School of Information Resources and Library Science
University of Arizona
IRLS 481/581: School Library Administration and Organization
Fall 2006
3 Semester Hours
______________________________________________________________________________

Instructor:                        Judi Moreillon, Ph.D.
Phone:                               520.621.3565 (SIRLS Office)
Email:                               judithm@email.arizona.edu, storypower@theriver.com

Course Description
Services, finances, personnel, evaluation, quarters, organization and technical services in the school library (3 credit hours)

General Overview

This course involves a study of teaching and reference services, classroom-library collaboration, budget allocations, personnel selection and management, program and facility evaluation, technical services and the relationship of the school library to the school learning community. Additionally, the course will consider interpersonal skills, marketing/ advocacy, and the leadership role of the teacher-librarian.

Course Goals

The overarching goal of this course is to learn and be able to apply the four roles of school librarians as defined in Information Power: teacher, instructional partner, information specialist, and program administrator.
Students will practice and develop their collaboration skills through virtual discussions and partner assignments.
Students will recognize and be able to articulate the pivotal role and applications of technology tools in learning, teaching, and library administration.
Students in this course will become role models and leaders in their schools in collaboration with classroom teachers through their effective use of innovative teaching methodologies and the integration of the resources of the school library (and beyond) into the classroom curriculum.

Course Objectives

Students will:

Understand and apply principles of school library administration through identifying the daily operations and procedures in a school library.
Examine and develop policies related to the effective functioning of the school library.
Research and utilize recent trends in teaching and learning, particularly in the areas of reading and information literacy skills and strategies.
Develop and demonstrate skills in teaching the nine information literacy standards.
Study and apply recent trends in information access, with a focus on technology tools.
Develop skills for developing effective relationships with professional contacts, library users, and community members.
Develop a model for an effective school library media program with a focus on collaboration.
Plan physical facilities for the school library.
Plan a library budget and a marketing-advocacy plan.

Course Structure/Approach

This course involves individual, partner, and small group projects and presentations. Students will participate in online dialogues centered on the issues raised in the texts and additional readings/viewings. Midterm and final examinations are individual work.

Readings and Course Materials

Required Texts:
American Association of School Librarians and the Association for Educational Communications and Technology. Information Power: Building Partnerships for Learning. Chicago: American Library Association, 1998. ISBN: 0-8389-3470-6

Hughes-Hassell, Sandra and Anne Wheelock, eds. The Information-Powered School. Chicago: American Library Association, 2001. ISBN: 0-8389-3514-1

Woolls, Blanche and David V. Loertscher, eds. The Whole School Library Handbook. Chicago: American Library Association, 2005. ISBN: 0-8389-0883-7

Recommended Software:
Miller, Nancy A. S. Impact! Documenting the LMC Program for Accountability. Salt Lake City: Hi Willow, 1998. If you elect not to purchase ($50.00), download a trial version. http://www.lmcsource.com/tech/manage.html

Additional Readings provided by the Instructor:
Web-based resources and selections from School Library Journal, Knowledge Quest, and other professional journals

Course Requirements

Attendance and Participation:

This is virtual course that is organized by modules. All assignments have due dates and late work will earn half points. Although students can work at their own pace, they are expected to participate in online dialogues according to the posting due dates and times; points are earned for timely participation only. Readings related to the online dialogues must be completed before entering into the discussions. Students’ comments and questions must reflect their engagement with the reading assignments. Students who fail to engage with the course materials and in the online dialogues in a timely manner risk being administratively dropped from the class.

Online Dialogues:
You will participate in at least one online dialogue each week. Each contribution to the dialogue will include a posting and a response to two or more classmates or mentors. Practicing Arizona teacher-librarians from around the state will join the dialogues and serve as virtual mentors. There will be a total of 15 threads, one each week. For each thread, students will earn 3 points for the original posting and 2 points for up to 2 responses to colleagues (7 possible points each).

Important: The goal of the online dialogues is to build a virtual learning community and to learn with and from one another. In order to facilitate a dialogue, students are expected to participate in discussions according to a schedule. Discussion topics will be posted on Monday mornings. Your initial response is due by 9:00 p.m. on Wednesday evenings. Your responses to our classmates and mentors are due by Sunday evenings at 9:00 p.m.

Administrative Manual

This is intended to be a partner project. Students may choose to work alone with the instructor’s permission ONLY.

Describe the school community in which "your" library is located. (This can be real or fictional.) Note the grade-levels, enrollment by grades, number of classroom teachers and specialists, ethnic breakdown, geographic location, demographics of the community, principal economic base for the community, library budget, and anything else you think will have a significant impact on the school library media program.

In addition to this descriptive material, your administrative manual will include all of the following in this order:

Educational philosophy and school library objectives
Library Policies: Discipline, quiet study, circulation, scheduling, evaluation of library personnel, and use of materials and equipment (including an Internet Use Policy)
Library Services: Computer services, media production, classroom collections, book talks, storytelling, regular events, special events
Core Library Program: Marketing and advocacy for the library program, promotion of library materials and services, curriculum planning, student assistants, collaboration, inservice workshops for classroom teachers
Library Staffing: Provide a rationale and job description for each position.
Library Procedures: Selection, acquisitions, cataloguing, circulation, inventory (include step-by-step instructions where appropriate)
Budget Allocations: Rationale for allocating funds for particular resources/formats

Include a table of contents and a bibliography of sources consulted in preparation of this manual. Think in terms of aesthetics; include appropriate copyright-free graphics. Think in terms of sharing this manual with an administrator or with classroom teacher colleagues. (Note: A selection policy would ordinarily be a major component of an administrative manual; it is not part of this project because selection policies are addressed in collection development courses.)

The instructor will provide a rubric to assess this manual. An actual administrative manual is a public document and as such, must be free of spelling and grammatical errors. Submit the entire administrative manual electronically as ONE file.

Collaborative Lesson Plan:

You must design this lesson plan with a cohort from this course or with a currently practicing educator, classroom teacher or a teacher-librarian. Using state curriculum and information literacy standards, identify a learning objective and design a lesson plan to meet that need. Your plan must include opportunities for co-teaching as well as list the goals, objectives, standards, and resources to be used. (Benchmarks and a lesson plan format will be provided.) The instructor will provide examples and a rubric to assess the lesson plan.

Library Media Center Design Plan and Library Marketing-Advocacy Materials:
These mini-assignments will assess your understanding of the optimal arrangement for a physical facility (library media center floor plan) and the need for on-going marketing-advocacy to ensure a vibrant school library program. The marketing-advocacy plan should be added to the "Core Library Program" section of your Administrative Manual. Both of these assignments will be small group collaborations. Each group will design its own assessment rubric.

Open-Topic and Collaboration Small Group Projects:
There will be two additional small group projects. One will involve presenting an inservice workshop for classroom teachers on a course topic. The other will be related to collaboration. The instructor will provide rubrics for these projects.

Note: Students may elect to create an alternate assignment for the open topic, collaboration small group projects, and/or the library media center design plan. Attending and reporting on a Teacher-Librarian Division meeting and attending and reporting on the AZ Library Conference are two possible choices. See the course module schedules for dates. All alternate assignments must be approved by the professor by the midterm.

Midterm and Final Examinations:
The midterm and final exams will be submitted to the course facilitator via email. Exams are individual, not collaborative, work.

Course Policies

Assignments submitted as a requirement for another class should not be submitted for this class. All assignments should be the original work of the student completed for this class. The University of Arizona’s Code of Academic Integrity will be enforced.
If unable to complete an exam by the scheduled date and time, the student must make arrangements with the instructor prior to the exam date. As a general policy, missed tests may not routinely be made up.
Assignments should be submitted on the due date to receive full credit. Any assignment may be turned in earlier than the due date.
Assignments cannot be redone for additional credit, nor may additional assignments be done for extra credit.
Unless prior arrangements are made, late work will earn half the points.
All assignments must be submitted electronically Writing errors, such as spelling, punctuation, and grammatical errors, will be taken into consideration and may lower the grade. All assignments should be professional in appearance, such as you would submit to a principal or other employer.
Students are permitted and encouraged to proofread each other's assignments.
Make a copy of every assignment before submitting it to the instructor.
In the event of an unusual final point distribution, the final point requirements may be lowered. This is solely at the instructor’s discretion.
No grades of “incomplete” will be given in this course.

Assessment

All students are expected to engage in high quality learning processes and produce high quality products. All assignments must be original work composed for this course. Students must cite their sources. Plagiarism will not be tolerated. A rubric will be developed for each component of the course, and each component will be awarded points as follows:

Online Dialogues (15 @ 7 points each)............................. 105 points
Administrative Manual (Partner Work)............................ 100 points
Collaborative Lesson Plan (Partner Work)......................... 50 points
Library Media Center Design (Groupwork)...................... 25 points
Library Marketing-Advocacy Plan (Groupwork)............... 25 points
Midterm Exam ................................................................... 25 points
Small Group Presentations
Inservice.................................................................... 25 points
Collaboration............................................................. 25 points
Final Exam.......................................................................... 25 points
Total Possible Points:....................................................... 405 points
Final Grades:
92% – 100% = A
82% – 91% = B
73% – 81% = C

Contacting the Instructor

Please contact me via email. Use the course's internal email. (This is best for me as it keeps material related to this course in one place). Failing that, use ordinary email to reach me: judithm@email.arizona.edu.

There will be an online office hour, during which I will be available in a Chat room. This will be at a time to suit students, but it may well be an evening at 7pm MST.

1515 East First Street, Tucson, Arizona 85719 U.S.A.
Tel: 520.621.3565
E-mail: sirls@email.arizona.edu