Croom, Crum, Moore, West

Section IV: School Library Media Center Facilities

The Harlem Middle School Media Center is supervised by a former English/Language
Arts and Social Studies teacher. She is a veteran teacher who has taught for a total of eight
years. This is her first year as a Media Specialist. The Media Clerk is a former pre-loading
Supervisor at UPS and Front Office Registrar for a medical office. This is also her first
experience in a media center.
This Media Center is comprised of six student collaboration tables with the ability to
host up to seven students at each station. A relaxation area has been created that contains a
large couch, and a large area rug. This space is reserved for patrons to socialize or have silent
reading time. The center also has nine student desktop computers, four iPads, LCD projector,
two conference rooms, a reference section, as well as both a non-fiction and fiction section.
The Media Specialist and Clerk spent the initial part of the school year teaching
students how to set-up and access their Office 365 student accounts. In addition to this
process, students learned how to access and connect to the schools Wi-Fi. While students
are at school they have access to a variety of online resources and online tools; through the
Media Centers website students also have access to those same resources off campus.

At this time, one conference room is reserved for use by the Special Education
Paraprofessional as an office and meeting space. The other conference room is in transition
to becoming a makerspace for student use. This area will be designed for students to work
and prepare projects in accordance with the schools STEM Program. The temperature in the
Media Center is just right although the Media Center staff have the ability to adjust the
temperature at any time to make it more comfortable if needed. Lighting in the Media Center
is a combination of both natural and electrical lighting. Currently, the only area for concern is
the noise distraction from the adjacent sixth grade hallway. The disturbance is not constant;
however, it can hinder concentration or focus if it is needed to conduct a particular task.
The Media Center is accessible to all students and patrons with disabilities. There are
no stairs or ramps for a patron with a disability to get in or maneuver around the Media Center.
The only obstacle that may be an issue would be that a student with a disability might need
assistance because the entrance door swings outward rather than inward; therefore, a patron
with a disability might need additional assistance of someone holding the door.

Floor Plan of Harlem Middle School Media Center

As students access the Harlem Middle School Media Centers page they will see a tab
for Media Resources. Some of the resources available to them are Destiny Quest, the online
catalog, Smithsonian Tween Tribune, Galileo, World Book Online, Whats Next, a site that lists
books in a series, and a site that gives book recommendations based off of a book that the
student has read and liked. The Columbia County Board of Education uses iboss as the
filtering software. This web security is designed to enable K-12 learning, not block it.
Filtering software plays a huge role in what students are able to access, iboss filters
classifies sites based on its content focus (i.e., dating, news, entertainment, pornography).
The iboss website provides the following description of the softwares purpose and abilities.
Todays K-12 schools face opportunities and challenges that were never imagined by previous generations. The Internet
has opened a new world of learning resources, while the growth of mobile technology has put these resources into the
hands of students and teachers both in and out of the classroom. Added to these challenges are increased targeting of
schools by criminal hackers bent on accessing student data. K-12 Schools face increasing security challenges:
Maintaining CIPA, HIPAA and other regulatory compliance, while ensuring network availability and
access to learning tools
Protecting increasing amounts of private student data kept on school networks from advanced
threats
Securing mobile users and BYOD easily, whether on or off school grounds

There are many times when a site that should not be blocked, is blocked. Thankfully,
with iboss, the Columbia County IT Department has the ability to customize sites according to
its content.

Students at Harlem Middle School have access to the Media Centers website from
home or from a mobile device. The schools website provides a link to the Media Centers
page if students do not know or cannot remember the URL for the page. At this time, there are
no e-books or e-readers available in the schools Media Center; however, the stakeholders are
in discussion about adding selected titles. There is a plan to add e-books into the Media
Centers inventory. A link to the Media Centers website is provided: Harlem Middle School
Media Center

Screenshot of the Harlem Middle Schools Media Center webpage Media Resources tab

The layout of the media center works really well for teachers and students. All materials
are easily accessible and the open view of the library is conducive to the learning of all
students. The library media center environment and educational climate is remarkable.
Student artwork and class projects are displayed throughout the library making the
environment more student centered. There are two quiet areas (closed door conference
rooms) for small group or individual instruction and a larger area for whole class instruction.
Considering the age of the building, the library is very inviting to all faculty, staff, and
students. There is adequate space for individuals, small groups, and whole classes, as long
as it is one class at a time. Usually, if more than one class is in the media center together it
is very congested and space is limited.

If money were no object, additional improvements would include extra seating in the
social area and door openers that are designed to assist the handicapped. Extra seating

could include furniture such as colorful bean bags to help brighten up the media center as
well as give students a place to read that is extra soft and comfortable. Purchasing bean bags
would be good but actually purchasing the materials and getting
groups of students to help make them would be even better not to
mention fun. Adding color to the walls and colorful tables and chairs
would help brighten areas especially where natural lighting is minimal
or absent. Door openers would make the entrance and exit to the
media center easier for our handicapped students. Another
improvement is to update or improve the door leading from the Media
Center to an outdoor Courtyard to include an outside reading area.

Kincaid, K., & Pfau, P. (2015). Creating ever-evolving, school-specific learning commons. Teacher
Librarian, 42(4)