Project Proposal

Macon-Hall Elementary
School Library
PreK-5

Michelle Allen
Summer 2016
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Introduction
The American Association of School Librarians has stated that the roles of the contemporary
school library should be: to grow a love of reading among students, strengthen students thinking
skills by teaching comprehension strategies which tie into the curriculum and common core
standards, promote life-long learning, provide classroom and library collaborative instruction,
offer opportunities for planned and spontaneous library use and to provide and participate in
continual professional development (Position Statement, 2016). In order to achieve these goals,
the physical space, book collection, digital collection and available technology all should be as
useful and as flexible as they can. The services provided should have open access and the library
should have a schedule that accommodates this access to the collection. The librarian should
contribute to the educational environment through collaboration with teachers, in which the
librarian teaches reference skills in context with the teachers lessons. The community will be
served by a friendly, versatile space that welcomes everyone to use it for their instructional or
research needs. Space in the facility is often at a premium and nothing should be housed
permanently that is not useful or highly functional. The perfect library of the 21st century should
be grounded in traditional library roles and accommodate the exploration of learning in a factpaced technical environment.

Rationale

The Staff and Time Schedule

Macon-Hall Elementary school is one of the largest schools in the Shelby County School
District with a student body of 1,200 students and a teaching staff of 75, and only one
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professional librarian. This large of an elementary school should have a library media center that
is adequately staffed, with at least two trained librarians and one library assistant. Current
literature proves that schools perform better when a certified librarian is in charge of the school
library/media center (Gretes, 2013). The literacy scores and standardized test scores are 10-20%
higher when the school has a library that is highly used by the students (Spinks, 2009). The
American Association of School Librarians has stated that the school librarian should be the
educational leader of the school (Position Statement, 2015). The school librarian should find
innovative ways to collaborate with teachers on content based lessons, which will improve the
professional performance of both the teacher and the librarian (Wolcott, 1996).
The schedule should be changed from a fixed A/B schedule in which K-3rd see the librarian
every other week for 30 minutes and 4th-5th see her for 30 minutes each week, to a flexible
schedule so that the library periods do not serve merely to provide planning time for classroom
teachers (Kaplan, 2007). The flexible schedule would allow the librarian more time to interact
with the students on their projects. It would also allow more time to collaborate with teachers
(Stubeck, 2015).

Curriculum and Teaching

The library curriculum should be based on the school and districts curriculum and aligned to
English Language Arts common core standards. The librarian should teach students all the skills
needed to survive in the 21st century as listed in the AASL guidelines (Position Statement, 2012)
Andy Spinks also cited two studies that proved that student achievement is higher when
information literacy instruction is integrated with the subject-area curriculum. Rather than

teaching library skills in isolation, library media specialists teach content area standards that
entail information literacy (2009). Instead of the student coming to library class during the
teachers planning period, the teacher should accompany the students and work with them and
the librarian on a guided research project that scaffolds subject knowledge learned in class. This
allows the librarian to teach the students real world searching skills that will benefit them for
life-long learning. They will learn how to take a topic from question, through research, to the
synthesizing and computation phase and produce a final product of useful knowledge, full of
connections. The librarian should also offer continuous professional development for the staff
to help the teachers and administrators keep up with changing technology in the education world
(Lance, Rodney, and Hamilton-Pennell, 2000).

The Physical Space

The physical space needs renovation to a learning commons model to make it more modern
looking, with bright and lightweight furniture. There should be a section for reading with
comfortable chairs, a section for class instruction with easily moveable four-to-a-table desks that
are flexible enough to be used for something other than lecture style seating, and finally a space
for story time with a colorful carpet and pillow seating. There should also be space for flexible
display and promotion areas that are changed and updated consistently. A smaller and more
comfortable checkout desk with a separate self-checkout area, is also needed. This type of
multipurpose space has proven to be beneficial to the collaborative learning process and
contributes to student directed learning (Johnson, 2016).

The Book Collection

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The circulation of the physical book collection is still extremely high at Macon-Hall
Elementary. Therefore because of these statistics, there should still be a physical collection for
as long as the space allows for it. The book collection should be hardback or library bound with
current copyrights within the last 10 years, for all but classic titles. The reference section should
have the current years encyclopedia and a current classroom set of Thesauri, dictionaries and
atlas. The current book budget is adequate for maintaining a collection, however the collection
needs to be overhauled and new resources need to be bought. The average age, according to the
library's integrated library system, Atriuum, is 1994.

The Digital Collection

The current e-book collection includes some books for individual student reading
entertainment. However, the main purpose of the digital collection should be to purchase several
digital copies of titles a whole class reads during group novel study. There is currently a lot of
space taken up in the library storeroom for large boxes of class sets that the teachers check out
when their curriculum is on the specific novel or topics including in the novel. The paper class
sets are expensive to store due to the purchase of a waterproof, dust proof plastic box for each 26
book set. The sets take up the shelving space of an entire classroom size storeroom. Many sets
are only used once per year. Also, the physical paperback copies do not last long and fall apart
due to daily use. The pages also yellow over time. A digital classroom collection would solve
all those problems because they wouldnt take up space or get damaged from use, allowing the
funding to be used more effectively.

More electronic databases should also be purchased. Through a study conducted by Lance,
Rodney and Hamilton-Pennell, the Colorado Student Assessment Program reading scores
increased when more electronic reference titles were purchased (2000).
Desired electronic resources are:
Renewal of Encyclopedia Britannia online already provided by district
Renewal of Mailbox Education Magazine online already provided by district
BrainPOP.com subscription
Gale Database: National Geographic for Kids
Gale Database: Classrooms in Context U.S. History

The Technology
There is a link between higher test scores and adequate technology in a school. Where
networked computers link library media centers with classrooms, labs, and other instructional
sites, students earn higherreading test scores. These higher scores are particularly linked to the
numbers of computers enabling teachers and students to utilize:
Library Media Center (LMC) resources, either within the LMC or networked to the LMC,
licensed databases, and
Internet/World Wide Web (Lance et al, 2000).

The technology at Macon-Hall Elementarys Learning Commons should include 15 desktop

computers and 30 iPads, so that the desktops could be used by students in a class in pairs and the
iPads could be a 1:1 ratio. Three staff workstations, each with a computer and a barcode scanner
and a networked printer are also needed.
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Need
Macon-Hall Elementary Learning Commons has identified the following needs for student
achievement:
More library staff. District initiatives, such as the gradual release model of instruction,

and the literacy focus of Destination 2025 (Shelby County Schools, 2015) have given
rigid standards of teacher modeling that can only be achieved by employing two,
trained and certified teacher librarians, due to the size of the school.
Flexible scheduling. The librarian needs to engage CLUE students in more direct

research projects with collaborative lessons between the CLUE teacher and the librarian
Incorporation of 21st century skills into library curriculum
Improved web presence to create an online Learning Commons in which librarian,

teacher and student have a venue to collaborate

Shelving units that are at a kid-friendly height and enough shelving space that books do

not have to be shelved in the highest shelf range out of reach to children.

Proposal
The needs of the users of the school library will determine the book and electronic resources.
The library must meet the needs of the 21st century student by providing a place where students
can learn in a collaborative environment (Kennedy, 2016). The Shelby County School district
should provide the necessary resources for students to achieve. If Macon-Hall Elementary
School is to remain in the top 5% of SCS due to process, these measures must be taken to

ACCOUNT

Past Year 20152016

Current Year
2016-2017

2017-2018

2018-2019

District Funds per

student

$4800.00

$5000.00

$5500.00

$6000.00

Scholastic
Dollars from
bookfair

$5937.00

$6000.00

$6000.00

$6000.00

# of books
District

320 books at
approx $15/book

330

367

400

# of books
Scholastic

270 books at
approx.$22/book

273

273

273

maintain the schools performance.

Current Budget and Projected Three Year Budget
With an average of $11,000 per year, the district will need to offset the costs of the
renovations and revisions. Private grants can be attained by the librarian to help.

Outcomes Expected
The proposed improvements to Macon-Hall Elementarys Library will increase;
foot traffic and circulation statistics with a more open schedule,
test scores through more adequate resources,
collaboration with teachers and librarians making for more effect teaching,
the quality of the facility, thereby making the space more welcoming to users.

These outcomes and more are expected when more resources are poured into the library program
and the library transforms to a learning commons. The specific outcomes will be tracked
through circulation statistics captured by Atriuum and by student and teacher surveys.

No doubt the changes will be significant, and therefore the strides taken to capture quality data
should be vast as well. A thorough study is recommended once the learning commons is in
operation for a year.

References

Toolkit for Promoting School Library Programs: Messages, ideas, and strategies for
communicating the value of school library programs and school librarians in the
21st

century. American Association of School Librarians.

http://www.ala.org/aasl/sites/
ala.org.aasl/files/content/aaslissues/toolkits/AASLToolkitforPromotingSLP_082715.pdf
Gretes, F. (2013, August). School Library Impact Studies: A Review of Findings and Guide to
Sources. Gretes Research Services, Harry & Jeanette Weinberg Foundation.
Retrieved

from http://www.baltimorelibraryproject.org/wp-

content/uploads/downloads/2013/09/

Library-Impact-Studies.pdf

Johnson, K. (2016). Bridging two worlds: moving from repository to learning spaces. Teacher
Librarian, 43(3), 19+. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE
%7CA445116676&v=2.1&u=tel_s_tsla&it=r&p=GPS&sw=w&asid=e3325a8aafe3fe7db8debb3
fae713609
Kaplan, A. (2007, December). Is your school librarian highly-qualified? Phi Delta Kappan.
Retrieved from
http://www.pdkmembers.org/members_online/publications/archive/pdf/

k0712kap.pdf

Kennedy, S. D. (2016, June). That place we work and that thing we do. Information Today, 33(5),
8. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE
%7CA453920463&v=2.1&u=tel_s_tsla&it=r&p=GPS&sw=w&asid=89380151fad5c622cb8eac7
53bc8d58b
Lance, K. C., Hamilton-Pennell, C., & Rodney, M. J. (2000). How School Librarians Help Kids
Achieve Standards: The Second Colorado Study. Library Research Service.
Retrieved

from https://www.lrs.org/documents/lmcstudies/CO/execsumm.pdf

Loertscher, D. V. (2015). The virtual makerspace: a new possibility? Teacher Librarian, 43(1),
50+. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE

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%7CA433385859&v=2.1&u=tel_s_tsla&it=r&p=GPS&sw=w&asid=206637ada3639089395c8b
910830646a
Position Statement on the Role of the School Library Program. (2012, January). American
Association of School Librarians. Retrieved from resources/statements/programrole
Scholastic (2008). School Libraries Work! Scholastic Library Publishing. Retrieved from
http://www.scholastic.com/content/collateral_resources/pdf/s/slw3_2008.pdf
Shelby County Schools. (2015). Destination 2025. Retrieved from http://www.scsk12.org/uf/
webadmin/foundation/2025/?id=
Spinks. A. (2009). Library Media Programs and Student Achievement: Research and ResearchBased Practices for Library Media Specialists and Education Leaders. Retrieved
from

http://www.cobbk12.org/librarymedia/proof/research.pdf

Standards for the 21st Century Learners. (2007). American Association of School Librarians.
Retrieved from http://www.ala.org/aasl/sites/ala.org.aasl/files/content/
guidelinesandstandards/learningstandards/AASL_Learning_Standards_2007.pdf
Stubeck, C. J. (2015, January/February). Enabling Inquiry Learning in FixedSchedule Libraries. Knowledge Quest. 43(3), Number 3, 28-34.
Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE
%7CA398629404&v=2.1&u=tel_s_tsla&it=r&p=GPS&sw=w&asid=dccf8ceb2296b377e9f5d
2d5d122f959
Wolcott, L. (1996). Planning with teachers: practical approaches to collaboration. Emergency
Librarian, 23(3), 8-14. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE

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82463df7d

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