Managing Program Resources

II. Managing Program Resources: Human, Financial, Physical

The school library media specialist is the manager of the media center staff, budget, and the physical classroom that is the media center. As a manager I will solicit input from my media center staff in decision-making. I will spend allocated monies appropriately while diligently maintaining a well-balanced budget. I will also strive to promote a warm, inviting learning space for all users to enjoy.

Artifact and Reflection

Average Copyright	Cost to Upgrade to 1992
1979	$15,830.79

Along with two classmates, I took part in the evaluation of the library collection at a Howard County high school. We followed a procedure of taking a random sampling of books in a non-fiction section, recorded the publication date of each of these books, and checked the titles against a professional selection source (Wilson's Senior High School Library Collection). We entered all of the data into a table in Excel and produced charts to display our findings. The artifact titled "High School Collection Analysis" contains the charts which show that the school's collection was considerably out of date, and a table which explains the amount of money it would take to bring this section of the media center up to current state standards. The data was then presented to the school administration, along with the "Letter to Principal," as evidence for the need for a fully supported media center budget. Once I am a media specialist, I plan on setting aside time each year to analyze a part of my library collection for currency. I now have the tools from this exercise to assist me to analyze the data and to advocate for administrative support of my program.