The importance of setting goals

There are so many exciting things happening in the DRMS media center! Many of these successful programs and activities are a direct result of the program goal planning the library media staff completed at the beginning of this school year. We created a timeline of various projects and tasks to complete, then regularly followed up on our progress on these goals during our weekly PLT meetings. We are thrilled with the many program accomplishments during the first half of this school year. Summer and fall 2009 highlights include:

· Implementing a meaningful and active student media center orientation, including gathering data from a student reading survey given to all 7th and 8th graders.
· Creation of the Dolphin Readers Book Club. Students helped with program planning, wrote book reviews, and shared media center information with their classmates.
· Ms. BC and I began a professional book study to stay current with library media trends and improve processes in the DRMS media program.
· Creation of a media center data wall.
· A trial period of extended media center hours one day a week to gauge the need for this type of service.
· Internet Safety parent program during fall school dance.
· Reconfigure library shelving for teachers to have easier access to materials.
· Interfiled the North Carolina collection into nonfiction so students will have greater access to resources.
· Full book inventory and AV equipment inventory of the school.

The remainder of this school year includes additional program goals to accomplish. A sample of winter and spring 2010 goals include:

· Regularly posting to this blog! We see this as a wonderfully accessible communication tool for students, staff, and parents to highlight how the library media program impacts learning and teaching.
· The implementation of a Google-Free Media Center has already taken place, although information regarding this change will continue through the rest of this school year. Look for articles specifically related to this idea in future blog posts!
· Continuing to shift shelving and move library materials to allow students and teachers easier access to resources. It’s important for students to find books for research projects more efficiently, so they can spend more time accessing the text, instead of physically hunting for resources.
· Read Across America, National Library Week, and Poetry Month will be co-planned by our Dolphin Reader group.
· The 2010-2011 Newbery Club will begin in April.

Happy New Year to you all!
-Ms. Z