Objective
Connection with the Library Community

Indicator
Candidates demonstrate the potential for establishing connections to other libraries and the larger library community for resource sharing, networking and developing common policies and procedures.

Interlibrary loans occur for a reason. No single library, not even the US Library of Congress, can hold all information.

Just so, no single media specialist can be an expert in all areas. So we connect with our colleagues to share our strengths and shore up our weaknesses -- all to the benefit of our teachers and students.

Students in my school are benefitting from my recent work on this year's Howard County Summer Reading List. I partnered with a public librarian to compile suggestions for teen reading that will be distributed to our county high schools and public libraries in June. Linking up with a librarian from the public system gave me a fresh perspective on selecting books for teens. I came away not only with several dozen titles to order for my school, but also new ideas on how to hook students into reading.

I've already put one of those ideas into action by creating an online survey to collect ideas from other media specialists on selecting magazines for teens. Their input helped me add six new magazine subscriptions to our periodical order for next year, with the goal of giving every student in our media center a genuine "Hey!" moment -- "Hey, there’s something to read here that actually interests me!"

I continually network with other media specialists at inservices and online. At the March 2007 professional development inservice I presented a workshop on online collaboration and information sharing called "Jumpstart Your Media Program with Google Docs," and I facilitated a group discussion on sharing best practices for information specialists, based on Gary Hartzell's Building Influence for the School Librarian. Through such experiences I both sharpen and am sharpened by my peers.

Faced with the growing breadth of human knowledge and the escalating pace of technology, I'm well aware that even a media specialist cannot hope to keep up with it all. But by regularly tapping into the strengths of my colleagues, I'm able to cheat my own limitations and make ever-wider resources available to my school community.

Artifacts

File: Howard County Summer Reading List 2007 (PDF)

File: Online Collaboration on Periodicals (PDF)

File: "Jumpstart Your Media Program with Google Docs" Workshop (PDF)

File: Building Influence Inservice Group Discussion Minutes (PDF)

McDaniel College
Westminster, Maryland 21157-4390
410-848-7000