Reflection 3.3
3.3 Educational leader
Candidates are able to articulate the relationship of the library media program with current educational trends and important issues. Candidates recognize the role of other educational professionals and professional associations. Candidates translate for the school the ways in which the library program can enhance school improvement efforts. Candidates utilize information found in professional journals to improve library practice.
In ISTC 601 (Library Media Administration) and ISTC 615 (Collection Development) we had the opportunity to review Professional Journals and find relevant articles that were of interest to us. I found one through Towson’s databases (Library Journal online), entitled the Best Small Library in America. It won $15,000 from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for being just that. To summarize from my reflection what made it work: “this library has made itself relevant with technology, warm and inviting in its customer care, bright and clean in its environment, making everyone want to spend time there.” Hopefully, as school librarians, we can approximate a welcoming atmosphere, a smiling face, knowledge and direction, to the students who regularly visit with us. This article encouraged me in that an engaging and attractive environment is just as important as a wonderful selection of books.
Another article, entitled Academic Libraries Empty Stacks for Online Centers (Christian Science Monitor), describes a number of colleges and universities that are rethinking their libraries in order to serve students raised in a computer age. For instance, the undergraduate program at the University of Texas (the nation’s fifth largest academic library) has moved its entire book collection (90,000) elsewhere, leaving the library empty of books. Instead, there will be 250 computers, 75 laptops for borrowing, computer help desk and repair shop, software suites, a multimedia studio, and a café. According to this more recent thought process, books are not the only way to package information; and now information is more readily available online.
The question becomes: can a library be a library without books? My younger students are always clamoring for books, especially nonfiction ones, on dolphins (our mascot), cats, dogs, dirt bikes, wild animals, etc. When I hear it debated in the media or in similar article about how relevant libraries really are and if books are, in fact, outdated. I strongly disagree with these statements, in particular, with younger children. These students need books in their hands. They need pages to turn. They need to discover their world through pictures and words. They need to read by holding a book. My goal has always been to provide an abundance of high interest picture (fiction and nonfiction) books and chapter books. Added to our collection a year ago were Playaway/book combinations for those who enjoy listening to a book. I have also purchased an ishuffle to use as a listening center.
Personally, I would rather read for pleasure with a physical book in my hand. When traveling though, I do prefer to read an electronic book on my ipad. As for research for college students, that is another story. Databases are up-to-date and online researching gives a student exposure to such an abundance of journals, articles, magazines, and books, that would be difficult and time consuming to find otherwise.
One last article, President Obama Proposes Eliminating Federal School Library Funds (School Library Journal), sent a shockwave through the library community with President Obama’s 2011 budget proposal to Congress. In it, he removed entirely the Improving Literacy through School Libraries grant program which had been supported and funded by his predecessor, George W. Bush. Surprisingly, Obama’s proposal does include a $400 billion investment in public education, although none of that is appropriated to school libraries. Have libraries gone the way of the dinosaurs? If not, why are they on the chopping block? The answer has to be with us. We need to almost reinvent old concepts of librarians, be visible and available teacher-librarians. We need to be on the cutting edge of technology. Our county Board of Education offers great technology classes on a regular basis. Media Specialists should take advantage of them. We also need to be on the same page as the teachers, knowing their monthly themes, enhancing these with great literature or informational books, seeing where and how we can help with low benchmark scores, and keeping informed of our school’s goals in the School Improvement Plan.
In ISTC 702 (Education Leadership and Technology) we were randomly assigned teams, each team had to choose a web 2.0 tool, learn it, and then present it. Our team chose Google Docs. We discovered this to be a great collaborative tool, but even more than that, we saw that we could learn a technology tool without a teacher. Wow! You may not be the greatest at it, but with the ‘help’ menu, you can learn more than you thought possible.
I do want to make a significant contribution to teaching and learning. I would rather play an active, and not passive, role in the media center. I am always trying to rethink my possibilities to be significant in my school community. Reading journals, such as School Library Journal, Library Sparks, and Teacher Librarian are helpful to glean ideas from and to keep abreast of new books. Seeing what one’s colleagues are doing or talking about and having real time access to questions is a great support in belonging to an email group such as LM_Net. It can be very frustrating for media specialists to be out there ‘alone’ and we need to take advantage of what opportunities are presented to collaborate with our own colleagues.
3.3 Educational leader
Candidates are able to articulate the relationship of the library media program with current educational trends and important issues. Candidates recognize the role of other educational professionals and professional associations. Candidates translate for the school the ways in which the library program can enhance school improvement efforts. Candidates utilize information found in professional journals to improve library practice.
In ISTC 601 (Library Media Administration) and ISTC 615 (Collection Development) we had the opportunity to review Professional Journals and find relevant articles that were of interest to us. I found one through Towson’s databases (Library Journal online), entitled the Best Small Library in America. It won $15,000 from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for being just that. To summarize from my reflection what made it work: “this library has made itself relevant with technology, warm and inviting in its customer care, bright and clean in its environment, making everyone want to spend time there.” Hopefully, as school librarians, we can approximate a welcoming atmosphere, a smiling face, knowledge and direction, to the students who regularly visit with us. This article encouraged me in that an engaging and attractive environment is just as important as a wonderful selection of books.
Another article, entitled Academic Libraries Empty Stacks for Online Centers (Christian Science Monitor), describes a number of colleges and universities that are rethinking their libraries in order to serve students raised in a computer age. For instance, the undergraduate program at the University of Texas (the nation’s fifth largest academic library) has moved its entire book collection (90,000) elsewhere, leaving the library empty of books. Instead, there will be 250 computers, 75 laptops for borrowing, computer help desk and repair shop, software suites, a multimedia studio, and a café. According to this more recent thought process, books are not the only way to package information; and now information is more readily available online.
The question becomes: can a library be a library without books? My younger students are always clamoring for books, especially nonfiction ones, on dolphins (our mascot), cats, dogs, dirt bikes, wild animals, etc. When I hear it debated in the media or in similar article about how relevant libraries really are and if books are, in fact, outdated. I strongly disagree with these statements, in particular, with younger children. These students need books in their hands. They need pages to turn. They need to discover their world through pictures and words. They need to read by holding a book. My goal has always been to provide an abundance of high interest picture (fiction and nonfiction) books and chapter books. Added to our collection a year ago were Playaway/book combinations for those who enjoy listening to a book. I have also purchased an ishuffle to use as a listening center.
Personally, I would rather read for pleasure with a physical book in my hand. When traveling though, I do prefer to read an electronic book on my ipad. As for research for college students, that is another story. Databases are up-to-date and online researching gives a student exposure to such an abundance of journals, articles, magazines, and books, that would be difficult and time consuming to find otherwise.
One last article, President Obama Proposes Eliminating Federal School Library Funds (School Library Journal), sent a shockwave through the library community with President Obama’s 2011 budget proposal to Congress. In it, he removed entirely the Improving Literacy through School Libraries grant program which had been supported and funded by his predecessor, George W. Bush. Surprisingly, Obama’s proposal does include a $400 billion investment in public education, although none of that is appropriated to school libraries. Have libraries gone the way of the dinosaurs? If not, why are they on the chopping block? The answer has to be with us. We need to almost reinvent old concepts of librarians, be visible and available teacher-librarians. We need to be on the cutting edge of technology. Our county Board of Education offers great technology classes on a regular basis. Media Specialists should take advantage of them. We also need to be on the same page as the teachers, knowing their monthly themes, enhancing these with great literature or informational books, seeing where and how we can help with low benchmark scores, and keeping informed of our school’s goals in the School Improvement Plan.
In ISTC 702 (Education Leadership and Technology) we were randomly assigned teams, each team had to choose a web 2.0 tool, learn it, and then present it. Our team chose Google Docs. We discovered this to be a great collaborative tool, but even more than that, we saw that we could learn a technology tool without a teacher. Wow! You may not be the greatest at it, but with the ‘help’ menu, you can learn more than you thought possible.
I do want to make a significant contribution to teaching and learning. I would rather play an active, and not passive, role in the media center. I am always trying to rethink my possibilities to be significant in my school community. Reading journals, such as School Library Journal, Library Sparks, and Teacher Librarian are helpful to glean ideas from and to keep abreast of new books. Seeing what one’s colleagues are doing or talking about and having real time access to questions is a great support in belonging to an email group such as LM_Net. It can be very frustrating for media specialists to be out there ‘alone’ and we need to take advantage of what opportunities are presented to collaborate with our own colleagues.