Saturday, December 1, 2012

Regina's Policies and Manual Project Fall 2012 LIS5240


LU
School Library Media Activities Monthly
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MANAGEMENT MATTERS
VOLUME XXI, NUMBER 5/JANUARY 2005
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.  Copyright advisory office Columbia university libraries/information services
·         Computer Network/Internet Use Agreement. PDF.Hannibal school District computer/internet usage agreement.
·          An example of a comprehensive acceptable use policy for computer and Internet use by students and faculty. <http://www.lucascubs.org/FILES/AUP.pdf >
·         Copyright Basics and the Internet.   University of New Hampshire School of  Law IP Basics: copyright on the internet- Prof. Thomas Field, Jr.

< http://www.cusys.edu/ip/copyright/downloads/Quick-Ref-Chart.pdg > chart of copyright guidelines for schools.

Library circulation guidelines from Library Services Best Practice Guidelines.
·          School Libraries Policies and Procedures.  Oneida/Herkimer School Library System Procedure Manual
·         Lamar County School Library Media Center Policies and Procedures < http://www.alex.state.al.us/librarymedia/Lamar%20County%20Library%20Media%20Policy1.pdf >
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.  Librarian Duties and Responsibilities, Office of Library Information Services: Baltimore Co. Public Schools
·         Job Description: Library Clerk.   University of Phoenix: E How Money site from Demand Media, Inc. Job Description for Library Clerk by Kelly Taylor
·         Job Description: Media Specialist .  Norman Public Schools Library Media Program Procedures Manual, job description
·         Librarian and Media Staff Job Descriptions.   Idaho State Department of Education:  School Librarians Information Manual
·         Media Assistant Interview Rubric.   Human Resources Hrvinet Library Assistant Interview Questions.
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 .  International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions, by Sharon Johnson
·         School Librarians Directory  Resources for School Librarians: Publishers and Vendors; by Linda Bertland
·         The Librarian's Yellow Pages. Publisher, periodical, jobber, and vendor links.
·         School Library Collection Development.  School Library Collection Development Policies: Directory of Books and Websites; Follett Library Resources
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.  Charlotte County Public Schools
·         Collaborative Planning. Indiana Learns.  Educational Broadcasting Corporation: Concept to Classroom
·         Elementary Library Services.   Hartford County Public Schools, forms, request from teachers…
·         Full-length Feature Films to be Used for Classroom Instruction. Policy 3200 Regulation: Dare County Schools Film use.
·         Faculty Recommendation for Library Materials.  Tucson Unified School District Form for Teacher Material needs
·         Library Monthly Update  W. Walworth Harrison Public Library Teacher Materials Request form
·         Teacher/Librarian Collaborative Unit: Planning.  Document Stock collaborative planning units
·          Disaster Preparedness Plan   American Library Association Disaster Preparedness Policy For Library
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:
·         Resource Handbook for School Librarians    Maine Association of School Libraries Handbook
·         Baltimore Guidelines Library Management Baltimore County Public Schools Offices 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.
·         JANUARY 2005
·         SEPTEMBER 2002



6 comments:

  1. Regina,
    One part of your manual project that I searched through was the School Librarians Directory by Bertrand. Looking at all of the vendors for school librarians is overwhelming! How do you know which one to use? Do different vendors specialize in different types of sources? Age groups? I really have no idea. Can anybody out there enlighten me?

    I also wanted to let you know I had a little bit of trouble reading the copy/pasted information on your blog. Because of the color of your blog and the highlighted color of the pasted text, I could not quite make out the original parts of the manual. Maybe you could highlight it and provide a different ink color? Just an idea!
    Thanks for your posting!
    Heather

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  2. Heather, I will work on the color. I had trouble making it copy and paste. I felt lucky to get it there at all.
    In most cases the vendors contents are listed on their pages. I simply go through and check for my grade levels and then move on to the next. From being in the library for 4 years I have my favorites that I use yearly.

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    Replies
    1. Something that I've learned to do when I'm experiencing formatting issues when pasting web content from one area to another is to first paste it into Notepad (assuming that you're using Windows), then copy the text that you just pasted into Notepad, and finally paste where you want it to go (e.g. your blog post). This will take away all of the initial formatting of the text, and you should be able to format it whichever way that you please (e.g. changing the font type, size, and/or color) without meeting any unexpected challenges. Please let me know if there's any way that I can help you out!

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  3. Jeannie,
    Sorry I led you astray in the beginning! I thought that Wiki if you signed up for an educators account would let you link, well that is what it said anyway. I really liked the form that TUSD use for faculty recommendations!
    Great job!
    Dixie

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  4. Great job, Jeanie! The MASL handbook looks like it will be a super-useful tool to refer back to in the future.

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  5. The Columbia guide to copyright is nicely comprehensive. I wasn't familiar with this site. We should all pay particular attention to the section on library and copyright.

    I'm not sure where the Library Guidelines Circulation is from but I hope no schools are charging 25¢ a day for overdues. I have reservations about fines period but 25¢ a day is pretty hard to justify in today's age of high information bandwidth.

    The IFLA acquisitions document is a great find. This is the kind of thing that all school librarians ought to consider in their manual.

    The Follett collection of collection development policies has one from Missouri - from the Lindbergh School District -- who seems to always be on top of things.

    The Baltimore portal is really excellent.

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