Textbook Read and Reflect week 4

I have never worked with a professional budget up to this point, so this chapter definitely made me think about what I will be doing next year.  The first thing that stuck out to me was the fact that library media specialists alone should not be the ones writing proposals for funds.  It is more effective to have a team that includes the media specialist, administrator, and teachers (pg 153).  I wouldn't have thought about how important this is, because quite frankly up to this point, the teachers in my school don't use the library as often as they should.  I don't know how many of them actually do know about the program and collections.  But, I can see where having needs list that a group has determined is priority would be more effective than having one that a single person determines.  Since the classroom teachers are the ones who are tied to test scores, they need to be involved in the selection of materials that all students will have access to.

Having teachers help in determining need would definitely be a great way to get more of them involved in the library in general.  In the past, our librarian has handed out a sheet of paper asking for requests.  Most were not filled out, or even looked at.  By creating a team of professionals that would be willing to look at the facility and program to determine where the need really lies, they would take more ownership and probably be more apt to use the library and all it has to offer.

I also had thought about how much the media specialist makes and how that compares to the hiring of a clerk, but only because of the possiblity of the certified position being eliminated.  I had never taken the time to think about the amount of money that a district pays a specialist to catalog a book, when a clerk can do it for 1/3 to 1/2 the cost (pg 151).  The positive about hiring a clerk to do some of the day to day tasks would be that the media specialist could be more active in the learning and curriculum, both within the library and the building itself.  I certainly see the benefit, but not the hiring of a clerk as a replacement for a library media specialist.  There is much more to the position than just processing and handing out books.

Overall, I'm glad there are people out there that are skilled in writing proprosals, I would definitely need help.  There are a lot of steps and things that could come up that I wouldn't necessarily think about right now, maybe with some more experience, but definitely not as a rookie.  For example, I don't think I would have thought about figuring out how to share the results and findings of a project.  I don't know that I would have thought about formatie and summative assessments either, especially not to the extent described in the book.