ISCI 794:Librarian Interview #1

  

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Media Specialist: Carolyn Crosland
AASL Standards Shared Foundation: Include
AASL Standards Domains: Think, Create, Share, Grow


 As part of my preparation to be a school media specialist, I was able to sit down and talk with four school media specialists about specific AASL Standards Shared Foundations and Domains. This blog post is the first of four entries sharing my thoughts and reflections on the wisdom and advice gained from the interviews. The first interviewee is Mrs. Carolyn Crosland at my home school, Boiling Springs Middle School in the upstate of South Carolina. We serve a diverse population with over 100 different nationalities represented in our thriving, growing community. Therefore, I chose to discuss the shared foundation INCLUDE with Mrs. Crosland. 
        

When Mrs. Crosland started her role as librarian at BSMS, our population was not very diverse and neither was our library collection. Our library reflected our population. As the Boiling Springs community exploded with growth, Mrs. Crosland was tasked with creating a library collection that was as diverse as our community and providing opportunities for students to build empathy and awareness of the global learning community. This is where we focused most of our discussion during the interview. 


Throughout our interview, I was impressed with Mrs. Crosland's dedication to finding a way to include every student in our library in some way. We now have books in Ukrainian, Russian, and Spanish for our large population of immigrants and refugees. She also made sure to include books and lessons about their different cultures so students can learn about their new to the US peers' traditions and values. There is a true community of learners growing in this library. 


Mrs. Crosland's efforts and model for meeting the INCLUDE shared foundation are important as I transition into the library field. Learning how to analyze school demographic data is key to building a collection that reflects the school population. Intentionally planning lessons that allow students to see things from different perspectives and to examine different viewpoints  is a requirement to create a community of global learners. Being the librarian frees me from the content standards to focus on teaching students awareness, diversity, and inclusion. I see this as my own of changing the world for the better. 



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