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Conclusions: ILF Annual Conference 2014 (ToolKit B for 671)

In my pre-conference blog, I mentioned that I was a little nervous about attending my first professional conference before I had even finished my degree.  I was still nervous when I first arrived.  I felt a bit better when I ran into some MSD Washington Township librarians that I knew, including my own boss, and by the time the Keynote address was underway, I was feeling right at home.

During the conference I felt excited.  There was so much to see and learn from the presenters who clearly worked hard to share their love of librarianship. I learned about privacy, access to information, censorship, new books, free research resources, and through all of these lessons, I learned about advocacy.  All of the librarians are clearly champions of the profession and spend their own free time preparing and sharing their knowledge.  I would like to carry this new information and fresh excitement to my job. Also, I hope I'm brave enough to make some changes to my mindset in terms of the tiny bits of censorship I have been letting seep into my daily practice.

After the conference, I felt renewed in the library spirit.  This is truly a librarian's evangelist revival.  I plan to attend at least one day next year and maybe, in a few years, I will have something to contribute.

For more information about the Indiana Library Federation and the ILF Annual Conference, visit http://www.ilfonline.org/

A Fantastic Finish to a Fantastic Day: The YHBA Banquet with 2013 Winner Chris Barton (ToolKit B for 671)

Author Chris Barton and Me on November 18, 2014 at the ILF Annual Conference

After a wonderful day of learning and connecting with librarians from all over Indiana, I attended the YHBA banquet to wrap up the day with a fun and fancy bow.

First off, the dinner was tasty and I got to talk shop during the meal with some school librarians who have many years of experience in the field.  What I learned is that my situation, while not ideal because it lacks a flexible schedule, isn't nearly as challenging as the situation of some of my colleagues.  Like some of our guest bloggers, these librarians worked in smaller districts where they are required to preside over all the libraries in the district.  We commiserated about budgets, schedules, and collaboration or the lack thereof while we ate.  After dinner, Chris Barton, who won the YHBA  award for picture books in 2013 for Shark vs. Train, let us into his brain with a presentation about the award winning book.

Chris told us how he got the idea for Shark vs. Train while out for a run.  He explained that he runs without headphones on or music playing because it's in those solitary moments that he gets many of his book ideas.  His advice for writers included always carrying a notebook and also joining the Society of Children's Book Authors and Illustrators in order to network, bounce ideas, and get feedback on ones writing.

Also, Chris shared some of his ideas for Shark vs. Train (including illustrations projected on a movie screen) that didn't make it into the book.  Interestingly, he worked very closely with Tom Lichtenheld, the illustrator, during the creation of this book which is atypical of the publishing process.  Normally, he noted, authors and illustrators hardly meet or talk,  Authors send the manuscript and the illustrator decides what to discuss.  This is not how he and Tom worked and he is the first to admit that the book is better due to their close collaboration.

Of course, I couldn't leave without an autograph, and Kids Ink had copies of his books available for purchase after the meal, including his brand new book Attack! boss! cheat code! : a gamer's alphabet
I was one of the final stragglers in the autograph line and Chris was still gracious and funny.

When I got home that night I noticed that he had responded to the tweet I made during his speech.
What a guy!

Breakout Session 4-- INSPIRE Me! with Julie Elmore, Joe Fox, Sherry Gick, & Vincci Kwong (ToolKit B for 671)

I'm going to quote the ILF Program because it describes this session best:

INSPIRE Me!
In 2013, the Pass-It-On team from the Indiana Librarian
Leadership Academy took the initiative to create a project
which aims to raise awareness and usage of freely available
public databases through INSPIRE. This session will provide
an overview of the project, findings of INSPIRE’s usage,
and resources available for you to get yourself familiar with
INSPIRE. This session is for all type of libraries, so be ready
to INSPIRE!


I have used INSPIRE before to help students with research, but I didn't realize that it had so many useful resources outside of journal articles for academic research.  It also includes free access to magazines online, the MEDLINE database, newspapers and even free test prep guides.  The team put this presentation together after collecting data on current INSPIRE usage.  They presented their findings (which they have also shared with the INSPIRE administrators), presented their awareness raising website that breaks down what is offered in easy to navigate tabs, and answered our questions about how to teach our own patrons to use this collection of awesome free resources.

Check Out http://inspirepassiton.weebly.com/
and
http://zu8fr6nk5e.cs.serialssolutions.com/

Breakout Session 3--Thousands of New Pages: A Pick of the 2014 Books K-8 with Shirley Mullin (ToolKit B for 671)

These are the books that Shirley discussed in her session.  There is a nice mix of novels and picture books on the list and she summarized, shared and read aloud from all of them.  The one that really grabbed me from her entertaining presentation was Skila Brown's Caminar about a Guatemalan boy living in the midst of the late 20th century civil war in his country.  I went to the Kids Ink booth in the Exhibit Hall right after the breakout session and picked it up.  I had a break in my schedule so I found a place to sit down and read and was instantly lost in a Guatemalan village. It's written in verse, and I'm a sucker for a book written in verse.  By the time I went to bed that night, I had finished it. 

Breakout Session 2--How Censorship Hurts Kids with Mike Mullin (ToolKit B for 671)

Mike Mullin, author of Ashfall, is a passionate warrior against censorship.  His breakout session started with roll playing exercise where we acted as a librarian or patron with a special background.  The patrons and librarians interacted based on their assigned persona in an attempt to get library materials.  I was a teenager who had lost a brother to suicide, but I couldn't discuss it outright and I had to find books that I would like and that may help me process that loss.  Some patrons were "concerned citizens" trying to actively or surreptitiously get books removed from the collection.  It was a bit awkward in the beginning, play acting with total strangers, but after a couple of minutes, we really started to get into our rolls.  In the end, we were asked to record how many books we chose or loaned out, based on our rolls.

Then, Mike and his mother Shirley (owner of Kids Ink Bookstore in Indianapolis) gave us a rundown of some popular titles that are considered controversial and discussed why we should have them in our library. Mike asked us about our experiences in the role-playing exercise and related them to the titles he discussed, including a picture book about a transgendered child called, I Am Jazz.   Shirley related the story of one of her employees questioning the importance of stocking a book on such a controversial subject when another employee  interjected that she was sending the information on this book to a friend from church who had a transgendered child.

Mike finished up with what he calls the "Interpretive Dance" where he discussed some sobering statistics about what children in the United States that are faced with.  He asked 20 of us to stand up front with a colored card.  He would call out a color and those of us with that color would step forward and he would read a statistic.  For example, "2 (among 12-17 year-olds) are active, current users of illegal drugs," or, "2 girls and 1 boy will be sexually molested before they turn 18."  The statistics addressed everything from food instabillity to suicide.  As we stepped out and stepped back, our dance was a physical representation of what our kids are facing.  What we learned was that the books we may be reluctant to provide for our patrons may be exactly what they need to read to feel less alone, or stronger in the face of adversity.  As a matter of fact, according to Mike's research, "7 (among 15-year-olds) don’t think they can talk to their parents."  

Here is how he concluded the Interpretive Dance:

"According to UNICEF, the U.S. is the second worst country to grow up in in the industrialized world. The only worse country is Great Britain.

These problems cut across all social, economic, and geographic lines. I’ve just described kids who use your library. Kids you know." 

The statistics Mike used come from Unicef for the most part.  He was kind enough to send me the link when I emailed him a couple days after the conference.  This session really hit home with me and I've been thinking about it ever since.  In the past, I was worried about providing materials to children that they weren't ready for it.  Now, I'm wondering if not providing them with access to "controversial" material may do more harm than good.  I've never been a censor per se, but I do worry that maybe I haven't been as open to what my patrons need because I'm afraid of some sort of backlash.  This session was seriously thought-provoking.  

Breakout Session I--Page Turners Aplenty: Your New YHBA Nominees with Valarie Bassett & Vicki Bulita (ToolKit B for 671)

My first breakout session was conducted by the hard working and long reading ILF YHBA committee. The Young Hoosier Book Award turned 40 this year.  In addition to introducing the 2015-2016 nominees, the presenters also read aloud from YHBA winners of years past and gave prizes to people for guessing the title of the books based on short snippets of text.  The atmosphere was festive with "40" decorations everywhere and people jumping up and oohing, ahhing and ummming as we all had our memories jogged with 4 decades of award winning juvenile fiction.

Here is a link to the list of nominees for 2015-2016:

https://c.ymcdn.com/sites/ilfonline.site-ym.com/resource/resmgr/YHBA/2015-16_YHBA_Nominees.pdf


This was a great first ILF session for me to attend because my school participates in the YHBA program each year.  It was great to learn more about how the nominees are chosen and what the committee does.  Once the 20 nominees are chosen for each age group, the committee writes lesson plans for each title that they provide for teachers and librarians to use for free.  This is after they have read many many books in an effort to choose the best of the best in children's literature.  One day, when I'm finished with grad school, I would love to serve on this committee.  The current committee gave us fair warning, though, that it requires a substantial time commitment.  In the mean time, I will enjoy sharing the fruits of their labor with my students.

AN ILF 2014 Poster Presentation: Latinos in Literature (ToolKit B for 671)

Click on the image to enlarge it.

In the ILF Exhibit Hall, there are poster presentations of topics in librarianship.  This one caught my eye.  I have a BA in Spanish and I work in a school with a Latino population of about 25%.  While our collection has some books by Latino authors like Pam Muñoz Ryan and Francisco Jiménez, for instance, as well as some popular English titles and non-fiction resources translated into Spanish, our collection needs some more Latino influence.  

I did some research on the strength of our Latino culture, fiction, and Spanish language collection:

The current collection consists of 97 items with an average age of 17 years old. The breakdown of formats is about 90% books to 10% movies. Within the books, about 60 percent of the resources are non-fiction, while the movies are 100% non-fiction. Its weaknesses lie in the age of the books about countries and cultures and the lack of sufficient novels with Latino characters. The biggest weakness is the number of resources in comparison to the size of the overall collection, which is about 18,000 books. With a 25% Latino population, there should be more resources that speak to their culture and heritage. However, our collection does contain a variety of Latino folktales and resources on individual countries that are current enough and in good condition.

NEXT UP:  Introducing the 2015-2016 YHBA Nominees

ILF 2014 The Exhibit Hall (ToolKit B for 671)

After the keynote speech, there was a block of time in the schedule called a "No Conflict" time to give everyone a chance to visit the Exhibit Hall.  The hall was full of vendors selling or advertising everything from books to architecture.  Book vendors were there, including Follett and Baker and Taylor, as well as our local and independent Kids Ink bookstore.  IUPUI was there, as well, with information about degrees in informatics and librarianship.

Almost every booth in the hall had candy to give away.  Clearly they know how to get our attention!  It really did feel like Halloween in there.  One design firm was even giving away full sized Nestle Crunch bars!  I put my treats in the goody bag I received when I picked up my name badge as I browsed the displays.  As I made my way down the aisles, I was particularly interested in a machine that re-glues a books pages to it's spine.  It was much cooler than my Elmer's glue and binder clip method of repair.  Alas, it was very expensive.  Maybe I need to write a Donor's Choose grant proposal?

The refreshing thing about this particular exhibition was the lack of sales pressure.  As many of us are government employees or working for a large business of some sort, we don't really go from booth to booth writing checks.  These vendors were providing us with information, for the most part, so we can decide if we have room in our budgets for book repair toys or for a big remodel.

I didn't ask a lot of questions this time because I don't really have the authority to make buying decisions in my position as a library assistant, but I did eavesdrop on many conversations between librarians and vendors.  I got a feel for how size and location (rural vs. urban) seems to affect the services or amenities a library offers.  I heard a librarian from a small rural school discussing the addition of Follett e-books to her collection which made me wonder how different her space and collection must be than mine, which services a large urban population.  We've had e-books in our collection for some time.  I also saw that the architecture firms had fewer people stop and I wondered if the interested parties were public library directors or maybe school district officials.

The hall was a good place to get a feel for the diversity in librarianship in our state.  Many ethnic backgrounds were represented at the conference ranging in age from young adult to senior citizens and in the hall they were intermingled in way that made me certain that knowledge increases empathy.  I read an article in the Guardian online with author Neil Gaiman the other day on the importance of libraries in a society and this quote really stuck with me, "...because a book is a little empathy machine. It puts you inside somebody else’s head. You see out of the world through somebody else’s eyes. It’s very hard to hate people of a certain kind when you've just read a book by one of those people."


References

Litt, T. (2014, November 17). Neil Gaiman: Libraries are cultural 'seed corn' Retrieved November 21, 2014, from http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/nov/17/neil-gaiman-libraries-are-cultural-        seed-corn?CMP=share_btn_tw

TUESDAY'S KEYNOTE (ToolKit B for 671)

The keynote address was given by Dr. Siva Vaidhyanathan.  As an expert on the history of media, he has written a book about Google's lofty mission to, "to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful." He asked us to think about such a presumptuous statement and what it means.  Google has partnered with many agencies and libraries in order to digitize their collections.  Is it safe for us to trust all of the world's collected knowledge in the hands of one company that may or may not make it available for free use?  Also, because Google is constantly tracking our browsing habits and feeding us information, are we going to be able to access the information we want if Google doesn't want to give it to us?  Of course, this is a simplistic review of his talk, but Dr. Vaidhyanathan gave me a lot to think about. I picked up his book,  so I can read more.

On a separate note, Dr. Vaidhyanathan was unable to fly out of his hometown due to weather so the speech was conducted via Skype.  There were some internet connection problems that made the speech somewhat frustrating, but the Dr. and the ILF staff handled the problems calmly and with a good sense of humor.


Next Up:  THE EXHIBITION HALL and A Mountain of Free Candy




References

Company – Google. (n.d.). Retrieved November 20, 2014, from https://www.google.com/about/company/

Vaidhyanathan, S. (2011). The Googlization of everything: (and why we should worry). Updated ed. Berkeley: University of California Press.

#anewpageilf14 (ToolKit B for 671)

#anewpageilf14  is the official tag for the ILF conference this year and it really did feel like a new page for me.  More specifically, I felt renewed.  Ha!  I love the library pun, there.  I was a bit apprehensive about attending the conference before I can call myself a bona fide librarian, but it turned out to be an enlightening experience with a whole lot of like-minded individuals.

While the presentations were awesome, one of the most educational parts of the conference for me was the collegial discourse that I was able to share with my fellow lovers of all things library.  The librarians I met were inclusive, friendly, and willing to share their own experiences and commiserate with me about mine.  Whether it was a little chit chat during a break-out session, or in between sessions in the comfy chairs by the fireplace (I found a GREAT spot to recharge at the Marriott East), we made connections and examined differences.  I came away from these talks thankful for what I have in the school library where I work, and with some new ideas about the way I operate and how I might do better.

I hope to make this conference an annual occurrence because it has left me feeling fired up and inspired!

CONFESSIONS OF A N00B: My first ILF Annual Conference (ToolKit B for 671)

This is my first ILF Annual Conference and I'm pretty excited about it.  Maybe I'm expecting too much, I mean, it is a day of presentations in conference rooms. However,  I'm going to keep on being excited about it.  I am only attending one day (Tuesday the 18th) this year, but I've got that day packed full of interesting presentations on my schedule.  Of course, because school librarianship is my focus at school and at work, I chose sessions that should help me both at work and in my own development as a librarian in my own right. I used the ILF's conference mobile site to select and keep track of the sessions I want to attend.  The YHBA session and the 2014 books for k-8 session are slam dunks.  It's important to me to keep current on children's literature so I can provide excellent readers advisory to my students.  Censorship is a difficult subject for elementary school librarians, so I hope to learn something that will help me to navigate challenges and select materials with bravery.  As for the INSPIRE database, I know what it is, but I have only tried to use it a few times.  Maybe the session will help me figure out how to get more out of it.  The dinner is really just for fun, but it will be cool to tell the kids I got to see the author of Shark vs. Train in person.

The only event I'm attending that's a bit more tangentially connected is the keynote speech.  I chose Tuesday because of the keynote, though, because Dr. Siva Vaidhyanathan  
 is an expert on copyright and intellectual property, which, in my humble opinion, is fascinating.

Here is my schedule for tomorrow:

0800-0830 Arrive at the Marriott East in Indianapolis
0900-1000 Keynote with Dr. Vaidhyanathan
1100-1150 Page Turners Aplenty: Your New YHBA Nominees
1330-1420 How Censorship Hurts Kids
1500-1550 Thousands of New Pages: A Pick of the 2014 Books K-8
1700-1750 INSPIRE me! (about the INSPIRE database)
and
1830-2000 The YHBA Banquet with 2013 Winner Chris Barton
                  I am the most excited about this session (I even paid extra!) for the opportunity to hear this author speak because my students LOVED his book, Shark vs. Train.  I hope to have an anecdote to share with them when I get back.


Well, as the 10th Doctor says, "Allons-y!"

Toolkit A for SLIS S671

Toolkit A: Professional Connections

Online Interactions

        For this portion of the Toolkit, I joined the LM_NET listserve in early September.  After a little research, I chose the digest version of the list because I didn’t want to receive 70-80 individual list emails per day.  This helped me manage the considerable number of messages that made their way to my inbox.  However, even with the digest feature activated, there were a number of special issues that increased the number of emails from the list from one to seven or eight each day.  I found myself opening the emails and skimming them for content that interested me and then deleting them unless there was something I wanted to save or if I had something to add.

        Typically I replied to requests for book suggestions for elementary readers.  I am an enthusiastic reader of picture books and novels for children and young adults so it was fun for me to offer suggestions and to see what other librarians were reading.  One example of my participation was an answer to a request for narratives and family stories for children.  I sent a message to the librarian with two titles I really enjoyed from that genre, How I Learned Geography by Yuri Shulevitz and All the Way to America by Dan Yaccarino. I received a nice thank-you reply for my suggestions.  

        Another common request I found among the librarians of the list was full-text scholarly articles.  I’m not sure why this happens so often when many articles are available through databases purchased by public libraries and academic institutions.  I also wonder about the potential problem of passing on articles to people that aren’t paying for a subscription to the service.   Also, the death of hard copy reference came up more than once and librarians would share their practices and experiences with their reference sections or lack thereof.  Those discussions were thought provoking as I considered our own reference section and how it has shrunk.  

        Finally one of the most important and oft discussed subjects of the list was tech.  Often, the librarians reach out to each other when they encounter new tech, be it for personal or professional use.  I’ve read topics ranging from how to use the latest I-Phone to resources available on e-books.  They also discuss how to implement tech in the media center or in classrooms.  This is a really important topic, or topic really, given the vast amount of tech being used in schools.  

        All in all, the best part of LM_Net was the sharing of knowledge that happens every day between librarians that would otherwise not be able to interact with each other due to the constraints of geography.  My experiences were positive and I found the librarians I interacted with to be polite and grateful.  That being said, even in digest mode, there is a lot of information to sift through on a daily basis and I found that reading it, or even skimming it took a lot of time.  I will remain on the list, but I’m not sure if I will spend as much time reading it each day as I have for this assignment.  The demands of work and classwork will definitely take precedence over the list.  Still, I feel like it is a worthwhile resource and a good way to stay connected with other librarians.  

Virtual Presence

        In order to judge a school library media center’s website as one of the best, first I will establish my criteria for “best”.  The best websites should be:

1.    Clean:  This means easy to read in terms of fonts, graphics and placement of links.  It should be judicious in its use of fonts, video and changing or scrolling images.

2.    Easy to Use: The site shouldn’t require excess clicking through links to reach the information or the catalog.  The links should be up-to-date and functioning.

3.    Rich in Content: The site should contain a variety of content types or links to a diverse selection of content that is appropriate for the age range of the students who will be using it.  

        There are so many school media center websites that in order to narrow down the selection pool, I chose from only elementary school media centers.  I am more familiar with elementary media so I felt that my evaluations of those sites in terms of richness of content would be the most credible.  

        Carmel Elementary School:  Carmel Clay Schools, Indiana  

        http://www1.ccs.k12.in.us/ces/media-center

        Web Design by LightSky

        This local school’s media center website is slick.  It’s not crowded with images or flash elements and the fonts are clear, consistent, and sized appropriately for the page.  The links are easily found on the left hand side of the home page and they work.  There is a wide variety of content for parents and educators as well as links for students that support classroom learning including links to educational games, a citation creator and even a link to the city’s website.  

        Moharimet Library Media Center: Moharimet School, Madbury, New Hampshire

        http://www.orcsd.org/library/moh/

        Created by Exeter Internet Solutions

        While Moharimet’s website has a scrolling show of pictures of the media center and patrons as well as images of book titles on the front page, the images add to the site’s look and utility rather than detracting or distracting from it.  The links are easy to find in tabs along the top of the page under the header and the dropdown menus aren’t too twitchy.  The linked resources are separated for staff and students though the tabs and the student links even include an EBSCO database for younger students called Searchasaurus.  

        New Augusta Public Academy South: MSD Pike Township, Indianapolis

        http://www.pike.k12.in.us/schools/new_augusta_public_academy_south/media_center/Pages/default.aspx

        Created with Microsoft Sharepoint

Another local website star, the media center at New Augusta Public Academy South in Pike Township won the AASL National School Library Program of the Year award in 2013.  The website itself features contact information for the media specialist and assistant right on the front page as well as a link to the Destiny catalog.  It uses only one image on the front page and has a concise but informative description of the media center program.  Like the other two websites I’ve featured, it has easy to read links to important media center content.  The research link provided while not my favorite color scheme (it’s a bit jarring) has a plethora of links that are grouped by topics including science and math.   

       

        Content Plan

        In addition to adhering to the criteria with which I judged my three favorite websites of the many I perused, I would strive to update the content on my website often with information about lessons by grade level for parents and other library happenings.  I would implement this with a blog possibly embedded, but maybe just linked.  I would also publish the library daily schedule and calendar to encourage parent participation and definitely a link to a www.volunteerspot.com volunteer schedule in the hopes that I would receive some parent help as well.  My site would have a photo gallery but wouldn’t have more than one image or graphic on the front page.  The link to our OPAC would feature prominently on that front page.  I would include research and e-book links that can be accessed by students and teachers from home to encourage virtual use of our resources.  I would also include a form that families and staff can use to “wish” for new additions to our physical and virtual resources.  

        This plan isn’t a “one and done” deal.  It will require regular attention to ensure that the links work, the requests are recorded and that the calendar, schedule and blog are all current.  Once established, I would expect this to take 1-2 hours per week of my precious time which, frankly, would probably be unpaid time at home from my couch.  The fact is, that while it may not be something valued by administrators, it would be worth the extra hours needed to maintain a useful, interesting, and engaging site.  Of course, the site would have to be promoted in school newsletters and mini-lessons to encourage its use by the patrons, but if it’s kept current and easy to use, I imagine it would become a “go-to” resource for many members of our school community.  

Blog Interactions

        The blog interactions were edifying.  For the archived blog, I read Chris’ Somers’ from November of 2005.  I chose it because I wanted to compare the technology discussions from then and now.  Chris’ technology observations were of the growing pains for teachers who were experienced, but were new to technology in the classroom.  She mentioned training teachers to use computerized gradebooks and the difficulties in getting some teachers to try using a PowerPoint presentation as part of their instruction (Somers, Johnson, & Lamb, 2005).   

        Fast forward to today where our guest bloggers are also tech mavens in tech heavy school districts where the LMS has to find engaging ways to broadcast security tips for a 1:1 technology school (Brower, Johnson, & Lamb, 2014).   I was disturbed by the idea that the administration and troubleshooting of the 1:1 tech was the job of the media specialist.  This seems like a job for a dedicated tech person which apparently is in the works at Jenn’s schools, but it’s upsetting that this was an afterthought in their 1:1 planning process.  Ah, in a perfect world where money flows from a fountain in the school’s staff workroom…but I digress.

        My exchange with Sherry was about division of time between read-alouds, checking out, and teaching library skills, mainly research.  In our media center, we teach a research model to the intermediate students which ensures a healthy, consistent process that produces good results for their IB Exhibition projects in 5th grade.  The discussion with Sherry included how to best spend our limited time with each class each week and whether or not teachers were using a research model or basically winging it (Gick, Johnson, & Lamb, 2014).  Additionally, Sherry’s passion for genrefication has really got me thinking about whether or not that would be good for our media center and if so, whether we even have the time to make it happen.  

        All in all, I think the blog interactions helped to connect our theoretical learning in regards to teaching, collaboration, schedules, collection development and our true purpose as media specialists with the real world of school finance, making the most of limited time, and getting resources into our students’ hands and brains, as an actual practice. Of course, I have some experience in this already because I work in a media center, but it was enlightening to see that our struggles are very similar to those of media specialists in other school districts. Now when I lament my lack of an open schedule or my shelves that are literally cracking under the weight of the collection, I know that I am, indeed, fortunate to work for a certified media specialist and that we share the same challenges as other teacher-librarians.   For all of us, I think that the key is to strive for the ideal while balancing that with the realities impressed upon us by the business of education.  

           

References

Brower, J., Johnson, L., & Lamb, A. (2014, September 25). S671-SLMS Bridging Theory and Practice. Retrieved from Blogspot.com: http://slmsbridge.blogspot.com/2014/09/jennifer-brower-thur-sept-25-to-sat.html#comment-form

Gick, S., Johnson, L., & Lamb, A. (2014, September 29). S671 - SLMS Bridging Theory and Practice. Retrieved from Blogspot.com: 2014

Somers, C., Johnson, L., & Lamb, A. (2005, November 12). SLMS 671- Bridging Theory and Practice. Retrieved from Blogspot: http://slmsbridge.blogspot.com/2005/11/blog-interaction-with-chris-somers.html#comment-form

My Sword and Sorcery Libguide

http://libraryschool.libguidescms.com/content.php?pid=604838&sid=4990745

Collection Development Plan Part 1 For LIS S502 Fall 2014-The school is fictional.

Collection Development Plan: Mt. Zorro Elementary School 2014-2015

for LIS S502

Kristen S. Nicoson

Department of Library Science

School of Informatics and Computing

Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis

Author Note

This plan is designed as a class exercise and Mt. Zorro Elementary School is a fictitious location.  For more information about this mock plan, contact:XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX 

Table of Contents

The Mt. Zorro Elementary School Media Center................................................................. 3

Site Description................................................................................................................ 3

Demographics.................................................................................................................. 3

Funding............................................................................................................................ 4

Governance and Organization......................................................................................... 4

New Collection Subject Area: Hispanic/Latino Studies.................................................. 5

Mission Statement.............................................................................................................. 6

Intellectual Freedom Policy............................................................................................... 7

Request for Reconsideration............................................................................................ 7

References........................................................................................................................... 9

Appendix A....................................................................................................................... 10

Appendix B........................................................................................................................ 11

Collection Development Plan: Mt. Zorro Elementary School 2014-2015

The Mt. Zorro Elementary School Media Center

            When a media center needs a significant addition to the collection to better serve the student and faculty, it is important to choose materials with care, purpose and method.  The following plan will guide the selection of new materials for this school year.  The selection will be done in accordance with the ideals of good stewardship of public funds and providing for the education and recreation of our students and staff.

Site Description

The Media Center at Mt. Zorro Elementary School is a school library in the Metropolitan School District of Foxwoods Township, Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S.A.  Established in 1992, the Mt. Zorro Media Center contains approximately 18,100 resources designed to help students in grades K-5 with research, to promote curiosity and inquiry, and to encourage within the students a desire to read for pleasure.   

Demographics

The Media Center serves approximately 800 student patrons and 100 faculty, staff, and community patrons.  Most of the student patrons use the school’s media center as their sole outlet for borrowing reading and research materials because they are not afforded regular opportunities to use the public libraries in the community.  Additionally, about 25 percent of the student patrons and their families speak Spanish as their first language, hailing predominantly from Mexico, but sometime from other countries like Honduras or El Salvador, for example.  Therefore, the Media Center offers a wide array of materials in physical and electronic form for research and pleasurable reading pursuits in both English and Spanish. 

Funding

The acquisition of new materials is funded with money allocated by the school district from the district’s annual budget.  There is also an additional small allotment from the school’s Parent-Teacher Organization.  Some money is also received from patrons to pay for lost or damaged books.  Those funds are not used for new items unless the damaged or lost item is out of print and a comparable title must be acquired, instead.  Records of all purchases are kept in the office of the Media specialist. 

Governance and Organization

The governance of the library is performed by the school’s media specialist including programming and materials acquisition. The district’s director of curriculum may intervene in the event of a challenged material, which will be addressed in another section of this plan, however, the director doesn’t oversee programming or collection development. The scheduling of the classes in the special area subject rotation, of which the media center is a part, is planned by the scheduling committee and approved by the principal.  As with the other building staff, including the media center assistant the media specialist reports to the building’s principal.  The media center assistant also reports to and receives direction from the media specialist. 

New Collection Subject Area: Hispanic/Latino Studies

The ultimate aim of this plan is to develop a collection of books to help our large and growing population of Latino students explore their own heritage.  However, the new materials will serve the entire school population as well because it will also give non-Latinos the opportunity to learn more about their classmates’ cultures and make connections with Latino students in terms of common goals, experiences and feelings.  This collection will include resources in English and Spanish, in book and electronic forms, and will cover Hispanic/ Latino history, geography, and culture.  Additionally, the new collection will include some critical literacy fiction that will showcase realistic Latino children in both English and Spanish.  

Mission Statement

According to the American Association of School Librarians (2013), “The mission of the school library program is to ensure that students and staff are effective users of ideas and information” (Chapter 1, Section 1, para. 6).  Equally important, is the mission of fostering a lifetime love of reading within each student.  More than just a book depository, the media center is a place where research, learning, and collaboration takes place with the help of a qualified media specialist to guide the students and staff in their quest to become educated, globally-minded citizens.  Therefore, the mission of the Mt. Zorro Elementary School media center program is two-fold:  First, the media center, it’s staff and resources will transform the students and faculty into teams of skilled, enthusiastic, globally-minded, and technologically adept information users.  Second, the media center by nature of its arrangement and offerings will inspire students to read and consider themselves readers. 

Intellectual Freedom Policy

The media center at Mt. Zorro Elementary School is dedicated to the free exchange of ideas and access to materials for all of its patrons.  While we maintain a collection aimed at elementary school students and their teachers, we subscribe to the intellectual freedom policies laid out by the American Library Association in the Library Bill of Rights (see Appendix B).  The bill states that, “Books and other library resources should be provided for the interest, information, and enlightenment of all people of the community the library serves” (pp. Page 1, paragraph 2).  To that end the media specialist strives to maintain an age appropriate, diverse, and balanced collection with a large variety of resources that inform through different perspective. 

Request for Reconsideration

The media specialist has carefully selected the resources and materials for use by the students taking in to account the patrons’ demographics including, but not limited, to reading abilities and also with an understanding of the various maturity levels of the students throughout the school.  However, sometimes the parent/guardian of a minor patron believes that a particular resource may not be appropriate for use by their in the classroom and/or at home.  There is a process in which that parent/guardian may participate to request that their student to be excused from using such a resource. Understand that the first and best way for a parent to ensure that a child is getting materials that they deem to be optimal for their student is to visit the library and help them make their selections.  It is a parent’s right to participate in their child’s school library selection time. However, if they are not able to participate in the student’s library time and would like to request that we restrict the student’s access to a specific material, the media center has a procedure, adopted in 1993 and approved each year since, by the superintendent of the Metropolitan School District of Foxwoods Township Schools, to consider such a request.  To begin the process, the parent/guardian must submit a “Request for Reconsideration” form (see Appendix A).  If the request is granted, this material will be restricted from use by that student only (Martin, 2007).  All requests for reconsideration will be taken seriously.  After the form has been submitted, the media specialist will have 5 school days to review the request and make contact with the child’s guardian.  The media specialist will then consider the request and work to find a solution that pleases all of the parties involved.  If no solution can be agreed upon after 10 school days from the date the request was submitted, it will be forwarded to the director of curriculum for the district for further consideration.  The director of curriculum will then have 10 school days to complete and investigation and make a final decision on the matter.   

References

American Association of School Librarians. (2013). Empowering learners : guidelines for school library programs (Kindle ed.). Chicago: American Association of School Librarians.

American Library Association. (1995, June 27). Sample Request for Reconsideration of Library Resources. (I. F. Committee, Ed.) Retrieved 09 21, 2014, from Missing: Find a Banned Book: http://www.ala.org/bbooks/challengedmaterials/support/samplereconsideration

Library Bill of Rights. (1996-2014). Retrieved from American Library Association: http://www.ala.org/advocacy/intfreedom/librarybill

Martin, A. (2007). Preparing for a Challenge. Knowledge Quest, 36(2), 54-56. Retrieved September 19, 2014, from http://search.proquest.com/docview/194727681?accountid=7398

Appendix A

Request for Reconsideration of Library Resources

The school board of Foxwoods Township, Indianapolis, Marion County, Indiana, U.S.A. has delegated the responsibility for selection and evaluation of the Mt. Zorro Elementary School media center resources to the school library media specialist, and has established reconsideration procedures to address concerns about those resources. Completion of this form is the first step in those procedures. If you wish to request reconsideration of media center resources, please return the completed form to the Library Media specialist at Mt. Zorro Elementary School, 1 Zorro Way, Indianapolis, Indiana 46220.

Name ___________________________

Date ___________________________

Address ___________________________

City ___________________________

State ___________________________

Zip ___________________________

Phone ___________________________

Do you represent self? ____ Organization? _____________________________________

1. Resource on which you are commenting:
   ____ Book ____ Textbook ____ Video ____ Display ____ Magazine ____ Library Program
   ____ Audio Recording ____ Newspaper ____ Electronic information/network (please specify)
   ____ Other __________________________
   Title ___________________________
   Author/Producer ___________________________

2. What brought this resource to your attention?
3. Have you examined the entire resource?
4. What concerns you about the resource? (use the other side or attach additional sheets)
5. Are there resource(s) you suggest to provide additional information and/or other viewpoints on this topic? (use the other side or attach additional sheets)

For more information call: 317-259-5000 or find us at www.circ.mz.msdft.k12.in.us

Mt. Zorro Elementary School Media Center 1 Zorro Way, Indianapolis, Indiana 46220.

Template provided by the (American Library Association, 1995)

Appendix B

Library Bill of Rights

The American Library Association affirms that all libraries are forums for information and ideas, and that the following basic policies should guide their services.

I. Books and other library resources should be provided for the interest, information, and enlightenment of all people of the community the library serves. Materials should not be excluded because of the origin, background, or views of those contributing to their creation.

II. Libraries should provide materials and information presenting all points of view on current and historical issues. Materials should not be proscribed or removed because of partisan or doctrinal disapproval.

III. Libraries should challenge censorship in the fulfillment of their responsibility to provide information and enlightenment.

IV. Libraries should cooperate with all persons and groups concerned with resisting abridgment of free expression and free access to ideas.

V. A person’s right to use a library should not be denied or abridged because of origin, age, background, or views.

VI. Libraries which make exhibit spaces and meeting rooms available to the public they serve should make such facilities available on an equitable basis, regardless of the beliefs or affiliations of individuals or groups requesting their use.

Adopted June 19, 1939, by the ALA Council; amended October 14, 1944; June 18, 1948; February 2, 1961; June 27, 1967; January 23, 1980; inclusion of “age” reaffirmed January 23, 1996. 

(Library Bill of Rights, 1996-2014)