LIS 525: School Library Center Practicum

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Colleen Johnson

LIS 525: School Library Center Practicum

Fall 2007

Sue Janczak

Leadership Reflection

For the leadership section of my portfolio, I included two artifacts that demonstrate both my leadership capabilities and my understanding of how leadership skills play an important role in the profession of a library teacher. The first artifact that I have included is the Internet/Technology Acceptable Use Policy, which I created in the spring of 2007 for our Policy and Procedures Manual in LIS 568: School Library Management. The second artifact that I have included is a brochure that I created while working at Minerva DeLand this fall. I made the pamphlet to encourage students to join my library club: LAG (Library Advisory Group). The brochure describes the clubs’ purpose and goals, along with some past activities and projects that former club members have completed.

During the spring semester of 2007, in LIS 585: School Library Management, I had the opportunity to work with two other students to create a Policy and Procedures Manual for a school library. A member of my group volunteered at a school library that did not have a Policy and Procedures Manual; therefore, we decided to make a manual for this elementary school library. One of the sections that I developed was an Internet/Technology Acceptable Use Policy. I spent a significant portion of time reviewing other schools Acceptable use Policies; in doing so, I learned a great deal about what information to include, what was pertinent only to elementary libraries, how detailed to get, what was specific to a particular school building versus broad district guidelines and lastly, proper wording and language used in writing an Acceptable Use Policy. Taking the time to read and evaluate these examples from other schools allowed me to determine what needed to be included in an AUP for Bernabi Elementary School in Spencerport.

In the beginning stages of development, I was unsure of how detailed to be in writing this policy; however, as I continued to reflect on the purpose of such a document, I realized how important it was to be detailed in my expectations and guidelines of student Internet Use in order to protect student users as well as the school district. With the wealth of information available to students on the Internet today, schools increasingly incorporate the Internet into their everyday curriculum. Throughout the writing process of this policy, I began to learn how critical it was for schools to have a written document that students, parents and teachers can access. This document educates parents about their child’s Internet use, reminds students of the rules for safe and appropriate Internet use and protects the school networking equipment and software.

During the first week of my new job as a school library media specialist at Minerva DeLand, I quickly learned how the creation of an Acceptable Use Policy demonstrated my leadership abilities as a school librarian. Early in the school year, the librarians in our district were asked by the new Director of Technology if we had an up-to-date Internet Acceptable Use Policy. It came to his realization that Fairport did not have a written document that detailed the policies and expectations of Internet Use in the district. Having recently written one, I offered my assistance in developing an Acceptable Use Policy for our district. Although planning stages for the actual writing of this policy are still in-the-works, the fact that I was able to offer my support in writing the policy made me realize just how valuable this knowledge was. As the librarian, you are often seen as the school’s primary leader in instructional and informational technology use to enhance learning.

The second artifact that I included in my professional portfolio is a brochure, which I created to promote my library club: LAG (Library Advisory Group). Each club advisor created a poster that described their club and encouraged students to join; these posters were then displayed at the club fair. Next to the poster I had created for my club, I included a pile of brochures for students to take if they wanted to learn more about the purpose of LAG and what types of projects past LAG members had accomplished.

In producing this item, I learned a great deal about what would appeal to fourteen and fifteen year old students. I wanted students to join my club not only to be a part of something, but because they wanted to help make their library a better place. I wanted students to feel like they had a say in the book-selection process, so I described our field trip to Barnes & Noble where students help build the library collection. I also wanted students to realize that being a member of LAG meant helping to celebrate reading and books; therefore, I discussed the special “Wonka event,” hosted at Minerva DeLand, where students from Brooks Hill are invited to attend a viewing of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory after reading Roald Dahl’s book in class. I learned that I should keep the descriptions short and simple, because I wanted to grab their attention and keep it, but also spark their interest in my club. I also wanted the students to understand that they have a vote in what we, as a club, do throughout the year. As library advisory members, I was very interested in hearing what their interpretation of a “teen library advisory group” was, and what kinds of activities they would be interesting in doing. During the club fair, we ran out of brochures, so I quickly had to print out more. I also overhead the students asking where the other club brochures were; therefore, I realized that my idea to create supplementary pamphlets of information had been a great one. This way, students were not rushed into making a decision, and could learn more about the club during their own time.

As a club advisor, I am leader and I want students to understand the importance of being a leader and making decisions, as the purpose of an advisory group is just that. Throughout the year, I not only hope that LAG members help to make the library a better place, but that they learn valuable leadership skills. In doing so, I am promoting our school goal of creating lifelong learners and leaders, and these are skills which students can take with them and use throughout their lives.