Colquitt, Nimmer, Willis

Section VII: Planning for the Future

In this ever changing era of budget cuts, position eliminations and the like, it is essential
for media specialists to prove their worth in dynamic ways to their administrators, Boards of
Education, and school administration. The media specialist must always be prepared to
vigorously defend their worth and impact to students. The media specialist must further
understand the various roles they can play within the educational arena. In the text The
Indispensable Librarian, Johnson (2013) outlines three dynamic roles for 21st century librarians:
the virtual librarian, the crowsnester, and the rabblerouser (1). Understanding these roles are
essential to being able to being a successful advocate for your students. The media specialist
must continually prove their worth within the school arena. Johnson states I strongly maintain
the only way we will remain viable as a profession (and have any job security) is to offer
indispensable services no one else in the school building can or will. The Virtual Librarian
delivers such services (2). Yes, classroom teachers are able to understand and access
technological services, however, their limited time is much more structured and focused on
instruction within their specific discipline. Media specialists must be able to work in close
collaboration with classroom teachers to best serve their students. Johnsons next role of
librarianship is the role of the crowsnester.
Another role media specialists must take on to best serve their students is that of the
crowsnester. Johnson likens the crowsnester to an agent for change who reads and stays abreast
of, even predicting, cutting edge changes in the educational arena (2). The effective crowsnester
will be able to keep read, analyze, and implement changes in policy that will prepare students for
21st century learning. The media specialist must be cognizant of their role as a crowsnester and
be prepared to constantly think of media center services and programs within this context.

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The media specialist must be forward thinking, but not to the point of forgetting about the
population which they serve. This is where Johnsons media specialist as rabblerouser role
comes into play. The effective media specialist will be able to walk a fine line between all of
Johnsons roles to best serve their students, faculty, and staff members. The media specialist as a
rabblerouser is best understood as an advocate for their students to best access library services,
acting as a leader, to provide a nurturing library environment to all users (Johnson, 2013, p. 3).
The media specialist, in many times overworked and frequently called on to represent the
educational environment in multiple dynamic ways they might not always be prepared for, has to
constantly plan for the future of their library services and how best to serve their patrons.
The American Association of School Librarians, a division of the American Library
Association, created Empowering Learners: Guidelines for School Library Programs, to establish
best practices for school media specialists. If there is any doubt about what to do next as a media
specialist, this text will provide guidance, and serve as a roadmap for the budding media
specialists. It is impossible to cover every experience the budding media specialist may face,
however, the effective media specialist will consult with this text to best serve their patrons.
There are multiple areas where this text can assist with driving the media specialists work. The
media specialist must remember that the school library program is guided by regular assessment
of student learning to ensure the program is meeting its goals (27). The media specialist, as
previously mentioned, must be prepared to justify their job on a regular basis. One of the most
effective ways for the media specialist to justify their continued employment is to conduct
assessment to prove the efficiency, or even areas of improvement, for their school library. The
effective media specialist will conduct several planning measures to make sure that their time is
best used in the media center environment.

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The media specialist needs to do some significant planning up front to make their lives
and media center run as smoothly as possible. Empowering Learners relates that the school
library program is built upon a long-term strategic plan that reflects the mission, goals, and
objectives of the school (30). During the planning process, the media specialist must utilize
several tactics to determine the needs of media center. The media specialist can complete a great
deal of work in concert with other teachers, paraprofessionals, administration, and other
interested parties. One tactic the media specialist and media committee can utilize to best serve
their students is to conduct a SWOT Analysis. However, prior to the SWOT analysis, the media
specialist will actively recruit members for the media committee. The members of this committee
will be composed of classroom teachers, paraprofessionals, and administrators. The ultimate goal
of this committee will be to ensure that the students of Pierce County High School are prepared
and capable 21st century learners.
SWOT Analyses are a tool borrowed from the business world. The SWOT Analysis
studies your organizations strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (Prisca 2012). The
media specialist can conduct a SWOT analysis rather quickly within the first few weeks of
school. A SWOT analysis is able to be completed rather quickly, and does not have to be
conducted in a long drawn out process. The media specialist must be able to prioritize their time,
and eliminate some of the sacred cows of librarianship, or those tasks that media specialists
feel they must complete on a regular basis, such as inventories, and overdue notices, according to
Mike Eisenberg (2010).
The SWOT Analysis is generally conducted to determine the strengths of an
organization. The media specialist can adapt the SWOT analysis to determine the strengths and
weaknesses of a particular area of library services. The Pierce County High School media

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specialist will conduct a SWOT analysis to determine strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and
threats to their, and their co-teaching, of lessons about electronic resources. This SWOT analysis
can guide the media specialist and the media committee to have much more defined goals and
objectives/action steps for teaching the students of Pierce County High School about electronic
resources (the Destiny Library Catalog, any subscription databases, how to use Google Scholar,
and even how to make Wikipedia work for scholarly research).
Once the SWOT analysis is completed, the media specialist will determine several goals
for their media center. The Pierce County media specialist and media committee have
determined the following goals for their media center. The goals, objective steps, evaluation
measures, and timelines for each goal will be listed below.
Goal 1:
To provide opportunities and assistance for students in the development of knowledge on how to
use and access web 2.0 tools.
Objective 1a:
The media specialist will administer a survey to students to determine the top three web 2.0 tools
that students want to know more about.

Evaluation 1a:
Online survey, given by media specialist, implemented at beginning of the year.
Objective 1b:
The media specialist will provide training sessions in the media center that will teach students
how to use the web 2.0 tools that were chosen from the survey.
Evaluation 1b:

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The media specialist will create a test instrument to determine the fluency and understanding of
students after training session.
Objective 1c:
The media specialist will evaluate students on how well they can use the web 2.0 tools after
several training sessions.
Evaluation 1c:
Rubric for each Web 2.0 tool, given by media specialist, implemented at end of year.
Goal 1 Timeline:
The media specialist will create/deliver a survey to student respondents within the first
month of school. This survey will be given to students whose classes regularly utilize the media
center. This survey will be fully online and the media specialist will be able to interpret the
dataset within an appsuite such as Google Drive.
The media specialist will be able to interpret the dataset within two weeks to determine
which web 2.0 tools students want to learn about. The media specialist will be able to rollout a
lesson covering these three web 2.0 tools within a month from the survey date. The media
specialist will be able to begin teaching these lessons by the first week of October. The media
specialist will be able to teach this lesson to all students by the week before Thanksgiving.
The media specialist will create an instrument to test the student respondents fluency in
each web 2.0 tool. The media specialist will create and distribute this instrument by the first
week of December, with a due date of no later than the second Friday of December. The media
specialist will attempt to interpret this dataset by the week before Winter break, but if all else
fails, the media specialist will interpret this dataset by the middle of January. This interpretation
will allow the media specialist to determine the effectiveness of their information literacy

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sessions. Further, this will allow the media specialist to tweak their lessons according to what the
students were not fluent in after the various lessons were taught.
Goal 2:
To provide all students a device to use for the entire school year.
Objective 2a:
Establish a technology committee of teachers, students, administrators, parents, and media
specialist to create a plan of action to acquire devices for all students
Evaluation 2a:
The media specialist will recruit teachers, administrators, parents, and students to become a
member of the technology committee.
Objective 2b:
Once the committee has been formed, the different members will be asked to research different
areas to acquire devices for students. Such areas may include, budget sources, donors, grant
programs, success of other schools, and local legislators.
Evaluation 2b:
The committee will research different resources for funds to acquire these devices for students.
Objective 2c:
The committee will present the plan to the local board of education to discuss moving forward
with the purchase of devices for students.
Evaluation 2c:
A plan will be formulated from the research. A date will be established to present findings and
suggestions to acquire a device for each student at the school.

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Goal 2 Timeline:
The Pierce County Media Specialist realizes that providing devices to students for the
entirety of the school year is an exceedingly ambitious project requiring multiple stages of
planning. Further, the Media Specialist understands that this project might not be completed
entirely within one school year. The Media Specialist and Media Committee will be responsible
for various steps of this project, which could possibly exceed the steps outlined in this short term
objective statement.
The Media Specialist will be responsible for the creation of the Pierce County
Technology Committee. S/he will be responsible for actively recruiting teachers, administrators,
other staff members, parents, and students to serve on this Committee. The Committee will
create an administrative calendar to outline the timeframes of this very complex project. The
various members of the Committee will be required to wear multiple different hats, and will be
expected to contribute to this project in meaningful ways.
During the planning process, the Media Specialist and various Committee members will
be expected to research funding sources for this project. The Media Specialist and Committee
will assign various tasks for each member of the Committee to complete. The ultimate goal of
the Committee will be to locate potential funding sources for this project. Potential Committee
assignments will include, but are not limited to: budget sources, location of potential donors,
location of grants to fund this project, success of other technology based programs, and obtaining
the support of local government entities.
After the initial planning stages, the Committee and Media Specialist will present their
findings to the Pierce County Board of Education. This presentation of findings could possibly
occur as early as January of Spring Semester, but will depend upon the speed and ease of the

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Committees research. The Media Specialist will be responsible for finding research about the
efficacy of the distribution of devices to students within a school district comparable to Pierce
County, Georgia.
Once the Committee formally presents the program to the Pierce County Board of
Education, a vote will be tallied to determine whether or not this program receives approval. The
Media Specialist and Committee believe that the program will be approved swiftly. The program
presentation will outline potential devices to be distributed, a Code of Conduct, and a contract
for each student and parent to sign about liabilities for damage to the device, and other special
circumstances. The Pierce County Media Specialist and Technology Committee are very excited
about this ambitious project, and its great potential to aide in the transformation of Pierce
Countys students to 21st century learners.
Goal 3:
To collaborate with staff in planning and implementing media/technology into lessons to meet
students' educational needs
Objective 3a:
The media specialist will create a committee of teachers that are interested in collaborative
efforts to increase student achievement.
Evaluation 3a:
The media specialist will target and recruit staff members (teachers, paraprofessionals, and
administrative staff) to participate in collaborative efforts to increase student achievement. The
media specialist will conduct various staff assessments to determine the increase in student
achievements.

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Objective 3b:
The teachers and media specialist will formulate a plan of action to design activities and
assessments for student-centered learning.
Evaluation 3b:
The media committee will assess the baseline of student learning, or will use materials from
previous years. The MC will create surveys to determine the learner's needs and will implement
these assessments. The media specialist will interpret these results and will report the findings
back to the committee. Once the committee receives the report back, they will determine the
goals to increase student achievement.
Objective 3c:
The committee will determine a time schedule that the teacher and the librarian will co-teach on
the activities and assessments that have previously been planned.
Evaluation 3c:
The media committee will utilize Google calendar to schedule co-teaching information literacy
sessions. The media specialist and media committee will work collaboratively to create
assessments, a timeline for teaching information literacy sessions, and will plan assessment
measures to determine student achievements, specifically utilizing surveys to determine the
effectiveness of information literacy sessions.
Goal 3 Timeline:
The media specialist will actively recruit faculty (classroom teachers and
paraprofessionals) and administrative staff to the media committee at the beginning of the school
year, within two weeks of the start of school. The committee should be comprised of between
The media specialist will establish a protocol for sharing ideas, meeting notes, lesson plans, and

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other ideas via a wiki or file sharing site each member will have credentials to access. Each
member of the committee will have clearly defined goals, such as creating assessments,
collecting and interpreting data, and writing reports.
The media committee will create a calendar with goals, action steps, and due dates for
each member of the committee. The media specialist will closely collaborate with each member
of the committee to coordinate due dates and action steps to conduct all student surveys. The
main outcome of the media committee is to enable the students of Pierce County to gain 21st
century learning skills to best benefit their futures.
The Pierce County Media Committee will have a rigorous schedule implemented by the
media committee at the beginning of the school year. This calendar will contain information
about co-teaching information literacy sessions, meeting dates, and dates related to each
assessment students shall receive. The wiki or appsuite will also contain information about roles
within the committee. For example, the media specialist can take it upon his/herself to crunch the
dataset into working numbers showing the results of using incentives and learning about
electronic resources. The calendar function will also control various aspects of reporting this
information to administrators, teachers, parents, and other interested parties.