Bleckley County Middle School Media Center: Strategic Management Plan Part 2 Stephanie Vickers School library services

overview: BCMS Media Center circulation policy for the students and parents are as follows: Students come to the media center with teacher permission. Students must have their library card in order to check-out

books/magazines. If a student has lost a library card, he/she will be required to

purchase a library card for $1.00 before being allowed to checkout materials. After selecting items(s) for checkout, patrons should go to the

circulation desk to have media staff checkout the materials. Students may have any combination of 2 items checked out:

1 AR book (Accelerated Reader) 1 Non-AR book 1 magazine All books are checked out for a two week period of time and can be

renewed on time. A fine of $0.05 per day will be charged for overdue books. Overdue notices are printed on Mondays and given to homeroom

teachers to give to the students. Magazines may be checked out for one day and renewed one time.

A fine of $0.25 per day will be charged for overdue magazines. This fine must be paid before checking out another magazine. Reference materials are not checked out to students due to the cost

of replacement if the material is lost or damaged.

BCMS Media Centers circulation policy for teachers is the following: 3:15 P.M. Teachers may send students at any time for individual work The media center will be open each school day from 7:30 A.M. -

(checking out books/magazines, research, make-up work, reading, etc.). This open scheduling also allows for teachers and the media specialist to plan cooperatively

Bleckley County Middle School Media Center: Strategic Management Plan Part 2 Stephanie Vickers to design lessons so that students may use the media center more effectively for study and activities related to all areas of the curriculum. The media specialist will meet with teachers when requested to

schedule, plan lessons, and gather resource material for use in the classroom. Small groups (5-6 students) may be sent for research or other

activities. Prior planning is requested so that the media personnel will be able to help students accomplish the teacher's purposes and to have materials assembled if needed. A time frame is requested by the media staff in order to best assist the teacher and/or student(s) needs.

BCMS Media Centers circulation policy for parents is as follows: o Reference materials are checked out to parents if the material is lost To check out material the parent will use their childs library card.

or damaged the parent is responsible and must replace or pay for the damaged item. o

Services: BCMS Media Centers offers the following services: goals. The media center is equipped with multiple diverse materials to name a few: Spanish books and encyclopedias, novel audio tapes and compact discs, and books with enlarge print. Scholastic Reading Inventory (SRI) used to find the students Lexile Accelerated Reading (AR) - used to keep up with the students reading

reading level.

Bleckley County Middle School Media Center: Strategic Management Plan Part 2 Stephanie Vickers School library facilities: Amy Lee is the Media Specialist for BCMS. She has been in the education field for about 14 years. She was teachers for 4 of these years and 10 of these years a media specialist. She stated that she loves what she does and she enjoys the students. The school media center is located in a central location in the front of the school building. It is approximately 2,200 square feet and serves each grade level (6th -8th grade) throughout the day. We have a wide variety of books for students to check out. BCMS Media Center has 7,496 total titles. There are 9,150 copies. There are 7 copies without titles. There are 787 total patrons. The break down of this data is as follows: Active: 777 Inactive:10

There is a sign in and out sheet available for the students if the media specialist is not there. During the second or third week Mrs. Lee will give an orientation for the students to know where to find things, as well as the rules of the media center. All bookshelves are marked by the different genres and authors. I found a Library Walk-About checklist in the book titled The Principal's Guide to a Powerful Library Media Program. The lighting and the dcor was very inviting. The dcor is at the proper level for the ages of the students. Mrs. Lee has posted positive quotes on the wall. The temperature is not controlled by Mrs. Lee, so at times the temperature can be uncomfortable. The flow of traffic in the media center is the highest during the following times of the day: Homeroom Baron Time Break Time Book Fairs

There is a computer lab enclosed as an adjoining room with 24 computers. The media center is equipped with an NComputing lab as well as 5 additional computers that students may look up books in our card catalog or take an Accelerated Reader test. The computer lab can be used for teachers to bring their students to do research. However the teachers have to sign up for the lab. A teacher resource room is located in the media center as well. This room is where

Bleckley County Middle School Media Center: Strategic Management Plan Part 2 Stephanie Vickers teachers take things to be laminated and use the dye cut machine. A storage room is also located in the media center which is where teachers can access videos, novel sets and other resources. A conference room is also located as an adjoining room. This room is where mentors and mentees can come and meet. Teachers also can use the conference room for parent meetings. There is a large area with 6 tables and 6 cubicals. Our media center has a "Reading Spot" with 2 cafe style tables with 4 stools and 4 cozy chairs. This is where the students can come inside the media center and read with a friend. There is a school supply machine in the media center. Pencils, pens, and paper are available in this machine.

Student can access the online card catalog from home at any time to see what books are available in the media center. Students can access NBC learn and Galileo to help with research projects. Parents can create an AR account to monitor their childs AR goals. There is also Parent

Bleckley County Middle School Media Center: Strategic Management Plan Part 2 Stephanie Vickers Power School. This web is used by parents so that they can access their childs grades and attendance. Students can also access Study Island from home. Study Island is a computer program that students can use to help practice new skills and study old skills. OAS can also be accessed from home. This site is for parents and students to use for CRCT readiness. The virtual facility is very poor. I am afraid that our school media center website is very lacking in the area of the elements of a virtual learning commons. In fact, I'm not sure that you could even consider what we have an actual media center website. We have a link on our school homepage that says media center, but all that follows the link is a brief description of how our media center runs on a daily basis. It doesn't speak much of the philosophy of the media center, nor does it have links to any other places where students can gather information, discuss books, etc. If you go to our district website and click through a maze of links, you will eventually reach our online card catalog, and a few other links. It would be very difficult to find if you weren't directed to it. The media centers link is as follows: http://www.bleckley.k12.ga.us/content_page.aspx?cid=250&schoolID=2 The facility is in a great condition. It is attractive and inviting for students, parents, and teachers. Mrs. Lee tries very hard to collaborate with teachers. One thing that needs to be improved is the media centers website. It needs to include more links and need to look more attractive and appealing. A Literacy Center and the School Culture portal would be awesome additions to our media center. The literacy center would be great because students would enjoy being able to discuss the books they are reading with other students who have similar interests. The school culture portal would be a great way to draw students in to the media center website. The idea of a virtual school yearbook is awesome!! I like that students could document field trips, club meetings, and sports video clips or pictures. I spoke with Mrs. Lee regarding the site management. She is in charge of developing the site and we have a school technology person who is in charge of site maintenance. The site is updated only once or twice a year. Budgets Sources: The media center receives funding from the state based on the current FTE data which designates $60.92 per student to pay for school personnel and $13.03 per student to pay for materials. To supplement the funds, our media center participates in a variety of fundraising opportunities each year. We hold two book fairs annually which provide an additional $1,400 -

Bleckley County Middle School Media Center: Strategic Management Plan Part 2 Stephanie Vickers $2,000. The Books Are Fun and Turtle Books are other book fairs programs that we do throughout the year and for every 10 items that are purchased our media center receive one free item. Collecting box tops also provides around $250 each year. These extra funds are used to provide materials and resources to students as well as teachers at BCMS. Reference: Lee,A. (n.d.). Bleckley County Middle School. Media Center.