Fremont’s Library Media Center

1. Fremont’s Library Media Center A Vision Project of the FHS Library: Yesterday, Today, and Beyond

2. The Library Media Center • Is not a warehouse for books! • Is not just a place to house computers! • Is not always Quiet! But it… • Isa program that supports student achievement! • Isa center for teaching and learning where collaboration between students,teachers, and the LMT is the main focus. • Is a hub of resources and learning on campus.

3. FHS Library Media Center Vision Statement • The Fremont High School Library Media Center is a teaching library that prepares students for an increasingly complex information society by teaching student to be life long learners, independent thinkers, and creative problem solvers. By playing a central role in the teaching and learning process, the media center empowers the school’s curriculum, cultivating authentic, resource and information based learning.

4. How do We Fulfill this Vision? • Through the 4 major program areas that comprise the Library Media Center: • Collaboration • Reading and Traditional Literacy • Technology • Information Literacy

5. Teacher / LMC Collaboration • The LMT works with classroom teachers to design effective, authentic, resource based lessons by: • Preconferencing with the teacher to map out learning objectives, • Cultivating resources that meet the needs of the unit of study, • Co-teaching with the classroom teacher, • And assessing the unit and deciding what improvement can be made next time.

6. Reading, Literacy & the LMC • The LMT is head facilitator of the Literacy Team. • As such, she recruits new teachers to join the literacy team each year. • Works with teachers to incorporate literacy strategies into their lessons. • Leads professional development sessions on literacy. • The LMT supports literacy in the classroom through coordination with classroom teachers and the facilitation of the FVR program implemented in the English, Science, and Social Studies departments.

7. Reading, Literacy & the LMC • The LMT promotes a love of reading • by giving booktalks to classes, • creating enticing displays of the latest books, • responding to student request for titles within a day or two, • and having liberal circulation policies that facilitate access to as many books as possible at all times.

8. Technology & the LMC • The LMT acts as the technology coordinator and integration specialist by: • Training teachers on how to integrate technology into their classrooms. • Facilitating teacher use of technology • Facilitating and teaching students in the use of technology tools.

9. Technology & the LMC • The LMT seeks out, tests, and assess the usefulness of new technology tools. • The LMT utilizes her understanding of the curriculum to find technology tools that practically and efficiently facilitate learning of content.

10. Information Literacy & the LMC • The LMT teaches information literacy to all students by: • Working with classroom teachers to integrate information literacy with content area standards when designing projects, • Teaching students how to use databases and other library resources, • Teaching students how to access, evaluate, and utilize information ethically and responsibly. • Teaching students the elements of the research process and how to effectively use resources and data.

11. Celebrate Our Successes:What we have accomplished to date! • Buy lots of new, high interest books and Increase visibility of new books Ongoing • Establish a graphic novel collection  Complete • Move graphic novels next to magazines and “comfy” chairs to entice students into reading. Complete • Create displays of books (“Borders” style displays) Ongoing • Establish reading lists on the OPAC  Complete • Extend the school day by maintaining a homework center in the library for both tutoring and credit recovery options. Ongoing • Work with English dept. to develop research units in 9th -12th grades. Ongoing • Create an Environmental Science special collection for outside reading and collaborate with eScience teachers on two research units during the year. Ongoing • Established a digital library presence on the web, which provides 24/7 access to library resources such as databases, eBooks, and class project information.  Complete

12. So, What is the Result?

13. The Results are…More Students Reading More Books! • Because of the efforts of the LMT, Circulation has increased 72% over the previous year. • The data shows a direct correlation between having a fulltime professional Library Media Teacher and a significant increase in circulation, as can be seen in the jump in circulation in 2003-2004 when LMTs were first hired in the district.

14. The Results of a Comprehensive LMC Program • But just having an LMT was not enough… • The largest increases happened when: • the LMT increased collaboration time with classroom teachers AND • was given funding to buy new, interesting books that students wanted to read!

15. Where We Need Improvement… • The average age of our non-fiction and reference collection is 1982… horribly out of date! • Teachers do not ask students to use books for research because they don’t believe we have the necessary information.

16. LMC 2007-2008 SMART Goals: Reading Program Goals • Inventory Collection • Weed outdated materials • Create a 5 year plan for updating the resources available in the library. • Work closely with departments to build up non fiction areas with new books that match curriculum standards and units taught. • Buy more high interest non fiction (such as books on Soccer, cars, space, etc.) • Advertise Non fiction more effectively - create book displays and curriculum tie-ins. • Create teacher “Recommended Reading” Lists • Establish a professional development library and space

17. LMC 2007-2008 SMART Goals:Collaboration Goals • Train a new cadre of Literacy Team members • Work with the English dept. to create research projects at all grade levels • Work with both Science and Social Studies to get more teachers doing research projects (rather than just one or two in each dept.) • Work with P.E., Cooking, and Foreign Language to create new interesting projects

18. LMC 2007-2008 SMART Goals:Technology Program Goals • Work with teachers to begin utilizing blogging as a tool for discussion and journaling. • Introduce Wikis as a tool for writing papers collaboratively. • Train more departments on the use of databases (Thomson Gale, UnitedStreaming, etc.). • Get 100% of teachers using online grade books and communication applications, such as School Loop.

19. LMC 2007-2008 SMART Goals:Information Literacy Goals • All teachers and students will be taught how to use proper MLA formatting for writing papers. • Teachers will be trained on how to avoid assigning papers that lead to plagiarism. • Students will be taught how to properly site sources and how to avoid plagiarism. • All students will be taught how to evaluate websites and how to utilize the subscription databases.

20. How do we know when we’re done? • The work is NEVER done! The library needs constant updating and rethinking in order to respond to the changing needs of our students. BUT to monitor progress, the LMT will: • Establish Assessments and Gather Data • Track student progress over time by using questionnaires, test scores, and direct assessments of student work • Look for outside sources of funding (grants) to help fill the need for newer, more relevant materials BUT • In order to accomplish all of these goals, the library media center must be properly funded.

21. The LMC Vision • Increased student achievement • Development of a life long love of reading • Create information literate students • Who can utilize different technologies effectively