Transcript School Library Website Usability

SHAPING THE FUTURE: STRATEGIC
PLANNING AND SCHOOL LIBRARIES
Anthony Chow, Ph.D.
Amy Figley, MLIS candidate
Stephanie Sells, MLIS candidate
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro
-Patricia Stringer, MLIS, School Librarian
OVERVIEW
• Introduction
• Literature Review
• Method
• Results
• Discussion and Conclusions
• Would you like to be involved?
7/21/2015
2 of 26
INTRODUCTION
• The disconnect between librarians and other school
stakeholders is well documented
• What impact would strategic planning have on school libraries
and school librarians relationships with others?
• Four case studies
7/21/2015
3 of 26
Closing the gap:
#1 Align library goals with stakeholders
7/21/2015
4 of 36
HOW DO YOU ENSURE YOUR GOALS ARE IN LINE
WITH YOUR STAKEHOLDERS?
7/21/2015
5
THINGS YOU CAN DO….
 Develop a strategic plan with a few strategic goals for the
year:
 Involve school stakeholders – students,
administration, teachers, and parents.
 Ask, “how can I help you achieve your goals? Build on
existing goals students, teachers, and administrators
already have.
 Add some of your own!
 Identify “best practices” as resources you seek
 Developing a strategic plan (Lyddon, 1999)
7/21/2015
6
STRATEGIC PLANS
• Vision
• Mission
• Core Values
• Core Competencies
• Goals & Objectives
7/21/2015
7 of 26
METHOD
•
Four case studies (the past six months)
• Two elementary schools
• One middle school
• One high school
•
Each were asked to follow this process:
• Ideal vision
• Needs assessment
• Teacher satisfaction, Parent satisfaction,
• School Librarian Job Self-Efficacy and Social Information Scale
• Advisory committee
• Strategic plan
7/21/2015
8 of 26
RESULTS
7/21/2015
9 of 26
CASE STUDY 1: ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
•
Joan is an elementary school librarian who got involved in the project after a presentation
in which communication with stakeholders was addressed. She felt her situation would be
better if she had better support. She views her role primarily as teacher, and she teaches
4-6 classes each day, although she also works with technology. Her library is about
10,000 volumes, and she is on a fixed/flex schedule. Her main frustration is that she
doesn’t feel her job is well understood by the teachers and administration. She wanted to
get everyone on board with her vision for the library and to create an advisory board.
•
Joan created a vision statement focused on giving students information literacy,
technology training, a love of reading and a good foundation for their later schooling. Her
mission statement focused on collaboration with teachers, integrated instruction, open
access, and a collection that supports the curriculum and promotes a love of reading.
7/21/2015
10 of 26
GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
Vision: The school library media program instructs students in the
areas of information literacy and technology, promotes a life-long
love of reading, and, partnered with classroom instruction, guides
students through the first level of their education, giving them the
foundation necessary to meet the ultimate goal of finishing high
school ready for college or career.
Goal 1: - Ensure the school library collection will support the new Common Core Standards.
Objective 1: - Complete a collection analysis based on curriculum topics found in the Common Core.
Objective 2: - Create a resource list for teachers to use that includes existing resources.
Objective 3: - Create a list of resources for future purchases.
Goal 2: - Promote reading for pleasure to students.
Objective 1: - Develop an electronic suggestion box using Google Forms for students to suggest titles for
purchase.
Objective 2: - Survey students in grades 3-5 about their reading preferences.
Objective 3: - Introduce a new reading incentive program.
Goal 3: - Increase access to the school library
Objective 1: - Have staff available in the mornings before the tardy bell to assist students and staff.
Objective 2: - Pilot an after school program allowing access to the library for students and parents.
Objective 3: - Explore options for student self-checkout.
Goal 4: - Increase circulation.
Objective 1: - Increase circulation limits.
Objective 2: - Allow checkout of DVDs for grades 3-5.
7/21/2015
11 of 26
CASE STUDY 2: TWO ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
•
Sharon is an elementary school librarian who balances two schools. She sees her job as
involvement in literacy. She has a fixed/flex schedule, but because she must fulfill non library duties, only about a quarter of her time is flexible. She feels well supported at one
school, but not as much at the other.
•
She wanted to build a media advisory committee. She created a strategic plan. Her goals
focused on student reading, collaboration with teachers on research, and providing easy
access to the library.
7/21/2015
12 of 26
GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
Goal 1: - Increase literacy
Objective 1: - Obtain large quantities of high quality
materials
Objective 2: - Acquire funding through grants and fund
raising
Mission Statement: In conjunction with our school's
Mission Statement, the library will provide access to
print, nonprint and electronic media for students, faculty
and parents. The librarian will instruct the members of
the school community in research strategies for
information retrieval, utilization and dissemination. This
instruction plus access to a variety of formats containing
educational and useful information will help equip our
students and fulfill their educational goals, allowing them
to influence the course of events int eh 21st Century.
Objective 3: - Start reading club
Goal 2: - Implement research projects
Objective 1: - Continuous planning with teachers
Objective 2: - Flexible scheduling
Goal 3: - Increase collaboration
Objective 1: - Regularly scheduled planning times
Goal 4: - Easy access
Objective 1: - Flexible scheduling
7/21/2015
13 of 26
CASE STUDY 3: A MIDDLE SCHOOL
•
Jennifer is a new librarian who feels a disconnect between what she has been trained to
do and how the school views her job. She works in a title 1 magnet middle school. She
views her role as promoting reading, facilitating access to materials for students and
teachers and providing instruction. Her administration is partially supportive, but there are
some policies that make her job more difficult that are based on a poor understanding of
what the library should be doing. She hoped to bridge the communication gap with her
school leaders.
•
Jennifer’s strategic plan focused on accessibility, current and relevant resources, and a
central place in the school community.
7/21/2015
14 of 26
GOALS & OBJECTIVES
Vision: The School Media Center will be a vital part
of the school community. The School Media Center
will provide services and resources that are current,
relevant and accessible. It will be a portal for
resources and technology for the staff and students.
By opening doors to information for our school
community, we will create an environment that
fosters growth toward life-long learning.
Goal 1: - Update technology resources and access.
Objective 1: - Update school website and media center website regularly.
Objective 2: - Plan and implement regular technology training for faculty.
Objective 3: - Continue to evaluate and select technology resources that support school-wide curricular
goals.
Goal 2: - Participation in the broad vision and goals for the school.
Objective 1: - Serve on the school based leadership team.
Objective 2: - Re-visit collection development plan from 2009.
Objective 3: - Participate in Title One and PTSA activities and events.
Goal 3: - Support for school-wide magnet goals.
Objective 1: - Collaboration for research instruction.
Objective 2: - Collaboration for bibligraphic instruction.
Objective 3: - Development of web-based tools and access for students.
7/21/2015
15 of 26
CASE STUDY 4: A HIGH SCHOOL
•
Linda works in a high school. She sees herself primarily as an information literacy
teacher. She would like to be more of a leader in her school and to close the gap between
the library she learned about in library school and the reality. She did not feel understood
or supported in her job. She created a strategic plan that had a major focus on her
leadership within the school and on making the library more fun. She hoped to change the
relationship she had with her school leadership and teachers. Her goals included fighting
the library stereotype, collaboration with teachers and working on her role as a leader
within the school.
7/21/2015
16 of 26
GOALS & OBJECTIVES
Vision: To be a student centered area with the
librarian as a school leader.
Goal 1: - Removal of stereotypes
Objective 1: - participate in library week and tech week with programs appropriate for teens
Objective 2: - create a space open all day and after school 5 days a week
Objective 3: - encourage game playing
Goal 2: - Collaborating with teachers
Objective 1: - create teacher workroom in library space
Objective 2: - participate in common core collaboration
Goal 3: - Become school leader
Objective 1: - join SIT
Objective 2: - Join Data Committee for testing data
7/21/2015
17 of 26
OVERALL IMPRESSIONS OF IMPACT.
•
“In the beginning stages, I was a bit confused about the direction I needed to go with this
process. However, that did not limit my ability to roll this process around for a while.
Dream it, consider it, mold it into what I wanted it to be. “
•
“Later, after video conferencing with Dr. Chow, I began to put more meat on the bones of
my plan and how to proceed to implement it. The time committed to this process actually
was integrated into my daily tasks and work of running the school Media Center and
forming strong relationships among my co-workers to facilitate my impact and my value.”
7/21/2015
18 of 26
WHAT IMPACT HAS STRATEGIC PLANNING HAD ON YOUR
OVERALL JOB SELF-EFFICACY (CONFIDENCE YOU CAN GET
THE JOB DONE) AND JOB SATISFACTION?
•
“I always knew I could do this job, but the strategic planning is something that informs my
daily work. It is always good to step back and examine the big picture (where I am and
where I need to go from here). I think it is very easy to get into the rut of the daily grind
and forget to step back and re-focus. Now, that is not to say that my ability and my
circumstances coincide well at this point in my professional career.”
•
“I find my job very satisfying. I find my work environment rather toxic. I feel that my
administrators are incredibly ineffective in this highly impacted school. I am told that I am
valued but I do not feel valued. I receive funding as a last ditch effort to use up funding.
Although, this year, I did have a line item amount in the budget at the beginning of the
school year for the first time ever. So, maybe I have made some impact. “
•
“As for my county based administrators, however, I DO feel that my own vision and
planning has had tremendous impact. I was asked this fall to sit on the GCS Curriculum
and Instructional Resources Selection Committee. I consider that a great honor. In
addition, my county supervisors have openly acknowledged my technology skills and
abilities among my library colleagues. THAT is very satisfying.”
7/21/2015
19 of 26
WHAT IMPACT HAS STRATEGIC PLANNING HAD ON YOUR
OVERALL COMMUNICATION AND RELATIONSHIPS WITH
OTHERS?
•
“I feel that my communication and relationships with my fellow teachers in my school are,
overall, very positive. I believe that my communications and relationships with my support
colleagues are very positive. “
•
“I do not feel I have any kind of substantive communication or relationship with my
administrator. I am on the school based leadership team. We have had 4 meetings
scheduled since August. August was the last time we met. Every meeting has either been
"postponed" and never re-scheduled or, if it was held, an administrator was not present so
nothing was accomplished. On a daily basis, my administrator does not enter the Media
Center regularly. Usually only visits if we have a faculty meeting, and even then is 20
minutes late to most of those meetings. Very, very unprofessional and exasperating.”
7/21/2015
20 of 26
WHAT IMPACT HAS STRATEGIC PLANNING HAD ON YOUR
OVERALL SCHOOL LIBRARY PERFORMANCE (ABILITY TO
BETTER MEET THE NEEDS OF YOUR PATRONS)?
•
“Despite the lack of administrative professionalism and leadership, I have found that my
school library performance has been valued by my patrons. When teachers thank me
profusely for my assistance with their curricular, technology and resource needs, when
students tell me I am the nicest librarian they have ever had, when teachers and students
approach me freely and directly for assistance, I know I must be doing something
correctly and well. I feel valued by my co-workers and my students.”
7/21/2015
21 of 26
DO YOU THINK THE FOLLOWING STAKEHOLDERS HAVE AN
IMPROVED UNDERSTANDING OF WHAT YOU AND YOUR
LIBRARY DOES BECAUSE OF STRATEGIC PLANNING?
Do you think the following stakeholders have an improved understanding of
what you and your library does because of strategic planning?
1.2
1
0.8
No
0.6
Yes
0.4
0.2
0
School
administrators
Teachers
Students
Parents
School librarian
peers
7/21/2015
22 of 26
SELF-EFFICACY AND CONFIDENCE ARE
FLOWERING!
7
6
5
4
3
Pre
2
Post
1
0
1. I will be able
to achieve most
of the goals that
I have set for
myself.
2. When facing 3. In general, I 4. I believe I can 5. I will be able 6. I am confident
difficult tasks, I think that I can succeed at most to successfully
that I can
am certain that I obtain outcomes any endeavor to overcome many
perform
will accomplish
that are
which I set my
challenges.
effectively on
them.
important to me.
mind.
many different
tasks.
7. Compared to 8. Even when
other people, I things are tough,
can do most
I can perform
tasks very well.
quite well.
Please rate your overall confidence in the following:
7/21/2015
23 of 26
FINAL THOUGHTS
•
Strategic planning starts with you and the organization and builds a collaborative vision
•
The journey itself is over half the battle.
•
My book Library Technology and User Services (Chow & Bucknall, 2011) addresses all of
this within the context of technology usage and national trends….
7/21/2015
24 of 26
ARE YOU INTERESTED?
•
I would be happy to:
• Provide you with our online strategic planning instrument
• Email support if needed
• Provide you access to the self-efficacy and social information diagnostic scale
•
Just leave me your name and email address and we will be in touch with you
• I just want your data (completely anonymous and confidential) to help refine and validate the
instruments so they are truly effective and worthwhile….
•
The slides will be available at anthonyschow.wordpress.com
7/21/2015
25 of 26
THANK YOU!
7/21/2015
26 of 26