Calling All Volunteers

Here it is July 31.  School is fast approaching.  Many parents have mixed emotions about the school year beginning and will deeply miss the summer's opportunity to spend extra time with their kids.  Other parents haven't had the opportunity to be home with their kids this summer and will be grateful to get their kids back into "routine."  All parents want to stay connected with their children, and regardless of work schedule, volunteer opportunities allow parents to be a part of their children's school community.

There are many ways a parent could help in the library.  Here are a few, but I am sure past volunteers could point out many needs that I may overlook:

• Shelving returned materials is the least glamorous and most necessary job in the library.  Just like dirty dishes and laundry, books don't shelve themselves.  I could conceivably use a parent volunteer every morning or afternoon.
• Preparing date due cards is an activity parents could do on weekends or evenings at home.  Each school day requires a new set of cards, so this is needed from the beginning of school until mid-April, when we usually have enough prepared to finish the school year.
• Running the circulation desk.  Parents could check in and check out materials to students while I engage in other tasks- helping students find materials, teaching, cataloging, consulting with administrators or other teachers, breakfast duty, lunch duty, planning.  It would be wonderful if our library could be open from 8:30 to 3:20 each day without closure for any reason.  Volunteers are needed for this to happen.
• Covering new books.  I have been a librarian for 30+ years and still cannot put on a decent book cover.  If you are a precise person who enjoys crafty-type activities, this job could be for you.
• Labeling the picture book and fiction sections for Reading Counts.  Sadly, after at least 5 years of using Reading Counts, the fiction and picture book sections have not been labeled.  
• Creating seasonal or theme-based library displays. Kids always want books about holidays or certain sports.  Displays help the children access books and also create interest.
• Helping on Open Library Nights. This year I would like to bring back open library night and expand its scope to include STEAM activities, book clubs and preschool storytimes.  I cannot do this without help. 
• Volunteering with the Book Fairs.  There are many opportunities to help during the book fair.  We always need help when the kindergarten through second grade students are making their wish lists.  In addition, we need at least three helpers every morning, and usually one or two after school and during open evenings.  Help is needed to prepare for the fair, readying materials to send home to parents.  Setup and tear down help is also needed.
• Being my teacher helper.  I very seldom use "seat work" when teaching skills classes.  Most of the skills lessons involve location or using laptops to find information in the library database and then using that information in some purposeful way.  Extra hands are always nice.  Teacher helpers can prepare materials, too.

I am excited for this school year and am looking forward to seeing you and your children soon.  I hope there will be a volunteer opportunity that is right for you, but regardless, I look forward to working with you to make your child's school year the very best!

To contact me, you can email me at lsmartin@k12.wv.us or call or text me at (304) 873-6452.  I will respond as soon as possible.

What You Probably Don't Know About Me

This blog serves as a forum for some of my communication with parents concerning our library.  For the most part the writings have focused only on our school library, as they should.  Today, however, I want to tell you about me.

I am a militant.
I am a militant about school libraries.

And here is why.

There is a lack of information and understanding about what school libraries can be and what school librarians SHOULD be doing.  Most of us tend to equate school libraries with books and story times, quiet and overdue books.  Most of use think of librarians as the keepers of the books, who are more than a little obsessed with keeping things neat.  These visions are not necessarily untrue, but there is a great deal missing.  

Future Ready Schools, in conjunction with many leading education think tanks, has developed the term Future Ready Librarians.  The idea is that school librarians are poised to lead the digital transformation in schools.  I am very thankful for this national acknowledgement of the roles we can play, because frankly, being a militant is tiring.

The graphic above outlines the capacities that Future Ready School envision the School Librarian as we transition to digital learning.  Frankly, the only thing in this graphic that I have no control over is the infrastructure.  The rest I have been doing for years.

For years.

That's the point.  Any school librarian worth her or his salary has been ahead of this curve for years.  Now, hopefully the rest of the academic world is looking beyond the stereotypes, positive or negative, to see the real, and mostly untapped, value of school librarians.

We have many specialists throughout West Virginia Schools, and I am not saying they are not needed.  School librarians, however, are often prepared to do the jobs of many.  Yet school librarians are the ones whose jobs will be cut if push comes to shove.  Here is a graphic I created that illustrates some of the jobs descriptions and responsibilities of academic coaches, school library media specialists, and technology integration specialists.

As you can see, there is a great deal of overlap.  The School Librarian covers most of the ground in each job description, although I admit it is not all inclusive.  I welcome suggestions for edits!

I was a Technology Integration Specialist before the term was invented.  I have chosen to stay ahead of the curve in technology, because I firmly believe "It is all technology."  Formats differ, but functions are what is important.

I may not consider myself an Academic Coach, per se, but I have been suggesting strategies to my colleagues for years.  And I am the only teacher in a school of phenomenal teachers, that is National Board Certified.

But most people, -parents, students, administrators, and coworkers - may not know that.  Hopefully now more do.

But about my militancy.  You don't know the things I do on a state and national level to advance the role of the school library and school library media specialist.  I:

• Founded and run a national group to help other school library media specialists achieve National Board Teacher Certification;
• Created and moderate Facebook and Yammer groups for state school library media specialists to share best practices and stay abreast of national initiatives;
• Served as chair of the School Library Division of the West Virginia Library Association;
• Write in other forums for teachers, administrators, and educational thought leaders;
• Lobby the West Virginia Legislature to ensure every child in West Virginia has access to a school library and a certified, knowledgeable school librarian.
• Provide professional development to anyone who will listen.

You didn't know this about me, because it has nothing to do with our relationship.  I am telling you this now not for my own self-aggrandizement, but because I truly believe that school libraries and school librarians are important to the whole education of your child.  I want to see us thrive, grow, and evolve to meet your children's and your grandchildren's needs.

Now that you now these things about me, I hope you will be an advocate for all that school libraries can be for your children.  Next time someone mentions school libraries and the need for school librarians, you can refer them to my graphic below. I am very proud of what I do, and it is a pleasure serving you.

A Behind the Scenes Look

Don't think I am complaining, because I really love this stuff.  I just want to give you a little snapshot of some of the "behind the scenes" activities that occur or need to occur to keep the library running efficiently.  A lot of these activities need to wait until summer, simply because I don't have time or won't take time to do them during the school day.

What I have done so far.

The picture to the right represents books that I have relabeled or recataloged so far this summer.  Labels fall off or are picked off, and often need to be replaced.  While the process is not hard, it is time consuming. It involves these steps:

1. Verify the proper call number;
2. Find a preprinted call number that matches the book ( I usually have a folder of these preprinted, just in case, or
3. Add the copy to a print list in Destiny and printing the needed labels..
4. Apply the label.
5. Apply the color-code label atop the call label (i,e., green for easy reading; purple for picture books.)
6. Tape everything down well.
7. Reshelve.

Recataloging requires an extra step or two and is sometimes necessary when the original cataloging is incorrect or no longer meets the needs of the children who are using the books.  An example of this might be a series of books written by different authors, like Scooby-Doo or Batman.  Rather than shelve these books by the author's last name, the books will be shelved under the series name.  It just makes more sense than sending a kid all over the library to look for more in the series at this particular age.  Maybe for all ages.  We should be convenient.

Deciding to recatalog is a decision that only I will make for our library, although I certainly accept input if someone, adult or child, thinks something is wrong.  Once I make the decision to recatalog, I can train volunteers to do the actual data entry to make the reclass happen.  Once books are reclassified, volunteers can follow the steps above to correctly label the book and get it ready for the kids.

Most of the books that are purchased for the library are pre-cataloged.  This means that the computer record (bibliographic MARC record) for the book is provided by the vendor, and that the information for the specific book is attached.  The books come with barcode labels and call labels in place.  In this case, my steps include downloading the MARC records and importing it into the Destiny database;
correcting any incorrect cataloging; stamping the new books; and applying a card pocket and Reading Counts label, if applicable.

The most time-consuming scenario involves books that are purchased from the book fairs or from donations.  Sometimes I am able to find records for these books;  sometimes other records can be tweaked to work, but sometimes original cataloging is needed.  This is an involved process, if done properly.  It means completely as much of a MARC record, as shone at right, as possible.  Once the record is complete and the copy is added, labels can be printed. Complete processing includes checking for Reading Counts quizzes, added card pockets, stamping new books, applying section labels, and putting protective Mylar covers on the books.  When it is all said and done, processing one new book can take as long as 40 minutes.

So that is the long and short of maintaining a collection.  I am super-picky now as we are preparing to move into a new library in another year.  Taking time to fix these issues now will make for a smoother transition when the time come.

I Believe in My Profession

Relevance is a big word in education these days.  We wonder how relevant our curriculum is to our students' lives.  We wonder how relevant what we teach today will be to our students in adulthood.  We wonder if the skills employers are demanding us to develop in our children today will actually be relevant when they are in the workforce.

There are those who might question the relevance of a school librarian in today's day and age.  In fact, many school districts have eliminated librarians in favor of volunteers running their libraries.  After all, all librarians do is check out books, right?

I suppose in some cases this could be true.  I have known the librarian who feels safe in her fiefdom, sheltered from the reality of today's education environment.  These are the people who enter the profession because "they love to read" or because "the library is so quiet."  They are totally unprepared to be a school librarian.  They give the rest of us a bad name.

In economic downturns, "they" threaten the existence of "us" and the good work we do.

The School Librarian, or school library media specialist, has a lot to offer her school community.  She serves on committees that makes key decisions; she stays current on curriculum trends and provides professional development opportunities for her faculty and district.  She creates her own professional development opportunities to stay ahead of the demands of her job and to help the teachers with changes as they come.  She builds relationships with her teachers, students, administators and parents and is a visible, positive presence for her school and her profession in the community.

The school librarian serves as an instructional partner to her colleagues.  Whether she is coteaching alongside her colleagues or actively developing lessons and providing materials and assessments for learning activities, she is in the trenches.  She learns as much as she can about her faculties' teaching contexts and how she can support them.  She ascertains that the library's collection meets the needs of the faculty, as well as those of the students.

As an information specialist the school librarian creates virtual learning resources for her community.  She ensures that 24/7 access to information - and the school librarian herself -is available. She maintains a webpage, writes or blogs, collects electronic media for students' use.  She communicates the availability of information sources to parents, teachers, and students alike. She finds new ways to bridge information and service gaps.

The school librarian is a teacher in her own right.  She has a curriculum to be delivered to her students and abides by standards set by the American Association of School Librarians and the West Virginia Department of Education.  Her job is to teach information literacy as well as literature appreciation.  Sometimes we are asked to teach out of our subject areas as well.  We are master teachers and approach these responsibilities with aplomb.

Finally, we are program administrators.  We market our services, we attend to the day-to-day operations of the library, we supervise volunteers.  We develop long-term plans that illustrates the library's role in the school's mission. We carefully select materials so that our children get the best resources.  We carefully plan our budgets so that all groups and needs are represented. We plan reading incentive programs and contests.  We advocate for our programs. And yes, we check out, check in and shelve books.

I believe in my profession and am very proud to be a school librarian.  I do not always live up to the tenets and standards described above, but it is my goal to do my very best and to uphold the values of my profession in the most positive light.  When I fail to live up to these values, I must be held accountable.

My five year plan for our library is slated to be finished in August.  I will post it on this blog so that all parents and teachers can see my vision.  Changes and suggestions are welcome, because my goal is to be relevant to my users.

What Should an Administrator  Expect a School Library Media Specialist to Be?

Our STEAM Adventure

This week I had the opportunity to teach three of the five days at Brookhaven's STEAM Camp.  I wish I had taken the opportunity to work the first two days.  These kids were absolutely AWESOME.

AWESOME was a theme in NASA Education Specialist Jesse White's presentation today.  In addition to teaching the finer points of rocketry to these rising 3rd through 5th graders, he inspired the students to develop passions and work to achieve their goals.  He stated that being successful did not necessarily mean being the smartest person in the class but did depend greatly on ethics and the ability to persist when things don't necessarily go one's way.

The rocket assembly and launch today was wonderful.  I am certainly looking forward to the Dominion Post's coverage of this event.

Throughout the week, the kids had visits from Carnegie Science, SPARK, the Morgantown High Robotics Team (which gained very high marks from the teachers), Omni Associates, and NASA.  The children interviewed had very high praises for the camp, which had a consistent attendance in the 30s every day.

In the words of rising third grader Brandon, "This was the best camp ever!"

I can't wait to get that Makerspace in the new library!

Go for the Gold at the Library This Summer

Three Weeks of Olympic-Sized Fun Await During Summer SnowFlakes!

This July, join two extraordinary Brookhaven teachers as they host the library's Summer Snowflakes program.  Susan Culpepper and Sherri Pisegna have devised wonderful activities for our students.  

No Registration

No Cost

BIG FUN!

Here is a list of the Summer Snowflake activities, including a visit from a real Olympian!

Twenty Years...and Counting

It is pretty amazing to me that I just completed my 20th year at Brookhaven Elementary.  Never have I stayed in a job this long. I think it is safe to say I have found a professional home!

Many changes have occurred to both the library and the librarian in the past twenty years.  For starters,while certified to teach elementary library, most of my experience was secondary and public.  Really, I knew very little about elementary school students or curriculum, but I did know that I could learn just about everything I needed to know by watching the fantastic teachers at this school. I can honestly say that I still learn something every day from Sherri Pisegna, Christy Lillard, and others who have been with me throughout this journey.

The library was only two years old when I started in 1996, but actually it had been used less than a year.  Mr. Collins, the principal, gave Mrs. Goodin ample time to set up the library.  She did a meticulous job, and I came along and changed everything. I have probably made a dozen changes to the physical layout of the library before I settled on its current configuration.  One of the best things I did early on was to identify "easy readers" and to create a separate Easy Reader section.  This section was specifically geared to the needs of the  second grade teachers, who were and continue to be focused on their students reading developmentally appropriate books.  This quickly became the most used section of the library.

In 1996 the Follett Library Management System was just on step above DOS --black screen with white characters.  The library workstations were running Windows 3.1, and teachers had a very archaic bulletin board-style email.  Not that many people used email. The five people who did use email became the school tech leaders.  The school lab was equipped with a learning management system that booted from floppy disks. By the year 2000, all of this had changed, upgraded to new machines running Windows 2000.  We were making progress, ready to implement "21st Century Skills."

Mr. Collins was a completely supportive principal.  He allowed me to develop and implement my vision for the library, and he gave me the money to back it up.  With his help we initiated Accelerated Reader in 1998.  Any extra money he had in any of his accounts were funneled into the library, largely into the Accelerated Reader program.  The collection expanded greatly under Mr. Collins's watch.

Mr. Collins also allowed me to change the scheduling from fixed to flexible.  He cautioned me that he did not want to hear from teachers that I was sitting in the library reading magazines.  I assured him that if used correctly, I would be busier than ever.  Sure, there might be times (and there were) when no students were there, but there would also be times when there were 50 (and there were).  The idea is that the library would be available when the students needed it.  Within a year the library circulation jumped from around 12,000 to 20,000+.  Accelerated Reader data verified that students were reading more.  These were gratifying statistics to me.

Mr. Collins retired in 2005 and was replaced by Mrs. Patty Benedum, a woman who was largely responsible for the formation of elementary libraries in Monongalia County.  This should have been the perfect scenario for a school librarian, but other factors limited this potential.  Patty came to our school with her own vision of how things should be run; our faculty was reeling over the loss of  Mr. Collins.  Her vision collided with our grief, and things did not work out as well as the might have under better circumstances.  Patty left in December for a coordinator's position in the county office.  Davene Burks replaced her until the end of the year, when Joe Newcome became our principal.

I simply loved Joe.  He supported my vision for the library completely.  Under Joe's direction, I implemented Open Library Night and Writers Club.  We bought new library furniture that provided great warmth to the library. Under Joe's watch I received my Technology Integration Specialist endorsement and worked on National Board Certification.  These were very important years for me in terms of professional growth.

Davene Burks became principal when Joe retired in 2009.  Her support has allowed the library to complete the furniture acquisition started by Joe and included the rearrangement of the library to make room for a comfy reading area.  When Davene told me about the proposed new school, I quickly began to make drawings of the new library.  At last my vision for an integrated, hands-on library collection would come to fruition!

The picture at left is a rendering of my vision 

for the new library:  three distinct areas that 

could potentially accommodate three classes

at one time.

Mrs. Burks facilitated the meeting with the

architects, who took my rendering and greatly 

improved upon it.  The final product flipped my

vision and added features of an aesthetic nature 

that the kids would love.  I am greatly looking 

forward to working my final year before 

retirement in this new library.

The collection has changed greatly since 1996.  Now, a wide range of digital media expands the library

beyond the school walls.  Students can access many of our resources at home.  With the addition of 

Chromebooks for every student in grades three to five next year, students will be even better equipt 

to use our digital resources.  Information literacy instruction will be much easier to achieve when each

child has a Chromebook.

The future of our library is exciting!  I want to thank everyone who had a hand in getting the program

 to where it is and those who will help carry it into the future.

What a Year!

What a Year!

As I am sure many of you know, this year has been a challenge for me.  With family illnesses, two deaths, and then my own illness, it definitely feels like I have been away from school more than I have been present.  Thank heavens for wonderful substitutes who have been taking good care of the library and your kids in my absence.

Despite everything, there are many things I am pleased about this school year. For one, Mrs. Davis and I made great strides in our digital citizenship program.  All fourth and fifth graders have Office 365 accounts.  Our priority next year is ensuring that the fourth graders get in to their accounts early in the school year and that we are able to use it with them frequently throughout the year.

Fifth grade account information will be sent to South.

We had three active clubs in the library this year. Fourth and fifth graders came to the library during their lunch times to read Scat and Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone.  At the request of several boys, a sports discussion group was formed.  Each group had about 24 students and met 1 to 2 times per week from December through April.

During the PLC rotation at the end of the end, I taught health and cyber safety to 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders.  These lessons culminated with the health fair which was held May 27.

As I am sure you might imagine, I have great plans for the new library.  I will be spending my summer scheming and dreaming about the new space, as well as writing my program outline for next year. 

The chart at right is a snapshot of the numbers of books our children have checked out this year.