Page 19 - library report

Library Department Program Review
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Recommendation #5: Collaboration
1. Collaborate with grade-level or department-level teams to design and implement at least one
project-based curricular experience that meets and assesses both the library and content area learning
goals.
2. Provide leadership and counsel to PRSD staff within the building and district through the participation of
librarians in department and grade-level meetings and/or committees.
3. At the primary levels, design a library schedule to allow students and staff flexible access to the librarian
and library resources for collaboration and project-based learning opportunities (partially-fixed and
partially-flexible).

FINDINGS:

Internal Analysis
● Limited opportunities for collaborative planning and instruction teaching in primaries. Librarians
coordinate with classroom teachers to pull resources for projects (PRSD Vertical Team, 2020).
● Staff input indicates that teachers would like to be able to collaborate with the librarians more often
(PRSD Vertical Team, 2020).
● Staff and students indicate that often there is not a connection between the learning that happens in the
classroom and the library (Student Voice- Grade 3, 2020; Staff Voice, 2020).
● At the 4-12 levels, collaborative projects occur, but there is not consistency across grade levels or
departments. Students in the same grade may have different experiences, be taught different skills, or
have no library instruction at all depending on the classroom (PRSD Vertical Team, 2020).
● At the 4-6 level, content-area teachers are often hesitant or unwilling to plan collaborative projects
because of time concerns. Research and project-based learning are considered “extra” rather than integral
(PRSD Vertical Team, 2020).
● In general, PRSD librarians are not involved in departmental or grade level meetings at the building or
district level (PRSD Vertical Team, 2020).
● Many librarians collaborate or coordinate with individual teachers within a grade or department but have
yet to be involved with committees, or in meetings, where collaborative planning would result in assured
library experiences for all students (PRSD Vertical Team, 2020).
● Additional access to libraries, outside of scheduled times, for book checkout or independent research is
desired by our students, staff, and families (Staff Voice, 2020; Town Hall, 2020; Student Voice- Grade 3,
2020).
● Staff members desire additional collaboration with the librarian to exchange ideas and consult regarding
options for resources to support lessons (Staff Voice, 2020).
● At the primary level, librarians regularly curate and provide resources for curricular projects, but there are
few collaboratively designed inquiry-based research projects (PRSD Vertical Team, 2020).

External Analysis
● “Research on how we learn strongly supports integration as a means of helping students construct
knowledge and make connections to prior knowledge, thus increasing the amount of learning that occurs.
... When the school library program is fully integrated into the instructional program of the school,
students, teachers and teacher-librarians become partners in learning and the library program becomes an

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