University of Pittsburgh

School of Education
Falk Laboratory School
4060 Allequippa Street Pittsburgh, PA 15261 412-624-8020 Fax: 412-624-1303 www.falkschool.pitt.edu

Letter of Recommendation for Kelsey Hedrick From Benoni Outerbridge November 25, 2013 I have twenty years of experience working as a classroom teacher and administrator in several schools, including urban and suburban schools and public and independent schools. In addition, I have directed a summer camp for three years and more recently the After School Discovery Program at Shady Side Academy. I completed my MLIS in 2008, and in the spring of 2012, I was hired as one of two librarians at the Falk Laboratory School. In all of these jobs, my administrative duties have included hiring and mentoring teachers and staff. In the summer of 2012, Kelsey Hedrick joined our library as a graduate student intern while she attended the School Library Certification Program at the University of Pittsburghs School of Information Sciences. She has a theater background and she recently returned from Cambodia where she was working as a school librarian and had been tasked with cataloging the entire collection. While with us, Kelseys skills and experiences were a tremendous asset to both our library program and the school as a whole. She has a warm and friendly disposition, and she displayed both initiative and a willing to pitch in when help was needed. In all areas, Kelsey has performed admirably and professionally, and I strongly recommend her as a teacher librarian. Kelsey quickly learned our library daily and weekly routines. Her overall demeanor was one of calm and assured competence, which is a valuable asset in any school library or teaching situation where there are frequently competing demands, last minutes needs, or things dont work that require a need to go to plan B. Kelsey became the go-to person for technological needs and was often called to various classrooms to resolve wireless connectivity issues or projector problems. In the library, Kelseys prior library experience was evident; despite my MLIS degree, Kelsey knew substantially more about both cataloging and the administrative aspects of our online catalog system, Destiny. She even showed my veteran colleague some shortcuts and resources that facilitated our administrative work, such as using the scanning the ISBN to add a title to our collection and automatically searching for additional resources using Z Search. Kelsey was always cordial with patrons and often expressed true delight in engaging with many of the students. Within a few weeks, she knew most of their names and developed real relationships with a number of them. She learned their tastes in books and was always on the lookout for the next book for both our struggling readers and our avid readers. Kelsey also worked well as a member of our library staff. She was responsive to requests to process recently purchased books or to pull books from the shelves for a curricular unit, and she didnt

need to be reminded to help us set up for an incoming class. When she saw that the carts of books to be shelved were full, she took the initiative to do some shelving. If she came across a book that was grubby or out of date, she pulled it from the shelves and recommended that we weed it from our collection. Throughout, Kelseys easy-going manner and quick laugh helped keep the stress level of the library to a minimum. Because Kelsey has a background in theater, the Middle School tapped her to manage the students who would be responsible for Sound and Lights crew for their musical performance of Seussical. Historically, this has been the crew where the less motivated students have ended up, in part because most of the talent was on stage and in part because there was little to do until the actual performance; the students often ended up playing cards while they waited, and consequently this reputation attracted the less motivated students. Kelsey made tremendous headway in changing the culture of this crew, as well as making recommendations for subsequent years to further the productivity and engagement of the students involved. For example, she divided the crew into smaller groups, and while she worked with one unit in the booth, helping them learn how to operate the sound and light boards, other units were tasked with supporting the production in other ways. After the production, Kelsey left us with a google doc of Tips and Tricks to manage the booth for subsequent managers. She also suggested that we fold the Sound and Lights crew into the Stage Managers crew to provide those students not actively working in the booth with built in activities and supervision. In conclusion, Kelsey has been an important member of our staff: her theater background, facility with technology, and library experience were big assets to our program; she was conscientious about meeting the needs of both the students and the institution; she knows how to effectively collaborate with peers; she clearly puts the patrons first and enjoys interacting with them. Without reservation, I am happy to recommend Kelsey as school librarian. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me. Sincerely,

Benoni Outerbridge Librarian Falk Laboratory School 4060 Allequippa Street University of Pittsburgh Pittsburgh PA 15260 Phone (412) 624-8010 benoni@pitt.edu