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Strategic Management Plan 3:

School Library Media Center Services Overview

Hannah Steele and L. Wimberly Tyler

Department of Leadership, Technology, and Human Development, Georgia Southern University

FRIT 7331: Leadership of the School Library Media Program

Dr. Valerie Bryan

October 4, 2020
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Services

The American Association of School Librarians (2013) outlines five main roles for the

librarian: leader, instructional partner, teacher, information specialist, and program administrator.

Librarians can embody these roles through the program design for their school’s library media

center and with the services offered to students and staff through the media center and serving as

the media specialist. These five roles tend to intertwine with each other and work together

seamlessly, so that when a media specialist is truly operating under such titles, the library media

center has a tremendous impact on the learning and school environment.

The media specialist at Warner Robins Middle School clearly makes known her role of

instructional partner. She collaborates often with the teaching staff, especially the

English/Language Arts department to help supplement instruction. She works closely with those

teachers to make sure they have the resources they need to deliver their unit content, whether that

be through suggesting supplemental texts for students to use, discussing possible book club

offerings, determining what library lessons need to be focused on, or teaching the teachers about

a new digital resource. She will work with teachers to help find resources that they need to close

learning gaps. According to ​Empowering Learners: Guidelines for School Library Programs​,

media specialists should be “​collaborating with educators and students to design and teach

engaging learning experiences that meet individual needs”​ ​(American Association of School

Librarians [AASL], 2013, p. 10)​. ​For example, if a teacher is struggling to find good

instructional support for a certain concept, she will begin to search with them and share findings.

Her role of instructional partner bleeds into her role of teacher. She actively uses her

teaching skills in the media center when she conducts library lessons for class visits, the content

of such lessons she has already collaborated with the classroom teacher to build. She also is
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known to bring her teaching skills around the school and into individual classrooms by coming

in to teach technology and research skills to students. When the opportunity presents itself, she

willingly volunteers to conduct read alouds in classrooms or be a “guest” teacher for a class

when she is considered a content expert on the topic.

The media specialist fulfills the role of information specialist through guidance for

teachers regarding digital tools and resources, as well as instructional methods for language arts

and information literacy topics. ​Empowering Learners ​mentions:

Digital technologies have created endless opportunities for innovative teaching and

learning. Though face-to-face collaboration remains an essential component of learning,

virtual tools are now used to connect learning to the world outside the classroom.

Educators can bring topics to life through web-based assignments that incorporate a

multitude of online resources, including subject-related photographs, video, and audio.

(AASL, 2013, p. 12)

She creates and provides tutorial videos for teachers, parents, and students which cover a

multitude of the resources available. All of these videos, as well as other resources to help

students with research can be found on her personal ​media center website​ (Pfeuffer, 2020),

created in order to expand what could be included online without the constraints of the

formatting tools of the school website.

The role of program administrator is met through the procedures and tasks that must be

done in order to keep the media center program running smoothly. She maintains a catalog of

fiction, nonfiction, bilingual, and ebooks, constantly searching for gaps and new, popular titles to

add. She manages the school website and schedules class visits and collaboration meetings. The

media specialist fulfills the role of leader in the school through her attitude and approach. She
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strives to learn the names of as many students as possible, volunteer for as many school events as

possible, and always maintains a welcoming, positive attitude. Staff and students can always see

her greeting students in the morning in the front lobby of the school and waving goodbye to

students as they leave. She always makes it clear that she is there to help anyone, staff or student,

who needs it. The media specialist embodies school spirit and shows what it means to be an

enthusiastic leader.

Circulation Policy

Parents and Students

The circulation policy for parents and students remains mostly the same across grade

levels, with the only difference being what books are available for checkout to each grade level.

All students in sixth through eighth grade are allowed to check out up to two books at a time.

These books can be checked out for a three week time period and can be renewed as many times

as needed. Students are allowed to check out books during class visits, during homeroom, during

break, and during the last 20 minutes of a class period. They can check in their books using a self

check-in system using a touchless barcode scanner or they can drop books in various return drop

boxes throughout the school building. The media specialist empties these drop boxes once a

week and checks in all the books placed there. Fines are five cents a day, up to five dollars, and

if the book is lost or damaged, the student has to pay the replacement cost of the book. If the

student finds the book later, they will receive a refund for the book minus $2.50 for overdue fees

and handling fees. All of this information is available to students in their student handbook

which is given to students at the beginning of the year and can also be found on the school

webpage (Warner Robins Middle School [WRMS], 2020). The fines at Warner Robins Middle

School are lower than the recommended county standard because our media specialist felt it
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necessary to tailor the fines to the socioeconomic status of the majority of our student population.

The media specialist is working toward removing overdue fines entirely, but because the county

policy is to have fines, she is trying to collaborate with the board office to gain approval to do so.

The books available to students vary by grade level. There is a special shelf that only

eighth grade students may pull from, and features books that may have mature content or themes.

Otherwise, any book on the shelves is available to any student. All other restricted books, such as

class sets, are located in a storage room. There is a collection of books written in Spanish, but

any student may check these books out instead of just students who are identified as English

Language Learners.

The media center utilizes an online cataloging platform called ​Destiny Discover​ (Follett,

2019). Using this platform, students are able to browse the entire catalog of the library, search

for books, find book recommendations, leave reviews, and “like” books so that they can look at

them later. They also use this platform to check for fines, any books they have checked out, what

books they have previously checked out, and any books they have placed on hold. Destiny

Discover shows the students if a book is available in the library and provides them with the

information to find it on the shelf. If the book is not available, it allows the student to place a

hold on the book. Once the book is checked back in by someone, the media specialist is notified

that another student has placed it on hold, and she is able to print a ticket that allows the student

to come pick up the book. She puts this in the student’s homeroom teacher’s mailbox, and it is

the teacher’s job to deliver the ticket and let the student go to the library.

eBooks are also available to students through multiple platforms. Destiny Discover has

eBooks and audiobooks. There are a few titles available as ebooks on ​MackinVIA​ (MackinVIA,

n.d.), and the county purchased access to the e-book software ​Sora​ (Sora, n.d.). There are no
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fines for ebooks because they automatically renew. Once a student clicks to return the book, it is

available again on the virtual shelf. Links to all ebook databases can be found on media

specialist’s personal site (Pfeuffer, 2020). There are 15 computers in the media center for student

use but they are desktops and cannot be checked out. All other devices, while managed by the

media specialist, are housed in various classrooms across the school due to space restrictions.

There are four laptop carts available in each grade level for teachers to reserve for classroom use.

Faculty

Faculty and staff are allowed to check out any book they would like and as many items as

they would like. There is no time limit on how long a faculty member can have an item, so there

are no overdue fines. However, if the item gets lost or damaged, the faculty member does have to

pay the replacement cost. There are no restrictions to faculty on what can be checked out from

the student shelves, but if the media specialist knows that a certain book is about to be popular or

if it is currently one of the books being used for book clubs for students, she will kindly ask that

the staff member wait to check it out for a bit so that it can be available to students.

All faculty members have access to the storage room in the media center which holds a

plethora of materials. There are class sets and book club sets of novels separated based on the

type of reading units each grade level covers. There is a section of professional books for

teachers to use to enhance their teaching practice, videos that can be checked out for class use,

and a collection of low readers and picture books for the teachers of the mild and moderately

disabled classes.

As mentioned previously, each grade level has four laptop carts available for teachers to

reserve. The four carts are housed between 1-2 teacher classrooms, usually science labs since
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they are larger. Teachers reserve the computer carts using the online calendars on Microsoft

Sharepoint.

Scheduling Policy

The media center at Warner Robins Middle School is open from 7:00 am to 2:45 pm,

with exceptions being a short thirty minute period for the media specialist to have lunch and any

quick trips for her to use the restroom. If the media center will be closed for any other reason or

any length of time longer than previously mentioned, all school staff are notified in advance via

email. For library media lessons, the media specialist rotates through the Language Arts classes

in each grade level over a time span of three weeks. Therefore, every Language Arts class in the

school visits the library together once every three weeks for a lesson and a chance to browse for

books. The media specialist’s lunch and planning schedule rotates to match the grade level she is

working with each week. On Fridays, she follows the 7th grade schedule with planning in the

morning and lunch around noon. While part of the class visits are for students to check out

books, students from any grade level can come to the media center during the last 20 minutes of

the class period to check out or renew books. This policy was established so that the lesson being

conducted in the media center with that day’s class is not interrupted. Visitors then are only

coming in while the scheduled class’s students are also moving around, completing station

activities and browsing for books.

In order to make sure her lessons align with the unit and standards being taught, the

media specialist communicates with teachers to schedule visits to content collaboration meetings.

In these meetings, she discusses ideas for potential library lesson topics and asks for requests or

suggestions. She also uses that time to tell about any new resources or digital tools available and

get input on book purchases or titles to add to the class set/book club shelf. In order to make it
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easy to remember visit schedules for everyone involved, each teacher in each grade level is

assigned a day of the week that their class visits will take place. The calendar of all class visits is

available to all school staff using Microsoft Sharepoint, which also lists what topic the media

specialist plans to discuss during each specific lesson. Teachers know that they can approach her

and ask for the schedule to be adjusted to accommodate unit needs and the media specialist

makes it very clear that she is here to work with teachers and staff and be of assistance in any

way possible. Directly below is an example of the calendar the media specialist and school staff

use to schedule and keep up with class visits for library lessons.

Ethics and Legal Principles

At Warner Robins Middle School, all faculty and staff are expected to review a plethora

of employee items during preplanning and sign a ​verification of receipt and understanding

(WRMS, 2020) document. The items to review include the ​Georgia Professional Standards

Commission Code of Ethics​ (Georgia Professional Standards Commission, 2018), which has

segments that could be applied to use of technology. For more detailed guidelines, employees are
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expected to review and follow the district wide​ social media guidelines​ (Houston County Board

of Education [HCBE], 2020). This outlines what the county board considers to be social media,

guidelines for maintaining a professional presence online, reminders of what professional and

personal responsibilities the employees of the Houston County Board of Education (HCBE)

have online, and overall guidelines about writing content, videos, copyright, and personal

information. In order to help take pressure off of the county employees when faced with

accepting friend requests from parents and students online, the county provides a suggested

response for employees to use which states:

If you are a student or parent requesting to be my ‘friend,’ please do not be surprised or

offended that I ignored my request. As an employee of the Houston County Board of

Education, district procedures and practices discourage me from ‘friending’ students or

parents on my personal pages. I would encourage you to ‘like’ our school’s and/or

Houston County School System Facebook pages instead. Thank you for your

understanding. (HCBE, 2020)

The media specialist has placed links to a ​fair use evaluator​, ​exceptions for instructors​ (Library

Copyright, 2008), and ​copyright and fair use information​ (Xavier, n.d.) for teachers to reference

on her ​school webpage​ (WRMS, 2020). She is also considered an expert in the school for such

information and has made it known that she is willing to help should any employees have any

questions.

For students, all information regarding technology use and ethical online behavior can be

found in the ​HCBE Middle School Handbook​ (HCBE, 2020). The handbook outlines the

district’s Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policy, as well as the internet guidelines for students
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and penalties for improper use. It explains that students may bring their own device to use at

school for educational purposes, but they can only use a specific internet gateway:

Only the internet gateway (HCBE_BYOD) provided by the school should be accessed

while on campus. Personal internet connective devices such as but not limited to cell

phones/cell network adaptors should not be used to access outside internet sources at any

time. (HCBE, 2020)

Students also must complete ​digital citizenship​ lessons provided through Common Sense

Education (Common Sense Media, n.d.) at the beginning of every school year in order to

provide guidance as outlined in the Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA).

Assessment

Overall, the media center at Warner Robins Middle School is making great progress in

working towards becoming a learning commons. The services of the media center reflect those

that are needed to cater towards 21st century learners as well as offering collaborative sessions

for educators to enhance their instruction with the use of web 2.0 tools, literary resources, and

other innovative services. WRMS does uphold the mission statement that is in place for all

Houston County School System media centers which explains that students have access to a

variety of resources with proper guidance in locating and using these resources, and consistently

offering encouragement to instill the desires of becoming life-long learners.

The school does currently have a BYOD policy that is in place. However, with the

availability of technology among grade levels, students do not have to use their own devices

often. The teachers of the grade level plan and collaborate with one another efficiently to ensure

that each class is able to have access to the computer carts when needed as a part of instruction.

The media specialist has a schedule in place to attend the weekly collaborative planning
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meetings of ELA content teachers in each grade level. In these collaborative meetings, she

introduces and models the use of new web 2.0 tools that can be implemented into instructional

practices. In addition to this, a monthly technology highlights newsletter is emailed out to all

staff and faculty members which includes web 2.0 tools, new digital resources, and informational

articles that highlight trending topics in education. The media center has three online platforms

for students to access e-books: Destiny Discover, Sora, and Mackinvia. Students are able to

access these resources at home as long as they are signed in through the secure portal of the

school, which can be accessed by logging in through the school’s website.

Although the media center is continuing to make excellent progress towards that

environment of a learning commons, there are areas that have room for improvement. In ​The

Indispensable Librarian,​ Doug Johnson (2013) states that “librarians also need to collaborate by

serving on leadership, curriculum, student assessment, and staff development committees, both

at the building and district level” (p. 67). The media specialist at WRMS attends collaborative

planning meetings of ELA teachers in all grade levels. However, this same sort of collaboration

is vital to all content areas and would increase library engagement across all subjects. All subject

areas would benefit from the varieties of different resources the media center has to offer. While

the media specialist works with the administrative team for occasional special school projects

and special education teachers to provide specialized resources, the entire school would benefit

from more collaboration beyond these areas.

The media center continues to support the foundations of the mission statement when

pertaining to student learning. The environment of the learning commons also creates a warm,

inviting, and safe atmosphere for students to reside in. Students have access to a variety of print

resources, digital resources, e-books, and the ability to use technology when visiting the library.
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The media specialist makes herself available to assist students in locating resources, as well as

demonstrating how to use these resources and apply them to their learning. Most importantly, she

is a continual advocate for students and encouraging them to become lifelong learners.
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References

American Association of School Librarians. (2013). ​Empowering learners: Guidelines for school

​ roQuest Ebook Central ​https://ebookcentral.proquest.com​.

Common Sense Media. (n.d.) ​Digital citizenship curriculum.​ Common Sense Education.

https://www.commonsense.org/education/digital-citizenship/curriculum?grades=6%2C7

%2C8

Follett. (2019). ​Destiny discover.

https://www.follettlearning.com/books-materials/learn/digital-content/follett-ebooks/eboo

k-management/destiny-discover/

Georgia Professional Standards Commission. (2018, January 1). ​Code of ethics for educators.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kD0kiy304oKeY65BHI6Ph6prS4oWM3bO/view?usp=s

haring

Houston County Board of Education [HCBE]. (2020). ​Social media guidelines for faculty and

staff.​

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1J5BhKBKpjbN2i8M0lENEWAKSB8qllOJd/view?usp=s

haring

Houston County Board of Education [HCBE]. (2020). ​Middle school handbook.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1C7gmcjZCh6BckEseDJfe9jGcXM4mNBlM/view?usp=s

haring

Johnson, D. (2013). ​The indispensable librarian: Surviving and thriving in school libraries in the

​ inworth.
information age. L

Library Copyright. (2008). ​Exceptions for instructors.​

https://librarycopyright.net/resources/exemptions/index.php
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Library Copyright. (2008). ​Fair Use Evaluator.

https://librarycopyright.net/resources/fairuse/index.php

MackinVIA. (n.d.) ​Sign in.​ ​https://mackinvia.com

Pfeuffer, S. (2020, June 3). ​Ms. p’s picks.​ WRMS media center info.

https://sites.google.com/hcbe.net/wrmsmediacenter/home?authuser=0

Sora. (n.d.) ​Open a world of reading​. ​https://soraapp.com/welcome

Warner Robins Middle School [WRMS]. (2020). ​Media Center.​

https://wrms.hcbe.net/mediacenter

Warner Robins Middle School [WRMS]. (2020). ​Student Handbooks.

https://wrms.hcbe.net/handbooks

Warner Robins Middle School [WRMS]. (2020). ​Verification of receipt and understanding of

employee items.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_pccfhBBj5uXVeP_L3PZTLCXUzs-pgdw/view?usp=sh

aring

Xavier. (n.d.) ​Copyright and fair use guidelines for teachers.

https://www.xavier.edu/library/about/documents/Copyright_9-23-08.pdf

Link to Google Doc:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1FYIp41fuSNbKqrhKJ0lnfEj3CBOSZkxRI0UTtXK

vO8c/edit?usp=sharing