How Your Media Center Can Make a Difference

We know that student achievement is not about one magic concept. It's about all of us working together to provide richer learning opportunities for our students. Our library media centers have an important role to play in this national endeavor.

Schools across the nation are focusing their attention on student achievement. While much of the focus has been on classroom instruction and curriculum, it is important that we not lose sight of the library's role in raising student achievement.

Recent studies have affirmed what many in the field have always assumed: the media center does indeed have a profound impact on achievement. Numerous publications have noted studies that show that library variables more greatly influence student achievement than other school variables such as teacher experience, computers per student, and teacher turnover rate. One study in Texas showed that libraries account for up to eight percent of test-score variance on state assessments.

As a superintendent of schools with media centers that make a difference, I believe there are four ways to create environments that will have positive impacts on student achievement in your school. They are:

• Remove barriers to isolation
• Forge strong teacher and librarian relationships
• Improve the collection
• Create an invitational atmosphere

Isolation often haunts media specialists, as it does teachers. We are assigned to a physical space and the work we do is not always fully visible to others. To maximize the involvement and participation of our students in the media center, do the following:

• Prop open your doors. Perhaps, better yet, remove the doors. Doors are barriers. They imply controlled access. If we want students and teachers to frequent the library, make it easier for them.
• Communicate with the outside world. As a parent of three school-aged children, I have never received a communication from the media specialists at their schools. Why not create a library newsletter that goes out to parents? Let folks know what you are doing in the library, what new acquisitions you have, and maybe invite parents to visit.
• Find a way to extend your hours and your year. Communities that have combined school and public libraries report increased use of the library by students and their families in the evenings. If we were to open our school libraries during nontraditional hours, I am certain we would increase our circulation. This, in turn, will have a positive impact on achievement.

For library media specialists to effectively impact student achievement, it is essential that they partner with the faculty on curricular projects. Thus, developing strong relationships with their colleagues is vitally important. The media specialist must view herself as a teacher first and a supporting resource second. Otherwise, the librarian is viewed as an inventory clerk in a room full of books.

Ideally, the media specialist should be a leader among teachers. I am blessed to work with Janice Wright, a librarian at the middle school in my district. Jan is indeed a curricular leader, information provider, and staff developer. She believes it is her job to help everyone grow in their roles. The faculty views her as one of our most important resources, and thus her library is filled with students and teachers each day. Being in the library allows our students to access primary sources of information rather than relying on just textbooks for much of their learning. It also provides Jan the time with our students necessary to teach them effective information-gathering skills.

Three key components are critical concerning the collection in your library:

• Current: Are your materials up-to-date? Do your maps include the Soviet Union?
• Vast: Do you have enough research materials to give students a choice? Are your librarians spending their budget? Do they need more funding?
• In-the-Room: Can students hold a book in their hands for research, rather than completely rely on the Internet?

We all know the speed with which our world is changing. The maps of yesterday vaguely resemble the reality of today's geography. New discoveries in the sciences make much of what has previously been written obsolete and incorrect. Yet, many school libraries are filled with such outdated materials. It is important for us to effectively weed out old inaccurate resources and to acquire new materials to take their place.

I recently was in one of the libraries in our district and heard the media specialist bemoaning the fact that she lacked current materials for a unit she was working on with a middle school teacher. She went on to tell me how lacking the library was in current materials for many units. In my five years as superintendent in the district, neither she nor her predecessor ever requested an increase in budget. Indeed, in each of those years, some of their budgets have been unspent at the end of the year. It is important for media specialists to advocate for the necessary budget allocations to meet the learning needs of the students, and then to effectively spend those funds to that end.

Today's world expects our students to be effective consumers of information. To do so requires them to develop the skills of discernment. Too often our libraries have much breadth, but little depth. It is not enough to have one or two books and other resources on a given topic, there must be more so our students can evaluate the information presented and make effective judgments of what they have read. Our collections must be vast in addition to being current.

We must not become so seduced by current technologies that we lose the power of the printed word. Web surfing is inadequate for information literacy; libraries must have "in-the-room" materials. While on-screen information allows me to skim quickly, my learning need is to have materials in my hands that I can view, reread, and carry with me with ease. Even as a prolific online researcher, I still have a fond affinity for a book in my hand.

I am always pleased to see the success of today's book superstores. These stores are among the most crowded and successful retail operations that I visit. It seems that the customers come for hours and leisurely browse the aisles before making their numerous purchases. These stores have created an inviting atmosphere unlike the bookstores of my youth.

We must learn from these successful businesses. Our school libraries ought to be inviting to our students and colleagues. Comfortable chairs, easily accessible shelves, good lighting, and intriguing displays should surround our visitors. We should want students—whether elementary or high school students—to come visit, and sit and read for information or for pleasure. They should want to stay.

Creating an invitational atmosphere goes well beyond the physical design of the library. At the heart of the atmosphere are the adults who work there. Beth Maiorani, an outstanding library media specialist in the Rochester, NY, area, knows how to do this. She regularly greets students by name, has a constant smile on her face, and takes an interest in the work of the students who visit her library. The students in her school know how much she cares about them, and her media center is always filled with students.

Perhaps one of the greatest gifts libraries can give our students is the joy of reading. We all know that voluntary reading is the absolute best predictor of comprehension skills, vocabulary growth, spelling ability, and writing skills. It is not enough for our schools to teach our students the skills of literacy; we must also help them develop a thirst for reading.

Mark Twain once said, "A man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them."