4, was best accomplished through the LIS 693 demographic assessment and goal project. This demographic assessment of Cornelius Elementary School allowed me to assess weakness in student achievement areas, professional development needs, and a lack of parental and community support. Using this information, I was able to develop a goal, hosting a Digital Family Literacy Night for parents and kids to learn about the library offerings, to fulfill some of these unmet needs. My goal was to host a joint literacy and technology family night that showcases the school library’s new technology and recent redesign, that promotes public library digital resources, and that educates parents about literacy practices they can model with their child at home. The event was held in the newly remodeled school media center and featured 6 stem centers, a literacy garden, two self-directed crafts, and a how-to download public library resources table.
Even though this event could have been much better attended, it still strongly aligned with library and school goals to effect change. The goal met the AASL standards of “teaching for learning” by allowing for collaboration within the learning community (parents, students, and public librarians) and the goal of “building the learning environment” by “encouraging visits to and use of the library by parents.” The goal still tied in directly with the school’s mission to be a place “where responsibility for teaching and learning is respectfully shared among students, parents, staff and community.” And lastly, the goal did work toward increasing the school’s student reading scores by educating the few parents who attended in the ABCs of active reading to model this for their student at home.
In terms of effecting student achievement, I can only comment on the two evaluations and in-person comments of the two families who provided them. Both families indicated on the survey that they strongly agreed that the event: increased their knowledge of how the school library encourages active learning through STEM centers; taught them ways to model best literacy practices with their child at home; and increased their awareness of and comfort with downloading digital resources from the public library on a device. The two centers they enjoyed most were 3D shapes and spheros, which have been two of the more popular centers in the media center when Mrs. Lilley lets her classes explore the new technology. One participant said they learned to model best literacy practices by playing a guess-that-book character headbands game. For this game, I covered a plastic baby pool with a brown table cloth and glued pictures of book characters or vegetables on popsicle sticks like gardening markers and stuck them in the tablecloth “dirt. Then the kids would pick one of these pieces from the garden and stick it in their headband and the other kids would give them clues to guess which character or vegetable they picked. It would have been a lot more fun with more people, but it still worked out okay.
Another participant said on their survey that they liked learning about digital literacy, but her kids still liked the old-fashioned books much better. That parent wanted to learn more about the sphero and coding and also found my active reading tips very interesting to learn how to read more effectively with their child. I had a literacy garden set up. The baby pool garden (described above) was in the center and around the garden I had colorful flower mats with a tissue paper flower and book of various reading levels at each mat. The idea was that I would talk about the ABCS of active reading (see handout) and model this briefly with a couple picture books I had on hand about gardening (Munch! Muncha! Muncha! By Candace Fleming). Then each parent and child would sit on their flower mat and practice modeling the ABCs of active reading with the book in front of them. That kind of worked with the one family who tried, but again, it would have been better with more people. Overall, the program could have been a strong example of addressing a school-wide need to get parents more engaged in their child's learning had more parents attended, but it was still effective for those who came.
AASL offers a planning guide for ways to assess and evaluate the effectiveness of your school library program and identify areas that could be improved (Keeling, 2013).
Although I have never had the opportunity to purchase print and non-print resources for a library collection, as part of my collection development plan and analysis for LIS 653, I created a five year purchasing plan for Huntersville Elementary’s school library collection to fulfill the collection management standard 5.1. I used Wilson Catalog and ALA award winning lists to recommend titles for purchase that fit two specific curriculum content areas whose collection was insufficient in size and age to serve the research needs of the students. The preliminary demographic assessment ensured that the books recommended were “designed to meet the diverse curricular, personal, and professional needs of students, teachers, and administrators.”
My LIS 617 nonfiction selector assignment allowed me to identify popular authors and series who wrote juvenile nonfiction books in the 600s Dewey range and then recommend the top 10 best of the best nonfiction books for purchase based on Wilson Catalog and ALA nonfiction selector criteria and rankings. Through my LIS 692 practicum at Cornelius Elementary, I’ve had the opportunity to help process new books the librarian received through the Junior Library Guild; I updated and added each title’s record to the collection, printed and placed spine labels on each books, and covered paper covers with protective wrap.
The more reviews published in professional selection journals that you’re able to read before purchasing the book, the better (and even better if you’re able to read some of these titles cover to cover before purchasing them). In a school library, you have such a limited budget that it’s even more important to read the reviews carefully so as not to throw your money away on unwanted materials that won’t circulate widely. For that reason, I would recommend reviewing circulation stats as a strong indicator of what types of books to purchase, in addition to filling holes in the collection and filling students and teachers’ purchase requests (maybe sit out a suggestion box to gather purchase suggestions throughout the year).
The school library collection of the 21st century is far more about accessibility than ownership as students need to be able to access not only physical but also digital formats including databases, eBooks and more. Most importantly, the school librarian should "align the school library collection with the needs of its users and with the school’s mission and curriculum” (Bishop, 2013). The more closely the collection is tailored to the needs assessment of the students the more likely student achievement will be improved through the collection.
While I’ve not had an opportunity to model digital citizenship best practices, I have fulfilled the professional ethics standard 5.2 by closely studying ethical rules and guidelines that effect school libraries specifically. Through the LIS 653 group policy assignment, our group examined scholarly articles as well as ALA standards and guidelines related to confidentiality, privacy, and copyright issues within a school library setting. We carefully examined the ALA code of ethics to discuss ways in which student’s circulation history records should be protected and we examined copyright laws in relation to eBook policies and research paper citations to discuss how school librarians can advocate for intellectual freedom and privacy rights being protected.
I did not know about some of the particular laws pertaining to upholding a minor’s confidentiality rights, such as FERPA which prevents parents from looking at their child’s circulation record, and I now more clearly understand the complexity of fair use copyright laws. I indirectly implement many of these ethical principles every day when working with juveniles at the public library; for instance, I’m not allowed to verbally give out a child’s library account number or student ID number (One Access account) to a parent or caregiver unless the child is also present. I am also not allowed to assist patrons in the creation (or re-creation) of any passwords for accounts they can’t remember their login to as a way of protecting their privacy.
Practicing ethical behavior in the access, use, and creation of information is found throughout AASL school library standards and best practices. School librarians are to teach students to “follow ethical and legal guidelines in gathering and using information” (1.3.3), “use information and technology ethically and responsibly” (3.1.6), and to “practice safe and ethical behaviors in personal electronic communication and interaction” (4.3.4) (AASL, 2009).
The School Libraries Work! Report identifies that 70 percent of school librarians provide information literacy instruction, which includes using information ethically and using information technology responsibly (School Libraries Work!, 2016). Teaching and modeling ethical behavior for students involves research and continuing interaction with faculty (Lincoln, 2009).
I have not had the opportunity to educate the school community on the ethical use of information and ideas. However, if I was in the position to do this, I would try to get my school certified for digital citizenship, where every student in the school must go through a series of modules to prove everyone knows how to be safe online and how to use their digital rights responsibly. The Digital Citizenship program made available through Common Sense Media allows families to get involved in the process. Parents lead their children in small discussion groups on "sensitive topics such as sexting, cyberbullying and digital drama, digital footprints, privacy, sharing and disclosure, and social media and body image." The program also comes with a family toolbox including a family media agreement contract, tip sheets for handling different digital situations with their child and so on. In addition to teaching this information in the library to all students, I might also host a couple evening programs for parents and their children to attend together to make sure everyone is aware of the information and how to best implement it when not at school but online at home.
Having never worked a school library, I have not had the opportunity to implement or change polices related to personnel, funding, or facilities (standard 5.3). However, at Cornelius Public Library where I work, I am partially responsible for budgeting our children’s services programming funds for each fiscal year. Each month we have to submit receipts for materials purchased pertaining to children’s programs while also planning and budgeting for paid children’s presenters to perform during summer break.
I am also the volunteer point person (volunteer coordinator), which means I manage all adult volunteers at my branch, including interviewing, recruiting, and training new volunteers, providing all volunteers the resources needed to complete their tasks, recognizing volunteers for their hard work with small incentives and an annual volunteer breakfast, and managing the volunteer budget.
My public library work has given me more confidence to managerial type tasks. With managing volunteers, I have learned the art of people management and conflict resolution skills. Balancing a budget has helped me recognize how to ration my funds to be able to spend responsibly over the course of a fiscal year. And rearranging some of the library furniture has allowed me to conceptualize how library spaces can be used differently.
Librarians should act in a supervisory role, delegating more clerical tasks to library aides, assistants, and other volunteer helpers by “integrat[ing] the program’s goals and objectives into staff duties” (Butler, 2015). Additionally, the librarian should continually provide feedback to the work the staff does for them and let them know that the work they do is important in helping the library achieve its larger goals and mission (Butler, 2015).
In regards to the facility, I have organized our public library facility to accommodate more shelving space for shelving sub-collections (a separate graphic novel shelf, a separate audiovisual shelf, etc.) and to make room for more children’s book displays. School librarians are tasked with creating inviting learning centers in both their physical spaces and virtual spaces to ensure equitable access to all resources for all students. Libraries should offer a warm, stimulating, and safe physical environment, but they are “rapidly evolving in the direction of a learning commons concept” as they add online databases, accessible 24 hours a day from digital devices, as well as digital reference librarians (Butler, 2015).
The facilities assignment from LIS 653 allowed me group members and I to examine photographs of an elementary school library that poorly utilized its space and offer suggestions for improving the space, such as rearranging the furniture, creating collaborative group areas, buying new furniture, etc. This assignment helped me understand how simple changes can make a world of difference when it comes to using the library's space more productively to effect student achievement.
The budget proposal I wrote in LIS 653 allowed me to rationalize and justify why certain materials should be purchased for a fictious school library, in the hopes that the principal would see worth in my expenses supporting student achievement. In regards to budgeting, while there are many sources of library funding, librarians must advocate with strong data to increase their budget and must always be mindful that their budget is being spent in ways to improve student achievement and growth (Morris, 2010).
Strategic planning and assessment, standard 5.4, was best accomplished through the LIS 693 demographic assessment and goal project. This demographic assessment of Cornelius Elementary School allowed me to assess weakness in student achievement areas, professional development needs, and a lack of parental and community support. Using this information, I was able to develop a goal, hosting a Digital Family Literacy Night for parents and kids to learn about the library offerings, to fulfill some of these unmet needs. My goal was to host a joint literacy and technology family night that showcases the school library’s new technology and recent redesign, that promotes public library digital resources, and that educates parents about literacy practices they can model with their child at home. The event was held in the newly remodeled school media center and featured 6 stem centers, a literacy garden, two self-directed crafts, and a how-to download public library resources table.
Even though this event could have been much better attended, it still strongly aligned with library and school goals to effect change. The goal met the AASL standards of “teaching for learning” by allowing for collaboration within the learning community (parents, students, and public librarians) and the goal of “building the learning environment” by “encouraging visits to and use of the library by parents.” The goal still tied in directly with the school’s mission to be a place “where responsibility for teaching and learning is respectfully shared among students, parents, staff and community.” And lastly, the goal did work toward increasing the school’s student reading scores by educating the few parents who attended in the ABCs of active reading to model this for their student at home.
In terms of effecting student achievement, I can only comment on the two evaluations and in-person comments of the two families who provided them. Both families indicated on the survey that they strongly agreed that the event: increased their knowledge of how the school library encourages active learning through STEM centers; taught them ways to model best literacy practices with their child at home; and increased their awareness of and comfort with downloading digital resources from the public library on a device. The two centers they enjoyed most were 3D shapes and spheros, which have been two of the more popular centers in the media center when Mrs. Lilley lets her classes explore the new technology. One participant said they learned to model best literacy practices by playing a guess-that-book character headbands game. For this game, I covered a plastic baby pool with a brown table cloth and glued pictures of book characters or vegetables on popsicle sticks like gardening markers and stuck them in the tablecloth “dirt. Then the kids would pick one of these pieces from the garden and stick it in their headband and the other kids would give them clues to guess which character or vegetable they picked. It would have been a lot more fun with more people, but it still worked out okay.
Another participant said on their survey that they liked learning about digital literacy, but her kids still liked the old-fashioned books much better. That parent wanted to learn more about the sphero and coding and also found my active reading tips very interesting to learn how to read more effectively with their child. I had a literacy garden set up. The baby pool garden (described above) was in the center and around the garden I had colorful flower mats with a tissue paper flower and book of various reading levels at each mat. The idea was that I would talk about the ABCS of active reading (see handout) and model this briefly with a couple picture books I had on hand about gardening (Munch! Muncha! Muncha! By Candace Fleming). Then each parent and child would sit on their flower mat and practice modeling the ABCs of active reading with the book in front of them. That kind of worked with the one family who tried, but again, it would have been better with more people. Overall, the program could have been a strong example of addressing a school-wide need to get parents more engaged in their child's learning had more parents attended, but it was still effective for those who came.
AASL offers a planning guide for ways to assess and evaluate the effectiveness of your school library program and identify areas that could be improved (Keeling, 2013).
Artifacts that support standard 5
LIS 653 Collection development and analysis report
LIS 653 Collection development and analysis report
northcote_collectionmanagementproject.pdf | |
File Size: | 668 kb |
File Type: |
northcote_five_year_plan.docx | |
File Size: | 25 kb |
File Type: | docx |
LIS 617 Nonfiction selector assignment
nonfiction_brochure.pdf | |
File Size: | 945 kb |
File Type: |
LIS 653 group policy assignment
policy_for_school_libraries.docx | |
File Size: | 17 kb |
File Type: | docx |
LIS 653 budget assignment
northcote_budget.docx | |
File Size: | 30 kb |
File Type: | docx |
LIS 653 Facilities assignment
facilities_northcote.docx | |
File Size: | 13 kb |
File Type: | docx |
LIS 693 Demographic Assignment
northcote_demographic_report.docx | |
File Size: | 22 kb |
File Type: | docx |
LIS 693 Goal project
northcote_final_goal_reflection.doc | |
File Size: | 774 kb |
File Type: | doc |
northcote_digital_literacy_stations.docx | |
File Size: | 12 kb |
File Type: | docx |
northcote_digital_literacy_survey.docx | |
File Size: | 13 kb |
File Type: | docx |