LME 502 Field Experience

1. LME 502 Field Experience West Jessamine Middle School Tyler Crane Fall 2017

2. Library Environment • The West Jessamine Middle School Library is housed in one of two middle schools in Jessamine County. Students ranging from 6th to 8th grade are served by the library daily. The WJMS library is run by Mary Purcell, the school librarian, and Marilyn Preston, the library assistant. • The WJMS library is located in the front of the building with an entrance that leads directly to the main entrance of the school itself, across from the office entrance. In addition, there is a secondary entrance to the library that leads to one of the main hallways of the school.

3. Library Environment Cont’d • The library has a very open concept feel to it with the use of shorter bookshelves throughout most of the library, allowing for a clear view of the whole space. There is a main pathway that leads from one entrance to the other, passing the circulation desk, some bookshelves, and the desktop computers at one end.

4. Library Environment Cont’d • Directly next to the main entrance is where patrons can find resource materials, such as encyclopedic texts. • The opposite end of the library, next to the other entrance, holds 12 desktop computers available for student use.

5. Library Environment Cont’d • When entering from the main entrance the fiction section is located to the left of the main pathway, while the nonfiction section is located on the right. • On the wall where the main stretch of fiction books is located are windows that span nearly the whole wall and provide a view of the school parking lot. • In addition, there are 5 round tables with 4 chairs each located next to the fiction section.

6. Library Environment Cont’d • The bookshelves in the fiction section previously described are arranged in a rectangular formation, with 10 round tables that hold 4 chairs each. • On one of the walls next to this grouping of tables is a Smartboard with a projector and speakers overhead.

7. Library Environment Cont’d • The library’s circulation desk is located about midway through through the library and contains 2 circulation computers. • Aside from the circulation computers, there is also a return slot for students to drop books that they wish to check back in. • Behind the circulation desk is the equipment storage and workroom, where extra materials, rentable technology, and the laminator are located.

8. Job Shadowing

9. Job Shadowing

10. Job Shadowing

11. Job Shadowing

12. Job Shadowing

13. Reflection Entering into my job shadowing experience at the WJMS library media center I had some knowledge of the tasks that must be completed by the library media staff, but I was unaware of the full extent of work or time necessary. Learning about the daily needs of the library media center was eye-opening and a great experience. Mrs. Purcell, the head librarian, and her assistant, Mrs. Preston, handled a great deal of work specifically related to the library. This work was compounded by the fact that Mrs. Purcell teaches two 6ht grade classes per day and has classes in for checkout during every other class period.

14. Reflection Cont’d Due to the amount of work that the librarian had on her plate, I mainly worked with the assistant, whom knew all the information I needed to be aware of. One of the most daunting, yet informative aspects of the library that I learn about was the use of the Follett Destiny program. In another class I have had the opportunity to use Library World and practice adding materials to the catalog, in addition to modifying the MARC, but this was my first real experience with Follett Destiny. Overall, I found Follett Destiny to be very user friendly and adding materials to the catalog was fairly straight-forward. It was also great practice.

15. Reflection Cont’d Another aspect of the job shadowing that I found very useful was in relation to the library budget. Looking over the proposed budget I was shocked to see how few funds were allocated by the district. According to the American Library Association (n.d.) public school libraries should ideally receive around $15 per student from district or government sources, although the WJMS library media center averages closer to around half that amount, at $7.40 per student. This figure prompted a great deal of discussion between myself and Mrs. Purcell. From our discussion, I learned that she often looks for grants or holds creative fund raisers, such as the annual “Penny War”, in order to supplement the library budget. Even with extra efforts, I was informed that the library only manages to muster, on average, an extra $3,000 to add to the budget. This discussion made me realize that it is necessary to be creative in efforts to appropriately fund a proper library media center, as ideal funding is not always available.

16. Reflection Cont’d While many of my experiences, such as re-shelving, cataloging, and circulation practices, were extremely informative and useful, I did not have the opportunity to participate in any weeding of materials. According to the Library Media Specialist, Mrs. Purcell, weeding routinely takes place during the first 2-3 weeks of summer break. She revealed that the only weeding that occurs during the actual school year is in the instance that a material is severely damaged. Mrs. Purcell also mentioned that, for the process of weeding, the library adheres to a defined weeding policy that is in accordance with CREW weeding methods (Larson, 2012).

17. Reflection Cont’d One experience from this job shadowing assignment was the opportunity I received to speak with a representative of the Jessamine County Public Library. The representative came in to speak with students regarding many of the materials, resources, and programs available at the Jessamine County Public Library. She also had a conversation with Mrs. Purcell about possibly implementing an online book group that would be facilitated by JCPL, with the JCPL procuring books for students to use. The idea would be to familiarize more students with the JCPL while supporting schoolwide goals and standards.

18. Reflection Cont’d Overall, I found a great deal of my time job shadowing Mrs. Purcell and Mrs. Preston to be extremely informative and useful. The various aspects that go into creating and maintaining a library collection seemed a bit overwhelming seeing them in action in such a short period of time. Based on my experience, it seems to me that organization and creativity are essential in the library media profession, with experience being a welcome addition. Juggling all of the collection responsibilities, while attempting to meet the needs of students was daunting to observe, but brought a great deal of clarity to the needs of the profession and how to manage those responsibilities.

19. References American Library Association. (n.d.). Budgeting for School Libraries. Retrieved November 2, 2017 from http://wikis.ala.org/professionaltips/index.php?title=Budgeting_for_School_Libraries Kelsey, P. and Ramaswamy, M. (2004). Designing a successful library school field experience. Library Management, 26(6/7), 311-323. Retrieved October 31, 2017 from https://search-proquest-com.libsrv.wku.edu/docview/198858286?OpenUrlRefId=info:xri/sid:primo&accountid=15150 Larson, J. (2012). CREW: A weeding manual for modern libraries. Retrieved November 2, 2017 from https://www.tsl.texas.gov/sites/default/files/public/tslac/ld/ld/pubs/crew/crewmethod12.pdf

20. Field Experience Request • Tyler Crane has permission to take photos of the WJMS library media center for the purpose of his assignment. I asked that he refrain from the inclusion of any students in the photos and that he merely take pictures of the facility itself. Mary Purcell WJMS LMS 10/8/2017