Program Learning Outcome 7
Communicate and collaborate with colleagues and communities
7.1 Oral communication
Effectively engage in oral communication in professional contexts.
7.2 Written communication
Effectively write a professional email- salutations, no text speak, write in a grammatically correct way, clearly articulate an idea
7.3 Collaboration within a Library or Information Organization
Works with others within the organization to achieve meaningful outcomes.
7.4 Collaboration with external constituencies:
Works with others outside the organization to achieve meaningful outcomes.
Research shows that "standardized test scores increase in schools with a full-time, certified school librarian." (Gregory, 2018) Professional guidelines identify collaboration as an essential responsibility of library media specialists that can contribute to improving learning outcomes (American Association of School Librarians and Association for Educational Communications and Technology 1998). No matter the article or research you read, collaboration is important to the school as a whole. The school librarian is an integral part of this collaboration.
In the Portrait of a Collaborator assignment, I was able to introduce myself as the school's librarian and get the word out that I am here not just for book checkouts and story times, but as a vital resource in overall student and school achievement. Without collaboration, the media center goes from being the heart of the school building to a room that houses the books.
The PSA assignment was also a way to introduce teachers and students to the ways in which the library and the school librarian could continue to help even during the remote learning, pandemic year. It helped to highlight the different things the library could help students and teachers with and kept the school abreast of what was happening even when the students and staff could not access the physical space.
Group projects in the MLIS program occurred in most of the classes we took. In an online program this seemed like something that would be difficult to do, but in every class the groups made it work and did so successfully. It was a great way to showcase collaboration within the library profession and gave me confidence that I could carry over the skills with my school community.