Stimulating Learning Environment

R.V. Small reports that out of over 500 ERIC documents and one million web sites addressing block schedules in schools, a mere 10 of those documents actually zero in on how block scheduling impacts the school library media center. These figures astounded me when I first encountered them. The school I was working in was about to make the move to a full block schedule, and I was hoping to apply for the position of media specialist there in the near future. I decided that I needed to conduct a little research of my own in a sincere effort of analyzing and improving the services that the media center provides. If I was going to prove my readiness and abilities in an interview, I had better know what I was talking about. I read and reviewed every article and study I could get my hands on. This process helped to really develop a knowledge base and formulate clear questions such as:

Do school libraries really experience a drop in circulation (especially fiction) during the first years of transitioning to a block schedule? Will circulation increase as time passes? Will the media center see more or less use?
Does the increase in demand for library services continue over several years or is it simply a fad that will fade as classroom teachers become more comfortable with the schedule change?

The research proposal I eventually drafted was one that could be employed with ease. Interested school library media specialists will gather needed data from existing databases (Follet Circulation Plus and Follet Reports), professional discussion, and a documentation chart. Based on the findings and conclusions of this study, several action research studies may develop. This study requires relatively little start up money from the county; in fact, the primary needs from the county are simply man-power and support. The first year following a block schedule has proved to be interesting indeed. The library media program has definitely been impacted. Scheduling classes for visits has certainly required a lot of careful thought (especially with each grade level being on a different bell schedule due to lunch shifts). I volunteered to take over the daunting task of figuring out how to tackle this possible stumbling block. I looked at examples of other media center schedules from schools already operating on block scheduling and discovered that visits to the media center would now need to be scheduled by times rather than periods- a major shift in thinking for many staff members. I am confident that data collected and analyzed each year will help make the next even more successful.

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