Library Plan

School Library Program Vision Statement

Preparing ALL learners to become productive and engaged citizens in an information-rich world.

School Library Program Mission Statement

We develop students and staff who become effective users of information and

embrace a love of reading and literature through personalized learning experiences.

School Library Program Action Steps

To support this mission and vision, the school library:

• provides all members of the learning community access to a supportive, welcoming, and learner-centered environment

• works in collaboration with teachers, administrators, support staff, students, and parents to provide learning experiences that promote student achievement

• fosters the development of reading, writing, speaking and listening skills and provides experiences that expand and reinforce classroom reading instruction

• promotes life-long learning through information literacy and digital citizenship instruction that is integrated with classroom content

• promotes critical thinking, engagement with information in all of its forms and the use of technology to enhance teaching and learning

• provides access to a rich and abundant collection of materials in many formats—both print and electronic

• maintains a collection that meets the teaching and learning needs of the school curriculum and reflects principles of diversity and intellectual freedom

• fosters connections with the larger learning community to provide students with access to learning resources and activities beyond the school walls

• communicates library program plans, needs and accomplishments to stakeholders on a regular basis

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Librarians met during the fall of 2020 to review the existing status of district school library programs and make recommendations for improvements based upon the Iowa Department of Education document, Iowa School Library Program Guidelines. Based upon this review, the team recommends the following areas be priorities for our library programs for the next five years:

• 1. Retain one full-time, certified librarian at each school.

  2. Increase the high school to 2 full-time, certified librarians.

  3. Provide leadership for and expand use of Google Apps district-wide.

  4. Increase/retain paraeducator support in each school library to minimum of 1 FTE at Elementary and 2 FTE at Secondary.

  5. Designate and pay library paraeducator support as library associates to reflect job requirements and training.

  6. Align the collection with curriculum with emphasis on titles to support reading instruction and classroom collections.

  7. Increase and promote the availability of digital information resources to support the district 1:1 initiative.

  8. Increase average copyright of collection to within 5 years of evaluation date.

  9. Support professional development for teacher librarian.

  10. Collaborate with public librarian on at least one activity yearly.

  11. Review action plan annually.