Krysten Fail

Tachina Walker

Part III: School Library Media Center Services Overview

Services:
The media center at Mountain Park Elementary offers a wide variety of services for
teachers, staff, and students. According to the American Association of School Librarians, there
are five primary roles of the librarian. These five roles are leader, instructional partner,
information specialist, teacher, and program administrator. The services offered by the librarian
should align with these five roles. (AASL, 2009)

The librarian offers many services that align with the role of instructional partner.
According to Empowering learners guidelines for school library programs, “The school librarian
collaborates with classroom teachers to develop assignments that are matched to academic
standards and include key critical thinking skills, technology and information literacy skills, and
core social skills and cultural competencies” (AASL, 2009). The librarian at Mountain Park
Elementary School fulfills her responsibilities as an instructional partner in several ways. She
collaborates with teachers to provide lessons that incorporate technology and a variety of
resources. Through her collaboration with classroom teachers, the librarian is able to provide
lessons, resources, and technology to teachers. She is able to pull books and other resources for
teachers as well. She fulfills her role as a teacher through storybook read-aloud, collaborative
lessons with teachers, and teaching a literacy specials class. The role of information specialist is
filled through the librarian’s professional development opportunities for teachers including
support with new technologies. As the program administrator, she maintains inventory of books
and technology that is available for checkout. She also partners with the community to continue
programs such as the Branch Out program in conjunction with the public library. The librarian
fills the role as leader through all things in the library. She maintains a warm and welcoming
environment, offers support for teachers, partners with administration, and partnering with those
in the community.
 The media specialist believes that equitable access to all students is critical. In order to
meet the needs of diverse populations, the county has provided many online resources that are
available to all students. Students and teachers have access to the Online Research Library
through the employee or student portal. The online research library is maintained by the county
and provides resources for students of all ages. Many of these resources provide additional
support for diverse learners including a Spanish translation and read aloud function. At this
point, the media center does not have specific services for students with disabilities.

Circulation policy:
Students and Parents
The circulation policy for students and parents varies depending on the grade-level of the
student. Students in kindergarten are allowed to check out one book at a time and that book must
remain at school. Students in grades first through fifth are allowed to checkout up to two books
at a time and these books may be taken home. Parents are allowed to check out two books at a
time as well. The loan period for fiction and nonfiction books is two weeks. After the initial two
week period, students may renew the book two additional times as long as there are no
hold/requests for the book. This allows students ample time to complete their books. Reference
materials and video/audio tapes are not available for checkout by students. Students are able to
take part in the Take 5 program that is offered at the end of the school year. This program allows
students to check out five books for the summer. Take 5 books are returned at the beginning of
the school year and follow the same protocol for lost or damaged books.
The procedure for recovering late, lost, or damaged books gives students various
opportunities to return books. Books are considered overdue after the initial two week checkout
period. After an additional two weeks, a late notice is provided to the student. This notice is
placed in the teacher’s mailbox to be delivered to students. Books that are more than thirty day
overdue are marked lost. If a student has an overdue or lost book, they are not allowed to check
out more books until the book is returned or the fine is paid. The fine for books that are
considered lost or damaged is $15 for hardcover books and $5 for paperback books.Students do
continue to have access to a selection of books that can be read in the library.

Faculty
 Faculty and staff may check out books, sets of books for classroom assignments, audio
visual materials, magazines, and reference books. Faculty are allowed to check out up to 100
items. The loan period for faculty is 30 days.

Scheduling Policy
The media center utilizes a flexible schedule for an open media center. Flexible
scheduling is a plan that makes the media center resources, services, and facilities accessible to
all students and faculty as the need arises. According to Empowering learners guidelines for
school library programs, “Open access to the school library’s information resources is essential
to student learning” (AASL, 2009). Students and faculty are encouraged to use the library
frequently and ask questions. The library is open for student and faculty use from 7:45AM until
2:35PM.

A schedule is posted using the web tool Team Up. Teachers are able to schedule specific
times to use the library for whole-class book check-out or instruction. Collaboration between
teachers and the library media specialist allows for instruction that correlates with classroom
assignments and district standards. If the teacher would like to collaborate with the media
specialist for a lesson, the teacher will need to contact the media specialist to begin the
collaborative planning process. The media specialist and classroom teacher will team teach
during whole class instruction. If the teacher wishes to just use the library for check-out, nothing
is needed beyond signing up for the time. Teachers can sign-up for recurring time slots for
classroom check-out.

Ethics and Legal Principles

All teachers in the Gwinnett County Public School (GCPS) system sign a yearly
Responsible Use of Electronic Media for Personnel, Intern/Student Teachers, Substitute
Teachers, Volunteers, and Vendors . This agreement outlines the legal and ethical use of
technology by all users of the district-wide network. The policy states that, “All users of the
district wide area network and/or other electronic informational services must maintain strict
compliance with all applicable ethical and legal rules and regulations regarding access”. This
compliance includes copyright law, FERPA, the Children’s Internet Protection Act, and many
others. In order to maintain the confidentiality of students, the policy states that, “At no time
should student names be broadcast or disclosed in unauthorized communications sent outside the
GCPS network.” Communication about students through the GCPS network such as email to
parents is acceptable, while posting information about students to any outside network is not.
Outside websites used for educational purposes must be approved by the county before student
information can be shared. The list of approved websites is shared on the district website.
Teachers are able to submit websites they wish to use and the county ensures they meet privacy
standards. Teachers are provided with information regarding copyright law through a variety of
websites posted to the media center eClass page. These links include Fair Use Evaluator, Quick
Guide to Copyright Laws, and The Copyright Genie. Copyright law is also posted in both room
with copiers and above the media center computer used for printing in color.
 The Responsible Use of Electronic Media agreement for students is outlined in the
Student Handbook provided to students and parents at the beginning of each school year. This
agreement, located on page 24, outlines for students and parents the rules and consequences
pertaining to technology, including the fact that student accounts are not private. The policy
states that, “At NO TIME should a student consider GCPS e-mail, networked applications, or
account or technology access private or confidential in any way”. Teachers, media personnel,
substitutes, student teachers/interns, and volunteers are all tasked consistently monitoring
students’ use of technology to ensure legal and ethical use. This includes lessons on copyright
and correctly citing sources of information.
In accordance with GCPS Selection Policy IFAA, supplementary materials are defined as
any medium or material, print or non-print, designed to supplement the core materials. These
materials must meet the general criteria for materials selection. This selection process is outlined
in the GCPS Instructional Resources Selection document. Teachers are informed about this
policy through the Local School Supplementary Instructional Materials Policy.

Assessment
Overall, the assessment of the MPES media center is that it is on its way to becoming a
21st century library. When looking at the services provided by the Mountain Park Elementary
School Media Center, the services align in aiding the media center carry out their vision and
mission. The mission and vision statements are clear in their purpose of providing students with
access to age-appropriate materials and resources, encouraging creative learning by promoting
student learning, and connection to the community throughout the school year. In providing
these materials and resources, the media center also provides services to keep the mission and
policies of the library.
The library provides students with access to a variety of online resources including the
online research library, library website, and library eClass page. As they are, none of the
resources meet the requirements of a flipped library. Flipped Learning Environments: An
Introduction for Librarians Who Design and Teach defines a flipped library as a library where,
“the student is exposed to the new concept before the class meets” (Green, 2019, p. 12). In the
flipped model, students gain their first interaction with the content before class, have hands-on
experiences during class, and review or extend after class. The eClass page and library website
have the tools and functionality to become the center of a flipped library though. Although
Gwinnett County is a BOYD (Bring Your Own Device) district, the availability of technology at
MPES leads to a decreased need for students to bring their own devices. Students in grades 3-5
have a chromebook checked out to them for the year and classrooms in grades K-2 are provided
with iPads. There are also two computer labs available. At the time, we do not have BYOD days.
When defining a learning commons Hartland states that, “In addition to providing traditional
library services, a learning commons model integrates technological and instructional elements
typically found in other departments outside of the library (2011). According to this definition,
the media center is on its way to becoming a true learning commons. The library provides space
for whole class and small groups and provides students with access to technology. The media
specialist is also able to serve as a resource for teachers trying to implement new technology
including Web2.0 tools such as padlet, flipgrid, and animoto.
The media center provides support for teachers regarding ethics and legal principles. The
links to various websites that explain copyright, privacy, and ethics are posted on the media
center eClass page. Although the media center offers links to resources, a yearly procedure for
reminding teachers of copyright laws is not evident. Attached to the plan is a document that is
being developed by the media specialist to address this issue. The document currently outlines
the procedures for selecting materials and school policies regarding various media. As access to
technology changes to include video streaming services and access to online information, it is
imperative that teachers are provided with yearly training on the copyright laws regarding
information. Teachers are not the only people in the school that need to be informed of the legal
and ethical use of technology. Students are active users of technology and need to understand the
legal and ethical side of that use. Although it is included in the student handbook each year, I feel
that more can be done to ensure their privacy online. According to The Indispensable Librarian,
“As librarians, we must help students be aware of technology issues related to privacy so that
they can both protect their own privacy and honor the privacy of others” (Johnson, 2013).
Overall, the services provided by the Mountain Park Elementary School Media Center
emcompasses countless ways to enhance the students and teachers, as well as providing a space
to occupy other than the classroom. The services provided, ensure that the mission of the media
center is being carried out as well as the vision of the media center. To improve, the media center
should begin to develop an online presence for teachers, students, and parents to access support
and technological resources. The media specialist has voiced a desire to develop the library
website into an interactive hub for students, teachers, and the community including information
on copyright, research tools and support, and recommendations for books. Making this change
would put us one step closer to fulfilling the needs of the 21st century learner.