Technology Program Administrator Report

Executive Summary:
Taliaferro County Schools library is a unique beast when compared to the
standard school library. While, in todays educational world, many libraries have
been renamed media centers, the Taliaferro County School library is not a media
center. Upon being hired, the current Media Specialist has taken an area used as a
storage room and made it a fully functional library. Beyond the lack of TLC, the
library also struggles to adequately serve every student. The school in which it is
housed hosts all grades pre-k through 12. In serving all of the grade bands, it is
difficult to provide the appropriate areas and resources for each level of learning.
The library has an area that was built to be a story corner, but was never utilized
as such prior to being taken over by the current media specialist. In prior years, the
shelves were stuffed with books in a very over-whelming manner, the organization
of the books was practically non-existent, many of the books were outdated or
rarely checked-out, and the technology that was present was out dated beyond
repair or use. More often than not, the library was used for storageof items and
students in troubleor for meetings that could not be moved to another location.
Many of the students were unaware of what kind of books were available, where to
find them, the policies and procedures, and the purpose of a library. Since being
taken over by the current media specialist, the changes have been astronomical
not to say that there are no improvements left to be made, because there are, but
the changes have certainly created a more welcoming and structured environment.
The library is on its way to being a full-fledged media center. In its current
state, the library is a much more structured and inviting environment. The story

corner is a bastion of literature-minded students. Children know that the area is

used for reading, whether to themselves or as a group. If they do not want to be a
member of the story corner, they know there are other areas in which they can
spend some of their library time. Students know how to enter, sign-in, and utilize
the librarys tools in an appropriate and organized manner. At one point, students
had to be reminded of every step, but that is no longer the case. The technology
that is available is now out and accessible for the students to use as they need.
Though, that technology is limited in its uses and accessibilitywhich is the case for
the entire community. Because of the extremely rural location of the school and
community, access to technology and internet connections are insanely limited; this
goes for families and businesses in the community as well as the school. Beyond the
technology aspect, Taliaferro County Schools library has a constantly updated
library of student-chosen books. The media specialist makes a point to always have
the students provide recommendations for books or series that their peers may find
entertaining. This student input is something that came as a shock to many of the
students upon the reopening of the library because they had never thought of the
library as accessible to them; it was more of a place to get research materials,
rather than a center that allowed them to be entertained. The media specialist does
provide the students with research lessons, materials, and help in finding credible
sources to use and proper citation format when they come to the library. The library
has also has a constantly evolving decoration scheme, with pictures of students and
their favorite books, an area dedicated to student success with reading, and
students use of technology in educational ways. The children are always excited to
see who has had their picture displayed and for what reasonfurther enforcing the
media specialists goals and mission.

For Taliaferro County School, the media specialist has developed a mission
statement that really speaks to the type of adults we want leading the way to the
future. The mission statement and goals are aligned with the expectations of the
real-world outside of the classroom and the type of thinking that the students will
need to foster in order to succeed to in todays ever-changing, technology-enhanced
world. The Taliaferro County School Library exists to help students grow into
independent information seekers of credible sources with a life-long passion for
furthering their education through literature. There has already been a shift from
students relying on their teachers and the media specialists when choosing a book.
Rather than relying on the opinions of the teachers, the children are now seeking
out the opinions of their peers and the information provided by their peers-ondisplay. While a small step for an adultchoosing a book that appealsthis
behavior in children is a display of independence that can only lead to a more wellread group of readers, independent in their reading and learning: a self-sufficient
learning community. This has been one of the greatest accomplishments of the
school library in its current term.
While the library is successful in some ways, it still falls short in others. Due
to a lack of funding and support from community members, the library continues to
struggle in its organization, accessibility, and technology. While funding will always
be problematic in any school environment, the lack of parental and volunteer
support continues to hamper the efforts of the learning community. The media
specialist can rely on a handful of students to assist with various programs, but the
help is inconsistent due to class schedule conflicts and the degree of help required.
When parents are needed, they are seldom found or willing to help in the library.
During the schools Fall Book Fair, one parent came to help. As such, the library had

to be stocked with student volunteers from all levels to assist with the smooth
operation of the eventand even so, items went missing or were not properly cared
for. The reality is that libraries as physical text-centers are being neglected and
without an advance in technology so that the center can become a legitimate media
center, the future may be a dark one.
The stakeholders for the library are a combination of school employees,
students, and volunteers from the communitythough, the volunteer numbers have
remained dismal, year-over, year. Every school employee utilizes the library and its
resources at some point, though their help in establishing and maintaining the
facility has been minimal. Due to the schools small size, the only true library
employee is the media specialist, herself. She acts as: the media specialist,
circulation clerk, tech support, website administrator, technology coordinator,
technology chairperson, and teacher. The only consistent support that she can rely
on for assistance in the library is the student volunteers, of which there are only a
handful. With that reality in mind, the media specialist maintains that her goal is the
better educate students on how to become successful inquiry-based learnersof
which she attempts to accomplish through her lessons and interactions with the
students in the library, classrooms, and hallways. Now that the library has been reorganized and re-branded in a more positive light, the students are more engaged
and comfortable interacting with the library and its services. In order to enhance
student understanding even more, the media specialist has developed activities to
help her achieve her mission and goal. The activities that she uses vary based on
grade-level, seeing as she serves all of the grade levels. Many of the lessons given
are taught to the elementary students, pre-k through 3. These grades focus on the
foundations of literature: theme, setting, topic, characters, etc. These literary

elements are important to establish early so that the children are comfortable with
books and are able to better connect with the literature. Without a foundation in
literary skills, it is often the case that children never obtain that desire to read that
helps them become life-long readers. As the children grow, grades 4-8, the lessons
become more involved and complex. Rather than having children describe what
kinds of books they like and why, students are challenged to identify common
characteristics of stories, themes, and character motivations. Students are given
more information on researching and using credible sources, as well, to prepare
them for the coming research and requirements of college and beyond. The high
school student involvement in lessons is minimal, but there are programs being
worked on to enhance the interactions of the older students. Recently, a program
referred to as Common Sense Media Program has been started at the school to
ensure more involvement from the studentsregardless of age group. This program
sets out to give students more interaction with the behind-the-scenes aspects of
library operation. The program serves the dual purpose of allowing the media
specialist to have more volunteers, but also may open students up to new
experiences that light a flame within them for a love of literature.
Evaluation:
In my evaluation of the media center, I found that it is not meeting all of its
expectations or intentions. While advances are being made and the changes are
certainly for the better, there is still a vast amount of work to be done before the
center could be considered fully-developed. Considering the prior state of the media
center, strides have certainly been made and the center has blossomed into a thing
of beauty. However, thinking of the center from an outside perspectivenon-biased
regarding the specific mission, goals, and intentions as well as the more broad

understanding of what a media center is meant for, there are some areas that need
to be addressed. Starting with the successes, the media center has an adequate
and functional library. The children have become more independent, motivated, and
self-directed in terms of the basic operations as a library. Students and teachers are
aware of and are able to adhere to the rituals, routines, and procedures that are
expected without many issues or interferences. The library has grown from an
abandoned room to an area where students feel comfortable exploring the offerings
on the shelves and asking for help when neededan uncommon occurrence in the
first years of establishment. Considering the starting point and the strides that have
been made, it is understandable that the media center is not in a state of efficient
and effective operationit takes several years to implement new programs and
policies and years more for them to function without constant attention. When
evaluating the media center as a technology center, there are many shortcomings
that interfere with the efficient and effective operations that are expected. The
technology that is present in the media center is quite outdated, decrepit, or simply
unused. Of the technology that is available, the only working technology is: four
computer towers with standard peripherals, one document scanner, one printer, one
poster-maker, one laminator, one projector cart, and one LCD TV. There is also a
laptop cart and iPad cart, though neither are established or functional; at this point,
they are only taking up space because they are not ready to be in circulation for
teacher or student use and have been in this sad state for nearly two years
making them mostly obsolete tech, as one high school student called them. The
resources available are not adequate, but nothing can be done to remedy the
current state of things without additional fundingas is the case state-widebut, all
requests for additional funding or resources go unanswered or denied. LAN access

points are limited and cannot be moved, while the WiFi remains locked under strict
controls. There are many initiatives that the media specialist would like to attempt
to start, but without the appropriate support, the likelihood of their success is
limited.
Based on the information gained from this report, there are not many things
that can be done about the current functionality of the media center. Without
appropriate funding, volunteer help, and administrative support, the media center
will not be able to grow to its full potential. Keeping these hurdles in mind though,
there are several ways in which the media center may be able to improve its
technology integration so that these shortfalls can be amended and repaired. The
first and simplest of these being a media center newsletter. By keeping the
stakeholders informed, the media specialist may be able to encourage more
participation and involvement in programs that may interest students, parents, and
community members. The newsletter could start as a simple update and
information sheet with simple and quick tidbits of information that can be developed
into larger or more involved features as the success of the newsletter can be
measured over time. The media specialist is also interested in starting a media
advisory committee to help with the library functions. As the committee is
developed and proves to be successful, the purposes of the group could evolve from
library functions to a full-functioning media advisory group that could assist in the
appropriation and uses of media in the centerthereby furthering the legitimacy of
the media aspect of the media center. This group would be an amalgamation of
students, teachers, and community members to ensure that all groups have a
vested interest in the functions, purposes, and activities of the media center and its
patrons. The most involved--and appropriately positioned as last on this list based

on the successes of the other programswould be a school news channel. Using the
technology already availablean iPad, the network servers, and a dedicated port on
the school websitethe students could create and operate a school news channel
with the help of a sponsor and several stakeholders. Several other counties in the
state are making use of similar programs to involve students in more technology
applications and real-life experiences operating programs. Due to time-constraints
and scheduling issues though, this endeavor would be quite large. With three,
independent school schedules running at the same time and 13 grade levels
operating under the same roof, there would need to be a separate newscast for
each school as organized by the students and sponsors. This show could provide
students in the school with news about upcoming events, note-worthy community
news, and a larger view of the world around the school.
In a perfect world, the media center would have all the funding it needs and
community members lined up at the door, begging to help. However, that is not the
reality and adjustments must be made to ensure that the media center operates at
its full capacity in its current state. When looking at the facts and taking into
consideration the minutia, it seems that this media center has grown and flourished
despite the lack of necessary elements. While the media center is not operating on
the level that is expected, nor is it meeting the intentions of the center as a whole,
it is functioning in a manner that meets the needs of the stakeholders using the
currently available resources and efforts of the parties involved.