1. Services
Midway Elementary offers a variety of services through the media center. The media
specialist coordinates with teachers at the school to collaborate on their different lessons for
their students. She provides story time for the younger grade levels and she tries to
coordinate story time so that her story involves something that the class is studying at the
time they come in. The media center also serves as a resource for the older grades to
research topics for reports. The students are allowed to come into the media center and use
the computers available to see what resources the center may have for their individual topic.
Once they have located available resources, they retrieve those books or reference materials
from the shelves and use them to complete their reports. The media center has a large area
set aside for students to sit and complete their homework, research reports or other
assignments. Another service of the media center at Midway is the use of technology. The
media specialist assists the teachers with setting up technology like televisions, DVD players
and laptop computers in their classrooms for use with their lessons.
Services For Diverse Patrons
The media center at Midway is set up in a way that is accessible for patrons that have
disabilities. The layout of the room is “wheelchair friendly”. Audio books are available for
the visually impaired. For a small media center, Midway has made excellent provisions to
help the disabled.
Five Roles of the Media Specialist

2. Teacher – The media specialist at Midway serves this role because she promotes reading by
using story time with the students. She also encourages them to check out books and read
for entertainment.
Instructional Partner – The media specialist fills this role by collaborating with the teachers at
the school on their lessons. She coordinates story time for the younger grades and other
activities for the older grades to go along with the teachers’ classroom lessons.
Information Specialist – The media specialist at Midway fills this role by assisting the teachers
with the technology needs of the classroom. She assists in setting up technical equipment
such as televisions, DVD players and laptop computers in the classrooms for the teachers to
use with their lessons.
Leader – The media specialist fills this role by taking the lead in the school’s technology
needs. She coordinates the purchase of new equipment for the media center and works with
the teachers to determine the technology needs for their classrooms. She also coordinates
training teachers and staff on the use of new technology that becomes available to the
school.
Program Administrator – She serves this role at the school because she effectively
administers the school’s library and media center programs. She has a very small budget that
she has to work with each year and she effectively manages that budget and sticks to it.
Circulation Policy

3. The media center’s circulation policy is that books can be checked out by a student for a five
day period. These books can be renewed only once. Reference materials and periodicals are
not allowed to be checked out by students. The media center requires that students pay for
lost books. If a book is considered lost, a student is not allowed to check out any more books
until the lost book is paid for. A student can only be late turning in books two cycles before
they are banned from checking out books for one month. This policy only applies to students
in grades 2 – 5. Students in Kindergarten – 1st grade are not allowed to check out books.
Scheduling
The media center is open each school day from 8:00 until 2:00. The media center is available
at any time during the hours of operation for the older students to come in with passes from
their teachers to browse books and materials or do research. The media specialist also uses
the hours of operation to schedule classes to come in for the younger students. She holds
story time and group sessions for these students. She collaborates with these teachers to
plan her story time or activities for the students around the lessons they are studying in the
classroom. The media center’s schedule is pretty much open the entire school day for
students and faculty to use for their academic needs.
Assessment
In my assessment of the media center at Midway, I found that the services portion of the
media center is really good. The media specialist offers good programs for disabled patrons.
In the technology section of my assessment, I think the media center could use some
updating. Currently, there are no e-books or e-book readers available for use by students,
faculty and staff. I think this would be a great addition to the media center. The media

4. center currently does not have a policy for students to bring their own technology. Students
tend to use the computers that are available to them in the media center. I think the media
center at Midway serves well a 21st century library. The media center promotes learning and
reading and it serves as the technology “hub” of the school.