Library & Information Science, Course 233: School Library Media Centers.
Dr. David Loertscher
Summer 2006

Assignments

There are a number of tool skills you will need to use every week in this class. Please consult the Tools List (t1tools.html) and see that you can manage everything on the list.

The Real Assignments:

(Prelude: If what you read below is confusing, just start reading as many book chapters, professional articles, looking at web sites, examining documents. In other words, start building content first and then the structure of the product will be clarified as we meet in class and discuss the projects over the web. Time spent fretting is unproductive. The more professional ideas you can encounter, the better your repertoire will be as you begin to manage an actual library media center. Another good tip for this class is that you are not in competition with each other so do offer the best of what you find with others, and take their suggestions for good stuff. Think of this class as a collaborative. In fact, you can do the entire project with one or several partners if you tend to work better that way. You are not reinventing the wheel. Take what you can from others who have already done the footwork. However, make your project a quality information source, not a garbage can.)

1. Beting building your library media program vision project

Scenario 1: You are interviewing for a new position as a library media teacher at _____ school. the leadership team of the school has asked you to present your vision for their school in a 15 minute presentation.

Scenario 2: You are the library media teacher at _____ school but are disturbed by the antiquated practices that are part of the "traditional" program. In your conversations with the principal, you express the desire to change the entire nature of the library media program. Interested, the principal asks you to prepare a 15 minute presentation for the school leadership team concerning the direction in which you would like to move.

During this course, the entire class will build a knowledge base of the four major programatic thrusts of a school library media program. This knowledge base will be constructed on a wiki that will allow everyone to contribute ideas from a wide body of professional literature. As a team, the entire class will read widely and summarize the best ideas encountered for the benefit of all. Since no one person can read the vast quantity of literature available about the school library media program, if we pool our efforts, everyone will be the richer in both surface knowledge and deep understanding.

The four program areas of the library media program are:

• The Reading Program
• The Technology Program designed to enhance learning and teaching
•Th program of Collaboration designed to build quality learning experiences with teachers in an information-rich and technology-rich environment
• The Information Literacy Program designed to help every learner know how to learn

In LIBR 233, we concentrate on the first two of the above elements. In LIBR 250, we concentrate on the last two elements. Together, these two courses assist you in the building of a total library media program linked to student achievement.

The knowledge base will be constructed by teams of five students using wikis at http://www.seedwiki.com Search for one or more of the following wikis:
•LIBR233One - for elementary schools
•LIBR233Two - for elementary schools
•LIBR233Three - for middle schools
•LIBR233Four - for middle schools
• LIBR233Five - for high schools
•LIBR233Six - for high schools

Other wikies in the same pattern will be added if needed. When you find the wiki to which you have been assigned, it will require a password that will be provided to you by your instructor. The same password will be used for all the wikis so that everyone will have access to everyone else's work. This means that all of us can share the riches of the whole group.

You will be assessed on the quality of your contribution to the knowledge base. Quantity is not the import factor, but quality is.

The final product for this Vision Project will be something that is relevant to you at the moment or in the future. This could take the form of:
•A major vision statement concentrating on the first two program elements but also covering the entire four.
• An actual preentation for a real or imaginary school leadership team
• A publishable article for an audience other than school library media teachers

In all cases, both the wiki and the final product are to become part of your electronic portfolio as required for graduation for the School of Library and Information Science, San Jose State University. Follow the guidelines from the school to create your project in the form that will be ready for that portfolio.

Readings for this databank will come from national standards and vision documents, the textbooks, and a wide range of professional books and articles. A wiki entitled LIBR233Bibliography should be used to list and share the best of what you are reading for the benefit of everyone.

One great source for professional articles is: "Informaton Power: Building Partnerships for Learning: Full-Text Research Articles from School Library Media Quarterly" (t1infopower.pdf) see also on the AASL web site. This is now a periodical titled: School Library Media Online.

Current professiional books are reviewed by the instructor for the periodical Teacher Librarian. At: http://www.teacherlibrarian.com/

2. Create a The Digital School Library (DSL) that young people would use as their home page to lead them into the world of information..

Many school library media centers have websites that serve themselves, teachers, and students. You might think of such a website as a digital school library. Some schools have a school website and the library is one of the clicks off the website. In this class, you should create the DSL with the school as a click off it. For example, it might be titled "The Lincoln Digital School Library." This semester, you should construct four pieces if you do not already have them in operation:

The main web page/title screen

The Library Corner: A button for the librarian (containing the most-often information you need to function)

Teacher Tools: A button for teachers (containing two major sections: READING and ENHANCING LEARNING THROUGH TECHNOLOGY.

Student Section:

There should be three parts to the student part of the page:

•Tools - links to tools that help a student be successful in their classes and in the school. For example, word processors, graphics packages, tutorials on how to write a term paper, tips on using the digital camera to link pictures into a web page, In other words, link learners to the actual tools and/or helps for using them to succeed. Even information literacy tip sheets might be here.

• Pull technology - this is the section linking learners to online databases and various search engines - the place where they will search for information they want. The section may link them to specific databases such as Electric Library or InfoTrac or SIRS; links to encyclopedias, dictionaries, etc. Hopefully meta-search engines to search multiple databases might be included. This section also contains the link to the school library catalog and other library catalogs. It also links to various search engines such as Yahoo, Google, and Dog Pile among others. There might also be links to a section listing the 15,000 best websites for middle schoolers. A good meta search engine to look at is http://google.scholar.com. This specialized Internet search tool is designed to help teachers and students efficiently locate Internet content that can be used for educational purposes.

• Push technology section - this is the area where administrators, teachers, library media teachers, and parents are trying to get to the learner with announcements, links to classroom web pages/assignments, advertisements (such as good books to read), etc. There might be a "web site or book of the day" or connections to the living yearbook of the school (the latest pictures of the football game or other school event).

These are the collaborative units you are doing with teachers including any of the following features: At least one button that links students in a particular class to useful resources for that class including carefully selected Internet sites and any clicks to electronic resources in the school library collection; A section of general helps for kids in school such as school term paper guides, helps in citing materials; links to online dictionaries and encyclopedias, useful tutorials, etc.; A section that leads kids to Internet sites or school databases that help them personally such as information about sexual harassment, where to go for various kinds of help, what to do in case of emergency, local organizations that can be helpful. The page might contain lists of good books to read (perhaps recommended by the students themselves) and certainly a few you recommend, movie reviews (done by the kids), links to sports, etc.

The objective here is not quantity, but quality.

You will be organized into groups by type of school (elementary, middle, high school). Use these groups and your connections on Blackboard to help each other build your websites. Help each other find school library web sites that are already good and incorporate the best of those ideas in your own site.

If you already have a school library web site, transform it into more of a digital library and refine it, add to it, develop it further - note for the instructor where you started and what developments and refinements you have made (a very short essay/log will suffice)

In previous semesters students have used free website-building tools available from a number of providers. While these could be used, it would be best to use the web construction tool used by your technology folks such as Dreamweaver or Adobe GoLive. There is a learning curve on these, but they are accepted within the industry and will have the depth you need to start a real webpage. You will need a place to upload your web site. This could be a free service, a low-cost service, or a school district site. Before constructing your site, you should have decided on a web construction tool and have a place arranged to serve it out. For those who cannot do this, it would be best to partner with another student in the class and help build their digital school library.

Another good help is Anne Clyde's guide to building school library web pages at t1bi.html

A good start is to look at web pages constructed by school librarians around the country. Try Peter Milbury's site for linking school library web pages at http://www.school-libraries.net/

The section for teachers will be the most important part of your web page and will receive the most scrutiny by your professor. Here are a few suggestions:

READING - include the very best ideas that your faculty could use to stimulate reading in their classrooms and with you in the LMC; include descriptions of programs or events you will be using in your school to stimulate reading; include ideas for SSR, reading aloud, building rotating classroom collections, sources of funding for books, great bibliographies of things to read aloud, suggestions to your students, read as a professional teacher about the topic of reading, etc. Be sure to organize the materials in such a way that a teacher would be attracted to use it. Just a bunch of stuff is not likely to be used.

ENHANCEMENT OF LEARNING THROUGH TECHNOLOGY - this section should spotlight the very best ideas for the use of technology to enhance learning in basic tool skills/literacy/content areas. It should spotlight the best ideas from the professional literature; spotlight the best ideas from your own faculty; provide good sources for personal professional development in the use of technology; and any other source of help that a teacher might need. Think of this section as a professional development tool box. It might also contain announcements of opportunities in the district, state, or nation. Remember, less is often more.

Sample Digital Libraries created by students:

• Glendale High School Digital Library (t1Glendalehs.pdf)
• Napa High School Digital Library (t1NapaHSPortal.pdf)
• North Montgomery County High School Digital Library (t1NCPortal.pdf)
• Piedmont High School Digital Library (t1PiedmontHSPortal.pdf)
• McKinleyville High School Digital Library (t1McKinleyvilleHSPortal.pdf)

Also: read about school portals in general: Gannon, Harvey. "Educational Portals: Shaping the 21st-Century Community." Converge Magazine, Janury, 2001 (t1portals.pdf)

 

3. Join a professional association. You should show evidence of membership in either AASL (American Association of School Librarians) and/or CSLA (California School Library Association).

4. Visit at least one state legislator. You should make one personal visit to your California state senator and/or your state representative in connection with funding for school library media programs. We will connect to the chair of the CSLA Legislative committee for recommendations on the best use of our time. Post ideas about visitng your legislator and creating the digital school library on Blackboard. Discussion board forums have been set up for everyone to contribute.

5. Be sure to attend class. Attendance is mandatory from the standpoint that activities done in class will add to your grade and there is no makeup for these activities. We meet so few times, that interaction with your collegues and your instructor is essential. If you cannot attend class either in the north or the south on the dates specified, please find another class that will fit your schedule.

6. Write a grant (or show that you have already written one, or make major progress in writing one); assist in the writing of a grant; demonstrate that you have already written a grant. One way to fulfil this assignment is to write a grant for the Laura Bush Foundation at http://www.laurabushfoundation.org/foundation.html. Because this foundation is targeting funds only for poverty schools, you might have to adopt a school (but don't do one for a school that is not committed to having a full time library media teacher). Another way is to write a grant for your PTA to fund LMC programs/materials or a grant to a local charitable group. A forum on the discussion board of Blackboad has been set up to facilitate this.

7. Build and test at least one measure for linking the school library media program to achievement. This can be done in your own school library, or can be planned if you are not currently employed. Add this idea to the wiki and also to the assignment manager.

Sone General Resources and readings to get you started

 • For the week beginning June 3, read three articles that were published in various journals; the first by a "cybrarian," the second by a librarian, and the third by your instructor. What roles are being played out in these people's professional lives? What are they worried about? What do you think their days are like? How do you guess that these roles will be played out in the professional literature you are just starting to read? Do you think there may be some gender stuff being played out here? Be sure to post at least twice to this question before the second class period.

• Nellen, Ted. "Morphing from Teacher to Cybrarian," Multimedia Schools, January/February, 1999, p. 20-25.

• Anderson, Mary-Alice. "The Media Center: Finding Time," Multimedia Schools, January/February, 1999, p. 26-28.

• Loertscher, David. "Extreme Makeover," School Library Journal, November 2004.

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• Read Taxonomies, p. 1-28. How has the role of the library media teacher changed over the years as well as the function of that center in the school. What prospects are there for your school library becoming a 24/7 (24 hours a day, seven days a week) information service? And what role would you play in developing or reinventing your school's library?

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• Read Taxonomies, p. 29-66. What is the role of others in the development of a vibrant library media center program? How can the library media teacher help others to assume a proactive role?

• What other articles/readings (including Information Power have you found that help clarify the role of the library media program in the school?

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• Read Taxonomies chapter 9 and other research such as Krashen/ McQuillan. Comparing theory to practice, does the school community really believe the Krashen/McQuillan notion that "amount counts?" If they do believe, what evidence is there that they practice what they believe?

• Read the article "Waste Not, Want Not" by Jamie McKenzie. This sounds like my rantings and ravings about librarians who can't seem to get enough books into kids' hands because of the restrictive rules and the fear of losing books. In this article, what do you think the role of the school librarian is in providing easy access to electronic information?

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• All organizations create rules that help it function smoothly and force the patrons/customers to come in line with organizational needs even when these are antithetical to patron/customer needs.How can school libraries optimize access to reading, yet give every single child/teen the opportunity and the encouragement to become literate? (two books a week with the potential of trading them at any time and "you can't have any more books when you have overdues - such rules don't cut it, folks). What do you do for the trancient child, the child who does not handle materials well? The child who cannot pay fines or pay for lost books? The child whose parents won't let them borrow anything because of fear of loss? The kid who won't use the library because they "don't like to read?" The kid who would like to read, but you don't have anything they want to read? The kid whose teacher makes all kinds of rules about what kids should and should not read? The kids who are forced to do Accelerated Reader even though they hate it?

• How can the library media specialist who has spent the majority of their time concentrating on the reading program cut their time in that program, yet be as effective or more effictive in promoting literacy? (remember, there are too many other emerging roles for the librarian so that it cannot predominate the hours spent on the job each week).

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• Read Taxonomies chapter 10 and what Information Power has to say about the role technology plays in the school library. What is the essential role here? How does it differ from the techie role of building and maintaining networks and computers?

• What other readings are you finding that help clarify the role of the school library media teacher in technology? (share to help build your databases) (would someone in the group please email the instructor with the top suggestions for items that should be on the web page but aren't)

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• As a group, nominate and list in the Technology section of the wiki, one acaemy award application for each of four types of technology applications that have the potential or proven record of enhancing learning through technology (see Taxonomies, p. 133). A topic for discussion has been set up for this purpose.

• Read and concentrate on good ideas for managing the information infrastructure (Taxonomies, chapter 12 to 15) What are the best ideas you have found for your operations resource file for topics such as budget, facilities, time management, staffing, scheduling the LMC, being on leadership teams, managing conflict, handling students, making the LMC a friendly place, building confidence of administrators and teachers, engaging in public relations, etc.

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