Report 1: Media Center

The media center has 2 full time positions, one of which is shared by two part-time retired media specialists. The staff also includes one media clerk to support the media specialists. The media staff is responsible for carrying out library orientation with the 9th grade classes, promoting online resources and databases to students and teachers, and working collaboratively with teachers to plan lessons that use the media center collection and technology. The library utilizes flexible scheduling, in which teachers schedule times for their classes to use the library. Students are permitted to come to the media center on their own time before school, during lunch, and after school. Teachers may also send individual students to the library during class if necessary.

The source of funding for the media center is mainly through the state, supplemented by the county. Funds are allocated by FTE.

The media center subscribes to Galileo, a Georgia-based resource which predominantly serves as a resource for finding newspaper or journal articles on a variety of topics. They also subscribe to Oxford Reference Online and Discovery Collection (Novels, Poetry, and Short Stories for students). Technology plays a large part of the media program, as it is the driving force behind many of the subscription services such as Galileo. The media specialists buy software subscription services over reference books when it is an option. The media center houses 30 computer stations for student use, as well as a projector and 2 screens. The school is networked, allowing students to access work from computer labs, teacher workstations, and the Media Center.

The mission of the media center is to assist the students in finding, evaluating, and applying information that helps them to function fully in everyday society. Their goals are to provide materials that will support the curriculum as well as provide various sides of controversial issues so that students may develop critical thinking skills. Another goal is to provide instruction in media skills necessary to access information during their high school years and beyond.

District policies and procedures that affect the media center are outlined in both the Houston County Board Policy Manual, which is approved every year with individual policies updated on an as-needed basis, and the Houston County Board of Education Media Specialist Handbook, updated in 2002. It covers nearly everything that is necessary, other than collection development guidelines.

There are just under 2,000 students served at the school's media center, and they range from gifted students taking multiple Advanced Placement courses to special education students in a self-contained environment and behaviorally and emotionally disabled students who are also self-contained. There are also about ten foreign exchange students and several ESL students at the school. We are also a Title 1 school located in an older neighborhood that is surrounded by low-income housing. Many of the students do not have access to the internet at home.