Lincoln Public Schools

Program and Policies / Mission and Goals

Author:
Doug Dickeson
Posted:
11/13/03; 11:32:24 AM
Topic:
Program and Policies / Mission and Goals
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Mission

The Library Media Program is essential to teaching and learning and to achieving educational excellence in the Lincoln Public Schools.

Goals
To achieve educational excellence, the library media program:

  • supports student achievement of curricular goals and objectives.
  • strengthens effective teaching and learning through collaboration.
  • empowers students to become readers, information users, critical thinkers, creative problem solvers, and lifelong learners.
  • provides students and staff access to diverse sources of information, ideas, and knowledge.
  • provides resources to meet a broad range of individual learning styles, abilities, interests, and curriculum needs, including multicultural and equity education.
  • stimulates and promotes the literacies of reading, listening, viewing, and communicating for both pleasure and information.
  • provides learning opportunities beyond the library media center to schools across the district and in the community.
  • utilizes continually changing technologies to address expanding information needs.
  • promotes intellectual freedom and equitable access to information and ideas.

Rationale
Educating all students to be lifelong learners, citizens, and workers is the major challenge of public education today. Students must be prepared to live and work in our ever changing, increasingly global and technological world. They must be able to think critically and creatively, solve problems, retrieve and manage information, and communicate effectively. In a context of rapid and constant social, cultural, economic, geographical and technological changes, the library media program provides physical and intellectual access to the vast amount of information and ideas needed for teaching and learning.

"For all students, [this] will include learning environments that are fundamentally different from any that we have known. Central to this new context is the idea of the “learning community”. This phrase suggests that all of us--students, teachers, administrators, and parents, as well as our local, regional, state, national, and international communities--are interconnected in a lifelong quest to understand and meet our constantly changing information needs. This new learning community is not limited by time, place, age, occupation or disciplinary borders but instead is linked by interest, need, and a growing array of telecommunications technology. " (Information Power, Building Partnerships for Learning, AASL/AECT 1998)

Essential Elements of the Library Media Program

SUMMARY

#1 Information Literacy: Teaching and Learning

Information literacy is the ability to access, evaluate, interpret, appreciate, and communicate information from a variety of sources and formats. Information literacy instruction will help students become successful independent learners, critical thinkers, and problem solvers. Teachers and library media specialists, through collaboration, must deliberately and thoughtfully teach information literacy skills and the research process.

#2 Resources

An investment in human, financial, and physical resources is critical in order to provide an effective library media program. Learners need information resources that are current, accurate, and developmentally appropriate. This includes a diverse collection of high quality print, non print, and technology-based materials.

#3 Technology

The use of technology is necessary for the development and implementation of curriculum in the classroom and in the library media center. It is an essential tool for organizing and managing library media program resources and services and for teaching and learning. The use of technology is also an essential information literacy skill for students

#4 Learning Climate and Environment

The library media center is a safe, inviting, supportive and stimulating environment that encourages learning and exploration within and beyond its walls. The physical space is functional and designed to accommodate both large and small groups as well as individuals. The environment reflects a range of ethnicities and cultures so that students can see themselves and others reflected in materials and visual displays.

#5 Program Administration

Implementing the library media program is the primary responsibility of the library media specialist, guided by the principal with input from the learning community. Leadership, planning, budgeting, staffing, scheduling, organizing, managing, and evaluating are interrelated responsibilities that are essential to the effective operation of the overall program.

#6 The Learning Community

The effectiveness of the library media program depends upon collaboration and how well members of the entire learning community connect and contribute toward program goals. Teachers, library media specialists, administrators, support staff, parents and others must work together to insure that program and instructional goals for students are met.