Georgia Library Media Association

Writing a Vision, Mission, and Beliefs for the Library: My Thoughts

plemmonsa — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 19:56:22 +0000

For the past 3 years, I have told myself over and over that I need to rewrite the mission statement of the Barrow Media Center to be more representative of the kinds of learning that are taking place within and beyond our walls, but every time I sit down to work on it I get stuck. One of the reasons I get stuck is that I keep re-reading the mission statement that is already in place and thinking that it sounds pretty good. This year, I tried something different. First, I gave myself permission to mess up. Instead of sitting and worrying over getting the words just right the first time, I just gave it a go. Second, I pushed the current mission statement aside so that it didn’t cloud my thinking. Third, I set a goal to write a vision for the future, a mission of how to get there, and a set of beliefs that represented what our program is grounded in. I also wanted to create a vision, mission, and beliefs that is grounded in the AASL standards for 21st century learning and the ISTE National Technology Standards…..and that is concise, exciting, and understandable. The last piece, understandable, was what proved to be a challenge. I spent a lot of time reading the AASL standards and the ISTE NETS standards. Then, I began to create a list of words and phrases that stood out. Then, I grouped the phrases and words together by similarity. It looked something like this:

Words to consider:

creativity; generate new ideas; create original works; innovation; publish; creative and artistic formats
interact, collaborate with peers, experts, or others; teamwork; personal or group expression
variety of media and formats
global awareness; consider diverse and global perspectives
solve problems; critical thinking; critical stance
inquire; display curiosity; plan and conduct research; locate, organize, analyze, evaluate, synthesize, and ethically use information; multiple resources and formats; social networks and information tools to gather and share information
personal responsibility for lifelong learning; personal learning
leadership
digital citizenship; safe and ethical behaviors
demonstrate flexibility; adaptability; openness to new ideas; persisting in information searching despite challenges
reflect on learning
participate and collaborate in societal and intellectual networks
use information and technology ethically
demonstrate leadership and confidence
present formally and informally; multiple audiences; share new understandings
social responsibility
read, view, and listen for pleasure and growth; read widely and fluently
make connections to self, world, and other texts; respond to literature
participatory
transliteracy, transmedia

It wasn’t so much that I wanted to use every word and phrase that I wrote down as I wanted to make sure that what I wrote was grounded in the language of the standards. Finally, I started writing. This is what came out.

Vision:

The vision of the David C. Barrow Elementary Media Center is to be a learning commons flowing with innovation, collaboration, curiosity, adaptability, critical inquiry, and transliteracy.

Mission:

The mission of the David C. Barrow Elementary Media Center is to offer cutting-edge instruction and programming that develops innovative leaders who create content that reaches a global audience.

Beliefs:

The David C. Barrow Elementary Media Center is grounded in the beliefs that:

Reading is a window to the world which can be experienced in a variety of formats for pleasure or growth.

Creating information and story is just as important as consuming information and story.

Access to information and story across multiple platforms is essential to learning.

Technology is a pathway to a global audience.

A collaborative of expertise is present in every environment.

Flexibility and adaptability are important both in physical space and learning opportunities.

Locating, organizing, analyzing, evaluating, synthesizing, and ethically using information is a crucial piece of being a responsible, digital citizen.

Persisting through challenges strengthens understanding and confidence.

Reflection and self assessment promote excellence.

On January 12-14, 2012, I attended the School Reform Initiative Winter Meeting in Atlanta. Educators from across the country attended and spent time together in professional learning communities using protocols to have important discussions and offer feedback around dilemmas, student work, and adult work in education. I took my vision, mission, and beliefs (in progress) to that meeting. My group consisted of educators from around Atlanta as well as an educator from Texas. They were teachers, principals, instructional coaches, and data support specialists. Using a Tuning Protocol, they looked at my draft and tried to tune the draft to my goal. The biggest piece of feedback that I received was about the vision, mission, and beliefs being understandable. It was suggested to change the language so that words such as “transliteracy” weren’t there. I pushed back on this because I felt that even though some of the words are hard to define and might not be understood by every person reading the mission, they are crucial. The question that prompted the most thought for me was, “Then, how are people going to understand this vision and mission?” A suggestion was to have multiple ways of representing the vision, mission, and beliefs. Maybe part would be text, part would be video, and part would be student work. My wheels began to turn as I thought about how a vision, mission, and beliefs could really show transliteracy or transmedia in action.

That’s where I’m at right now. I have this draft, which I’m still working on and getting feedback on from as many people as possible, and I’m thinking about how I can show our library and program’s vision, mission, and beliefs in action.

I’m going to continue to give myself permission to not worry about it being perfect, but instead to constantly morph and adapt to the kind of learning that is taking place and the kind of learning that we want to take place in our program. I think having a vision, mission, and beliefs that truly represents the learning that takes place in libraries is important. My hope is that it will also guide the design process as my school undergoes a major renovation next year.

I welcome your feedback and invite you to also think about your own vision, mission, and beliefs.

Andy Plemmons

School Librarian

David C. Barrow Elementary

Athens, GA

http://barrowmediacenter.wordpress.com

http://www.clarke.k12.ga.us/webpages/aplemmons

Tech Forum in Atlanta

glmaexecutiveoffice — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 16:09:05 +0000

Tech Forum Atlanta: Insight & Innovation for Technology Leaders
Friday March 2, 2012 | Atlanta Marriott Perimeter Center

Join Tech & Learning magazine for a day of networking and professional development.
GLMA members receive a special discount. Register today for $185 per person – that’s a $104 savings! Use code ATL12GLMA

Program Information here.

We can do it!

Judi Repman — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 17:21:52 +0000

A Georgian from Duluth was the 15,369th signature on AASL President Carl Harvey’s White House petition to ensure that every child has access to an effective school library. Let’s see if another Georgian can’t be the 25,000th signature!

You can find instructions about how to sign the petition at the petition lessons wiki. The signing process requires two steps. You first create an account and then you receive a confirmatory e-mail. THEN you can log in and sign!

This link will take you directly to the petition.

Work your twitter/facebook networks and ask your spouse/significant other/parents/children over the age of 13 to sign. Pull up the petition on a library computer before or after school and ask the first two adults who walk in to register and sign. We really can do this!!

Judi

GALILEO Resources for International Holocaust Remembrance Day

GALILEO Staff — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 14:00:47 +0000

In 2005, the United Nations General Assembly designated January 27 as International Holocaust Remembrance Day, a memorial day for the victims of the Jewish Holocaust.

GALILEO provides several resources with images, videos, articles, and more to help us remember the events of that time.

Encyclopædia Britannica School Edition offers a special spotlight titled Reflections on the Holocaust with encyclopedia articles, images, videos, educational materials, and much more.

History Reference Center includes articles as well as historical images and videos related to the Jewish Holocaust. Readers can also search for topics such as Auschwitz, Nuremberg Trials, or Adolf Hitler to learn more about the places, events, and people related to this time in history.

Students can also search SIRS Discoverer (elementary and middle school) and SIRS Issues Researcher (high school) for “Holocaust” to find articles and images. SIRS Discoverer also includes links to editorially-selected websites about the Holocaust for further exploration.

Images @ EBSCOhost offers a variety of photos that include present-day images from the news of survivors and memorials as well as some historical photos.

To see a slightly different perspective, students can read entries from The Southern Israelite, a historical newspaper in the Digital Library of Georgia that covered news of the southern Jewry as well as issues that involved Jewish populations throughout the nation and world, including the Holocaust. Students can search for extermination, Nazi holocaust, or other names and places associated with the Holocaust to find news from that time period. Students will need the DjVu plugin in order to view newspaper pages.

For book recommendations, search NoveList for Jewish Holocaust to find books for all ages. The NoveList editors also offer suggested book lists for grades 3-5, grades 6-8, teens, and adults as well as a list of picture books for grades 3-8.

Please Contact Us if you have questions or comments or if you need to report problems.

Courtney McGough
GALILEO Support Services
Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia

Some links may not work off site. Log in to GALILEO first for access.

Image from Encyclopædia Britannica

Express Links for Databases Mentioned in this Post:

Encyclopædia Britannica School Edition: http://www.galileo.usg.edu/express?link=zebs

Encyclopædia Britannica High School: http://www.galileo.usg.edu/express?link=zehs

Compton’s by Britannica (for middle school): http://www.galileo.usg.edu/express?link=zebm

Britannica Elementary: http://www.galileo.usg.edu/express?link=zebk

History Reference Center: http://www.galileo.usg.edu/express?link=zbhr

SIRS Discoverer: http://www.galileo.usg.edu/express?link=zssd

SIRS Issues Researcher: http://www.galileo.usg.edu/express?link=zsks

Images (EBSCOhost): http://www.galileo.usg.edu/express?link=zbim

The Southern Israelite Archive: http://www.galileo.usg.edu/express?link=sois

Digital Library of Georgia: http://www.galileo.usg.edu/express?link=dlg1

NoveList: http://www.galileo.usg.edu/express?link=zknl

NoveList K-8: http://www.galileo.usg.edu/express?link=zkne

Find All Your Express Links (what’s this?)

2012 Georgia Legislature Convened Monday, January 9th

glmaexecutiveoffice — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 14:31:33 +0000

The 2012 legislative session convened on Monday, January 9th and there was no time wasted on moving education legislation. On the first day of the session, the Senate passed SB 38 (State Superintendent authority to employ and dismiss employees) and SB 184 (reduction in force criteria).

Thursday, the House Education Committee heard and passed three bills:

HB 705 amends the direct classroom expenditure definition in the 65% statute, adding media specialists, guidance counselors, and transportation costs to the categories that count towards direct classroom expenditures.
HB 706 repeals several sections of Title 20.
HB 713 delays implementation of some career/college readiness initiatives until the 13-14 school year, and expands the Career Pathways statute.

These bills now go to House Rules then to the House floor for a full vote.

Budget Hearings This Week

The House and Senate will hold joint hearings on the 2013 budget this week; Supt. Barge will present the DOE budget on Tuesday. In his state of the state address, Governor Deal highlighted several issues he has included in his budget, such as added funds for training and experience and increased school nurse funding. We will hear more about the Governor’s education initiatives during the hearing on Tuesday.

After the joint hearings, the budgets will move through the committee process, with separate reviews by the House and the Senate. Both the 2013 and amended 2012 budgets have a long way to go before they are adopted by the General Assembly and signed by the Governor.

Please contact us if you would like more information on education issues or budget items pending this session. As always, we encourage you to visit the capitol during the session. Let us know if you would like to schedule a visit.

Stay tuned for future updates and alerts.

Lasa & Michelle

Love My Library Day at the Capitol – February 14, 2012

glmaexecutiveoffice — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 19:58:44 +0000

Mark your calendars – Library Legislative Day will be a “Love My Library” day again this year! Yes, it will be held on February 14, 2012, so try to schedule some time to come down to the Capitol and share with your legislator your successes in and concerns about your program.

Stay tuned for further updates; it looks like you may have a half-day option this year… details and registration forms will be posted here when they are available.

GALILEO Resources for Black History Month

GALILEO Staff — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 11:00:40 +0000

Black History Month will soon be here, and GALILEO has quite a few great resources to share with students and teachers.

The Civil Rights Digital Library (CRDL) offers a variety of primary sources and education materials on the Civil Rights Movement, including films clips, images, oral histories, and more. Don’t miss the Educator Resources, especially the Freedom on Film site, for lesson plans and more.

For a look at the history of African Americans in Georgia, the Digital Library of Georgia offers historical images (Vanishing Georgia in particular), newspapers, and more. You can browse by your county or by subject (such as Peoples and Cultures) to see collections. Several collections of note are “Integrated in All Respects”: Ed Friend’s Highlander Folk School Films and the Politics of Segregation; Community Art in Atlanta, 1977-1987: Jim Alexander’s Photographs of the Neighborhood Arts Center from the Auburn Avenue Research Library; and The Blues, Black Vaudeville, and the Silver Screen, 1912-1930s.

As always, Encyclopædia Britannica offers authoritative information on famous African Americans and historical events. Don’t miss the spotlight on Black History because Britannica has pulled together a nice collection of biographies, documents, multimedia, learning activities, and more.

SIRS Discoverer and SIRS Issues Researcher both offer spotlights on Black History Month. In SIRS Discoverer (for elementary and middle school), just click the Spotlight of the Month at the bottom of the screen and then scroll down to see the Spotlight Archives. In SIRS Issues Researcher (for high school), click the Database Features tab and then choose Spotlight on… to see the current month’s spotlight as well as the spotlight archives at the bottom of the screen. Students can also search either resource for “African American” or for names, events, or places to find articles and multimedia.

NoveList and NoveList K-8 offer book recommendations for all age and grade levels. Search for African Americans to see books, lists, and articles related to this topic, or check out the Advanced Search where you can limit your search to books written by African American authors (Hint: Leave the search box blank and choose African-American in the Author’s Cultural Identity field to see a list of books by African American authors.). Check out the Teaching with Books section on the right of the main page in NoveList to see award lists (including the Coretta Scott King Awards), BookTalks, Book Discussion Guides, Picture Book Extenders, and curriculum-based lists.

History Reference Center provides articles from many historical journals as well as images and videos. Book Collection: Nonfiction, Kids Search (for elementary), and Student Research Center (for middle and high) also include tons of articles, book chapters, and more for student research.

GALILEO staff recently offered a session showing these resources. You can view the archive for this session and others on the Self-Guided Sessions page. We also have training sessions designed for K-12 coming up, so check out the Training page to register for those.

As always, if you have questions or comments, please Contact Us.

Courtney McGough
GALILEO Support Services
Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia

Some links may not work off site. Log in to GALILEO first for access.

Express Links for Databases Mentioned in this Post:
Civil Rights Digital Library: http://www.galileo.usg.edu/express?link=crdl
Digital Library of Georgia: http://www.galileo.usg.edu/express?link=dlg1
Encyclopædia Britannica School Edition: http://www.galileo.usg.edu/express?link=zebs
SIRS Discoverer: http://www.galileo.usg.edu/express?link=zssd
SIRS Issues Researcher: http://www.galileo.usg.edu/express?link=zsks
NoveList: http://www.galileo.usg.edu/express?link=zknl
NoveList K-8: http://www.galileo.usg.edu/express?link=zkne
History Reference Center: http://www.galileo.usg.edu/express?link=zbhr
Book Collection: Nonfiction: http://www.galileo.usg.edu/express?link=zbnf
Kids Search: http://www.galileo.usg.edu/express?link=zbks
Student Research Center: http://www.galileo.usg.edu/express?link=zbst

Find All Your Express Links (what’s this?)

Image from Encyclopædia Britannica

Capstone Press Fall 2011 Conference Sponsorship

plemmonsa — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 18:19:36 +0000

Capstone announced the 5 winners of their Fall 2011 Conference Sponsorship promotion. Libraries with direct purchases of 1K+ were automatically entered into the promotion. Winners received paid registration for the 2012 GA Children’s Lit Conference in Athens GA. as well as one night stay and a group dinner at The Last Resort in downtown Athens.

Contact Jim Boon(jimboon@windstream.net) for details of the Spring 2012 promotions!

Upcoming GALILEO Training

GALILEO Staff — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 18:59:33 +0000

New webinars have been added to the GALILEO training calendar. Webinars are easy to attend and are great tools for professional development. Connection instructions are sent a day before the webinar to everyone who has registered. The instructions include a connection wizard that helps you make sure your computer is ready. Certificates of participation are sent to all attendees soon after the session. Below is a list of upcoming sessions currently scheduled. More will be added, so keep a watch on the training page and the GALILEO list for new opportunities.

Upcoming webinars:

Black History Month Resources — Demonstration of the Civil Rights Digital Library and GALILEO subscription resources
Holocaust Resources in GALILEO — In time for International Holocaust Remembrance Day on January 27
Grab GALILEO for Great Multimedia Projects — This session is great preparation for submissions to the Georgia Student Media Festival
Meet GALILEO for Elementary/Middle/High School — Separate session that focus on each grade level
Digitized Maps in the Digital Library of Georgia —A look at Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps and an examination of historical maps to trace the changing environment of a Georgia city
Civil War Resources — Explore subscription and DLG resources covering the American Civil War
Bueno GALILEO: Language Resources — GALILEO foreign-language resources include encyclopedias for several languages and Spanish-language magazines
Journals and Magazines: Best Practices in GALILEO — Tips on searching journals and magazines in GALILEO and optimizing usage with alerts and linking

Archived webinars include a wide range of topics for all audiences.

GALILEO Staff
GALILEO Support Services
Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia

Flexibility In Action!

Jim Randolph — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 21:01:23 +0000

It’s been a busy week and I despaired last night of having anything for my monthly GLMA post. But then this morning happened and I have plenty to say about being flexible!

We had an extra leadership team meeting this morning which ran long, so I barely had time to switch from that to prepping for my morning broadcast. Luckily I have a long term crew that know their jobs. The this morning I was scheduled to be in four places at once. No, really.

Like every morning, I was scheduled to be in a 3rd grade teacher’s classroom for a half hour of focused instruction. This has to do with our Title I status and I spent 9:15-9:45 going over report drafts with students for final copies. I also had a a 4th grade Specials class from 9:50-10:35. But there was some special events going on as well. At 9:00 some folks had scheduled the school Spelling Bee in the media center and a school Geography Bee in another part of the building at the same time. I was scheduled to be in both videotaping the events. All while teaching in two classes.

So I set up cameras with fresh tapes in both places and had them adjusted, focused and ready and told the organizers not to forget to hit the record buttons! I’m also lucky enough to have a great clerk, so she ran the camera for the Spelling Bee, starting and stopping it in the interest of time.

Instead of having the Specials class in the media center (because of the Spelling Bee) I took my laptop and materials down to the classroom. Luckily it was the one lesson I often do that doesn’t require us to actually be in the library. This group wasn’t able to check out at their normal time at the end of class, so I gave them passes to use in small groups throughout the day.

Whew! The rest of the day was your normal everyday crazy. Breaking down the Spelling Bee stuff, requesting custodians for a spill, gathering resources for tomorrow’s Guest Reader Day, emailing teacher movie times for the MLK video, finding a sub for an inservice, and then again rearranging everything in the library for tomorrow’s Guest Readers and the reading bowl contestant morning practice session. Oh, and my walkie-talkie I use to communicate with those on bus duty so I can synch the dismissal slides stopped working, so I had to deal with that real quick.

But I did it all with a smile because I’m flexible!

(Just don’t look at my desk…)

Thanks,

Jim Randolph

Partee Elemetary,

Snellville, GA