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Janine Weston

Weston Elementary Library Media Center

Strategic Plan 2002-2007

Step I: Analysis

Understanding Your Company Mission

The Weston Elementary School Library Media Center is a fictitious information organization located in the East Bay of California and run by myself, a part-time certificated Library Media Teacher. Currently, we are below standards in training, funding, and staffing for our school’s size. This is the first strategic plan that has been written for our school library its thirty years of operation; through planning initiatives, we hope to improve the library within our means during the next five years. Overall, our library mission is to provide students, staff, and community members with outstanding resources that will nurture life-long education.

Assess Core Values

In our school library media center we value and support student, teacher, and community needs by:

  • Fostering competence in acquiring, using, and evaluating resources
  • Stimulating interest in reading and appreciation of literature
  • Providing intellectual and physical access to information
  • Collaborating with educators to integrate curriculum (Texas State Library, 1997).

Statement of Goals

Goal 1: Exceptional Resources—Library staff will continuously assess and improve library resources with regard to collection age, current technology, books-per-student ratio, and collection diversity.

Goal 2: Applicable Student Learning—To best support the student curricular needs, the library staff will regularly survey teachers regarding curriculum, special projects, and themes or units of study and make related materials available to students and staff. Class library time will include lessons on acquiring, using, and evaluating resources.
Goal 3: Quantity & Quality of Staff—A sufficient quantity of library staff will be trained regularly through professional growth and development opportunities at the school site and district office.

Goal 4: Community Involvement—The library will encourage parent and community involvement through volunteerism within the library, fundraising, and inclusion on the library committee (FUSD, 2000).

Mission Statement

The mission of the Weston Elementary School Library Media Center is to ensure that students and staff are effective users of ideas and information enabling them to be literate life-long learners. This mission is accomplished, with sufficient funding and resources, by the school library staff, in collaboration with the school community:

  • by providing instruction to foster competence in acquiring and using information and ideas, and in evaluating information resources
  • by stimulating interest in reading and appreciation of literature through group instruction and individual guidance
  • by providing intellectual and physical access to materials in multiple formats
  • by working with other educators to design and carry out learning experiences to meet the needs of individual students (Texas State Library, 1997), (McNamara, 1999).

SWOT Analysis (McNamara, 1999).

STRENGTHS

Internal

  • Flexible scheduling for planning instruction with teachers
  • Wide selection of materials for all interest areas
  • Automated circulation system
  • Internet access in the library
  • Online catalog (Gonzalez, 1996).

External

Support and training for students and staff members in library skills

WEAKNESSES

Internal

  • Lack of school library web presence
  • Not enough volunteer help
  • Have only ten books per student (4,000 books for 400 students)
  • Library facility is too small
  • Struggle to find sufficient funding from year to year

External

  • Rely heavily on volunteer help
  • District-wide training only offered twice per year
  • Dwindling number of library directors. Only one district-level director for forty library media centers.
  • Lack of certified librarians. Media specialists, with a degree in school library media, staff only six out of forty district library media centers. The remaining “technicians” have no training beyond an undergraduate degree.

OPPORTUNITIES
Internal

  • Promoting a school library website
  • Always room for growth and training
  • Develop a library with at least twenty up-to-date, relevant, enticing books per student
  • Continue discarding obsolete materials to make room for the new
  • Provide more hours for library staff or hire another part-timer

External

  • Use of state or regional library databases
  • Workshops, meetings, and support from director of library services on a monthly basis

THREATS

Internal

  • Budget cuts
  • Non-sufficient staffing
  • Shortened library hours would eliminate break time, lunchtime, and before school hours.
  • Rise in spending for “Web-based products”—online subscriptions, software, and other fee-based Web resources.

External

  • Lack of funding, staffing, and training through the district
  • Loss of funding and support for school libraries by the community (Willer, 2002).

Products & Services

Our products and services have grown in the last five years to accommodate the multiple styles of student learning and teaching. We have developed a wide variety of multimedia products for teacher use within the classroom. Our products are kept up-to-date as we slowly increase the amount of spending per student for new materials. The entire collection has been automated with barcodes and all resources may be accessed by our online catalog. We have seen an increase in both materials checked out and library use during non-class time hours. Eighty percent of the collection has been checked out within the last five years.

Products
Each product has been assigned value in dollars and longevity in years:

  • Fiction and non-fiction hardcover books ($18 each; 12 years)
  • Fiction paperback books ($6 each; 6 years)
  • Magazines ($1 each; 1 year)
  • Online article databases ($300 per year; indefinite)
  • VHS and DVD educational videos ($10 each; 15 years)
  • Computer software ($30 each; 10 years)
  • Cassette tapes ($5 each; 10 years)
  • Compact Discs ($10 each; 20 years)
  • TV/VCR/DVD players ($300 each; 10 years)
  • Computer hardware ($500 each; 5 years)
  • Digital Cameras ($200 each; 5 years) (CIL Web Team, 2002).

Services (Kelsey, 2001).

  • Materialscheck in/out (limit: three per week, per student)
  • Read aloud story or book talk
  • 45 minutes of library time per class, per week
  • Online catalog
  • Five computers available with Internet access in library
  • Librarian/teacher instruction on class set of computers in attached computer lab
  • Assistance finding materials on shelves or online
  • Displays of materials for classroom curriculum
  • Integration of text resources and multimedia with curriculum
  • Explanation of library methods during mini lessons
  • Teacher support for web page design and maintenance
  • Open before school, recess, lunch, and after school every day (8 am-3 pm)
  • Library Media Teacher on duty for four hours per day
  • Library Technician on duty for three hours per day (Willer, 2002).

Library Users

Weston Elementary School directly serves students and teachers, while indirectly serving the community. Students and teachers are able to take materials into their homes or classrooms to share the joys of literacy with others. Their excitement for library resources encourages family and friends to visit their local public libraries.

Students

  • There are four hundred students in Kindergarten through sixth grade.
  • They come from families with average incomes for the area and in most households both parents work.
  • Regarding student ethnicity, fifty-one percent of the student population is Hispanic, twenty-four percent is Caucasian, seventeen percent is Asian, three percent is African American, and one percent is Native American or other.
  • Students need library materials and computers to complete homework assignments, science projects, and reports.
  • They are also motivated to check out books that qualify for Accelerated Reader points in classroom competitions for prizes.
  • However, the top reason students use the library is their love of reading; a love that is fostered throughout the school (Willer, 2002).

Teachers

  • There are twenty teachers at Weston Elementary School.
  • Twelve are Caucasian, four are Hispanic, three are Asian, and one is African American.
  • Teachers are able to quickly and easily access library resources that will enhance their classroom curriculum without having to travel to the local district, public, or academic libraries.
  • Our teachers are impressed by the variety of resources we have available, the continual improvement of our collection, and the individual support we provide to assist teachers in providing students with high quality learning tools.
  • Library resources are frequently discussed and recommended between teachers throughout the collaborative workday, increasing the numbers of requests we receive for curriculum-related materials.

Our Competition

Sadly enough, school library media centers face competition. Two information organizations competing with our business are bookstores and public libraries. We lose to these organizations in: materials, building size, and extended hours.

Bookstores

  • Local super bookstores such as Barnes & Noble and Borders have more selection, unlimited numbers of best sellers, no limit on number of books you can obtain, and a wealth of materials on the latest trends, technologies, and topics of interest.
  • However, their products are not free. Being that many of our users come from families of average incomes, excessive spending on books does not usually occur. Our students and teachers will usually only purchase a book that is well loved, not available, or just released from a bookstore.
  • Customer service tends to be of a higher quality, hours are longer, more employees are available for assistance, there are sections devoted to children and teachers, free programs, and there are comfortable places to sit and read.
  • Yet, the bookstore does not yet offer Internet access or individuals trained to help the customer find anything more than a book on the shelf.

Public Libraries

  • Public libraries should not be considered competition to school libraries because we are both fighting for the same cause—freedom to knowledge for everyone, including children.
  • Although public libraries provide a greater quantity of products and services than our school library, it can be harder for children to access their public library if the distance is far enough to require transportation from a parent or guardian.
  • On the other hand, public libraries are open during evening hours when families can make a visit together; through this service, they pick up where we leave off.

Resources of Weston Elementary School Library Media Center

Staff Competencies

Two trained personnel, currently staff our library for seven hours per day, thirty-five hours per week. During the school day there is at least one competent library staff member in the library to oversee volunteer workers:

  • Library Media Teacher has a teaching credential, library media services credential, and Master’s in Library and Information Services; works part-time, four hours per day (8 am to 12:30 pm), twenty hours per week
  • Library Media Technician with a certificate in library services; works part-time, three hours per day (11:30 am to 3 pm), twenty hours per week

Funding Sources & Stability

  • A majority of our funding is provided by a four-year grant for which we applied in 2000.
  • Scholastic Book Fairs, run by parent volunteers, successfully raise money to buy books for our library each year.
  • The district provides funding for expensive on-line services, software licenses, and union cataloging. In addition, a small amount of funding comes through the district from the federal Title VI Program (CIL Web Team, 2002).

Decision Makers

  • I am able to make most decisions as long as the district director of school library services and our school principal approve them (Willer, 2002).

Step II: Formulation of Strategies

Wish List

  • Greater books-per-student ratio (internal)
  • Collection will reflect the cultural diversity of the student body in an increasingly culturally diverse society (external)
  • More parent and community volunteers (external)
  • Larger library media facility (external)
  • More library staff (internal)
  • Longer library hours to include some evening and summer hours (external)
  • Funds to purchase and maintain digital camcorders and LCD Projectors (external)
  • School library website allowing access to the online catalog and search engine links from students’ homes (internal)
  • More professional growth and development training for library personnel during the school year and breaks (internal)
  • Access to state or regional library databases (external)
  • Sufficient funding for library growth from the state, district, and community (external)

Ability to Implement

With funding and leadership assistance from the community, district, and state, the Weston Elementary School Library Media Center will be successful in its quest to implement ideas for improvement through three key strategic initiatives:

  • Library Learning Environment
  • Learning Resources & Curriculum Integration
  • Library Program Management

However, if support for the library is lacking, it will continue to struggle with meager resources until funding and assistance are available. The Weston School Library Committee intends to stay on track with funding requests, spending, and volunteer recruitment as outlined by the 2002-2007 strategic plan (Wisconsin DPI, 2002).

Initiative 1: Library Learning Environment
In an ideal library learning environment, the Weston Elementary School Library Media Center:

  • Is an integral part of the school curriculum (external)
  • Offers flexible, open-access to library resources at the time of need (internal)
  • Provides an active and stimulating atmosphere for information users (external)
  • Is housed in a barrier-free, flexible, functional facility of sufficient size, proportionate to the student population (external)
  • Ensures access to resources and information during and beyond the instructional day and school year (external)
  • Is designed to be attractive and inviting, with room for growth (external)

Actions:

  • Offer barrier-free access at a location designed to permit use before, during, and after the instructional day, and where appropriate, beyond the school year
  • Provide space proportionate to enrollment for students, teachers, and other users to engage in multiple learning experiences, as well as classroom space for direct instruction, conference space for small group study, and space for use of media, computers, and electronic information resources
  • Provide space for a professional collection, planning space for faculty, a secured audiovisual room, office space for librarian(s) and support staff; and wired workroom space with areas for materials processing
  • Provide an appealing, effective environment that is age-appropriate for students and reflective of their interests, the community, and instructional programs
  • Have a lighting management system and an energy management system that ensures a draft-free and comfortable environment that is appropriate for preservation of materials and equipment and includes sufficient electrical outlets to support necessary usage
  • Provide for displays of student work and curriculum-related materials and for faculty and community-produced materials and collections
  • Allow for expansion and remodeling to accommodate a changing information technology environment
  • Have space available that includes, where appropriate, secured entrances and exits with exit-only doors, ergonomic office furniture (desks, chairs), a sink, adjustable areas (shelving, etc.), cabinets, electrical outlets and dataports as necessary (phone, fax, telecommunications, etc.), and appropriate storage and production areas
  • Provide access to national, state, district-wide, and local electronic information sources through digital drops and cable and fiber optic capabilities for library functions (circulation, catalogs, and telecommunications) and networked resources (Texas State Library, 1997).

Initiative 2: Learning Resources & Curriculum Integration
Through model learning resources and curriculum Integration, the Weston Elementary School Library Media Center:

  • Provides relevant, meaningful instruction based on multiple resources (external)
  • Applies an information problem-solving process to curriculum-related learning objectives (external)
  • Encourages and provides opportunities for collaborative planning and teaching by librarians and teachers (external)
  • Stimulates students to be active and independent learners (external)
  • Offers education, training, and guidance to students and staff in the use of information technology resources (external)
  • Encourages the production of appropriate products, including multimedia presentations (external)
  • Works with individuals and groups as determined by student need (external)
  • Offers a balance of print, multimedia, and electronic resources based on district-adopted, board-approved selection policies (internal)
  • Develops and maintains a balanced collection based on curriculum and user needs, proportionate to student population and special programs (internal)
  • Provides access to state-of-the-art technology (internal)
  • Offers access to resources via world-wide networks (internal)
  • Reflects a diverse community (internal) (Kelsey, 2001).

Actions:

  • Collaborate with teachers through formal planning sessions to develop, implement, and evaluate learning experiences in a flexibly-scheduled environment, and to teach problem-solving process models and literature appreciation
  • Engage, direct, and encourage students, individually and in groups, in extensive problem-driven research; in the application of information to solve problems; in the process of building on previous learning; and in the use of technology to locate, gather, select, synthesize, and evaluate relevant information
  • Provide a balanced collection of at least 8,000 books, software, and electronic resources
  • Offer real time access to the Internet, electronic databases, and full participation in statewide information sharing projects
  • Provide at least 45 periodical subscriptions for students and staff
  • Offer access to a full text periodical database
  • Provide students and staff with one local and at least one state or national news source, and access to a full text news database (Texas State Library, 1997).

Initiative 3: Library Program Management