Hullender, Sikes, Stark

Section II: School Library Media Center Philosophy/Mission Statement

Original Mission Statement:
The Long County School Media Center exists to serve the needs of students and faculty. The
mission of our media center is to aid the learning process by providing a friendly welcoming and
accepting atmosphere and by providing programs and services to meet the individual needs. The
media center will serve both students and faculty in supporting and promoting the learning
experiences necessary to promote the curriculum and create life-long learners. It is an open
media center on a flexible schedule plan, which enables the media centers resources, services,
and facilities to be available to all students and teachers.
Philosophy:
Long County Students are the Media Centers prime users. We strive to meet their needs through
support of the curriculum, their social development and their recreational development. The
media center will endeavor to create a pleasant environment for the enhancement of the learner.
In achieving this goal, the Media Center shall also endeavor to offer students a variety of
learning opportunities by presenting materials in a spectrum of forms.
Correction Paragraph
The Long County School Media Center (LCSM) mission seems to be repetitive. The opening
statement declares the commitment to serve both students and faculty and later states how it will
serve both students and faculty. There is room to further clarify other standards set down by the
American Association of School Libraries. This statement from the Empowering Learners text
seems appropriate for the mission statement revision: In this increasingly global world of
information, students must be taught to seek diverse perspectives, gather and use information
ethically, and use social tools responsibly and safely (AASL, p. 12). Teaching students to be
ethical users and creators of information will help focus a mission statement in the current 21stcentury learning environment. Also, the mission states they are on a flexible schedule plan

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which supports equitable access to all children. The statement is positive but could be moved to
the goals section and substituted with a statement supporting our commitment the students
freedom to access information in all formats. As professional librarians, our roles in helping
others understand the principles and importance of intellectual freedom are among the most
important duties we have (Johnson, 2013). Changing the philosophy to goals and simplifying
how the media specialist plans to achieve the mission statement will help give an overall
purpose. The current mission statement does address the goal of developing lifelong learners and
working in collaboration with teachers.
Media Center Mission Statement
The Long County School Media Center is the information hub of the school. In support of the
Long County School Districts commitment to higher educational standards, the library media
center encourages and attempts to ensure that all students have intellectual access to all available
formats of information including a wide range of ideas while encouraging its ethical use. The
media center will serve both students and faculty in supporting and promoting the learning
experiences necessary to promote the curriculum and create life-long learners.
LCMS Goals:
Provide a friendly welcoming and accepting atmosphere and by providing services and

programs to meet individual needs.

Provide an open media center on a flexible schedule plan, which enables the media

centers resources, services, and facilities to be available to all students and teachers.
Provide collaboration with the faculty and staff to create an extension of the classroom by

planning literacy and technology lessons.

Provide our students with the skills to be researchers, ethical users and creators of
information through the media center, technology, and direct instruction.

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