Melissa McDonald’s Philosophy Statement 2012
As I ponder my philosophy of school library program administration, it brings to mind a quote by Eleanor Roosevelt “I think, at a child's birth, if a mother could ask a fairy godmother to endow it with the most useful gift, that gift should be curiosity”. Without curiosity, people will not continue to search for answers to their questions. We must always continue to ask questions and seek answers. We must help foster and encourage curiosity in our students as the desire for knowledge is the key to reaching one’s goals. Teaching provides an opportunity for continual learning and growth. One of my hopes as an educator is to instill a love of learning in my students and inspire in them a desire to learn more, to know more, and to share their knowledge. As the school librarian, I will teach them the information literacy skills necessary to continue their quest for knowledge. Teaching and learning come in many forms. I will continue to seek innovative teaching strategies and create engaging, authentic lesson plans for my students. I will continue my own quest for knowledge in order to share it with my students. Education is a lifelong process and the school library media program is one crucial step that will follow the student throughout life. I believe a school library media center should be a place that is warm and inviting. Not only the space but the library staff that the students see every day should be warm and inviting. As the comic strip above shows, the human element in the library continues to be of utmost importance to its patrons. It should be a place that students and staff want to visit for research, for study, for pleasure reading, and for social interaction. I will follow Ranganathan’s Five Laws of Library Science: Books are for use; Every reader his [or her] book; Every book its reader; Save the time of the reader; The library is a growing organism.
The media center space should be the core of the school; the school library media program the heart, and the library staff the heartbeat. The school library media program seeks to serve the entire school and reflects the diverse nature of academia and its community of learners. As the school library media specialist, I will encourage our students to ask questions, seek answers, share knowledge, and practice effective and ethical use of information in a global society.