Virtual School
Library Media Center Management Manual
by
Marjorie L. Pappas
Marjorie L. Pappas, Ph.
D., is an Associate Professor at the School Library and Information Technology
Online Learning, Mansfield University of
Pennsylvania. E-mail: mpappas@mansfield.edu
School library media specialists often post
messages on LM_NET and other state listservs I monitor, requesting examples of
information that I used to maintain in a management manual when I was a school
library media specialist. I started my manual when I was a student in the
organization and administration course we all take in library science programs
and I kept it current with information gleaned from conferences, workshops, and
networking with other school library media specialists. Manuals are easier to
maintain today because of networking through listservs and the Internet. In
thinking about the requests for information related to policies, job descriptions,
cataloging, resource acquisition, etc., I decided a virtual version of this
traditional paper manual might be an interesting and useful concept.
Setting Up My Virtual Manual
My concept of virtual is paperless. Virtual
manuals can be maintained without the challenge of adding pages and adjusting
page numbers. Virtual manuals can include hyperlinks to information located on
the Web. Before starting the development of my manual, I thought about who
might access the manual besides the school library media specialist. Library
assistants, volunteers, and, occasionally, substitutes should all be able to
access this manual. Also, the library media specialist should be able to access
the manual when working at home. The best way to achieve that flexibility is to
post the manual on the library media center's website or on the school's
network, assuming the network is Internet accessible. If a library media center
website or network is not available, the concept is still feasible, but a
little more challenging, because new versions would need to be loaded on
separate computers. Once this decision has been made, the next step is to scan
and/or key-in the existing information related to the specific library media
center. Following are sections and weblinks to include.
Policies
Some policies need to be written to fit the
unique needs of a specific library media center, for example, circulation
policies that establish the time periods books circulate and the cost for
replacing lost books. Other policies, like copyright, are based on federal
legislation. Links to Web-based copyright information will be useful to
supplement local policies.
Policy weblinks:
·
Complete Copyright. ALA. A collection of documents related to
copyright issues and libraries on the American Library Association website.
Carlisle Place Free Union
School District; Carlisle Place, New York. An example of a comprehensive
acceptable use policy for computer and Internet use by students and faculty.
Margaret Lincoln. Lakeview
High School Library. A concise chart of copyright guidelines for schools.
The School Board of Broward
County, Florida.
PDF.
Mesa County Valley School
District 51; Grand Junction, Colorado. A comprehensive collection of policies
for school library media centers.
Personnel
The school library media specialist's job
description should be posted, but it also would be useful to link to job
descriptions for student and parent volunteers. The Web provides examples of
job descriptions for this section.
Examples of job descriptions:
·
Certified
School Librarians: Duties and Responsibilities.School District of
Philadelphia, 1991. Includes administrative and educational functions.
·
Job
Description: Library Clerk. The School Board of Broward County,
Florida.
·
Job
Description: Media Specialist . The School Board of Broward County,
Florida.
·
Librarian
and Media Staff Job Descriptions. Chris Smith. Shambles. A
collection of job descriptions for school library media center positions.
·
Media Assistant Interview Rubric.
Mindy Doler. Lawrence High School; Lawrence, Kansas.
Collection Development and Acquisitions
The purchase of resources and technology for
the library requires access to information about producers and jobbers.
Useful websites:
·
Acquisitions,
Collection Maintenance and Electronic Access . Della Curtis.
Baltimore County Public Schools, Maryland. Includes sample policies,
procedures, and resources.
·
AcqWEB. Publisher
and vendor information.
·
The Librarian's
Yellow Pages. Publisher, periodical, jobber, and vendor links.
·
School Library
Collection Development. Media Services @ your library. Department of
Educational and Administrative Technology. Fayette County Public Schools;
Lexington, Kentucky. Includes guidelines for selection and purchasing of
resources, hardware, and technology.
Forms
Examples can help school library media
specialists develop the forms for use in the library media center. This is a
section that can be developed over time.
Examples of forms:
·
Audio
Visual Review Committee Report. Learning Resources Department,
Broward County Public Schools, Florida.
·
Collaborative Planning. Indiana
Learns. Office of Learning Resources, Indiana Department of
Education. A collection of forms to enable collaboration between classroom
teachers and school library media specialists.
·
Elementary
Library Services. Charlotte Lesser. Monadnack Regional School
District, 2004. A collection of forms including supply order list, teacher
request form, end-of-year library media center closing checklist, etc.
·
Full-length
Feature Films to be Used for Classroom Instruction. Learning
Resources Department, Broward County Public Schools, Florida.
·
Faculty
Recommendation for Library Materials. Baltimore County Public
Schools, Maryland.
·
Library Monthly
Update. PDF. Kevin Finkle. Baltimore County Public Schools,
Maryland. Form to gather information from teachers about future units and
lessons.
·
Teacher/Librarian
Collaborative Unit: Planning. DOC. School District of Texas.
District Portal as Manuals
School library media services in larger
school districts have developed excellent portal pages. These portals provide
school library media specialists with both instructional and management
resources and tools.
Examples of portals:
·
Indiana Learns. Office
of Learning Resources, Indiana Department of Education. This website was
developed as a companion to the book Indiana Learns by David Loertscher with
Connie Champlin (Stenhouse Publishers, 2002).
·
Maine School Libraries Facilities
Handbook. Maine Association of School Libraries. Comprehensive
guidelines for managing a school library media center.
These virtual manuals and portals enable
parents, community members, and other school library professionals to view how
school library media specialists manage media centers and teach students to gather
and use information. Now all we need is a portal page to the portals.
Disaster Preparedness plans
Example of plans:
·
Disaster Preparedness
Plan - William Madison Randall Library Disaster Preparedness Plan.
