Noemi Flores April 22, 2014 LIS 773 Action Plan Action Plan for a Peoria Public Middle

School I interviewed Mr. Joel Shoemaker, the sole part-time school librarian at a public middle school (grades 5-8) in Peoria. Mr.Shoemaker is a student at Dominicans Graduate School of Library and Information Science, and he is midway through accomplishing his degree. He is an energetic, intelligent man bursting with enthusiasm. His students are lucky to have him. According to the schools report card (http://iirc.niu.edu/School.aspx?schoolid=480721500251003), there are 309 children enrolled, the average class size is 17 students, 74% are described as low-income students, 4% are English learners, and 10% are students with disabilities. The library is rather small, but has a welcoming, cheery atmosphere. Mr.Shoemaker does not think the collection is a good one, and he has little say in its development. The district librarian purchases the books for all the school libraries. The individual school librarians can make suggestions to her, but according to Mr.Shoemaker they are not often carried out. Many of the items the students would like to have remain unavailable through this means. They do have an excellent relationship with the public library, so that is a helpful resource. This school does have a small spanish language book collection because all the bilingual Spanish/English students and teachers for the district are at this school. The reference section is tiny. There are no databases at all, though there are four computers on which the students often search for items through the user friendly Destinty Quest catalog. The only thing Mr.Shoemaker dislikes about the program is the constant reminder that fines are due. His library does not collect fines, and finds this a great idea as the majority of the patrons are reluctant readers and would simply refrain from checking books out if they knew a fine was a possibility. On a different note, inventory is currently being done for the first time in ten years, and Mr.Shoemaker is weeding for the first time in the two years that he has worked there. The students come into the library weekly. Everyone checks out books because they are required for Accelerated Reading. There is no budget. The books are ordered for the librarian and any programming must be accomplished with Mr.Shoemakers own money or fundraising. He has had some luck with fundraising, and the money he makes by those means the library may keep and be used as he chooses. He does discuss possible uses with the students and teachers. Mr.Shoemaker and the teachers do not collaborate as often as he wishes because the way the scheduling is structured and the fact that he is only there part-time limits his opportunities. Additionally, there is very little teaching the classes when they come in once a week. The time is mostly spent choosing and checking out books. It is possible that the technology teacher might

be covering some of the useful skills a librarian could be teaching, but Mr. Shoemaker was not certain. Only working part-time is a major disadvantage. There is no time for so many of the things that could be beneficial. There is no time for staff development, the students cannot use the library during lunch because no one is there to supervise them. Mr. Shoemakers ability to meet with teachers to collaborate is almost completely impeded by his part-time schedule and the weekly scheduled visits of the students. He does make an effort to keep in contact with the other schools librarians through email and meetings every so often. Though he has no budget, Mr. Shoemaker plans as many activities and reading incentives as he can to keep the students excited about reading. There are AR incentives, members of the 100,000 word club, holds raffles, and posting lists of the top ten readers on the bulletin board.However, there is still very little special programming. Just last month, though, after fundraising and spending his own money he was able to host an author visit. Kate Klise came, spoke with the children, and gave a workshop on creative writing. Mr. Shoemaker said the children absolutely loved it and are still talking about it a month later. The administration and faculty are supportive in that they do not outrightly dismiss the library, but few people trouble themselves overly much about it. Often, they seem not to really know what the content of the library is. The principal is not a great communicator. Mr. Shoemaker appreciates that she allowed him to host the author visit, but was disappointed that she seemed that she would not have minded if it had not succeeded. Next year, Mr. Shoemaker aims to improve the image of the library within the school. He says that what he does is generally disregarded, the library is treated as a discard, and at best extremely auxiliary. He has found the silver lining, though. Because so little is expected of him, he feels free to try anything. If it works, he can build upon it. If it doesnt no one notices anyways. Mr. Shoemaker has the energy, enthusiasm, and work ethic to succeed. What he needs is a closer relationship with the administration, teachers, and parents. The message they are receiving about what the library is capable of and its value must change. He has begun to accomplish this especially with his successful authors visit. The library has no mission statement. This must be changed right away. That the library has its own mission statement alone tells people that it is special and different. It might be a good idea to invite the faculty to give some input. Ask them what they want in a library. Be sure to tell them what is possible. Mr. Shoemaker spends all his time in the library. It might be a good idea to move outwards, though his time constraint seems an almost insuperable barrier. It seems that Mr. Shoemaker is in need of almost anything a school librarian can need. He needs more time, money, resources, and respect. Of all these, it seems that achieving the respect and esteem of your community will lead to those things. The objective of this plan is that Mr. Shoemaker turns his community into allies, who will in turn help him spread the message that libraries are essential to student success. The target populations are parents and teachers at the school.

There is no budget and no mission statement for this library, so the plan must be made without those. The demands of this plan go beyond what a part-time librarian should have to give, so the librarian must be really committed to this plan. The time frame for this plan is a year. Then it should be evaluated, and if it is found successful it will continue. If it is unsuccessful, then it will be amended and tried again. Creating allies in your community is invaluable to the success of the library. Action Plan Graphic Action Steps What Will Be Done? Respon Timeline By sibilities Who When? Will Do (Day/Mo It? nth) Resources A. Resources Available B. Resources Needed (financial, human, political & other) Potential Barriers A. Wha t individuals or organizatio ns might resist? B. How ? A. I imagine no one? Who doesnt like free food Communicatio ns Plan Who is involved? What methods? How often?

Step 1: Hold a welcome brunch for the teachers and faculty in the library.

Libraria n

The week A. the library before space classes B. food, out of begin pocket expense

Step 2: Hold a family night at the library. Recruit parent volunteers (the Parenteers) to create the Parent Library Organization

Libraria n

Thursday of the second full week of classes

A. library space B. The parents will need to attend for this to be successful.

A. Administrat ion B. It is possible that the administrati on will feel that this organizatio

It will hopefully be at the beginning of every year- a brunch held by the librarian for the faculty. Twice a semester seems a reasonable amount of time. There will be games and food. Children and their families will be invited.

Step 3: Train the volunteers in basic circulation duties

Libraria By the A. library space, n and end of collection, voluntee Septembe computers, rs r catalog, processing system B. volunteers

n would take away from other more necessary parent organizatio ns A. Administrat ion B. They might feel that parents should not have so much responsibili ty

Step 4: Take the From time you now Libraria October have when a class n, (the comes in (thanks voluntee volunteer to the volunteers) rs, and s should to get to know the teachers be trained teacher and her by then) plans for the year. until the Offer your rest of support e.g. the year resources, ideas, you volunteers manpower

A. volunteers, library B. teachers, online and print resources

A. Teachers B. They might not be open to the idea of collaboratio n.

The librarian will train the volunteers in circulation duties: checking books out, shelving, making displays. A handful of volunteers would be most efficient. They should come two or three times a week for 3-5 hours a day. This will only take a portion of the class time so that the librarian will still be available for reference to the students. It will not be weekly. Rather, it will arise as needed, but the first meetings should all occur in October. The students will be

checking out books from the volunteers while the librarian and the teacher learn about each other and make plans.