National School Library Standards: Curate

 

Librarian Focus: Mrs. Heather Peters, Guinyard-Butler Middle School

Years of Experience: 3 years

 

Interview Reflection:

Mrs. Heather Peters is the librarian at Guinyard-Butler Middle School in Barnwell, South Carolina.  We attended the same high school many years ago and have remained in contact through social media as adults.  When I first decided to make the transition from a classroom teacher to seek certification and my MLIS from USC, I reached out to Mrs. Peters to find out about her journey.  She has been a wonderful resource and friend to ask questions during my journey into the world of librarianship.

Mrs. Peters and I focused on the shared foundation, Curate, for our interview.  I gave Mrs. Peters time to explore the National School Library Standards and then we discussed curating and how she implements the competencies of this foundation into her school library setting with her students at GBMS.

Mrs. Peters works, especially pre-Covid to implement the competencies of Curate into her library program.  One way she implements the competencies is by assisting teachers by gathering materials to be used in their classrooms.  She gathers print resources and web-based materials for teachers and students.  She has also worked to create a database of resources for the school.

The resources she uses most often to implement these competencies depends on the nature of the requests.  For example, she uses SC Discus to gather articles and for creating text sets for teachers.  She uses NovelList K-8 and Titlewave for purchasing collection materials.

She works with teachers as often as she can and has worked hard over the past three years to build relationships with her teachers to build co-teaching experiences.  In dealing with new Social Studies standards, she has collaborated with the Social Studies department at her school to begin purchasing new materials that will support their new curriculum.  She works with ELA teachers who request articles and text sets which usually center on a theme or that will supplement the literature they are using in their classes.

Mrs. Peters shared that challenges have grown immensely due to Covid-19.  It is difficult to balance pre-Covid expectations with new responsibilities.  For example, over the past three years she worked to develop trusting relationships with the teachers in her school building.  She was spending more time with the teachers and classes teaching 21^st Century skills and digital literacy skill lessons.  She was available at the teachers’ beck and call!  Now, that Covid-19 has entered the scene, she has to plan differently.  She is now assigned a virtual class.  She must prepare, teach, contact, parents, etc. and she must intentionally make time for her library responsibilities.  As well, she works by herself and she knows the reach of her library would be wider if she had an assistant.  Circulation, which was through the roof, is almost nonexistent this year.  Checking out books, collecting books, etc. are difficult. 

In closing, Mrs. Peters shared that she knows collaboration and curating are foundational to her school library program. She has realized through Covid that she misses her library and she is working to learn what works best for her students and colleagues in this new library world she is navigating.

 

References:

American Association of School Librarians. (2018). National School Library Standards for Learners, School Librarians, and School Libraries. American Library Association.

Peters, H (2020, November). [Personal interview].