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Library Home » General Information
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General Information
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Mission Statement The mission of the Indian River Central School District library media program is to "ensure that students and staff are effective and discriminating life long users of information." (Information Power: Guidelines for School Library Media Programs) Skills learned in a library media program are vital to the development of informed and responsible citizens, who contribute to the academic community and to society. Since effective use of a library is a lifelong skill, one to be learned and nurtured throughout a student’s school years and beyond, it is important that our students recognize the value of information literacy and retrieval skills to complete academic requirements, as well as to explore personal interests. Goals / Outcomes The goals and outcomes of the library media program are as follows: - enable students to develop information-problem solving skills with the school's instructional framework
- provide for the development of literature appreciation by students
- acquaint students with the proper care and use of all information sources, materials, equipment, and facilities
- encourage students to become life-long learners
Staff "Research shows that students perform better on tests of research skills and comprehension skills when they have access to a good library media center and a professional library media specialist" (Libraries for the National Education Goals). District students and staff are provided with library services and supported by 6 New York state certified library media specialists, 3 library teaching assistants, and 10 library clerical personnel. Curriculum Integration The Indian River Central School District library media centers are an integral and visible part of the district's educational program. Each school in the district has a media center, which contains a large number of print and nonprint materials for students and faculty. As well, each media center is staffed with a professional library media specialist and a full-time library aide to assist patrons. District support, financial as well as a belief in the value of libraries, enables our media centers to have resources which are current and which support the district's curriculum. Both types of support are vital to the success of the media centers programs, which in turn are essential to the education of our students. More than 127,000 items were circulated by the district media centers in 1998-99. The district library media specialists have developed a curriculum, detailing the information and retrieval skills that the media specialists believe need to be taught in connection with what is happening in the classrooms. The curriculum lists by grade the skills to be taught at that level by the library media specialist working with the classroom teacher so that students see the value of what they are learning. Integration is the process of teachers in various grades and areas working together to teach students skills and to show students that these skills are relevant. Use of information and the retrieval of information are skills necessary in every subject area. Therefore, teachers and library media specialists work to show students that what they learn in the media centers and in the classrooms is useful in all lifetime endeavors. Scheduling for the use of district media centers is done on a "flexible," or as needed, basis. Teachers plan with media specialists for projects, and/or lessons, and schedule the use of the media center for the time necessary to complete these scheduled plans. By using this method of scheduling, the media centers are more accessible to all students during the school day, while teachers have access when it is needed. This method of scheduling is recognized by all professional educational organizations as the best way of ensuring that school library media centers are fully utilized. Technology Since computers are found in every aspect of our lives today, Indian River District library media centers have entered the "computer age" to provide the best service to our students, faculty and more efficient service to our patrons. All district library media centers have computerized circulation systems, which allow the library staff to spend more time assisting students, faculty and staff. The traditional library card catalogs have been replaced with computerized card catalogs. Students use computer terminals to search for the resources found in the library collections.
Internet access with online services is available in all district media centers. These online services include magazines and newspaper indexes, encyclopedias, and other references materials. BOCES School Library System
The Indian River District library media centers belong to the Jefferson-Lewis BOCES School Library System. Membership in this System enables media centers to have access to thousands of items in school, college, and public libraries throughout northern New York and beyond. Also, the System provides workshops for the library staff, sponsors the annual Bookmark Contest, provides professional journals to media specialists, and advises on current technologies and procedures in the field of librarianshi. "Library Media Services." Indian River CSD. 2010. Indian River Central School District. 5 August 2010.
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