Standard 5.3 Personnel, Funding, & Facilities: Candidates develop, implement, and evaluate policies and procedures that support teaching and learning in school libraries.
“A policy is a temporary creed liable to be changed, but while it holds good, it has got to be pursued with apostolic zeal,” –Mohandas Gandhi. An excellent policy should be carried out with devotion and enthusiasm; however, policies are not set in stone. As policies become outdated it is vital that they be evaluated and redeveloped. The same holds true for policies and procedures developed for the school library program. During my School Library Administration course, I collaborated with five classmates to create an online School Library Handbook. During this assignment, my classmates and I collaboratively compared district policies and procedures to learn about best practices for running a school library. This included budgeting, circulation, lesson planning procedures, evaluation of materials, library advocacy, and strategic planning. By comparing district policies and procedures my classmates and I were able to develop, plan to implement, and evaluate policies and procedures that support teaching and learning in school libraries.
Before developing our own policies and procedures, each member of the group wrote her own mission and vision statement. This task illustrated the fundamental purpose of the school library program, why it exists, and what we want the program to achieve. All policies and procedures developed need to be a reflection of our mission and vision. In the future, I plan to follow this same philosophy of aligning policies and procedures with my mission and vision as I develop guidelines for my library program. I plan to use AASL’s intellectual freedom documents to guide me. Our group included this document as an essential resource for the school librarian; however, as I reflect on this assignment, we should have posted this document alongside our mission and vision statements. I truly believe that school libraries are responsible for protecting a student’s right to read. While working on this handbook, I discovered that Frederick County school administrators expect school librarians, at the beginning of every school year, to present information on fair-use regulations to the staff during the opening-day staff meeting. This course of action is one I would like to implement for my own library program in the future to educate my stakeholders on library procedure.
After developing policies and procedures, our group needed to develop a plan of implementation. Although none of us had the opportunity to implement the policies and procedures outlined in our handbook, we selected the best examples of district policies and procedures to include in our document. For operating and borrowing procedures, in Carroll County elementary school libraries allow students to check out items for 14 to 21 days at a time. For my own procedures, I do not plan to charge students for overdue materials. However, in order to maintain a quality collection I will have established, I will charge students for lost or damaged books. I feel this is an importance lesson of being responsible with library books.
In addition to establishing check out procedures, I will need to be familiar with my district policy on budgeting. When researching budgets for Howard, Frederick and Carroll Counties, we found that policy for budgets of materials and supplies are based on student enrollment and principal dictation. I realize that I need to advocate the importance of the library program to my principal. Advocating for a respectable budget will be used to service the needs of my stakeholders. In addition to advocating for my budget, I will need to decide the best course of action in regards to raising funds through the BookFair. According to current Carroll County procedure, all proceeds are granted to go towards the school library budget if the school librarian is in charge of the book fair. Some schools opt to have the PTA in charge of the book fair, and therefore only a portion of the funds made will be granted to the school library. This means that I will need to evaluate my program to decide the best way to utilize the Bookfair at my school.
Evaluating policies and procedures of the library program can be a difficult task because it requires the school librarian to reflect on her performance. Evaluations provide the opportunity to periodically collect and analyze data. As part of my own procedure, I will require myself to compete a self-evaluation. This is one way the school librarian can help to improve the library services offered to the school and modify and/or remove current policies and procedures. Evaluation policies encompass the teaching and administrative practices of the school librarian, and/or the facility. I realized it is important to know how district policy evaluations are conducted so that I can be prepared with the information I need to present. In Carroll County, the policy states that the school librarian is evaluated on planning, instruction and services, and program administration. I will need to be prepared to defend my program administration duties by indicating my mission and vision, selection criteria, and intellectual freedom documents. I will also need data regarding how my instruction and services are meeting the differentiated needs of my stakeholders.
In order for policies and procedures to ensure that faculty members, students, and parents remain active participants in the school library community, librarians must continue to grow as professionals. This includes taking advantage of professional development opportunities in order to stay current on the latest trends in education. Developing and evaluating policies and procedures should be carried out with devotion to best meet the needs of the school community. In order for school librarians to ensure that all components of the library program are met, and to continue to advocate for their libraries, developing, implementing and evaluating policies and procedures that support teaching and learning in school libraries is essential.
Before developing our own policies and procedures, each member of the group wrote her own mission and vision statement. This task illustrated the fundamental purpose of the school library program, why it exists, and what we want the program to achieve. All policies and procedures developed need to be a reflection of our mission and vision. In the future, I plan to follow this same philosophy of aligning policies and procedures with my mission and vision as I develop guidelines for my library program. I plan to use AASL’s intellectual freedom documents to guide me. Our group included this document as an essential resource for the school librarian; however, as I reflect on this assignment, we should have posted this document alongside our mission and vision statements. I truly believe that school libraries are responsible for protecting a student’s right to read. While working on this handbook, I discovered that Frederick County school administrators expect school librarians, at the beginning of every school year, to present information on fair-use regulations to the staff during the opening-day staff meeting. This course of action is one I would like to implement for my own library program in the future to educate my stakeholders on library procedure.
After developing policies and procedures, our group needed to develop a plan of implementation. Although none of us had the opportunity to implement the policies and procedures outlined in our handbook, we selected the best examples of district policies and procedures to include in our document. For operating and borrowing procedures, in Carroll County elementary school libraries allow students to check out items for 14 to 21 days at a time. For my own procedures, I do not plan to charge students for overdue materials. However, in order to maintain a quality collection I will have established, I will charge students for lost or damaged books. I feel this is an importance lesson of being responsible with library books.
In addition to establishing check out procedures, I will need to be familiar with my district policy on budgeting. When researching budgets for Howard, Frederick and Carroll Counties, we found that policy for budgets of materials and supplies are based on student enrollment and principal dictation. I realize that I need to advocate the importance of the library program to my principal. Advocating for a respectable budget will be used to service the needs of my stakeholders. In addition to advocating for my budget, I will need to decide the best course of action in regards to raising funds through the BookFair. According to current Carroll County procedure, all proceeds are granted to go towards the school library budget if the school librarian is in charge of the book fair. Some schools opt to have the PTA in charge of the book fair, and therefore only a portion of the funds made will be granted to the school library. This means that I will need to evaluate my program to decide the best way to utilize the Bookfair at my school.
Evaluating policies and procedures of the library program can be a difficult task because it requires the school librarian to reflect on her performance. Evaluations provide the opportunity to periodically collect and analyze data. As part of my own procedure, I will require myself to compete a self-evaluation. This is one way the school librarian can help to improve the library services offered to the school and modify and/or remove current policies and procedures. Evaluation policies encompass the teaching and administrative practices of the school librarian, and/or the facility. I realized it is important to know how district policy evaluations are conducted so that I can be prepared with the information I need to present. In Carroll County, the policy states that the school librarian is evaluated on planning, instruction and services, and program administration. I will need to be prepared to defend my program administration duties by indicating my mission and vision, selection criteria, and intellectual freedom documents. I will also need data regarding how my instruction and services are meeting the differentiated needs of my stakeholders.
In order for policies and procedures to ensure that faculty members, students, and parents remain active participants in the school library community, librarians must continue to grow as professionals. This includes taking advantage of professional development opportunities in order to stay current on the latest trends in education. Developing and evaluating policies and procedures should be carried out with devotion to best meet the needs of the school community. In order for school librarians to ensure that all components of the library program are met, and to continue to advocate for their libraries, developing, implementing and evaluating policies and procedures that support teaching and learning in school libraries is essential.