SMP Part 1 Rob Roberts

Part 1 Contextual Analysis of The Learning Community

Description of the site/environmental scan
I am a science and social studies teacher at Camden Middle School in Kingsland, Ga. We are a Title 1
school that houses 1046 students in grades 6th, 7th, and 8thgrades. The 6th grade wing has 345 students, the
7th grade wing has 356 students and the 8th grade wing has 346 students. There are 70 teachers at CMS
and of those teachers 13 are Special Education teachers. Camden Middle School is in the center of
Camden County home of Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base. The total population of Camden County in
2011 was 50,410. Of the total population of Camden County the ethnic makeup is 75.2% white, 19.8%
black, 1.5% Asian with other ethnicity at less than 1% of the residents. The population is almost equally
divided between males 50.7% and females 49.3%. A profile of ethnic groups revealed 61.8 percent of the
student enrollment was Caucasian, 26.1 percent was African American, 4.7 percent was Hispanic, 4.6
percent was of mixed origin, and 1.8 percent Asian, and less than one percent was classified as American
Indian or Alaskan. The ages of students at CMS are from 10 years nine months of age to 15 years nine
months of age. The student body is 51.9 percent female and 48.1 percent male. Camden Middle School
has always done well in academic achievement. Reading is usually one of the areas that Camden Middle
School does well on consistently. CRCT scores in Reading over the last five years have been scored from
91 to 98 percent proficiency. CMS was a distinguished Title 1 school for every year the Georgia
Department of Education gave out the award. Camden Middle School continually makes AYP for the
year and has done so for the last several years.
The Media Center at Camden Middle School has a collection of 14,265 books on hand. There are also
multiple media formats in our library such as 271 DVD/VHS titles, 16 audio books, 16 E books, and
multiple textbook sets which are used by Language Arts classrooms. The yearly circulation for 2012 was
32,000 and the average age of the collection is 1994. The school system has placed SMARTboards in all
classrooms along with LCD, DVD players, and many classroom have SMART document cameras. There
are at least 2 PCs in each of the classrooms.

School library philosophy

Purpose
The media center philosophy is to make sure that all students become life long learners who develop a
passion for reading and who possess the skills necessary to take control of their own learning. The media
center plans to accomplish this by making sure that our media center is current and applies all 21st
century media center criteria as stated by the AASL. Our patrons will benefit from visiting the center of
learning in the school along with the vast array of technology that is available to them. This technology
will give visitors what they need to develop learning skills and be successful in the classroom. Students
will enjoy a warm, relaxing environment in which they can collaborate with partners on work, get
tutoring, or simply study in a quiet place. The main purpose for creating such a place is facilitate student
learning and help students succeed.
Access to Information
Our media center believes that all students in our learning community should have equal access to all of
the information and technology in the school. By providing this equal to access to information in many
diverse ways, we are ensuring that each student has the tools available for them to be successful learners.
Reading is the cornerstone of education and our goal is to ensure that readers have access to all levels of
books in order to develop their reading skills. Students have access to computers, tablets, printed books,
and Ebooks in the library. There is wireless access throughout the building for them as well. When
speaking of access, our media center needs to have hours that accommodate our community of learners.
We encourage not only our students, but any community member to come and visit us to enjoy the
facilities. We want our working hours to meet these needs as well so we are open from 7:30 am until 5:00
pm on Monday through Friday, unless there is a special event taking place.
Provide a climate conducive to learning

The school library media center should be a place where students come to work
in an environment that encourages participatory learning, collaboration, and
inquiry. Students should walk into a space that is friendly, inviting, and makes
students feel at home in the learning environment. At CMS we want to provide
students with comfortable seating areas for collaboration with other students.
Students should be encouraged to bring their own technology to use in the
media center via wireless capabilities. We are not there yet, but we are working
to become recognized as a 21st Century media center full of technology for
students to use. The CMS media center strives to become one of the
community leaders in information and technology, providing not only for
students but also making our media center a place for the community to come
for a variety activities. We have meeting rooms for teachers to use for
collaboration along with space that can be used for larger scale presentations
for students and faculty.
Access for the local learning community
The CMS media center has many things to offer our community in Kingsland, Georgia. We have the
space and equipment to allow groups to come in and put on presentations within the community. We
want to build relationships with local parents by establishing a "Friends of the library program". At
Camden Middle School we encourage the use of all of our facilities by parents and community
leaders. We want to make everyone aware of how vital and important school libraries are to the
general public. Our students are aware of this, but we want to let the community know we are not
just a place that stores books. We will conduct special events in our library to showcase it to the
public. We will have extended hours to provide access to those who may need to come early or late.
We want a full and professional staff trained to take care of the needs of all of our patrons.

School library mission statement

It is the mission of the CMS Media Center to meet the needs of patrons to ensure that they become
independent life-long learners who are effective users of ideas and information. This mission is
accomplished by:
providing intellectual and physical access to materials in all formats;
providing instruction to foster competence and stimulate interest in reading, viewing,
and using information and ideas; and
working with other educators to design learning strategies to meet the needs of
individual students.
Sources:
Camden Middle School Improvement Plan (2012) Retrieved
from http://www.camden.k12.ga.us

American Association of School Librarians (2009). Empowering learners: Guidelines for

school library programs. Chicago, Illinois: American Association of School
Librarians.

Strategic Management Plan Part 2

The School Library Media Center: Facilities and Services

School library services overview:

The Camden Middle School library media center needs to work on several areas to be considered
a 21 century library. The Camden Middle School website has a lot of work to do before it could be
considered a virtual library. In terms of what Loertscher-Koechlin consider a virtual learning
commons, our media center was only proficient in one area which was the information center. This is
a major drawback but with the new commitment to technology, hopefully these policies will be
reversed. Our current county internet policy is very strict, in terms of material being blocked from
both faculty and students. At the present time in our school our faculty and students, including the
media center are blocked from using web 2.0 tools or accessing many educational sites. We have a
ban on any personal electronic products (BYOT) or anything brought in from home. We need to add
things such as a knowledge building center, literacy center, school culture, and experimental learning
center to be 21st century ready. With a little work we can achieve this goal. What we do have are
Google chromebooks for each grade level. The county has made a commitment to technology and the
goal is to have Google chromebooks for all of Camden County students by next year. The LMS will
play an integral role of providing teachers with web sites for study, research, or to read ebooks. Our
media center does have many e books and they are in the process of ordering more as the budget
permits. In the provided graph below, ebooks are included in the data with the regular books and it
can be noted that our LMS at Camden Middle School places an emphasis on technology as reflected
in the budgetary spending. The Camden County media center is operates under flexible scheduling to
provide access to all students as they need services
st

Circulation Policy:
Students:

are not allowed to check out magazines or non-circulating books at

all.

They may check out overnight books for 1 day with a fine of $.25 for
every day over.

Regular books and e books may be checked out for a period of 14

days with a fine of $.05 per day over.
Faculty:

are not allowed to check out magazines or non-circulating books at

all.

May check out overnight books, regular books, and ebooks for an
extended time with no penalty.
All media equipment is checked out without time limits, but must
be checked and documented by the media specialist.

Services provided for patrons:

Book fairs twice a year raises money for the media center
AR store twice a year fundraiser/reward for students
Reading bowl competitions at all levels Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl

Instruction in information literacy

Research skills teaching students how to find needed information
Word documents, Google docs, Ppts, all other types of presentations teaching students and
teachers how to use technology programs for learning.
Book checkouts, ebook checkouts Daily media center routines
Parent resource center provide parents with books, help with technology programs, and research
in the library.
Volunteer training train volunteers the daily ins and outs of the media center so that they can
provide assistance.
Special ed students come in to work they dust, vac, clean tables (GAA)
Check out headphones & other equipment for teachers, special needs students, ect.
This is a partial list. The media specialist really is the backbone of the school with all of the things
included and not included in the job description that the specialist does!
Resources available:
Software Programs
FY 13 (as of 03-01-13)
Camden Middle School
BOE Funded
1.
RenLearn (All grades)
a.
STAR Reading
b.
STAR Math
c.
Accelerated Reader
d.
Accelerated Math
2,
My SkillsTutor (All grades; Math, LA, Sci)
3. Aimsweb (All grades)
4. Woodcock Johnson III Compuscore (Guidance)
5.
Math text books on-line (Math textbook adoption)
6.
Science text books on-line (Science textbook adoption)
7.
Gallopade Software (SS textbook adoption)
Site Owned (No annual fees/cost)
8.
Orchard
(All grades)
9.
Pittsco Synergistic Lab (Tech Exploratory classes) (grant by Dave Shannon, CCHS
VocEd)

Site Subscriptions (Annual costs)

10. Lincoln Library Online (www.factcite.com) ($179/year purchased through Media
Center funds)
State Funded
11. BrainPop (Title 1)
12. Parent web resource (Title 1)
13. Study Island (Title 1)
14. United Streaming (www.gpb.org) (GPB videos, etc.)
15. Galileo (www.galileo.usg.edu) (research, etc.)
16. GA411 (career surveys, etc.) (Guidance)
For further information on the above resources check out the Camden Middle School media center
website at: http://cms.camden.k12.ga.us/MediaCenter/tabid/17385/Default.aspx
CMS Destiny page: http://destiny.camden.k12.ga.us:8080/common/servlet/presenthomeform.do?
l2m=Home&tm=Home&l2m=Home
Are there any changes to facilities or in general that LMS would like to
make?
I would move the checkout desk to the other end of the media center (to a non-instructional hallway
entrance)
I would ask for a smartboard and projector placed on my one usable wall and create a research center,
moving the encyclopedias, etc. to that area
I would ask for a cart of Chromebooks to have available for student checkout for use as ereaders as well
as whole-class research tools

School library facilities:

The Camden Middle School library is located in a part of the school which was built over 30
years ago. That being said the media center is not in bad shape for being as old as it is. It is obvious
that the media center has been renovated over the years by the condition that it is in as seen in the
following photos:

Our media center is warm and inviting with friendly staff working inside. They usually offer a
warm greeting as you walk in. The environment is definitely conducive to learning. Students enter
from the 7th grade hallway and the media center has two points of entrance. Only teachers may use
the other entry. The lighting is good and there is plenty of room in our media center for traffic flow.
The circulation desk is located at the student entry and exit end of the media center. Once inside
patrons have a variety of choices to assist them with their learning. The media center has nice
carpeting throughout the facility with nice wooden tables and chairs for students to work at. There

are also two comfortable seating areas for student collaboration and reading. There are sections for
fiction, nonfiction, reference, biography, computers with e books and easy reading. All of the areas
are well marked so patrons can easily find them. There is a room for the storage of technology
equipment and a storage room that contains technology and other media for teachers to check out.
We have two different computer workstations in the media center for students to work on assignment
with. Each workstation has 5 computers and the workstations are set up with thin clients that work
off of a server. The media center has two ways of entry with wide doors to accommodate special
needs students. Learning tables are large and chairs can be removed to make room for wheelchairs.
Some of the problems in the media center that could be changed in order to make the media
center more 21st century ready would be the inclusion of technology specific areas and upgrades. The
media specialist is currently upgrading the collection of e books and other technology in the media
center. Refer back to the previous chart on the budget and you will see the evidence. A lot of the
budget goes into technology and e books. The entire school along with the media center is wireless
and students can access the network with allowed devices. The media center needs designated
learning centers with LED screens for computer hookup, hard wired internet access, and electrical
plug ins for multiple media devices. These modern collaboration areas are the way to go. All of this
would also have comfortable seating areas that students could work in. Another problem in the media
center is moisture. With budget cutbacks and schools cutting back on the use of air conditioners,
there is an increase in humidity in our school. This humidity is damaging to books and other
materials inside the media center. Our LMS has two huge dehumidifiers the help take the water out
of the air. These machines take as much as five gallons of water per day out of the air!
The Camden Middle School website has a lot of work to do before it could be
considered a virtual library and current with 21 st century standards. In terms of what
Loertscher-Koechlin consider a virtual learning commons, our media center is on its
way but certainly needs some work. By using budget money wisely and
incorporating good ideas from faculty and administration Camden Middle School
media center can become a 21 st century library where students want to come and
learn.

Budget sources:

Current sources of funds and state any formulas that apply (such as dollar
amount per FTE).

Majority of funds are from state FTE monies which are based on $13.03 per student. CMS currently
has 1070 students, so budget should be $13,942.10, but enrollment was less last year, so funding was
probably based on that. We are very fortunate that our principal adheres to the state FTE amountmany
do not.
FY13-14, the media center budget is $13,440.45. Over half of that, $7,129.90, will be spent on books
(paper and e), supplies and instructional/curriculum resources cost $3,246.18, and $3064.37 will be spent
on technology and other items.

The media center follows the GADOE definition of media materials fairly closely: Media materials are
those instructional materials including print, non-print, periodicals, online databases, supplies, and
equipment that are critical to the support and enhancement of
the school library media center program. These materials are housed in and circulated through the
library media center for use by the entire learning community of the school. There is an expenditure test
media funds must be spent on media materials. There are times when we purchase books for a grade
levels use they will not be circulated, but we know they will be used. Also, there are times when the
media specialist is asked to barcode items that she didnt purchase so they can be tracked mostly
expensive equipment.

Typical fundraising efforts such as book fairs and any local supplements or
other
potential sources of revenue.
We hold 2 book fairs per year and net approximately $1200 on each one. We receive about $225 each
year from our local Kiwanis Club specifically for purchasing reading bowl books. We recycle used
cartridges through The Funding Factory and have made several hundred dollars each year quite
painlessly.
We are just now getting started with Mackin Via and they offer several grants each year will have to
look into that as a potential source. Follett has a contest every year, but thats like playing the lottery.
Evaluate the adequacy of funding for the program based on current needs.
Our funding is quite adequate based on current needs and we spend it down to the penny. If we had
more money, we would buy more books and some technology that would stay in the media center, like a
set of IPads for students to use as e-readers and to create book trailers for our reading bowl books and,
etc..or a set of chromebooks for whole-class research. Our media specialist would like funding to be
allocated for an additional media specialist, but we are not sure that will ever happen.

Strategic Management Plan Part 3

The School Library Media Center Program Plan: Goals,
Objectives, and Evaluation

Rob Roberts
Strategic Management Plan Part 3

Stakeholder Survey

I chose to send out a survey via SurveyMonkey. The purpose of the survey was to find out what the
feelings of the faculty are towards the library media center and its staff. In order to make improvements
in the library media center we need to find out what the needs of the teachers are. What things we are
doing correctly and the things that we can improve in order to make our library media center a better
place for students, faculty, and any other stakeholders.
After examining the results of the survey a few things need to be addressed. Many of the teachers felt
that the friendliness of the staff was on par. They also indicated that the staff was very helpful to
themselves as well as the students. Issues that teachers indicated they would like changes in are time to
visit the library, collaboration with the library media specialist, help from media specialist in designing
instructional units, the importance of the library media center, and awareness of library media services.

Here is a link to the survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/DRNLVWW

Goals & Objectives 2013-2018

Goal 1.
To provide intellectual and physical access to information to students and faculty
through learning activities that are done by
Objectives:

learning activities that are integrated into the curriculum and that help all
students achieve information literacy by developing effective cognitive
strategies for selecting, retrieving, analyzing, evaluating, synthesizing,
creating, and communicating information in all formats and in all content
areas of the curriculum. Evaluation- STAR enterprise to check
increases in reading levels.
a carefully selected and systematically organized collection of diverse
learning resources, representing a wide range of subjects, levels of
difficulty, communication formats, and technological delivery
systems. Evaluation- stakeholder survey
access to information and materials outside the library media center and
school building through such mechanisms as interlibrary loan, networking
and other cooperative agreements, and online searching of
databases. Evaluation-increased traffic at virtual library website.
instruction in the operation of equipment necessary to use the information
in any format. Evaluation-increase use of Google Docs to submit
assignments done with teacher survey at the years end.

Goal 2.
To provide learning experiences that encourages users to become discriminating
consumers and skilled creators of information
Objectives:

through introduction to the full range of communications media and use of

new and emerging technologies. Evaluation-stakeholder survey
Provide a student-centered atmosphere that houses large and
small groups of students. Evaluation-stakeholder survey
Provide sufficient staffing (certified school librarians) in the CMS library to
support library program. Evaluation-stakeholder survey
Continue to keep an up to date and diverse collection by weeding
frequently and changing materials. Evaluation-Media center collection
audit
Give students the chances to evaluate and use online resources
effectively, efficiently,and ethically. Evaluation-stakeholder survey

Goal 3 Market the library media center and its importance to all stakeholders to grow media
center use in the next five years.
Objectives:

Make sure that all of the services/programs of the media center are known
by implementing a presentation of the school library media center at the
beginning of the school year to all administration and
faculty. Evaluation-Pre and post faculty surveys to be analyzed
Create a Camden Middle School media center virtual library embedded
with all new technology available to increase student
achievement. Evaluation-embed website with a counter to monitor web
traffic
Create an Animoto video of our media center annual report to post on the
school website and the library media website. This will help to advocate
media center use and allow visitors to see the benefits of the media
center. Evaluation-stakeholder survey
Create a space for teachers to come to relax or
collaborate/work. Evaluation-stakeholder survey.

Goal 4 Increase collaboration and instructional design with teachers in order to increase students
achievement in all content areas
Objectives:

 Participate in school grade level and department meetings in order to be full partners in the putting into
practice of the curricula. Evaluation-CRCT pre and post data
Make sure that all of the services/programs of the media center are known by implementing a
presentation of the school library media center at the beginning of the school year to all administration
and faculty. Evaluation-Pre and post faculty surveys to be analyzed
Implement specific times for teachers to come into the media center to work on lessons for student
learning. Evaluation-CRCT pre and post data
.
Evaluation
The evaluation of the library media center will be done on an annual basis to validate the success and
gains of the program. With the established library media advocacy group we will meet twice a year to
discuss the progress of the library yearly objectives and their effectiveness. The library advocacy group
consists of parents, administrators and school board members. They will examine all sources of data
available to the media center to support the media center effectiveness. This data will include but not be
limited to circulation, web traffic, stakeholder surveys, STAR reading data, collection evaluation
including technology sources and CRCT data. The library media specialist along with the library media
advocacy group will make all decisions regarding the progress of goals and implementation of new policy
of these goals. It will be their job to meet to examine and evaluate the given data to apply this to the
goals set forth for the Camden Middle School media center. Should revisions to these goals need to be
made at the end of the year the committee will make these revisions based on the major goals of the five
year plan. By following these guidelines the Camden Middle School media center should be current and
effective in student achievement while becoming a place that students, faculty, and stakeholders feel
comfortable in visiting.
Advocacy
My advocacy plan for communicating the Media Center Strategic Management Plan to all of the
stakeholders and professional library community will involve making the plan available to all parties
concerned by a variety of means. I will use the Web 2.0 tool Animoto to produce a video on the major
components and data of the Strategic Management Plan at Camden Middle School. Once produced, this
Animoto will be posted on the school web site as well as the Camden County Middle School media
website. This way the public, teachers, students, and others can examine what our plans are for the school
media center in a fun, exciting, and engaging format. I will also present this format at our open house at
the beginning of the next school year so that visitors will have an idea of the direction of our program.
The full print version of the Strategic Management Plan will also be available to all stakeholders and
interested parties on the CMS website and the CMS media website as well. This is for those who wish to
view the entire document in detail.