I. Learning Objectives: At the end of the course students will:

1. Relate management theory to the management of schools and schoo libraries.
2. Analyze the context of school library media services in an environmental scan of a specific community and the school.
3. Conduct a needs assessment of the facilities, staffing, collection and access to information, instructional program, and budget an advocacy of a school library program.
4. Develop and write a strategic plan for the school library, including vision and mission statements, goals and objectives, and an action plan.
5. Evaluate a school library media program.
6. Strategically resolve practical problems, critical and ethical issues, and policy matters.  

II. Organization of the Course

The course contains three major sections. The first section sets the scene for managing a school library program. It explores the evolution of management theory through the 20^th century as it relates to schools and school libraries. This overview includes leadership and change theory. The second section examines the basic elements of the school library program through case studies and strategic planning. This section runs concurrently with the first as preparation for preparing Assignments 1 and 2. In the second part of the course, which is dedicated to strategic planning, discussions serve as workshops for the needs assessment and action plan. The third section looks at critical and ethical issues of school librarianship.

Topics for study

Section A: Management Theory

1. Scientific Management Theory
2. Behavioral Management Theory
3. The cultural contexts of schooling and implications for administering library media programs
4. Managers and Leaders
5. Building Influence
6. Change Theory

Section B: Strategic Planning

1. Needs Assessment of the community and school, including:

a. Demographic description of school and community

b. Established educational program articulated in the curriculum.

c. Mission statements, goals and objectives of the school.

2.  Managing the basic elements of school library programs in the cultural context of  schools. These elements include:

 a. Instructional Services

• Integration of the instructional library media program with academic curricula
• Methods of instruction, i.e., Principles of Guided Inquiry, collaborative planning and teaching; designing instruction for developing literacy and lifelong learning; designing K-12 library media programs to accommodate developmental levels and learning processes of individual students;  developing library media programs to enable learning from a variety of resources and technologies
• Methods of assessing student learning and reporting progress
• Programs for special groups (e.g., at-risk, gifted and talented, learning difficulties, English Language Learning, multicultural).

b. Staffing and Administration

• Planning and designing facilities that respond to program needs
• Staffing the library media center to respond to the needs of students and teachers and to meet the goals and objectives of the curriculum
• Structure of organizational decision making, organizational charts, line and staff relationships, formal and informal lines of communication
• Differentiated staffing, specialization and certification, professional and support skills and responsibilities, job descriptions, work styles

c. Collection and Access to Information

• Providing resources and access to information that respond to the needs of students and teachers and meets the goals and objectives of the curriculum
• Collection building and maintaining and tailoring collections to the Curriculum and Selection Policy
• Curriculum and collection mapping
• Information access for materials and technologies

d. Facilities and Technology

• Designing and renovating the facility
• Evaluating the function of facilities and equipment
• Policies related to technology        

e. Budget and Advocacy  

• Strategies for gaining financial support for the library media program from administrators; managing resources and budgets within the educational system
• Strategies for gaining financial support for the library media program from all segments of the educational community including: students, teachers, administrators, Board of Education members, parents, and citizens
• Reporting and documenting
• Advisory Councils
• Promoting, publicizing, integrating, collaborating      

  f. Evaluation of School Library Media Programs

• Evidence-based practice;
• Criteria for evaluation;
• Data collection methods;
• Reporting status and progress

Section C: Examples of School Librarianship Issues

a. Issues in Professional Preparation and Growth

b. Critical issues relating to the emerging role of the media center in the information age School for teachers

c. Ethical issues related to school library media services for teachers

d. Critical issues relating to the emerging role of the media center in the information age school for administrators

e. Critical issues relating to the emerging role of the media center in the information age school for parents.

III. Required Materials

Woolls, B. 2004. The School Library Media Manager, 3^rd ed. Westport CT: Libraries Unlimited

Zilonis, M. F., Markuson, C. & Fincke, M. B. 2002. Strategic Planning for School

Library Media Centers. Langham, England: Scarecrow Press.
American Association of School Librarians. Standards for 21st Century Learners. 2007.
http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/aasl/guidelinesandstandards/learningstandards/standards.cfm

IV. Major Assignments

Details of each Major Assignment and Grading Criteria are located in Major Assignments (Course Home). Please review that document carefully.

Assignment 1:  COMMUNITY and SCHOOL ENVIRONMENTAL SCAN (20% of grade)

Describe the community and school which the library media center serves. Use both quantitative and qualitative measures in your description.

Assignment 2:  NEEDS ASSESSMENT AND ACTION PLAN FOR THE LIBRARY MEDIA CENTER (40 % of grade)

Describe the existing, current situation of the library media center and conduct a needs assessment, including the instructional program, collection/access to information, staffing, facilities, budget and advocacy. Identify both positive aspects and problems in a quantitative and qualitative analysis. Set goals and objectives to address weaknesses in the program and an action plan to implement the objectives in a three year sequence. Present the action plan in a report to the administrator of the school and the Board of Education using charts, diagrams, and narrative.

Assignment 3: Critical Issues/Ethical Issues/Professional Growth-Workshop Poster Sessions (20% of grade)

Prepare an in-service training workshop for teachers on a critical issue related to the library media center. Present a PowerPoint with narration in the notes Include one slide for each of the following: a rationale for the workshop, objectives, or what you want the audience to learn, and a workshop evaluation form or activity. You will also have information slides and one slide that presents a hands-on activity or a collaborative learning experience for your audience.

Assignment Guidelines:

Submission:  Assignments must be submitted on time to the Drop box, so that they can be graded consistently and discussed in the class sessions.  

Except for documented medical and family emergencies and personal misadventure, assignments submitted late will receive a lower grade, for the following reasons:

a. Students who take more time to prepare their assignments have an unfair advantage over their classmates;

b. Students who submit their assignments late often benefit from the review in class of their colleagues' errors;

c. It will interrupt the flow of the class.

Academic Honesty: All students must always submit work that represents his or her original work, words, or ideas, and use appropriate citation methods for citing the ideas of others. Students should also document the extent to which such sources were used. Words or ideas that require citation include, but are not limited to, all hardcopies or electronic publications, whether copyrighted or not, and all verbal or visual communication when the content of such communication clearly originates from an identifiable source. In this online course, all submissions to any public meeting or private mailbox fall within the scope of words and ideas that require citations if used by someone other than the original author.

Academic dishonesty in an online learning environment could involve:

• Having a tutor or friend complete a portion of your assignments
• Having a reviewer make extensive revisions to an assignment
• Copying work submitted by another student
• Using information from online information services without proper citation

While you might work together and collaborate on various learning tasks throughout the course, final submissions should be your own work.  Take the time to familiarize yourself with the Academic Integrity policy of Rutgers University.  It is available through the Center for Advancement of Teaching, at http://cat.rutgers.edu/integrity/policy.html

Paper Formats:   Papers must conform to standardized format as suggested by:

Publication Manual of the American Psychology Association (5^th Ed.).  (2001). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

The Manual also provides useful suggestions for writing of reports and articles. There are ample examples of APA bibliography and citation style on the Web. See Purdue University's Writing Lab APA Guidelines and examples at http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/research/r_apa.html

Students should follow directs for assignments that have a format other than a paper as given.

Class Participation (20% of grade)

Class Participation Policy

Students are expected to actively participate in discussions and group activities. A grade is given for participation based on meeting the minimum number of postings and the quality of interactions. A minimum of 3 participations is required for each discussion. At least one contribution should relate to the focus of the discussion. This posting should include one relevant reference to one of the required readings, if applicable. At least one contribution should be a response to a comment or question raised by a classmate. The minimum requirement of 3 postings earns a grade of B.

V. Assessment

Details of assessments of the three major assignments are found in the Major Assignment (Course Home). 

Grading

Assignments will be assessed in terms of the stated criteria for each assignment, as stated in this syllabus, and will be graded according to the University’s grading scheme:

A        Outstanding: work of the highest standard, mastery of the topic demonstrated at a high level

B        Good work, better than the minimum standard, sound knowledge of the topic demonstrated

C         Satisfactory standard work, adequate knowledge of the topic is demonstrated

F          Fail, unsatisfactory and wholly inadequate work

The assignments will be graded using the criteria listed in the Major Assignments link under Course Home.  

Assignment 1: 20% of grade

Assignment 2: 40% of grade

Assignment 3: 20% of grade

Class Participation: 20% of grade

 VI. The Online Environment

The following features of the course are used for the purposes stated below:

Course Home: Provides the content items listed below and a short introduction to the conceptualization of the course.

Introduction to the Course and Instructor: This is about who is teaching you and how you may get in touch with her if you need to discuss a private matter as well as the content of the course.

Syllabus: Provides a detailed description of the syllabus content for this online course.

Weekly Schedule: Lists the weekly topics, session foci (essential questions for discussions, and readings) and readings in a chart for quick reference.

Major Assignments: Contains a detailed description of the three graded assignments and the class participation grade that are required, as well as details of the assessment of your work.

Water Cooler: This is the place to post ideas that are of general interest to the class, and which are not directly linked to the discussion topics. This is where the general chit chat takes place. You might discover something that is supplemental to the objectives of the course, for example, a current development related to the school library’s instructional program, and want to share it with everyone. Here is the place to do it. You might want to congratulate a member on a recent success you have heard about. Here is the place to do it. The postings at the Water Cooler are viewed by everyone.

Ask Dr. Gordon: Here you can post questions that relate to all aspects of the course content: questions and answers that you think might be useful to all in the course. For example, this is where all of the questions/discussion about assignments will take place. Remember that such postings are viewed by everyone. This is a better options than email;   questions are discussed in an open forum as much as possible, and individual emails are minimized. Of course email is still an option if you want to discuss a private matter or make an appointment.

Course Related Resources: This list of resources is a course bibliography which contains the materials used to create the course. They are identified for your supplemental or extended reading, or for future reference. 

The Library: This is your link to the Rutgers’ Libraries where you will find relevant journal articles for Assignment 3, some of which are available online. You can also use the required readings to cite in your assignments.

Syntheses and Reflections: Each week a student is assigned to post a Synthesis of the previous week’s discussion, and the instructor responds with a Reflection. These are posted on Mondays. A Synthesis is not just a summary: it incorporates the synthesizer’s original ideas and comments to create a unique reaction to the discussion. While these syntheses and reflections seem to be in a separate section, removed from the discussion that takes places within each week, putting them here in Course Home will mean that all the syntheses and reflections will be grouped together in a coherent whole for easy retrieval.

Week Units: (Week 1, 2, 3…) These are the sections of the course identified as Weeks. There are 15 weeks in the semester. Your work for each week is listed in these sections.

The home page for each week will present a short introduction to the course material with graphics and text to summarize the focus of the week’s work. The sections for each week, called content items, will include, where applicable:

Agenda Items: This outlines the week’s work and contains any reminders about assignments and upcoming events.

Lectures: This links directly to lecture content, which is presented as a PowerPoint sequence, with accompanying audio. You can view the PowerPoint’s with or without the audio. (I hope my New York accent is not too pronounced! It seems the closer I move to the city the stronger it gets.)

Readings: Key readings are listed. You are encouraged to read these before the discussions begin, as I expect your discussion postings to show clear engagement with the required readings. As you research and explore more around your topics, you are encouraged to post interesting and thoughtful web-based articles into the Webliography.

Discussions: This is your focused and engaged interrogation of ideas related to the focus theme for the week.

Learning Activities: These activities require application of information presented in the course.

VII. Netiquette: Discussion Guidelines

Communication between instructor and each student is vital to the quality of instruction. Students should present any concerns they have to the instructor through Ask Dr Gordon or email when privacy is desired. All concerns will be given the needed attention and time. The instructor will work with the student to meet his or her needs. E-mail is used through the course software to give students individual attention with privacy when needed.  

The same guidelines for effective communication apply online as they do in person. Be respectful of other students. Please take a moment and read this link concerning "netiquette"  it provides 10 useful guidelines that govern our interactions in class.

Rule 1: Remember the Human

Rule 2: Adhere to the same standards of behavior online that you follow in real life

Rule 3: Know where you are in cyberspace

Rule 4: Respect other people's time and bandwidth

Rule 5: Make yourself look good online

Rule 6: Share expert knowledge

Rule 7: Help keep flame wars under control

Rule 8: Respect other people's privacy

Rule 9: Don't abuse your power

Rule 10:  Be forgiving of other people’s mistakes

VIII. Support Sites for Students

Students are expected to take the initiative in the form of opportunities and services that will help them succeed in their academics. This includes knowing and complying with university policy, having the information literacy skills needed to succeed in academics, seeking advisement when needed, and taking advantage of Rutgers’ support services. The following websites are recommended for these purposes:

Academic Integrity

     Rutgers’ Policy on Academic Integrity Policy for Undergraduate and  

     Graduate Students  http://teachx.rutgers.edu/integrity/policy.html

     Plagiarism and Academic Integrity

An interactive lesson produced by the Rutgers University Libraries. It is designed to teach students about avoiding infractions of academic integrity policies.

http://www.scc.rutgers.edu/douglass/sal/plagiarism/intro.html

Rutgers University Libraries

Academic librarians are available to assist you in finding information and in helping you to develop your information literacy skills, especially for electronic searching.

http://www.libraries.rutgers.edu/

Library Instruction and Information Literacy

http://www.libraries.rutgers.edu/rul/lib_instruct/lib_instruct.shtml

Training for e-companion courseware

https://ecompanion.rutgers.edu/

Disability Support Services

http://studentaffairs.rutgers.edu/disability/

 School of Communication, Information and Library Studies

http://www.scils.rutgers.edu/