Media Center

Ms. Karen Kalagian

Library Media Specialist

Vision Statement

The Library Media program serves to provide instruction, resources and support for the entire school community. Through an inquiry based process, students will become effective and efficient users of ideas and information. The Waterbury Public School libraries promotes social responsibility and the ethical use of technology and information for independent, lifelong learning. The Library Media Center program supports district-wide curriculum by providing equitable access to resources and opportunities for students to read for personal and aesthetic growth.

AASL Core Beliefs

School libraries are essential to the development of learning skills.
Inquiry provides a framework for learning.
Learning has a social context.
Ethical behavior in the use of information must be taught.
Equitable access is a key component for education.
Reading is a window to the world.
Technology skills are crucial for future employment needs.

Student Learning

WPS Library Media Programs support student learning by facilitating classroom inquiry learning and providing flexible scheduling, which delivers library services to the entire school community.

The Library Media Specialist directly affects students achievement by collaborating with classroom teachers. When media specialists work with classroom teachers, they effectively teach, support, and assess inquiry learning. The AASL writes that their standards are best learned in conjunction with content area standards (AASL Standards). Applying inquiry standards along with content area standards provides an authentic learning experience for students. When this occurs, students are more likely to be invested in the learning emphasized throughout the curriculum.

Inquiry based learning is used at every grade level. Through this process students become better researchers and are more able to adapt the process to real-life. (Fontichiaro,131) LMS learning is integral to student success, but studies show that library standards are best learned in conjunction with content area standards.

In order to accomplish this, flexible scheduling is necessary at all library levels (K-12) to provide open access to a wide ranges of resources, technology and library services to meet the diverse needs of teachers and students. Flexible scheduling provides patrons with open access throughout the day rather than only during a scheduled “library time.” (AASL, 2011)

Role of the Library Media Specialist

The library media specialist is positioned to serve staff, faculty, and students by providing resources and learning opportunities for the entire school community. While media specialists maintain the physical and digital space and collections of the library, they also provide opportunities for authentic learning experiences, instruction in inquiry skills, and resources for curriculum support.

The American Association of School Libraries (AASL) defines the role of the library media specialist into five components: Instructional Partner, Leader, Library Administrator, Information Specialist and Teacher. Being a leader is an inherent role of the LMS.

While each role is vital to student achievement, the role of the Instructional Partner takes precedence. In this role, the library media specialist collaborates with content area teachers to develop standards-based assignments, establish learning goals and assessment strategies. The library media specialist also works with the school community to develop effective policies, practices and curriculum. Within the role of being an instructional partner, the library media specialist may function under the role of a teacher to meet the diverse information literacy needs of students.

Second to the role of the Instructional Partner is the library media specialist’s role as an Information Specialist. In this role, the library media specialist utilizes technology to supplement resources. The library media specialist not only introduces and models new technology resources, but displays expertise in the ethical use of information. The AASL writes that the school community should look to school media specialist for navigating fair use issues.

In the role of a Program Administrator, the library media specialist ensures that the school community can access a variety of resources that meet their needs and interests. In order to ensure this, the media specialist effectively manages library support staff, budgets, space and resources. This includes collection evaluation and weeding, scheduled inventory of library resources, and the evaluation of support staff.