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Strategic Management Plan 2:

School Library Media Center Philosophy/Mission Statement Analysis

Hannah Steele and L. Wimberly Tyler

Department of Leadership, Technology, and Human Development, Georgia Southern University

FRIT 7331: Leadership of the School Library Media Program

Dr. Valerie Bryan

September 20, 2020

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In the Houston County school system, every school in the district uses the same mission

and philosophy statement for their school library media centers. Therefore, Warner Robins

Middle School does not have a School Library Media Center Philosophy/Mission Statement

specific to the school. The county-wide philosophy and mission statement is the one used by

Warner Robins Middle School. The mission statement and philosophy of the Houston County

Library Media Program is as follows:

Media Specialists in Houston County have accepted the responsibility of providing to

students access to all forms of information, whether in print format or via technology, and

the materials necessary to complete the curricular goals of the school system. In addition

to resources, students are provided with expert guidance and instruction in finding

requisite materials, utilization of the information they gather, and improving the quality

of their lives through instilling the zeal to become life-long learners and readers.

A media specialist is a professional educator who is committed to providing a quality

educational program for all students in the Houston County School System. The media

specialist ensures that the media center program is directly related to the instructional

program and to the needs of students and teachers. Accomplishing this task required the

performance of many activities within the media center and the school at large, with the

media specialist being a reliable source of information to many people. Developing and

maintaining a constructive climate in the media center is essential and is derived from the

positive attitude of the media specialist. Working and dealing enthusiastically with

students and staff is necessary to build the relationship between the media center and the

classroom that provides an environment conducive to learning. Encouraging students to

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become independent users of media resources helps to create learning skills that will last

a lifetime.

The media specialist is the key for providing services, materials and equipment needed

for fulfillment of individual and group needs. Print and nonprint materials must be

organized and made available in a way that assures that they are easily accessible.

The media specialist is a vital partner in the instructional program, and as such assists

teachers in planning and carrying out instruction dealing with media skills and helps to

incorporate these skills into classroom teaching. Selecting and obtaining the best possible

resources for instruction requires participation in curriculum and media committee

planning. The entire staff benefits from continuing staff development opportunities which

the media specialist offers in the use of materials and equipment. The media center and

the media specialist are central to the school and the full accomplishment of its

instructional purposes (Department of Teaching and Learning, n.d.).

Upon analysis, the philosophy and mission statement of Warner Robins Middle School

addresses the purpose of the media center, placing heavy priority on being a partner in classroom

instruction and being aligned with instructional programs to best support learners. The need to

provide access to information using a variety of methods, the need to create a constructive and

conducive environment for learning, and the desire to promote student learning through

resources that both support and enhance classroom activities are presented through the

philosophy and mission statement. However, I do believe that more examples of how that would

look specifically for Warner Robins Middle School should be included and some topics should
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be elaborated on in order to provide a clearer picture of what the philosophy and mission

statement means.

The philosophy and mission statement does not address ideas related to a proactive

connection of the school media program to the local learning community and beyond. It also

briefly mentions creating an environment conducive to learning but only explains that this should

come from the positive attitude of the media specialist. As mentioned in ​Empowering Learners​,

“For such rich learning environments to flourish, the school librarian must collaborate with

administrators, classroom teachers, students, and other members of the learning community to

develop the policies that guide the school” (American Association of School Librarians [AASL],

2013, p. 13). In order to create an environment that is conducive to learning there must be

collaboration between all members of the learning community, not just the media specialist.

Each specific member of the community plays an important role and is able to make a positive

impact on making the learning environment warm, stimulating, and safe. These are areas in

which the philosophy and mission statement is lacking and needs to be improved upon.

The program addressed in the philosophy and mission statement is a media center

program that is directly related to the instructional programs throughout the school. It is heavily

focused on collaboration with teachers and staff to best address student needs and classroom

media skills integration. It is written to establish the media center as more of a learning commons

type facility, with constant collaboration with school staff and advertised as a “hub” for

resources. There is no obviously stated goal for promoting student learning except for learning

that would take place within the instructional programs of the school, with the media center

program being referenced as a sort of vehicle to help deliver instruction. The AASL (2013) in
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Empowering Learners​ explains that learning in a media center should occur in a variety of ways

built on the foundations of constructivism. Therefore, students are able to guide and assess their

own learning. Through the collaboration of the teacher and the media specialist, students should

be able to build on prior knowledge and construct new knowledge from the new learning

experiences while also learning how to learn.

From personal experience, the media center program at Warner Robins Middle School

does not fully reflect the school library media center program detailed in the county-wide

philosophy and mission statement. However, the philosophy and mission statement is very vague

and would require more detail and elaboration to fully reflect the actual media center programs.

While a system-wide philosophy and mission statement is a good tool for each media specialist

to have, each school library media program should have its own philosophy and mission

statement. It should be influenced by the county-wide philosophy, but ultimately unique to the

needs of the students and staff in the school and align with the instructional frameworks of the

school. Warner Robins Middle School’s school library media center functions more as a library

program, with each language arts class visiting every three weeks for a lesson aligned with the

current instructional unit. Therefore, students have little opportunity outside of the scheduled

class visits to utilize the media center as a learning commons and place for exploration. Students

primarily use the media center at Warner Robins Middle School to check out fiction and

nonfiction books for reading.

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References

American Association of School Librarians. (2013). ​Empowering learners: Guidelines for school

library programs.​ ProQuest Ebook Central ​https://ebookcentral.proquest.com​.

Department of Teaching and Learning. (n.d.). Mission statement and philosophy. ​The reference

​ ouston County School System.

handbook for Houston county media specialists. H

Link:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1F-ZSIZ4rIvk-rNX-Q_LDarGk_In6fyniwVXkO089PAo/ed
it?usp=sharing