FMQ, Spring 2013 V. 38, No. 3

A Publication of the Florida Association for Media in Education

Spring 2013 | Volume 38 | Number 3

Is it time for Spring Cleaning?Evaluating Library and Media Programs (See pages 8-11 )

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| Florida Media Quarterly | Spring 2013 | |

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[email protected]

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FAME OfficersPresidentDr. Cora P. DunkleyPresident-Elect Henry HaakeImmediate Past President Lou GrecoTreasurerLorri CosgroveSecretaryDeborah McNeil

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©2013 Florida Association for Media in Education


Volume 38, Number 3

4 President's Messageby Dr. Cora P. Dunkley

7 A Question ofCopyright by Gary Becker

8

We’d love to hear from you!Have you completed a research project you want to share withother media specialists? Have you just returned from a trip where you witnessed exciting innovations for media specialists?Have you learned a new technique, found a new product orservice, or just have information that you want to share? The FMQ can be your forum. See page 12 for details and submit your articles today.

Evaluating YourMedia Programby Vandy Pacetti-Tune, MLIS

10

Hillsborough CountyUses Peer Evaluatorsto Evaluate MediaProgramsby Dr. Jennifer Dillon

Spring Forum 2013Highlights 6



Dear Fame Members:

Warm greetings from your President!

Just a word or so as we begin to look forward to our next FAME

conference. The focus is on our theme for 2013 — “The School Library:

Portal to Imagination, Dreams and Diversity” — and how we can stretch

imaginations, make dreams come true and help each young person realize

he/she is an important part of our ever growing multicultural population.

School libraries are havens for children. It is in these safe facilities

children meet characters whose lives mirror their own in some way;

where they can travel to any place they would care to be; and where they

can manifest their dreams by learning about others who found that what

had been their dreams had indeed come true. How can this happen? It

can happen through the school library where students have access to a

multiplicity of resources in a variety of formats to satisfy their hunger for

knowledge. Through the abundance of resources they have the

opportunity to mingle with people representative of cultures from all

corners of the universe. The variety of material in its many formats is one

part of making this happen. On another level, these inquisitive minds

have or should have access to a school librarian who has the knowledge

and demeanor to provide them with a memorable experience each time

they visit their school library. Many students may go in and come out of

these storehouses of knowledge quietly, and may never seek help, while

others return again and again because of the assistance they received on a

prior visit. The school librarian may even observe that “quiet one” and

offer assistance that may start those quiet wheels to turning.

This freedom of library use should be available for every child, in every

school, in Florida. Yet, we know this is not necessarily the case as much

as we would like to think that it is. The economic down turn has affected

some school districts to the point where a library may not be available in

all schools, where a library may be open only two to three days a week,

or where, especially in elementary schools, a library may be opened and

manned by a parent or volunteer during brief periods of time mainly for

students to check books in and out. It is believed that the majority of

Florida schools do have a school library where a professional librarian

plans and implements information literacy programs and work in

FAME MissionStatementFAME advocates for every student

in Florida to be involved in and

have open access to a quality

school library media program

administered by a highly

competent, certified library media

specialist. FAME is a collaborative,

responsive, dynamic network for

Florida library media

professionals.

Cora P. Dunkley, PhDFAME President

[email protected]

collaboration with teachers. This partnership is an

essential step in providing students with the skills

that will enable them to be lifelong learners.

In 1960, Jean E. Lowrie, an elementary school

librarian wrote, “… all children have the freedom to

explore nature, to become acquainted with beauty in

all forms, to enjoy the best in literature, and to

understand the past and in turn relate to the present”

(pp. 27-36). Those words, penned decades ago,

continue to hold truth today; however, with the

current availability and use of technology by

students, their learning experiences are far more

advanced in all subject areas than in the past. The

Common Core State Standards (CCSS), rather

recently adopted by the majority of the states,

including Florida, are currently the guiding principles

used by school educators to prepare students for the

future. Reading print materials and becoming more

and more familiar with aspects of technology are two

categories in the Standards that speak specifically to

the objectives of library programs…providing

resources and successfully assisting teachers in

implementing technology in their classroom

curriculum. Although the CCSS do not provide

recommended reading lists for teachers to use with

students, they do lay the foundation by indicating the

importance of all students reading various types of

challenging literature as they progress from grade to

grade. Who knows, perhaps better than other

educators in the school as to what those resources

should be, other than school librarians! Every day

librarians are planning with teachers, teaching

information literacy lessons, using new resources in

both traditional and electronic formats, working with

students in small groups and individually, and

completing other tasks that are thrust upon them.

This is all being done while maintaining a

professional demeanor that is not only significant,

but visible to all who enter the library doors.

A key factor that perhaps is most fulfilling to a

librarian and a student is when a librarian has helped

a student to have a positive library experience. Such

an occurrence may be the beginning of a child’s

journey as a lifetime library user. These are the kinds

of experiences you are providing for students every

day, and I applaud you for recognizing the library

resources your school needs and making every effort

to be sure those materials are in your library.

Certainly there have been times when you have had

to be creative in devising plans to get funding for

your needs (and this will continue), but you have not

been deterred because you know research has shown

that students are more inclined to be successful when

they have access to library resources and the services

of a professional librarian.

When speaking of library resources, these include

technology in its many formats. Much of the

librarian’s job requires having the skills to use

technology effectively in the library program, and to

teach and/or assist teachers in implementing the use

of digital tools throughout the curriculum. Therefore,

school librarians must make a conscious effort to

maintain up-to-date technological skills by taking

advantage of the various educational opportunities

(workshops, professional meetings, journal articles,

etc.) available to them.

Let us continue to be loyal supporters of FAME

whose overall mission is to provide every student in

Florida access to a resource-filled school library,

staffed by a professional librarian, and where

students can imagine, dream, use a multiplicity of

resources and meet people from a variety of cultures.

Lowrie, Jean E. Elementary-School Libraries Today.

University of Chicago Press. The Library Quarterly.

30(1): 1960, pp. 27-36,

Best regards,

Cora P. Dunkley, PhD

President


President’s Message continued from 4


SPRING FORUM 2013Highlights


A “Question of Copyright” is anongoing column authored by GaryH. Becker, national Copyright lawconsultant and retired publicschool system technologyadministrator. If you have aquestion, please send it [email protected] will receive an individualresponse and your question mayappear in a future edition of FMQ.Requests to withhold names willbe honored.

Gary H. BeckerNational Copyright Law

Consultant

[email protected]

QI am ordering awards for ourdistrict Battle of the Books

competition. We use the books from ourstate list for this program. One of theaward designs includes a paper insertwith our program logo surrounded bysmall images of the book covers fromthe list. There will be 40 of thesetrophies made for distribution. Do youfeel there is a risk here?

AFrom a strictly technical, legal pointof view, book covers are generally

artwork, sometimes protected as part ofthe copyright covering the book andsometimes protected in their own right.Therefore, a book cover is underCopyright protection.

One could argue, from a Fair Usestandpoint, that these small images in noway infringe on rights of the copyrightowner and do no harm to the copyrightowner. If anything, it gives positivepublicity to their works. However, infact, forty copies of these covers arebeing made, which is a reproduction,which potentially violates one of thefive rights granted a copyright owner.This leaves only Fair Use as theargument for using the images. Thedecision to use the images and to claimFair Use, is a local decision for which Irecommend consultation with theattorney of record for your schooldistrict. If the attorney is comfortableapplying an interpretation of Fair Use,you would be able to go ahead withyour activity. If not, I would thenrecommend prior permission beobtained from the copyright owners ofthe book cover images you desire to use.

QOne of our middle school teachers’students has created a digital book

using Apple iBooks. The teacher wantsto submit to Apple to sell the product onthe app store. If she has writtenpermission slips from the studentcreator’s parents authorizing her to postfor sale and that the school would retainall profits, is this legal?

AAssuming that all of the content ofthe digital book, created by the

students in the class, is the result of theircreativity and that the book doesn’tcontain copyrighted content from othersources, then what is proposed would bepermissible, after having obtainedpermission from the parents, in writing.

Students are not employees of thedistrict and works they create are theirproperty and are eligible for copyrightprotection. By obtaining permissionfrom the parents, the parents aregranting permission to have the schooldistrict market and retain the profitsfrom the sale of the students’copyrighted works. Students will stillretain the copyright to their individualcontributions to the collective work andas a body, they retain the copyright tothe entire book. If the school districtwishes to take title to the copyright ofthe book and its contents, then suchpermission would also have to beobtained from the parents.

[email protected]

emailto:[email protected]

I’ve spent years looking around my various media centers and wondering if I was as effective as I could be. While classroom teachers have teams,departments and PLCs with whom to discuss their daily activities and

challenges, we media specialists typically function as soloists at our schools. Iknow I have seen a decline in the number of classes for research and projectseven compared to just a few years earlier but I wasn’t sure why. Over the pastyear and a half I have had the unbelievable opportunity to observe and discussthe elements that make effective media centers through my work as a PeerEvaluator for Hillsborough County’s Empowering Effective Teachers Grant.

This opportunity began with a chance to work with a committee of other media

specialists and several district-level supervisors to develop the observation rubric. The

rubric is used by peer evaluators and principals to observe and evaluate media specialists

at all sites across the very large and diverse Hillsborough County. Hillsborough County’s

rubric is an integration of the media specialist rubric developed by Charlotte Danielson,

media rubrics from other states, and the rubric from Excel3. We rolled out the Media

rubric during the 2011-12 school year. The next year, a few adjustments were made to the

rubric to clarify components and ensure we had language describing observable qualities.

Jennifer DillonSteinbrenner High School

Lutz, FL

[email protected]


Hillsborough County Uses PeerEvaluators to Evaluate Media Programs

Photo © iStockphoto.com/alexskopje

Just as for classroom teachers in our district, observations

by the peer evaluator and principal using this tool make

up 60% of a media specialist’s annual observation with

the other 40% coming from school-wide student data.

The media rubric follows the general outline of the rubric

for classroom teachers. There are four domains: Planning

and Preparation, The Environment, Delivery of Service,

and Professional Responsibilities. Only principals rate the

components for Professional Responsibilities.

As a peer evaluator for media specialists, I work with

three colleagues to observe elementary, middle and high

school media specialists across our district. The number

of observations each media specialist has is based on

previous years’ evaluation scores, and everyone is

observed through announced formal and unannounced

informal observations. All peer and principal observation

data goes into an online area where the data in its entirety

is reviewed before the evaluation process at the end of

the year.

Formal observations consist of spending up to 60 minutes

observing activities in the media center. In this second

year of the process, planned instruction has been added to

the formal observation. Planned instruction consists of a

lesson with a whole class or with a small group. After a

period of observation, the peer evaluator interviews the

media specialist to collect evidence of how the media

specialist plans and connects the media program to the

overall curriculum of the school.

Informal observations occur when the media specialist is

given a five-day window of a possible visit. The peer

evaluator observes in the media center for 20-30 minutes

and collects evidence on Domain 2: The Environment and

Domain 3: Delivery of Service. After each observation,

formal or informal, the media specialist receives a rating

on each component. Ratings can be: Requires Action,

Progressing, Accomplished or Exemplary.

Overall, my experience as a peer evaluator has been an

amazing glimpse into the varied ways media programs

meet the needs of students and teachers at our schools

across the district. As I reflect on my original question,

“What can I do better?” I find myself with the following

recurring patterns I will eventually take back to my own

media center when my term as peer evaluator ends:

• A strong media center and media specialist focuses on

student learning. It’s easy to let the days be taken over

by tasks. Make a list of all the things you do in a week

and look for ways to streamline your efforts in ways that

best impact students and their learning.

• We can’t automatically keep doing things the way we’ve

always done them; we have to adapt with our schools.

Staffing changes, computer based testing, harried

teachers, and reduced budgets abound. How will you

make your program work in spite of those things?

• Visitors, such as new students, parents, or community

members should be able to walk into our media centers

and SEE what kind of programs we run without having a

conversation with us. How are we advertising upcoming

events, programs, celebrations and staff development

opportunities in our media centers? How do we use

displays to market our print and digital collections?

• Many teachers and staff members don’t know HOW to

use the media specialist to the full extent. You are an

expert with unique skills. It’s up to you to market those

skills to your staff because many of them only remember

their own school experiences in the library … A long

time ago with a Reader’s Guide to Periodical Literature

and some note cards.

These are changing times in library media and in

education. Examining our programs with a rubric based on

best practice in our field can provide the insight and

reflection we need to keep our programs fresh and suited

to the needs of our students and staffs.


We can’t automatically keep doing things the waywe’ve always done them.

Hillsborough County continued from 8


My first year as a media specialist at Denison Middle Schoolwas a blur—a blur of change, reorganization, andrestructuring. The entire media center was rearranged, all

of the ancillary rooms were reorganized or repurposed, and amove to a semi-flexible schedule was made. In short, I spent mostof the year running around like a chicken in fear of the butcherpecking at whatever overgrown patch of weeds that I could dealwith next. It was not until the end of the year that my buildingadministrator brought to my attention that I needed to evaluate myprogram. Uh-oh, evaluation! What? Where? Uhm, how?

Fortunately, at the next library/media specialist in-service day, we were

introduced to ExC3EL—Expectations for Collaboration, Collections, and

Connections to Enhance Learning, a rubric and improvement plan created

by a committee led by Dr. Nancy Teger at the Florida Department of

Education’s Library Media Services. “The EXC3EL Rubric provides a

continuum for developing outstanding school library media programs that

enhance and support the school’s educational agenda”

(http://www.fldoe.org/bii/library_media/exc3el.asp).

The EXC3EL rubric is divided into six strands of focus: Instruction,

Curriculum/Assessment Support, Resource Management, Program

Vandy Pacetti-Tune, MLISLibrary/Media Specialist

Denison Middle School

Winter Haven, FL

[email protected]

Evaluating YourMedia Program

The Evaluation Cometh for All Media Centers

Administration, Environment, and Advocacy. Each

strand is further divided into components that align with

Florida Educator Accomplished Practices (FEAPS) and

ISTE-NETS standards with indicators of success at four

different levels of achievement. Each level of

achievement is characterized with bulleted points that

demonstrate an effective behavior or situational context

for this component.

Replacing the Empty Mind with anOpen One

The purpose of evaluating the media program is

reflection and improvement. I was so focused on the

work at hand my first year that I did not see my

administrator and others around me asking some

questions about the purpose of the program. The

EXC3EL rubric can help answer those nagging

questions:

• Is the media program serving its purpose?

• Is the administrator aware of the progress being made

in the program?

• Does the media collection and program support

curricular and instructional needs?

• Are we fostering a culture of trans-literacy?

• Are we spending resources wisely and are those

resources being used effectively to enhance student

achievement?

• How can I convince the administrator to spend more

money on the media program?

These are the questions that we need to break down into

identifiable skills, activities, and procedures that occur

every day and we cannot seem to remember to bring up

in conversation when we are seeking assistance for our


Evaluating Your Media Program continued from 10

programs. Using the rubric enabled me to see areas that I

did not foster as well as I should have and still points that

I could use to engage my administrator in funding

conversations. Finally, I was deeply engaged in reflecting

upon the practice of implementing a media program.

A Dare to Be Great Brand

Al Ries said, “A branding program should be designed to

differentiate your cow from all the other cattle on the

range, even if all the cattle on the range look pretty much

alike.” The evaluation process has allowed me and the

media committee at Denison Middle School to create our

“dare to be great situation.” We have used the EXC3EL

rubric to justify our activities, our programs, our planning

and collaboration. We have successfully argued for

improvements: new carpet, new furniture, new books, and

new technology. Collaboration has improved and more

teachers are involved in media activities. Circulation is up

and more students are reading. Our media center is awash

with the reading theme: “Reading Rules” with murals

painted of castle scenes, heraldic banners, and stained

glass windows. Our students know our brand, “Reading

Rules at Denison Middle School.”

The Zombie Apocalypse is Here

A school without a media center is like a Zombie—dead,

giving semblance of life, but mute and directionless with

little thought, morality, or hope. A well-planned media

program begins with effective evaluation, reflection, and

improvement. We must evaluate what we are doing and

reflect upon improving our programs so that we will not

be mute, but actively provide solid services with branding

so that our faculty, students, and parents will find value in

our programs.

How to Submit ArticlesHave you completed a research project you want to share

with other media specialists? Have you just returned from

a trip where you witnessed exciting innovations for media

specialists? Have you learned a new technique, found a

new product or service, or just have information that you

want to share?

Format

Submissions should be in Word or Word Perfect

documents. Articles should be clearly written and may

be accompanied by black and white photographs, charts,

or graphs; however, please do not embed your visuals into

the text.

Photographs and Graphics

All photographs, charts, and graphs accompanying articles

should be submitted as .jpg or .eps files and must be

submitted along with the article. You may indicate where

you would like them placed, if you have a preference,

by simply noting it in BOLD in your text.

Rights

Materials, once submitted, become the property of

Florida Media Quarterly (FMQ). The editor reserves

the right to publish the article in the most suitable issue.

Materials will not be returned. Authors are responsible

for the accuracy of the material submitted and for any

and all copyright permissions necessary.

How to Submit ArticlesSubmit articles via email directly to Rhoda Cribbs,

FMQ Editor, at [email protected]. Please include

the following information with your article:

• a .jpg of yourself

• the name of your school

• address of your school

• your position

• your email address

How to Submit Book Reviews Please follow the steps below to submit book reviews to

FMQ. Submissions should be in Word or Word Perfect

documents and be clearly written.

1) Read the book.

2) Include the following in your review:

• author

• title

• illustration

• publishers

• copyright

• ISBN

• grade level appropriateness

3) Email the review to Rhoda Cribbs, FMQ Editor,

at [email protected] including

• a .jpg of yourself

• the name of your school

• address of your school

• your position

• your email address

DeadlinesThe publication dates of each FMQ issue has been

provided below to help you plan article submissions;

however, you may submit articles at any time of the year.

The FMQ editor will select from the articles submitted for

placement in the most suitable issue.

Issue Articles & PublicationAds Due Date

Fall August 1 September 1

Winter November 1 December 1

Spring February 1 March 1

Summer May 1 June1


Florida Media Quarterly (FMQ) is the Florida Associationof Media in Education (FAME) electronic magazine published quarterly.Each issue includes articles of interest to all media specialists. Specialcolumns focusing on technology, copyright, and book reviews, as well asfeature articles on topical issues are written by colleagues and specialiststo keep media specialists on the cutting edge. FMQ is available online inPDF format from the FAME website at http://www.floridamedia.org




FMQ, Spring 2013 V. 38, No. 3

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