School Library Media Manager, Chapters 8 and 10

School Library Media Manager, Chapters 8 and 10

Chapter 8 On the Job: Managing Access to Information

            Chapter 8 was a very interesting chapter, especially the part about the right to privacy. I knew about protecting the rights of our patrons and not handing over personal information without a subpoena because we had the FBI requesting customer information from our store one time and we refused. We told them they had to get a court order and they didn’t come back, thank goodness. But, I didn’t think there was anything one could do if a subpoena was issued. This chapter states that we are to go further—resist until they show just cause in a court of law. Wow! I hadn’t thought of that. I figured that once a subpoena was served, that was it. I do like that there is help through the American Library Association with issues like this. It’s great to know that a library media specialist doesn’t have to go through something like that alone. I also thought adopting a user-confidentiality policy was a great idea.

            The area that I didn’t know anything about was the filtering process. I found this information fascinating. For instance, I didn’t know (until I read one of the required articles) that one of the ways that school district filters is by word recognition. In the article, it talked about how a teacher couldn’t pull up real World War II photographs because they were taken on Bikini Island and the word bikini is a no-no. I didn’t realize “often this process is managed by clerks who pick out words that are on a list of possible offensive terms.” (Woolls, 129) Filtering by word recognition is a ridiculous way to filter. Frankly, I don’t think schools should filter at all, especially in the upper grades. This may seem radical, but students are smart enough to get around filters, that it is more important that students and their parents sign an Internet usage agreement that puts the responsibility for proper use on them. The other type of filtering is when they don’t allow access to Web sites like You Tube and Facebook. Unfortunately, it doesn’t stop any new Web sites that crop up all the time. Personally, I think it’s a waste of time and money. I’d rather use that time and money to teach digital citizenship to our students and teachers instead.

Chapter 10: On the Job: Managing Services

            I have to say that after reading most of this book, I am a bit overwhelmed by all the things I’m supposed to know and do. Wow! It sounds to me like library media specialists should know how all the teachers think and teach, know how all the students learn and be able to solve learning  problems in every grade level. Again, wow! At Riverbend, I’m not sure but I suspect that most of the teachers think of the librarian as someone who checks books out to students, keeps track of equipment they need and someone who sets up audiovisual equipment for school assemblies. I doubt any of them except the technology teacher have ever thought of asking the librarian to collaborate on curricular projects or units.

            I did go to one of the history teachers and talked with her about some ideas I have for enhancing the Civil War unit and she was definitely receptive. We’re going to talk more in August. I’m hoping the new head librarian will be more in line with 21^st century library media specialists than my last librarian. She was very content to just fix technological problems and check out books. She wasn’t into helping at all with lesson plans or helping the students learn how to do proper research or to cite properly. I am eager to work with the new librarian to change the whole school’s attitude about our library. I think we can use some of the suggestions in this chapter to find out what our teachers and students know about the library and the services offered. I love the “Sample List of Library Media Center Service” found on page 172. I think we can use a similar form to find out about what teachers think are most important for our library to offer. (Woolls/172)

            I also love the idea of the library becoming a working classroom. We have a great computer lab attached to the library, so we can definitely hold some classes in the library without disturbing the rest of the library. And I want very much to work with the teachers to do in-service technology training. I love the idea of giving them new Web sites to check out or new tools to use and have them figure out how they could use them in their classrooms.  I want our library to become such an integral part of the school that no one there can imagine living without it or the librarian. (Or at least the aide!)

Citation:

Woolls, Blanche.  The School Library Media Manager.  Westport, Connecticut: Libraries Unlimited, 2008.

Empowering Learners, Chapter 3, pg. 33-36, 38-40

Empowering Learners, Chapter 3, pg. 33-36, 38-40

The Learning Space

            This part of the chapter covers the learning space—both the physical space and the virtual space. It’s the library media specialist’s job to make sure the library is an inviting place that encourages students and teachers to come and browse, work on homework, have small group discussions, work on projects and even teach whole classes. The school library media program needs to be flexible and serve the needs of the students and teachers. The scheduling for use of the library and the hours of operation should be flexible and fit the needs of the students and teachers. A library Web site with easy access to databases, “instructional interventions” and other resources that students and teachers can access from outside of the library should be available at all times and should include access to other local libraries and academic sites. (Woolls, 33)

            The physical make up of the library should include some comfortable seating for group discussions and projects, individual seating for homework or reading, a technology area for working on computers, a  video production area, wireless access for students and teachers with laptops and shelved, organized material easily available for everyone to use.

            The well-designed Web site can be a student’s best ally. It needs to be easy to use, with easy access to databases, graphic organizers, pathfinders, classroom reading lists, research writing guides and much more. There should also be links to other libraries and academic Web sites. If it’s possible, linking to a twenty four hours a day ask-a-librarian service can be helpful.

Collection and Information Access

            The library media specialist works with teachers and students to ensure that the collection of materials, both print and non-print, is up to date, appeals to a variety of ages, ethnicity, reading levels and informational needs. Surveys are a great way to get feedback from students on their likes and dislikes and should be used regularly. They need to protect the rights of students to access information and they should ensure that the collection supports the curriculum and classroom activities. The LMS must occasionally weed the collection to make sure it stays up to date and fresh, as well as keep up with new updates in library inventory software systems.

            It is important for library media specialists to do what they can to provide access to a wide range of information and to protect the student’s rights to access that information. That means the LMS must provide access to information for students who don’t have computers at home by providing other means of retrieving the information. The LMS must encourage the school district to support new technologies and to limit the filtering of said technologies. “The selection policy and collection development plans are used to regularly evaluate the collection. The SLMS uses data to build a rationale for funding and to evaluate the usefulness of the collection for promoting reading.”

Works Cited:

AASL. Empowering Learners: Guidelines for School Library Media Programs. Chicago: American Association of School Libraries, 2009.

Empowering Learners, Chapter 2

Empowering Learners, Chapter 2

            School library media specialists hold a unique position in the school. They teach, collaborate with teachers to provide a variety of learning experiences and they are technology and information specialists. The library provides a place for all kinds of learning—individual study, small group study and large class study. It’s up to the LMS to teach students how to appropriately find, collect and use information; and to help students become active learners.

With all the vast array of technology and access to so much information, library media specialists and teachers are active learners just like students. Active learners examine information against prior knowledge and experience, collaborate with other learners to build upon and create new information. Because of this, students now have a more active role in directing and assessing their learning experience. Collaboration is an important part of the learning process and it’s important that library media specialists work with more than just teachers—partnering with parents, field community organizations, public libraries and many more.

Citation:

Empowering Learners: Guidelines for School Library Media Programs. Chicago: American Association of School Libraries, 2009.

Budget Project for July 5th

Three Year Budget Proposal

Statement of Need

The Riverbend School has worked very hard to establish a library learning commons—a place where students and teachers can come to work together in small groups, to ask important questions, search for information both in books as well as on the Internet and to formulate new answers through new mediums. To achieve this end, the library needs new tables and chairs that are more conducive to working in small groups. To enhance both the educational and technological growth of our students so they will become productive, life-long learners, to save money and keep the materials up to date and to provide more space for recreational reading and the small work groups, we propose purchasing online encyclopedias. And finally, to provide a well-rounded collection and to increase our circulation, we need to purchase graphic novels.

Goals and Objectives

            The first objective is to provide a more comfortable learning and recreational environment in the library learning commons to increase collaborative learning and recreational readership by 10%.  The second objective is to purchase online encyclopedia subscriptions. By purchasing online encyclopedias that are updated yearly rather than purchasing paper encyclopedias yearly, the materials are more accurate and up to date; the students learn to use the computer to research subjects and the school saves money. An entire set of the Encyclopedia Britannica costs $1175.50 after the educational discount, but the Britannica Learning Bundle (Britannica Online for Kids and Britannica MathSmarts) costs only $99.59 a year or for just the Britannica Online for Kids, it’s $69.95 a year. The World Book Encyclopedia print set is $1044.00 and the online version is only $49.95. The last objective is to increase recreational reading and increase circulation by 10% through the purchase of graphic novels.

Plan of Action

The first plan of action is to get rid of the old library tables and bring in soft chairs and smaller round tables and group them into small groups throughout the library. We will then set up an online calendar and have the teachers sign up to use the library for some of their class projects.  The second plan is to discard the old print encyclopedia and purchase online encyclopedia subscriptions. The second phase of this plan is to make sure that all students know or learn how to access the Web site and to make sure they know how to use it appropriately. The third plan is to purchase over the course of the three years, approximately one hundred graphic novel titles. We will prominently display some of the new graphic novels and create signage to prompt the new titles and to encourage more recreational reading.

Planning for Evaluation

We will track the classes that use the library for their classroom small group projects and track their learning progress over the course of the year as well as track the circulation number. The cost of the online encyclopedia subscriptions can be compared to the yearly purchase of print encyclopedias and the savings over a three year period calculated. The library will track the circulation of the graphic novels over the course of the three years to see of the objective was met.

Budget Considerations

TLS the Library Store             Single Side Upholstered Booth          $409.95           2         

TLS the Library Store             Modular Lounge Seating*                  $530.95           24       

Hertz Furniture Systems         Round Cafeteria Table                                    $149.00           6

Demco                                     Fatboy Soft Seating                            $289.99           4

*I found chairs that I liked better from a manufacturer called Agati but there were no prices listed.

Britannica Online Bundle       E.B. for Kids/MathSmarts                  $99.95 a year   1

World Book Encyclopedia     Yearly Online Subscription                 $49.95 a year   1

100 Graphic Novels**                        Purchase approx. 33 a year                 $7-19.95          33

**Need to research titles and reviews first before I can give you a full list of titles and prices. I took the highest price and multiplied it by 33 to reach the top amount that would be spent.

Approximate Total Cost over 3 Years:  $16,424.91

That works out to approximately $5,474.97 per year. If you factor in the cost of purchasing printed encyclopedias each year, the savings with online encyclopedia saves the school $2,069.50 a year.

Learning Landscapes Webinar

Learning Landscapes Webinar

Lori Jane Perdew

LIS 5240

            Joyce Valenza started off the webinar talking about how the learning process should be transparent, interactive and more meaningful or personally relevant. She showed some fantastic examples of the work her students are doing. They were amazing. I loved that she had her students show the process of how they got to the final process. I think the learning process is as important, or maybe even more important than the final presentation. I’ve learned from Joyce that students work better in small groups where they can interact, share knowledge, exchange ideas and create new information. If the samples Joyce shared are any indication, I say the small groups are working! But it takes more than just small groups, the learning process has to be personally relevant—that means that we don’t just teach them history, we make them a part of it. We have to make them care. That is what I learned from Joyce.

            I want very much to work with the history teachers on their Civil War units and help the teachers to set up wikis for each student. I would help them teach the students how to track their learning progress, develop pathfinders and create some fantastic presentations using Web 2.0 tools like VoiceThread, Animoto and Glogster. A lot of the examples she so graciously shared have already given me ideas for history, science and communication arts—even art and music. There are so many ways to make the subjects we teach more relevant through personal stories, photographs and journals shared in audio or video. Sounds and pictures can effect a student deeply—make it more real and alive.

            From David Loertscher I learned that he sees learning commons as one giant conversation and collaborative workspace. I really liked that! He sees the library and the computer lab as one big learning commons with both physical and virtual space. School libraries have gone from no Web site to a school Web site and now, hopefully, to a virtual learning commons. The virtual learning commons will be a place for the giant conversation, and it will be a collaborative workspace—a place for experimenting; a place for building knowledge. I see it like building blocks—one piece of knowledge adds to or stands upon another and another until eventually you have a structure—a new idea or concept based on all the ideas and knowledge that were shared and meshed together before. Loertscher says that it is “personal expertise meshes with other personal expertise to form collaborative intelligence and 21^st century skills mesh to form content deep understanding.” The students don’t just learn facts—they learn the processes and they learn how to use the tools. They learn how and why things work, so they can build upon that knowledge. That is what I see as a Knowledge Building Center. It reminds me a little of the “think tanks” of a few years ago (the concept, not the building).

            He says these knowledge building centers or KBCs can be used in many different ways: in individual classrooms; with more than one class, throughout the district, state, even the world; in school projects; in professional learning communities and more. He says there has to be sound instructional design in order for the KBCs to work. He listed the UBD (Wiggins and McTighe) and Think Models (Loertscher/Koechlin/Zwaan) but I didn’t catch what they were. The two I did understand were the 1) the best technologies that will boost learning and 2) co-teaching—teachers, librarians, teacher technologists and other specialists in their field, all working together to build a knowledge center. Remember It Takes a Village . . . ?

            He says it’s important to end with what he calls The Big Think. He says there are three student activities to the big think. The first activity: What do I know about this subject? What do we know as a group? The second activity: How I learned this and then, how we learned this. This is followed by the conclusion: So what? What’s next? Then activity 3 is done with the adults: What they learned; how they learned it. So what? What’s next? He says it’s important for the administrators to participate. I could see even some parents participating especially on projects that the students can also work on at home.

            He then asks, “Who is assessing?” And his answer is: Everyone! That is what makes it so great. (I think. Everyone is scrutinizing the information, the process and the conclusions. This is what great learners do.)

His final thoughts are on making connections—look at what other districts, states, even other countries are doing and how they are doing it. Read great books on the subject. He gives a list of books that he thinks are pertinent.

In a way, he’s looking at learning in much the same way as Joyce—it’s just a slightly different approach. They both believe in collaboration and personal relevance. They both talk some about the process and he talks about assessment. I definitely want to take the whole knowledge building center idea back to school with me this fall. I think if I can help inspire at least some teachers to take a much more collaborative approach—both in how they teach (more small groups) and in what technology they use (shared learning sites like Google Docs and Zoho)—and incorporate aspects of the knowledge building center into their teaching, then we might eventually become a real learning commons.

I definitely would like to introduce some great learners with specific skills to collaborate with our students on projects rather than just have them come out and talk at the students on Career Day. They might just learn a thing or two while working with the students. It might be a challenge in these hectic times, but I am hoping there will be some visionaries out there who are willing to give it a try.  I would really like to try and get more parents involved in the learning process too. I’m not exactly sure how to do it at this point, but I know that it is vital for parents to participate and encourage learning at home, not just at school.

I had a little harder time with Doug’s part of the webinar because of the distractions with the technological glitches. I felt he was a little distracted while delivering his presentation but he had some good points. He says that there are five essential conditions for creating and sustaining what he calls, new learning landscapes. These are: 1) use clear language and terminology. Think about the words you use. An example he gave was the word social networking. He says it has a negative connotation—people think it is just fluff—a way to pass time. He says call it something like educational networking, so people will take it seriously. Social networking is not just Facebook and even Facebook can be used as an educational tool. 2) Support best practices not best technologies. We don’t want to just teach them newer, faster technology; we’re trying to teach them how to be better learners. That is a building process, not a technology. Students need to learn how to learn, how to build on the knowledge they have, how to collaborate with and incorporate other people’s knowledge into the learning process. They must then know how to take all that knowledge and information and create something new out of it. I believe that this is what Joyce, David and Doug are all saying. 3) Try a large variety of Web tools/technology, but be selective and universal. There are so many choices out there, but if I understand Doug, he thinks librarians should consider the pros and cons of each collaborative tool and then pick one that will work for everyone in the school. I know he mentioned that his group is only using Google Docs right now. I like that idea because everyone is on the same page, so to speak! They can all collaborate on anything and no one is confused as to what program or tool they are using. I am definitely taking this one back to the school. Every staff member seems to use a different program and it can be confusing, 4) Another way to keep everyone on the same page is to create reasonable policies, guidelines and procedures. I think some people probably groaned on this one! But it is important for everyone to know what the school or district expects from their staff, and as long as they are not so restrictive that teachers and librarians can’t share or collaborate or create a dynamic learning commons, then I think they are necessary. I personally think the same thing needs to be stressed to students. There shouldn’t be a long list of do’s and don’ts but a few good rules of conduct. I personally think it helps the students if right at the beginning you state what you expect from them and what they can expect from you if they behave or not behave. I have found that this works with the eighth-graders at my one school. And his last is: 5) Empower your staff! That is a great one. If you give them the tools, the support, the enthusiasm and the means to do their best—they will.

Doug is a big believer in small study groups. People seem to learn more when they work together. I do believe that, however, I learned as an overachiever student that those who weren’t were usually very happy to let you do all the work! But I know that I learn an awful lot through our class’ Skype sessions. I can read the information and process some of it, but it’s through the discussions and sharing of ideas and thoughts that really puts it all into perspective for me. I think that is what Doug is talking about here. And again, that is what I want to communicate to the teachers at my school. I will work to incorporate all five essentials into my school’s learning environment. I am excited to pass on this information and using it to build new knowledge building centers within my schools. I know I will keep coming back to their examples. I would love to share this webinar with my principal. I am definitely going to email her Joyce’s and Doug’s blog URLs so she can see what great things are out there that we can incorporate into our school.

Citation:

(I don’t know how to do this citation, so I’m just going to list what you had listed.)

Valenza, Joyce, David Loertscher and Doug Johnson. "Learning Landscapes Webinar." Schoollearningcommons.23 Mar. 2010. Web. 1 Jun 2011. <https://schoollearningcommons.pbworks.com/w/page/24592888/Learning-Landscapes-Webinar>.

My Five Blogs

My Friday Blogs

Having a Voice by Meredith Farkas

            In this article, Meredith Farkas talks about the need for better communication between librarians and their staff. She said that at her last place of employment, they had regular council meetings and all the librarians got together to discuss issues, budget concerns and anything else related to the running of the library. But the regular staff members were not included in the discussions.

            She mentioned that the other staff members might have important information or ideas worth sharing and she believed that they too should have been invited to the meetings or at told about what was discussed and decided. I agree that the staff should know what was discussed and decided at the meetings and I think an electronic suggestion box would be good, so if the staff members have any suggestions for improving the library or the programs, they could turn them in. Farkas said that in her next place of employment they typed up the minutes of the meeting so everyone could read them. I think that is a really good idea—post the minutes on a staff bulletin board.

            The main point of this article is good communication from the top all the way to the bottom. If the communication breaks down, then the people at the bottom don’t know what’s happening and can feel disenfranchised. Also, great ideas may never be brought to light because the staff at the bottom of the information chain can’t communicate with the ones at the top. Borders was very good (at the beginning) at providing the means for all of the staff to communicate their good ideas and their concerns. It’s important for staff members to feel like they are important and have a say in what is happening.

            I think you can take this lesson one step further. I think for school librarians especially, we should be communicating on a regular basis with our principals and, if your district has a library media specialist manager, with them as well. Share what is really working in the library—any success stories, works in progress and even, needs to provide better services. We can show how proactive we are, how well our programs are working and that in turn will show them how needed we are and how valuable we can be to the whole school. Then, when it’s time to calculate the budget, they just might remember all those great things you’ve done and give you a bigger piece of the pie. Speak up and let your voice be heard!

Citation:

Farkas, Meredith. “Having a Voice.” Information Wants to Be Free 29 N Jun 2011. Web. 1 Jul 2011.

http://meredith.wolfwater.com/wordpress/2011/06/29/having-a-voice/

Why Would You Build a Classroom? By David Warlick

            David Walick went to an ISTE conference and was wowed by one of the presenters, John Medina, a biological engineer and author of the book, “Brain Rules.” Dr. Medina said that our brains thrive on outdoor, survival type problem-solving and that our brains are used to doing this constantly. So, what happens when you put an active, problem-solving brain in a very relaxed, rigid, non-interactive classroom? The exact opposite happens—the brain doesn’t function in the same way.

I think what he is saying is that we need to rethink how we do our classrooms. Maybe each classroom should be a learning center. Group the desks together in small groups, teach them how to find the information and use the technology and let them go. Who knows what kinds of problems they might actually solve? At least we would know that their brains are active and not asleep.  Maybe a little chaos and noise is a good thing?

http://davidwarlick.com/2cents/?p=3092

Warlick, David. “Why Would You Build a Classroom?” 2 Cents Worth 28 Jun 2011. Web. 1 Jul 2011.

Many Books—29,000 Free E-books by Richard Byrne

            Many Books is a site that has over 29,000 free ebooks that will work with all kinds of computers and ebook readers like Amazon’s Kindle or Barnes and Nobles The Nook. You can search the site for books by just about anything: title, author, genre and even language.

            I checked out the site and I found it interesting. They have Books of the Week—I counted four of them. My favorite for this week is Louisa May Alcott’s Spinning Stories. I had never heard of it. It’s a collection of stories for children. You can browse also by their categories: most popular titles, recommendations, recent reviews and special collections. If you aren’t sure of what you are looking for, they suggest that you browse by looking at the book covers. They also have a new feature: Recent Additions. All in all, I think it is a valuable Web site especially for the high school level.

http://www.manybooks.net/ and http://www.freetech4teachers.com/

Byrne, Richard. “Many Books—29,000 Ebooks” Free Technology for Teachers 30 Jun 2011. Web. 1 Jul 2011.

The Best Posts Responding to David Brooks Criticism of Diane Ravitch (& Many of the Rest of US) by Larry Ferlazzo

On his blog, Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day, he posts some people’s response to an article written by New York Times columnist David Brooks. The article is entitled, Smells Like School Spirit and in it, he talks about how he believes that Diane Ravitch has moved from supporting testing and accountability to criticizing it. He does agree with her on a couple of points, but he feels that she only chooses only the studies that support her claims.

Brooks says that he agrees that great teaching is based on a good relationship between the teacher and the student, not based just on test scores. The danger of relying only on test scores is that the focus changes from real learning to answering the questions correctly and schools might do away with or curtail some classes that aren’t included in the testing like art, music and physical education.

“As the educational blogger Whitney Tilson has pointed out, the schools that best represent the reform movement, like the KIPP academies or the Harlem Success schools, put tremendous emphasis on testing. But these schools are also the places where students are most likely to participate in chess and dance.” (Brooks, NY Times)

Testing is only one aspect of measuring change and only one piece of the puzzle. The teachers in these successful schools know what kind of learner they want to produce. Brooks basically says that the tests are not bad; it’s the teachers. The schools that set accountability as a high priority are the schools that will succeed. Teachers and principals need to be held accountable for their teaching. He states that the “real answer is to keep the tests and the accountability but make sure every school has a clear sense of mission, an outstanding principal and an invigorating moral culture that hits you when you walk in the door.” (Brooks, NY Times)

Larry Ferlazzo apparently doesn’t agree with him or at least doesn’t like him criticizing Diane Ravitch. Personally, I didn’t think he did it in a mean way, and I found myself agreeing with him on some of it. I do think it takes positive, enthusiastic teachers who know the kind of learner they want their student to become, to succeed in spite of the testing. Ferlazzo says that writing this article was a bad idea and apparently some people agree with him.

One blogger says that Brook’s misrepresented Ravitch’s views and feels that when testing measures what it is supposed to measure, then it is good, but when the tests fall short, then the testing will not foster good education and that good schools can succeed in spite of the testing not because of it.

Another blogger says blame it on one-parent homes, low income and crime. The schools with money will succeed while the other low-income schools won’t succeed.

Citation:

Brooks, David, “Smells Like School Spirit” New York Times 1 Jul 2011. Web. 1 Jul 2011. (A copy of this was printed in the New York Times newspaper on July 1, 2011, but I read it online, so wasn’t sure if I needed to do the citation for the Web or the paper.)

“The Best Posts Responding to David Brooks Criticism of Diane Ravitch (& Many of the Rest of Us)”, Larry Ferlazzo’s Website of the Day 1 Jul 2011. Web, 1 Jul 2011.

Baker & Taylor and B&N Team Up to Make Library Books Available on the Nook by Paul Biba.

            The largest book distributor and the largest bookstore have joined forces to encourage Nook ebook readers to check out ebooks in their local libraries and they are working to make sure that the Nook patrons can check them out of their library without any problem. They made this announcement at the American Library Association Conference.

            “The highly acclaimed, bestselling line of Nook ereaders will be featured devices on Axis 360, Baker & Taylor’s revolutionary digital media circulation and management platform . . .” (Biba, TeleRead) Axis 360 patrons will be able to check out ebooks and they will be able to purchase titles on the B&N online bookstore. It sounds to me like a great thing for both libraries and Nook customers. Hopefully, this will increase awareness that libraries have ebooks and it will also hopefully inspire libraries to carry more ebooks. I see it as a win-win situation for everyone.

Citation:

Biba, Paul. “Baker & Taylor and B&N Team Up to Make Library Books Available on the Nook” TeleRead 24 Jun 2011. Web. 1 Jul 2011. (It was listed on the No Shelf Required blog).

http://www.libraries.wright.edu/noshelfrequired/

The School Library Media Manager, Chapter 9—On the Job: Managing the Budget

The School Library Media Manager, Chapter 9—On the Job: Managing the Budget

There are several ways that budgeted money can be distributed—a specified amount can be given per school or a designated amount allotted per pupil. Library media programs may have to compete with art, music or physical education programs for a share of this money. The school district’s budget is planned out the year before and usually the superintendent presents the proposed budget to the school board for their approval.

            “Public schools can be defined as service institutions, but measuring the quality of their services can be difficult.” (Woolls, 148) Between the struggling economy and the poor performances on state mandated tests, many people seem to think that the schools aren’t succeeding. Well-known businessman, Peter Drucker thinks this is because the schools haven’t had to earn the right to exist. They were just given the money to run their programs through property tax revenues. But with the struggling economy, tax payers are demanding better results on the standardized tests and holding educators responsible for the outcome. Budgets for schools are shrinking each year and that of course, affects the library media program.

            School districts may have different ways of showing the expenditures but many use line-item descriptions. “This means that each item of the budget is placed on a line next to the account number and the description of that item.” (Woolls, 147) Usually they will show the preceding year’s expenditures, the current year’s expenditures and the next year’s expected expenditures. Library media specialists should find out who in their school is in charge of the budget, consult them and ask any questions, in order to make sure the budget is completed correctly.

The Fiscal Year

All ordering and processing of the orders should be done before the end of the fiscal year or the LMS will lose that money for the year as well as have the same amount charged to next year’s budget. The library media specialist needs to work closely with the person in charge of the school’s budget to make sure everything is ordered, processed and charged in a timely matter and allocated correctly. Each LMS should be aware of everything purchased, so if there is a discrepancy at the end of the year, the LMS can challenge it. It would be terrible for band uniforms to come out of the library’s budget!

Writing Specifications

            Being very specific when writing up orders (especially technical equipment orders) and including as much as you can about the items you wish to purchase will help ensure that you receive good quality equipment. Different companies may bid on the contract, so you must be diligent about making sure the equipment is what you need and that it is high quality so they will last. If the equipment provided is not high quality then the LMS must write up the reasons for rejecting the contract and for sending the equipment back. This can take more time so being very specific from the start will hopefully help the LMS receive the right equipment the first time.

Cost Accountability

            Figuring out the cost of equipment and services are important to help discern future budgets but also to prove to parents and students the value of the library media program. The author uses an example of the cost of the books circulated. In her example, if the average cost of a book is $24 and 200 of them are circulated each week for nine weeks, teachers and students have borrowed 24 x 200 which equals 4,800 x 9 which equals $43,200 worth of books! Another good reason to calculate the cost is if a library needs an extra clerk, by figuring out how much it costs the LMS to check-out books as opposed to a clerk, the money saved could be calculated and the position justified. This is especially important if the LMS is not able to collaborate with teachers or help students because there is no clerk to do the more mundane tasks.

            Whether or not the LMS is in charge of the budget or not, they must take an active role in pursuing the funds they need to keep the library media program functioning at peak performance.

Writing Proposals

            Sometimes the money needed to expand the LMP is not in the school’s budget and a well-thought out, detailed proposal can sometimes be used to solicit more funding.  This proposal might be for local funding, state funding or even national funding and it might even be included in a bigger proposal that involves more than one school.

            The key components of a good proposal should include the specific needs, goals and objectives, a plan of action, an evaluation plan, a list of facilities and available resources and a budget plan. Enlist other teachers, library media specialists and even your principal to help evaluate the need. Also, look at other schools and districts to see what they in place as a comparison to your school’s media center. Providing facts and examples will help give the money people a better understanding of what you are trying to do and where and how the money will be used. Make sure all your goals and objectives are able to be measured or at the outcome predicted. Write a “step-by-step plan of realistic activities to meet the objectives and alleviate the need.” (Woolls, 155) When writing a proposal, a LMS should always include relevant data to support their choices and include a timeline whenever possible.

            There needs to be a plan in place for evaluating the activities. This isn’t always easy and asking someone who specializes in measurements and tests might be a good idea. They can help the LMS build a specialized evaluation plan. The LMS should be ready to present a presentation on the project to the appropriate group of people, in case he or she is asked. They must also be willing to share information with others like parents or the newspaper and television media. More than likely the public relations person at the district level will handle this, but the LMS should be prepared just in case the need arises.

            Be sure to include a description of the space available for the implementation of the proposal and any additional resources that are available. Everyone working on the project must be listed and any added staff must be listed as well. Job descriptions, resumes, length of time that they would work on the project must all be included, as well as permission to use the person’s name that is listed on the proposal. If at all possible, try to enlist people who have worked on other similar projects, so they are known to the people who are funding the project.

            It’s important to anticipate all the costs, so there are no surprises at the end. Make sure you have the support of the school district so they won’t reject the proposal after all your hard work. It’s important to pay attention to detail and stay on top of deadlines. Make sure to include all pertinent paperwork. Attention to detail will help the proposal not be delayed.

            Whether or not the proposal is accepted, it gives the LMS an opportunity to practice writing and presenting a proposal and eventually, a proposal is bound to be accepted.

            I can’t say that I am looking forward to writing proposals, but I think it is a challenge that I will have to face, and I know I can do it with the help of others. It’s important to know how to plan and implement a budget. I used to have to do this at Borders, so I already have a little experience with budgets.

Citation:

Woolls, Blanche.  The School Library Media Manager.  Westport, Connecticut: Libraries Unlimited, 2008.