Middle School Interview
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da11324Middle School Interview
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da11324Prior to becoming a school library media specialist, what did you do?
I worked at the local library in circulation
What inspired you to pursue a degree in School Library Media?
I enjoy the love of books
Is there anything that you did not receive either in your educational program or
field experience that you wish had been included?
I wish that we would have been taught how to repair books
What professional organizations are you a member of?
Georgia Library Media Association
How do you determine the collection needs of your library?
Based on the request that we receive and keeping an eye on social media platforms
to see what is trying for young adults.
Talk to me about your background in technology prior to becoming a media
specialist?
I do not have a background in technology. We use a technology coming who comes
in and helps with repairs of computers or any technology in the classroom.
As far as reading for pleasure, what genre do you enjoy? What are you currently or
have recently been reading for pleasure? Right now, I am enjoying historical
fiction. I do a combination of historical fiction and literary fiction.
What role do you see the school librarian and the school library playing in the
overall reading program of the school?
I believe overing students unlimited resources and exposing them to different texts
that they may enjoy. In middle school, you see students who are still into reading.
We often face a lot of students not checking out as many books, because their
teachers have a library in their classroom. Therefore we focus on, collaborating
with those teachers so students are coming into the library and it spikes their
interest in checking out books.
How do you encourage struggling readers?
We have a wide variety of audiobooks that students are able to check out. We
collaborate with teachers on showing students about all the book awards and how
many books have been turned into graphic novels.
What are some of the ways that the school library media specialist can promote and
encourage professional reading among the faculty?
We have an adult section. The faculty will often ask us if we will purchase a
popular book because they believe our staff would like to read it.
Do you normally lead professional development in your school (or district?) No,
we do not. It is mainly collaborating with individual faculty. Do you find that the
PD that you lead is more on the technology side, library resources, materials, and
equipment, or is it a combination of all? When we do collaborate with teachers it is
mainly library resources and materials.
What steps can the school librarian take to encourage reluctant teachers to utilize
the library? I believe in sitting down with teachers and seeing what they are
working on in the classroom. And offering how we can help in the library with the
load that the teacher my feel or the help that they need.
How has COVID impacted the day to day operation of your media center? In April
2020, we did not have students get on computers and the teacher was living
teaching. Through our portal we sent out assignments for students to work on and
sent back to the teacher.
Has it altered your circulation statistics at all? It altered circulation during the
spring of 2020 but we were back in full person that August. The students would
come check books out. We had to quarantine those books for a period of time.
What are some ways that you are able to generate funding when school or district
budget run out or are nonexistent? Through our book fairs.
Are you seen as a teacher, administrator, instructional technology specialist, or a
combination of all three at your school? A teacher
What are the expectations of your school administration regarding the library
program? They support allowing students to have access to as many resources that
we can possibly provide for the community.
Do you have an aide or paraprofessional and if so, what are your expectations of
that person? I do not have an aide.
What advice would you give to someone just entering the field of school library
media? Keep reading what the students are enjoying so you can keep up the trends
in the library. For example, the romance section is down but fantasy is in high
demand with middle school girls. For boys, the high demand for reading is graphic
novels, and science fiction.
