Linda Hollinger Assignment 16 Practicing School Library Program Evaluation 

Linda Hollinger Assignment 16 Practicing School Library Program Evaluation

     The following is an evaluation of a library media center in the areas of administration, faculty recommendations, and facilities. The purpose of the evaluation is to assess the management and the facilities of the library media center. After printing out the Library Media Program Administrative Evaluation Form on page 32-39 of the Alabama's School Library Media Handbook for the 21st Century Learner, I must state that this library can be evaluated as advanced.

     First, as a future librarian, I went to seek out suggestions and or input from the school library media specialist. I expressed to the librarian that this was just an assignment so she would not freak out. I emphasize to her that this is a learning exercise for me, not a personal evaluation of her and that the name of the school or the library media specialist will not appear in my report. After this explanation, we talked about all of the different types of workshops that the librarians attended in the last year. She mentioned that the online and the webinar secessions were the best for professional development process because it cut down on traveling far away to other places during the school hours. She also mentioned the different seminars for the summer and how they provide an ongoing professional development. She added that sometimes it seems as somewhat of a small vacation. I thought this was great.

     Secondly, in preparing this evaluation, I gathered the following on the administration of the library media center. While I was waiting for the interview, I sent an e-mailed and asked the supervisor of the county if the librarian was someone I could use as a mentor. He made strong positive remarks and recommendations about this librarian. He stated that she is a strong disciplinarian and educated leader. Also, I walked over to the professional area in the library work room and asked a couple of teachers about the librarian and they said that she takes very good care of all of the teachers. They said that she tries to give all of them some type of encouraging gift or advise when they need it. They also mention that this librarian is a newlywed after being a single parent for many years. After waiting, I got a chance to visit the librarian and she stated that there are many things that the library still needs to continue to be advanced, not to say exemplary in the 21^st century.  I notice that his librarian works alone and has been working as a certified librarian for fourteen years. Also, the librarian stated that there is flexible scheduling and three blocked classes each day. Within these three blocks, a teacher aide always assists the classes. She said this is a great help for this type of situation. I must state, that this type of collaboration has worked to an advantage for this library. In funding, she said she receives library enhancement funds each year, and several grants. She mentioned that this helps her with different material purchases for the technology equipment, maintenance, and upgrades.  Farther, she stated that her library advisory committee works corporately in her school. To add, she said that she works with them each year to make sure the library collection meets curriculum needs, and majority of the guidelines of the district policies and procedures. She stated that this year has put a damper on things because of the cut back in the school budget. She stated that there are many things she would like to accomplish such as having enough funds to help the disadvantage students and their parents with the transportation to get students home if they could stay for the after school program. She said that there are some students that need extra help to become well rounded in their education. Finally, I asked her about evaluation. She said that each year contains purpose for evaluation through planning, annual report to advisory committee, administration, critical needs, and self evaluation. She named the following evaluation instruments as part of her library encounters to be the PEPE, District form by supervisor, SAC, Faculty/Student Survey, and the Self Evaluation. She stated that these form can be down loaded form the county website, found in the principal’s office, and can be located on file in the library. After talking with the librarian, I got a chance to watch her in a disciplinary situation when a little boy started hiding under a table. She went to him and asked if he wanted to spend his library visit in a time out. She talked to him about the library rules. The expression she had on her face said what she needed to say without a lot of words. It was very unique.

   Thirdly, the library media center facility is a great place to learn. The center is very colorful with the right amount light and air exposures. It is centered in the school where all the classes have access through several entrances. I saw a small stage with a beautiful blue curtain where students, teachers, and librarian could become characters and act out a play from a book they might study. Also, there is appropriate shelving where the K5 through 2^nd grades students could view the different sections of the displays and books. I notice that for many of the displays there were little stuffed animals to represent a character of the book. For example, I saw a red dog that represented, “Clifford the Big Red Dog.” I really liked how the library building had an entrance door in the back, close to the morning drop off for car riders. It is great because it provides easy access for students that are early for school to have a safe place to stay if the parents are early workers. In addition, the library facilities are exceptional and there are several storages for books, videos, and other materials. The librarian told me she would like to have more computers for the library so all the students could work on the same lesson at once. I stated that this would be great.

     Finally, in reflecting on each of the sections, I found much of the criteria intact with the policies and procedures for the library media center administration, faculty recommendation, and facilities to meet the level of advanced. In my opinion it meets this level because of the stated needs of the librarian. We discussed as recommendations that we would continue to participate in as many professional development activities as possible to stay on top of our librarian game. As stated previously, some of the critical things needed for the library media center to become exemplary for the future were that the librarian needed an assistant, extra financial help for disadvantage students, more computers/technology, and a continued training for professional development. Lastly, a comment was made about the economic disaster, in regards to the financial situation of this library. It was said that we might be waiting for advancement in the area of additional money this year.