Task 12 LIBE 461

School Profile
School Y is a medium size school with 750 students from grades 8-12. It is located in a lower socio-economic area with a higher percentage of single parents than other catchments. While we have a fairly low ESL population, School Y has a number of families that have immigrated to Canada under difficult circumstances. School Y has a graduation rate of 94%, which is slightly lower than the 96% overall rate of the district, and about 9% of our graduates attend University. Academic success is important at school Y, but there are a number of clubs and school traditions that place great importance on social responsibility and community involvement. School sports teams at School Y have had great success in recent years; placing more teams that ever at Provincial Championship Tournaments. The SRLC has gone through a major change in the past year, having lost its longtime school Librarian through retirement. While the loss of a great teacher has taken some getting used to, it has also provided the opportunity to make changes and implement new ideas to the SRLC.

Belief Management
First and foremost, a strong vision and mission statement that adequately reflects your own personal beliefs, values and goals as an educator should guide your practice as a Teacher Librarian. In order for this vision to be effective, it should probably coincide with the overall vision with the greater School District. Inquiry Based Learning has become the vision for the District that I work in, and it is one that is worth pursuing. Inquiry Based Learning allows for creativity, critical thought and innovation, giving SRLCs across the district the opportunity to create individual visions and mission statements that meet the individual needs of their schools.

Toor argues that your overall philosophy should coincide with the school community, namely students, teachers and administrators. Facilitating strong and meaningful collaboration between these three groups should be at the forefront of your overall vision and philosophy.

Policy Management
In terms of policy management, there are a series of guidelines and protocols that have been implemented by the School Board, and are mandatory in all District SRLCs. Toors advice surrounding the adherence to these guidelines is sound, but he also suggests drafting your own set of guidelines that better meet the clientele of your own SRLC. In order for these guidelines to be valid, at some point, submit them to the board and turn them into policies. (Toor, p.49). As in most relationships fostered by the School Librarian, the relationship with your School Board is of the utmost importance. A certain amount of respect needs to be shown to Board policies in order to create policies that, in turn, will be respected by the Board. Our district has been spared the most recent provincial controversy surrounding selection policies, books that explain or promote same sex parenting. The district itself is fairly progressive, and refused to remove books of this nature despite some parent concerns. Toor argues that resource challenges can lead to, self-censorship, which deprives students of their right to access information. (p.50). A selection policy should clearly reflect an overall vision and mission statement. A vision and mission statement should strongly support inclusion and equality, and a selection process would support this. In terms of a challenge to the selection policy, seek the support of colleagues, as well as administration, and hope that your reputation and professionalism would foster

positive support. Again, including your administration in your selection policies may help you in difficult times, such as a challenge by a parent to your selections of materials.

Clientele Management
In order to reach and maintain your clientele, you need to build meaningful relationships with your students, teachers and administrators. I would argue, however, that this relationship building should also include support staff, office staff and custodians. Throughout my career, it has often been the head secretary or the teaching assistant that has made my day that little bit easier. As a central piece of the overall tone of the school, it is up to the Teacher Librarian to model teamwork and offer respect and appreciation for everyone and their roles within the school community. In terms of relationships, one of the most important is with the teachers that you hope will utilize your SRLC, s well as your own expertise. Developing collaboration is the key to this relationship, Full collaboration, where you are equal partners in presenting a unit, takes time to develop. (p.88). Time is an essential component in building relationships, and can be equally important as trust and a sound reputation. Being consistent, being reliable, and being fair are going to help you build lasting relationships with colleagues who are going to be willing to work collaboratively with you.

Your Administrator
Toor advises that teacher Librarians proceed cautiously when asking Administration for help, Seeking advice can be positivemay make you appear uncertain. Principals want their buildings to run smoothly. If they suspect you are being tentative, they will take over. (p.103). A certain level of confidence and

professionalism should prevail when speaking to your Administration about a problem. However, their input, and more importantly, their support, can be of the utmost importance to the success of the SRLC. The key to a successful relationship with your Administration is to collaborate and communicate before a problem or issue arises. Frequent, informal communication should keep your Administration in the loop about Library events, and the daily workings of the Library. A formal conversation should be made at a time that is mutually agreeable to both parties, and should allow for enough time to present issues, as well as discuss questions and concerns. It is important to be prepared and have all pertinent information available.

Image Management
An effective Library Website may be the key to effective Image Management. A Class Website has enormously improved my own organization, student engagement and accountability, and parent communication. The same results can be achieved with a Library website. Engaging students in the building of the website will allow you to put volunteer hours to good use, while tapping into the talents of your own school community. The creation of a website allows for collaboration with colleagues who specialize in the field of technology, namely your Information Technology and Media Arts teachers. Building strong relationships with school departments can help solidify relationships and ensure good communication in the future. A strong website should offer support and information to students, parents and teachers, highlighting policies, special events, new resources and school projects.

Budget Management
This was the first year that I took the time, as a classroom teacher, to seek out and research community options for grants and funding. The response was enormous. While initially time consuming, once I was able to accumulate a series of generic letters, and some successful applications and proposals, I was able to apply for several thousand dollars of extra funding. Applying for this supplemental funding would be an imperative part of extending and accumulating my yearly budget. Applying for funding forced me to think outside the box and look to innovative ways to qualify for more specific grants. This could also apply to the SRLC. Themes such as Environmental Initiatives, Technology Initiatives and Special Needs Initiatives opened up a whole series of unit and lesson plans that I was able to incorporate into the curriculum. Once grants and funding have been approved, you are held accountable through a reporting process, which would also relate to Image Management. Documenting and publishing various projects made possible through grant funding, can better advertise the overall vision and mission of the SRLC.

Resource Management
It terms of resources, a larger piece of the budget than ever before is being allocated to technology maintenance and upkeep. While technology continues to become a part of the everyday lives of educators, and is certainly the future of our education system, department budgets, including the budget of the SRLC does not effectively reflect the new financial strain of maintaining and repairing technology. As a result, there is less money available for other more traditional resources, like fiction and reference materials. An area that strongly needs improvement in our school, as a whole, is our inclusion of aboriginal students. School Y has an aboriginal population of 16 %, one of the

largest in the district. It is estimated that the actual percentage may be higher, but not formally reported by students and families. Unfortunately, the graduation rate of these students is well below the school and district averages. I have often felt that Aboriginal issues are not only under or mis-represented in the school curriculum, but also in the School Library. In that inclusion and cultural tolerance is an important part of the School Board vision, as well as the vision of the school and the SRLC, better representation of Aboriginal people and history need to start with relevant Aboriginal resources in the SRLC. A strong collection that highlights aboriginal authors and historically accurate portrayals of aboriginal people would be a goal that I would work towards within the SRLC.

Personnel and Facilities Management

An elementary school community relies heavily on parent involvement and volunteerism. A high school, however, relies much less on the commitment from parents. I would argue that most teenagers are less than enthusiastically volunteering their parents to supervise field trips, or the school dance. High school students are finding their independence and beginning to define themselves in new ways that their parents often find hard to understand. In a high school, most of your Library personnel is going to be paid, and is going to require some training and experience. While quiet leadership is always a sound characteristic, you need to be careful about coming across as the boss. Technically, you arent. Leadership is often best achieved through partnerships and a real appreciation and respect for those that work with you. I think it wise to use this same approach when working with support staff within your Library.

Technology Management
As a member of the Technology Committee at our school, I am well aware of the difficulty in allocating technology to various departments as well as technology projects that are often pitched to the committee by individual teachers. Those who

tend to know more about technology, tend to be the ones who are best able to secure funding in this area. As a result, it is so important for all teachers, including Teacher Librarians to stay current in the field of technology. I try to secure at least two professional development days per year that deal specifically, with technology in the classroom. Teacher Librarians are often the victims of budget cuts, and the financial pressures that School Boards face every year. Using and updating technology in our SRLC is a productive way to keep Libraries current and in demand by students as well as teachers and administrators. In this sense, keeping up with technology helps you better market your SRLC, as well as advertise the fact that the SRLC is an essential piece of your school community.

Leadership and Pro-D

Getting to know students through extra-curricular activities has been one of the most rewarding aspects of my career. Involving yourself in the school community, even in a small way, deeply changes how you view the school, and how you teach your classes. One aspect of extra-curricular life that I have yet to conquer is graduation activities. After researching another SRLC and talking to former and current Teacher Librarians, the most effective opportunity to engage in the culture of the school was through Graduation Activities. I suppose it allows you to interact with all students, regardless of their interests.