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)