[ Planning
Strategies ] [ Long-Term Plans ] [ Types
of Plans ]
As a program administrator, one of the major functions of a
library media specialist is to plan and manage programs that support the
mission of the school.
 | Understand the system(s) in which the library media center
functions,
| Identify communications patterns and use appropriate communications
methods,
| Identify key individuals (e.g., innovators, adopter categories,
gatekeepers, opinion leaders), and
| Plan and implement change. |
| | |
Managing a library media program is requires planning. H. Fayol's
book, General and industrial management. (New York: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.;
1984) offers useful insight as to the importance of planning. Fayol
identifies 5 critical aspects of management.
| Planning. Plan what to accomplish |
| Organizing. Organize necessary resources (who does
what, what is needed) |
| Staffing. Staff organization with necessary personnel |
| Directing. Direct the resources toward plan
accomplishment |
| Controlling. Control the resources by comparing actual
performance to the plan (evaluation of accomplishments and cost /
benefit) |
If we accept Fayol's work, we see that planning is the foundation of
all other management functions because it defines the steps that are
needed to achieve the program's objectives. Planning:
| Shapes roles and responsibilities
| Gives direction to allocation, organization, and management of
physical and human resources
| Focuses attention on program effectiveness and efficiency
| Provides accountability
| Establishes priorities
| Provides information for evaluation of decisions
| Provides future orientation while dealing with the present continual
process |
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Planning Strategies
Mike Eisenberg has modified the problem-solving process to provide a
process for planning in the library media program. The feedback loop
is really the key, at any step of the process the process can be
reconsidered and modified. The steps include:
| Problem Solving Model |
Eisenberg's Six-Stage Strategy |
| Accept the solution/problem (is it an immediate, solvable
problem?) |
Review existing situation (gather &
analyze data) |
| Analyze the components (gather facts and opinions) |
| Define the problem |
Define goals and objectives (based on
local situation and mission) |
| Brainstorm alternatives |
| Select solution most likely to succeed based on feasibility
analysis |
Set up support systems
Conduct feasibility analysis
|
| Implement solution |
Develop plans and implement |
| Evaluate if problem was adequately solved |
Evaluate plans and processes |
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Long-Term Plans
According to Section 121.02(h) of the Wisconsin Statutes, "There
shall be on file a written school board approved long-range plan for media
services development formulated by students, teachers, library and
audiovisual personnel, and administrators."
Library media specialists in a district need to work together to
develop, review and periodically update a district plan for library
services. The DPI has provided guidelines
and a checklist for creating these long-range plans.
This plan should includes:
| Statement of district library media program philosophy,
| Status report which covers program, collection, staff, facilities,
and equipment at the building and district levels,
| Results of a needs assessment upon which recommendations are
based,
| Timeline either by date or by phase within which certain
objectives will be accomplished,
| Provision for appropriate development, distribution, use and
evaluation of library media collection and equipment,
| Explanation of existing policies and of policies to be developed
or revised, including those covering materials selection, copyright
and ILL, and
| Recommendations for improvement covering library media programs,
staff, collections, equipment, and facilities. |
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[ Top ]
Combined Library Media Technology Plan
In a presentation of a draft of these guidelines at GWETC on October
10, 2002, Kathy Boguszewski and Stuart Ciske of DPI asked for feedback.
A range of
resources to guide development of this plan can be found on the download
page of the Instructional Media and Technology Team from the form used
to evaluate the plan to guidance on what goes in each section.
The plan
meets the requirements of No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, Universal
Services Program (e-Rate), State of Wisconsin Statutes, Technology
and Copyright Harmonization Act of 2001, and the Wisconsin
Educational Technology Plan.
The plan should focus on on student achievement supported by
information and technology literacy, with the major foci being:
| Student achievement
| Curriculum development
| Staff professional development
| school improvement |
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Research shows the main factors impacting the success of technology in
schools:
| Human and contextual factors
| Time for and access to pertinent training to use computers and
technology to support learning
| Seeing information literacy and technology as a valuable resource
| Critical access to hardware and applications that are appropriate to
the learning expectations of the activity |
| | |
The following should be included in a 3-year plan:
| Executive Summary
| Introduction
 | Review of research and best practices (potential resources can
be found in DPI's
bibliographies)
| Vision or philosophy statement aligned with district vision and
philosophy
| Mission statement |
| |
| Background information
| Demographics and socioeconomic factors
| Technology and planning committee members
| Description of the planning process
| Community resources and adult literacy providers
| History and evolution of the library and technology programs |
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| Current status / needs assessment (baseline data)
| Addressing four focus areas and status of information of the Wisconsin
Model Academic Standards for Information and Technology Literacy:
 | Educator proficiency
| Effective teaching and learning practices
| Access to information resources and learning tools
| Systems support and leadership |
| | |
| Sources: enGauge, LoTI, etc.
| Types of data:
| tallies and counts
| ratios
| schedules
| logs and anecdotal records
| running records
| products produced for students and staff |
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|
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| Goals (broad statements that describe the ideal instructional
purpose within the timeframe of the plan based on analysis of data in
the needs assessment). Potential points of emphasis:
| Teaching and learning opportunities for students and teachers
| student achievement
| teacher capacity to integrate information and technology
literacy standards
| criteria to assess information and technology literacy
standards |
| |
| Open and flexible access to information resources and learning
tools (appendix K in new collaborative planning guide)
| Facilities and infrastructure design based on education
specifications (chapter 6 in new collaborative planning guide)
| Program administration including staffing |
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| Objectives for educational improvement (measurable, action verbs)
| Implementation action plan and budget (for each goal and its
objectives)
| Resources (what is needed to reach goals and objectives and why)
| How objective will be measured
| Who is responsible
| Timeline
| Potential policy changes needed
| Cost / projected budget |
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| Dissemination to stakeholders
| How to inform school and community of plan
| Adult literacy opportunities (collaboration with other adult
literacy providers) |
|
| Monitoring, evaluation and revision
| Systematic and reliable process for evaluating plan processes
| Reporting to stakeholders
| Process for ongoing long-term planning |
| |
| Appendices:
| Complications of needs assessments
| Calendar of planning deadlines
| Policies
| required: materials selection, reconsideration, acceptable
use
| recommended: weeding, copyright, intellectual freedom,
confidentiality, ILL, volunteer, fine and loss of materials,
web publishing, disposal of hardware |
|
| Bibliography |
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The following format can be used to clearly illustrates the plan's goals and design:
| Problem / concern narrative
| Goals
| Objectives and strategies to achieve the goal
| Indicator of success evaluation
Activities or resources
|
Person responsible
|
Timeline - start and finish
|
Budget
|
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The LMS, administrators, technology personnel, teachers & students
/ parents should form an advisory committee to develop the plan.
Starting with broad goals relating to the library media program and technology in
education, consensus can be build and the details to support that
consensus can be worked out. The LMS should share expertise in libraries,
information technology and current trends for library media centers.
This plan must then get administrative approval which will help more fully
ensure that necessary resources are committed and that the plan is distributed to
users. Top-down planning starts with the major areas of service and
then develops priorities and overall tasks to be accomplished. DPI
stresses the following in terms of developing goals focused on student
achievement are:
| Effective teaching and learning practices: curriculum development
| Educator proficiency: staff professional development
| Access to information resources and learning tools
| Systems support and leadership: school improvement |
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[ Top ]
Individual School Library Plan
In addition to the district-wide information and technology plan, each
individual school library media specialist will want to develop a personal
long-range plan that supports the district plan. This should start with
the goals and activities in the district plan to create building-specific
plans to see that they actually occur. Many times these will depend on
actions and resources from the district, but focus specifically on what
can be done locally. In order to build flexibility into these plans, Evelyn Daniel, an expert on
library media center administration, suggests a 5-year rolling plan with a
detailed plan for year 1 and plans for four more years, each less
specific. At end of year one, the LMS projects five years into future,
assessing where the program is at that point in time, revising the
remaining four years and adding another one on to the end. This continuous
reevaluation and revision can target specific areas for more detailed
planning. Generally in planning, more specific details are spelled out for
the first year. Daniel suggests the following format for a long-range
plan.
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Year 1
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Year 2
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Year 3
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Goal
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Objectives
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Association Problems / Needs
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Actions: LMS
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Actions: Others
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Criteria for Evaluating Success
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[ Top ]
Plan Types Summarized
Different long-range plans that a district may use include:
| District technology plan (every 3 years)
| Long-range plan for the library media program
| Individual library's 3-year plan that should support the mission of
the school and the district's long range plan
| Operational planning that the library media specialist does in
his/her own building each day
| Personal professional development plans |
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The district-level plans are generally developed by a committee of
administrators, teachers, library and technology staff, parents, community
members, possibly students, and hopefully one or more library media
specialists from the district. With the combined plan idea, it is vital
that the school library media program is well represented in the planning
group.
The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction resources
on technology planning and guidelines
on developing a combined long range plan. This plan must be certified by
DPI and is required if the district applies for any technology grants
through the state.
[ Planning Strategies ] [ Long-Term
Plans ] [ Types of Plans ]
[ Top ]
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