National School Library Standards - Explore

Suzanne Brooks

Midway Elementary School

Lexington, SC

https://sites.google.com/lexington1.net/meslearningcommons/home

 

“Key Commitment – Discover and innovate in a growth mindset developed 

through experience and reflection” (AASL 2018, 104).

 

This is Ms. Brooks second year as the school librarian at Midway. Covid restrictions were still in place when she began so this school year has required her to introduce the library to many students for the first time. Students in kindergarten and first grade have not had experience in the library, while the older students had not been in for a couple of years. Much of the work she has done this year has been to teach the students how to use the library space.

Ms. Brooks has focused a lot on the collection at Midway. Since arriving, approximately 20,000 items have been weeded. Many of these items removed were old and not useful. She is currently trying to purchase more items to increase the average number of resources per student. She has reorganized and genrified part of the collection. The book displays are more dynamic, and some books are grouped in baskets of similar titles to ease searching for titles. She has a bookshelf dedicated to South Carolina Book Award winners and has seen an increase in circulation of these items.

 

One of the challenges Ms. Brooks faces with developing a Makerspace is lack of funding and lack of space. Ms. Brooks is writing grants to build this space for the students. At this time, she has a class set of Keva blocks https://www.kevaplanks.com/and has had students build such things as traps, haunted houses and monsters. She is currently exploring grants to obtain more items. In addition, the library has limited space for a dedicated Makerspace area. While there are tables among the shelves, up to 100 students come to the library at the end of the day to wait for their bus. It is difficult to leave things out in this environment.

 

One area of creation Ms. Brooks has developed since arriving at Midway is the daily video announcement program. Students apply, are interviewed and selected to serve in all aspects of producing this show. Last year, she had small groups of students that were from the same classes to minimize any impact from illnesses. This year she has been able to select more students to participate. The students work together to develop content and produce the daily show.

 

Moving  forward, Ms. Brooks recognizes the importance of having a Makerspace in the library for all students to explore and create. While the daily announcements provides experience for some, it is limited to fifth grade students at this time.

 

American Association of School Librarians. 2018. National School Library Standards for Learners, School Librarians, and School Libraries. Chicago: ALA.