Philosophy

      The responsibility of the library media center is to help all students to become active, interested, creative, and ethical locators, evaluators and users of information so that they may solve their problems, increase their knowledge and satisfy their own curiosity. As one step in this process, the library media center must provide members of the school community with access to information resources and requisite skills for using these resources. These resources and skills must support the curriculum and the educational goals of our school. Partnership with teachers ensures the necessary integration of the library media center program with the curriculum. In addition to extending and enhancing classroom experiences, the library media center strives to stimulate a lifelong love and appreciation of reading and learning. It is open to all members of the school community, including those from a broad range of ethnic and cultural backgrounds, and with a variety of physical and mental needs.

      The library media center does not exist in a vacuum. The library media center program serves not only the students and teachers but the community as well. We work in partnership with the local public library, libraries located at Georgia institutions of higher education, and with other neighborhood associations to improve the quality of life and access to information in the community.

      We are citizens of a democratic republic, the United States of America, and believe that informed and responsible citizens are essential to the continuation of our form of government. It is imperative that informed citizens have access to a wide variety of viewpoints and that they should not be denied this access through censorship. Schools and especially the school library media center are essential components of the societal process of training new and effective citizens. In order for our future leaders and voters to be effective, they must be able to access, evaluate, use, and ethically produce information.

*This philosophy was developed as a collaborative effort by Nancy Andrews, Mary Lewis, Oreta Taylor and I as part of our Program Development and Evaluation Plan. I can think of no other statement that would reflect the awesome responsibility and sense of purpose that a media center must hold true. It includes all members of the academic community, encourages seeking information for purposes from simple wonder to involved research, and acts as the key to opening the door to the magic of reading while supporting intellectual freedom as outlined.

Vision

While my philosophy of the media program is designed to help introduce young minds to the world of information and books, my vision is to establish a media program that is open and inviting. I believe the media center should be the heart of the school and that all the good resources and interesting books do not mean a thing if students and teachers don’t feel the media center is a safe and welcoming environment.

·        My vision is to establish myself as a positive, caring, and knowledgeable individual whom students and teachers trust and respect.

·        My vision for the media center is to create a place where students want to come for information, to look for a good book, or just to be part of a place where they feel welcomed and valued as a person.

·        My vision is to emphasize to the teachers and staff that I genuinely care about helping them achieve their goals and that the media center collection is for their use in supporting curricular objectives.

·        My vision is to connect with teachers so that we may collaborate as instructional partners to enhance the learning process for all students.