NSLPY Advocacy


NSLPY Award Committee Resources

 

 

 

 

The school library program in Baltimore County Public Schools is anchored in the foundational beliefs articulated in Board of Education Policy 6200  which defines the critical role of school libraries and school library media specialists.  As partners in the work of 21st century learning in collaboration with other specialists in teaching and learning, the BCPS school library program maintains a systemic presence in its advocacy and contributions to the school system’s areas of foci.  Attendance at district level leadership and strategic planning meetings, school board meetings and presentations, parent events, and community organizations affirm the contributions of school library programs.

 

 

Systemic leadership and advocacy for the school library media program ensures that students and teachers have a certified library media specialist in each school as well as equitable access to an organized and centrally managed collection of library resources, instructional materials, and information and instructional technologies in order to improve instruction, accelerate student learning, and facilitate student critical thinking, problem solving, and research.

 

As a result of advocacy for school library media programs systemic funding is provided and managed for collection development based upon annual collection analysis data. Additional funding is provided for authoritative digital content for students, teachers and families accessible 24/7. 

 

The district school library program and local school efforts utilize a variety of media to communicate messages regarding program implementation, outcomes, and student achievement.  At the district level the use of social media @bcpsodl #bcpslms, a wiki, a website, and Edmodo groups enable stakeholders to gather and collaborate regarding systemic projects.  School libraries use a variety of tools to communicate: virtual learning commons (wikis), Twitter, Facebook pages, and school publications contribute to this effort. 

 

Leadership in state wide advisory groups (Maryland State Department of Education), Maryland Association of School Librarians annual conference, Maryland Society for Educational Technology, MDK12 Digital Library Consortium, and national leadership initiatives (Standards for the 21st Century Learner in Action [Glick]) and Future Ready Libraries workgroup http://futureready.org/about-the-effort/librarians/  enable BCPS school library leaders to collaborate and communicate the contributions of  school libraries in regard to student achievement.

 

District collaboration on new school construction ensures that new school libraries are representative physical spaces best designed to support 21st century teaching and learning and that school library collections are developed to support high quality print and non-print materials. 

 

Annual surveys support the attention to a variety of communities in order to continue the growth of school library programs in BCPS.  This effort combined with attention to the national conversation regarding the role of school libraries enables leaders to advocate for strong school library programs in each of our schools.

 

 

 

 

2016-2017 Advocacy Plan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The school library program in Baltimore County Public Schools is anchored in the foundational beliefs articulated in Board of Education Policy 6200 https://www.bcps.org/system/policies_rules/policies/6000Series/POL6200.pdf  which defines the critical role of school libraries and school library media specialists.  As partners in the work of 21st century learning in collaboration with other specialists in teaching and learning, the BCPS school library program maintains a systemic presence in its advocacy and contributions to the school system’s areas of foci.