Tag Archives: school media

Public, School Media Specialist

Make Noise: School Libraries are Critical

Last week, I did a blog post about the continued drop in the number of media specialists in Central MN schools. Quite honestly, there is no library issue that bothers me more. I became a librarian because I am passionate about equitable access to information.  I am sick about what I am seeing in our region around school libraries. In school year 2013-2014, 41% of Central MN schools had no licensed media center staff. And, here is a shocker, 69% of secondary schools have no licensed staff! Without well-stocked, well-staffed school libraries, how are the academic needs of students being met? Certainly, we can do better, we must do better!

Part of what bothers me is that I hear no outcry. Are parents, grandparents, and community members aware of this issue? Why do I only hear deafening silence? Every time the cuts happen with no outcry, it becomes more acceptable! I know for a fact that some of the  school media programs that were cut or eliminated, were the very best! So, the cuts did not happen as a result of a weak program. Take note media specialists, your great program could be cut too if you don’t engage in raising awareness of this issue. These cuts happened quietly, and even when a few people figured it out, there was only deafening silence.

A few years back, some districts would employ one media specialist to cover several schools, to at least put a good face on the situation. Not any more! In last week’s blog post, I listed the school districts who have become so bold as to not employ a single media specialist in any of their schools. People, they are counting on your silence. Certainly, in this information age, this is an atrocity. Yet, where is the noise? Public libraries and college libraries should be concerned, as they often have to pick up the work of remediation of students with no school media program.

What can we do?

We can roar, we can make noise, and help others make noise!  Find out how your county or school district fares on this issue (bullet 2 below). Show the research that demonstrates the impact that school libraries have on academic achievement (bullet 3 below). Consider who in your school can work with your PTO, to ask parents and grandparents to write letters to the editor or the school board (bullet 2 below). Worried about your job? Consider writing an anonymous letter to the editor.

Basically, we want kids to be readers. We need to have systems in place to help them find books that help them grow, think, and enjoy reading and learning. Minnesota is dedicated to ensuring that all children be proficient readers by third grade. With 37% of our elementary schools with no licensed staff, are we supporting that statewide goal?  As kids move along, we want them to be competent researchers by sixth grade, and fluent critical thinkers about information sources by high school. And don’t we all want high school graduates to feel equipped to be successful in either their college career or as information-literate, high functioning  members of society?  Effective school libraries are hubs of learning, they include great books but so much more! Now is the time to make noise! Are you with me?

Resources to Help You Take Action!

  1. Where have the Media Specialists Gone in 2014? (current staffing data for Central MN)
  2. Want help writing your letter or fact sheet? Contact us if you want a specific data set for your district or county to beef up your communications on this issue. We are ready to help!
  3. School Library Impact Studies (the research to support the need for licensed media staff)
  4. School Libraries Transform Learning (The American Library Association’s advocacy doc with different ideas for action)
  5. Los Angeles students need better libraries, not iPads (Read about how after a 19-month investigation, LA believes this school library situation is actually a violation of the educational civil rights of students!)

Send comments, ideas, or solutions to me, Patricia Post, Director of CMLE, at papost@cmle.org

Note: The CMLE region includes Aitkin, Benton, Chisago, Isanti, Kanabec, Mille Lacs, Morrison, Pine, Sherburne, Stearns, Todd and Wright counties in Minnesota

Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

April is School Library Month!

SLM2014_banner_emailThis month, we honor the essential role that strong school library programs play in a student’s educational career. I wish CMLE had a little traveling task force to go into each Central MN school to toot the horn loud and long for all of our media specialists and paras, and highlight the important programming and support they provide. Lacking that, I can offer you the tools to do so for yourself, and I hope you consider trying at least one of the ideas provided below by the American Association of School Librarians (AASL).

They have tried to make it easy for you to make a splash!

  • Decorate your library or library website with the 2014 School Library Month poster
  • Customize and print your own posters, bookmarks and mini-posters
  • Download two PSA videos featuring Jeff Kinney, author of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series
  • Information for a student video contest where students record how their school library changes their life! Prizes for the best submissions!!
  • Complimentary webinar series (pre-recorded and available on-demand)
  • Check out other materials too to make you look like the rock star that you are!

Click here now for your treasure trove of  2014 School Library Month goodies!

 

 

 

 

Academic, Check this out:, General, Public, School Media Specialist

Game-Based Makerspaces

Image by Sergey Galyonkin. Retrieved from Flickr. Used under Creative Commons' licensing.
Image by Sergey Galyonkin. Retrieved from Flickr. Used under Creative Commons’ licensing.

Gaming programs are growing in some libraries across the United States.  In ALA’s blog The Scoop, Brian Mayer wrote an article detailing how he facilitated game creation, with students, using classroom curriculum.  Mayer is a gaming and library technology specialist at the Genesee Valley (N.Y.) Educational Partnership. When creating this game-based type of makerspace, he focuses on “…demonstrating concept understanding and mastery throughout the design process and in the finished product.” This work is accomplished in collaboration with classroom teachers and the school librarians.  Find out more about how Mayer engages and empowers youth in Creating Game-Based Makerspaces, (July 2013.)

Note:  Interested in incorporating games in your learning process?  Read the related article, How to Gamify Your Classroom (October 2013), in which the author decodes how you can win students over in five simple levels.

Academic, Check this out:, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

CMLE Interview: Students Join Becker’s TechSquad Team!

This week CMLE interviewed Nancy Lorentz, Media Specialist at Becker High School. We offer this best practice under our Strategic Focus Area of Stretching Dollars!

Becker High School TechSquad Representatives
Becker High School TechSquad Representatives

We have all seen the commercials for the Minnesota based company Best Buy and their trendy and beloved “Geek Squad” on television. These seemingly knowledgeable computer support teams are available on-site and on-line to help answer questions and trouble shoot technology woes.

Nancy Lorenz is overseeing a no cost/low cost technology solution to stretch her library dollars. Her squadron of savvy tech support is being culled from the classroom.  In 2011, Becker added 900 iPads to their inventory in preparation of the launch of a 1:1 iPad Initiative. Nancy began searching for assistance from among the high school student body through National Honor Society’s Facebook page and the current Student Teaching Assistants (TAs).   The students focused on trouble shooting ways to synch large numbers of iPads, research and learn about educational apps and finally, inventory, label and distribute equipment.  Since then, Nancy has developed a course for the “TechSquad” assigning tasks such as creating iPad specific tutorials about set-up, apps, and programs.  They have now morphed into providing software updates, troubleshooting air printing issues; and assisting with email, writing work orders, inventorying equipment and performing basic maintenance.  Bringing this service front and center, this coming year Nancy will designate a corner in the Media Center as an iPad help desk, staffed in the afternoon by the student TechSquad.

Nancy responds to our questions:

Q: What are the qualifications to become a member of the TechSquad-STAC?
We are expanding the TechSquad/TA model into STAC (Student Technology Advisory Committee) which will be grades 6 – 12, beginning this spring headed by Ryan Cox, our district technology coordinator. I chose sophomores and juniors from former and current TechSquad kids.

Q: Do you limit the number of students?

The high school has ten members on STAC – one junior, three sophomores and six freshmen. I chose more of the younger students because they are more excited and have more time than the older students. We used the school’s History Day projects to identify freshmen that showed the greatest interest in technology.

Q: How is their time compensated?

We plan to allow the STAC students to keep their iPads through the summer so that they can come up with new and awesome ways to use it for education. When they come in during the summer to help with iPads we will pay them with pizza and flavored water.

Q: Do students receive on the job training?
I do my best to train my TechSquad and TAs to behave professionally when working in the media center. It is important that they never make another student feel stupid for asking for help. I have a Moodle site for my TechSquad that I plan to turn into an actual course when I have time. I’m not sure that all of the current freshmen STAC members will work in the media center as TechSquad or TAs, as some may not have time in their schedules. I’m hoping that when it all shakes out, those students who we choose for STAC will take the TechSquad independent study class at least once per year. Regardless, we will meet with them once per month after school, and they will come in to help when needed in the summer.

Q: What was/were the motivating factor(s) that contributed to the school’s/district’s decision to solicit help with technology from students?
Our district had actually cut four of my ten extra days the summer we received the iPads and did the same for our tech assistants and media assistants. We had no other choice but to have students help – we are still fighting to get enough tech hours to handle the extra work the 1:1 brings. I only see the TechSquad class growing.

Q: How has the program helped your library specifically?
I think having student workers in the library has made it more welcoming – kids think it’s cool to work in the library, and I am getting plenty of great students who want to belong to the TechSquad or work as TAs.

Q: Final thoughts!
I’m hoping that, moving forward, these students will be trained to provide tech assistance to teachers as well as other students. I have had TechSquad students go into classrooms and demonstrate iMovie for specific projects – I would like that aspect of the program to grow.

Becker High School Tech Squad Representatives
Becker High School Tech Squad Representatives

Technology is similar to sports in that it reaches across disciplines. Think of how this can continue to enhance your relationships with teachers across subject areas.

Tip: Identify possible programs for you to engage students in your media center. Seek out distinctive ways to spotlight technologically savvy students in your schools (name tags, locker signs, personalized attire, dedicated section in the school yearbook, etc.) to ignite participation from the student body.

Fun Fact: Did you know that Geek Squad employees are referred to as “agents” and assigned titles similar to those used by intelligence agencies, i.e. Counter Intelligence Agent (CIA). Their uniforms are also indicative of investigative professionals (white sleeve shirt, logo pin, black shoes, etc.)

Academic, Public, School Media Specialist

Taking Information Literacy on the Road

Bridging Information Literacy (IL) Across Libraries has become our CMLE tag line for work we have been doing with high school media specialists and college librarians. CMLE is in a unique position to convene important conversations across library types, and IL is the first bridging topic we have chosen. The group first met in April to get acquainted and get their draft assignments. By using a wiki and email, both groups finished  draft documents by the end of May. Then, a face-t0-face meeting in July really bonded this group in ways the wiki may not have been able to do.  Initially, we were uncertain how much the groups had in common. As we talked in July however, the group acknowledged the many commonalities, and that they want to do more around this subject. They did not want to end their work!

We wanted others to hear of our “bridging experiment” and laid plans for sharing what we had learned through MLA and MEMO Conference presentations. We believe it is useful to share the process we used, some outcomes, and some exciting plans for the future. We concluded that it is not helpful to “preach to the choir”  about IL….our colleagues already get it!  Somehow, the group felt it was worth a try to reach students. To that end, we recently developed a survey for college students asking them to offer advice to younger students. Specifically, we asked “Based on your experience, if you could tell a high school student three things to help them prepare for college-level research, what would it be?” We are hopeful that younger students will heed the advice of their older peers and engage more deeply in IL . We hope to produce a short video of college students sharing their message, with quiet  supported by a librarian message, and share it broadly through You Tube.

CMLE will continue this IL work, and hope to grow the circle of involvement and engagement. In the meantime, we are on the road sharing the message, and have opened the group wiki up so others can see the draft documents.  We hope to share a polished executive summary within the next couple of months. Visit the wiki to get the draft version of the  following:

  • Media/information literacy power standards (according to three high school media specialists)
  • Typical student profiles and research frameworks for high school freshmen, sophomore, junior and senior
  • Suggested skill sets for incoming college freshmen
  • The MLA conference handout which shares key points of the work of this group, and steps going forward.

Tip: Check out the New Insights documentation on the site, which captures shifts in thinking and understanding of IL and the work of  other librarians.

Would you be interested in participating in an event where we convene a larger group of high school media specialists, college librarians, and public librarians around the topic of information literacy? Let us know in the comments….or send email to papost@stcloudstate.edu