Week 4

Things are gradually falling into place. The library now has comfortable furniture and the kids love are drawn to it. I have had several positive comments about how the library looks.

This week I had my first meeting with the adminstrative team. I think meeting once a month is very important – gives us an opportunity to discuss library matters. Also it gives them an opportunity to ask questions about the program.

Today I had my first meeting with the middle school team – I shared the library services available to them. I look forward to working with them through research and literature. One teacher suggested me coming once a month to her class and sharing new literature.

Orientation Day

Several new faculty associates went through the orientation. A few differences from a traditional public school. I found out today from the Superintendent that Metcalf is called a other funded public school. The big difference is the encouragement to attend conferences and not only attend but present. The nice factor is money is available for professional development. Also a big change for me is not being part of a union. There are other professional expectations – conducting research, pursuing degrees, belonging to professional organizations, and being responsible for educational students.

 One nice web based program available to everyone is Curriculum Mapping. This program is a librarian’s dream come true. I can view every unit each teacher is doing for the entire year. Also I can view the resources they are using. Matching resources to units will be easier. Also putting in information literacy standards will become a responsibility of my position. Exciting to see this product!!!

Tomorrow I am going to help the new person transition into the position I left. She has no professional library training. In the state of Illinois a K-9 librarian does not have to have a media endorsement or a masters in Library Science.