Reality+Check+Reflections

= = So what did **I** think?

In terms of personality, I am more like Barb than Kristin, but I admire Kristin's enthusiasm and confidence. She knows that her position is valuable and that she is **choosing** to be there. I felt that Barb had been given a tremendous amount of responsibility regarding the management of the district's school libraries, but very little power; there is little to no communication between her and the administration, and she has been without a budget for much too long.

I would like to do more collaboration with the classroom teachers, although I believe that both Kristin and Barb follow author Doug Johnson's suggestion to "be likeable" (np). Kristin's Animoto project with 4th graders is a terrific example of successful collaboration, similar to a project that Andy Plemmons, a Georgia media specialist, did with students. He found it successful in part because "we allowed students to become creators of information" (np).

I think I would also prefer a flexible schedule like Kristin and Barb. Although Johnson makes compelling arguments for fixed schedules in his article "Real Flexibility," I believe that a flexible schedule better meets the needs of the students and the staff. Kristin told me that she would "walk" if given a fixed schedule, so I know she values it; Barb's schedule, although flexible, requires her to stay in the media center unless she can "sneak out" for a while. It seems that not every flexible schedule means flexibility for the media specialist as well.

I would prefer to have a comprehensive set of policies and procedures for my media center, as opposed to handouts or paragraphs in the student handbook. I believe that it's important to have clear, consistent guidelines for materials selection, collection development, rules and expectations, and intellectual freedom issues. The American Library Association states that, "The publicly supported library is a governmental entity that provides free, equal, and equitable access to information for all people of the community it serves. When this purpose is confirmed in policies and practices, the library is a designated limited [|public forum] for access to information" (np). Although Kristin never spoke about censorship issues, and Barb mentioned only two challenges in her library over 14 years, there is still a need to have detailed policies and procedures in place to protect the "public forum" of ideas that is the school media center.

If offered a job at the two libraries I visited, I would accept the media specialist position at College Park Elementary School (currently held by Kristin). Here's why:
 * I have a background in elementary education, and I prefer working with elementary school students.
 * Pike Township seems to value school media centers and media specialists, especially when it comes to staffing and funding school media centers. The school district in Mooresville is struggling financially, like many school districts, and it shows.
 * The College Park media center has a variety of materials and stays current with trends like Playaways.
 * The schedule is flexible and involves materials circulation, small group and whole class work, projects, and storytimes.
 * The media specialist can work in and out of the media center, instead of staying there all day.

Both Kristin and Barb enjoy their work and were happy to give their time to help me with this assignment. I hope someday I can do the same for another SLIS student!

__Sources:__
"ALA | Other Policies and Guidelines," American Library Association , http://www.ala.org/Template.cfm?Section=otherpolicies&Template=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=13141 (Accessed November 02, 2011)

Johnson, Doug. "Collaboration and reflection." //Doug Johnson Website - Welcome//. N.p., 1 July 2007. Web. 2 Nov. 2011. .

Johnson, Doug. "Real Flexibility." //Doug Johnson Website - Welcome//. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 Nov. 2011. .

Plemmons, Andy. "What Makes Collaboration Successful?." //Georgia Library Media Association blog//. N.p., 24 Feb. 2010. Web. 2 Nov. 2011. <glma.wordpress.com/2010/02/24

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