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           My view of the School Library Media Program (SLMP) as shown in my conceptual map is one of interconnectivity between the five roles of the media specialist, the use of physical resources, and the use of digital resources. The school librarian must inhabit all five of the roles, one cannot be fulfilled without the other four. That is why there are arrows pointing from the media specialist in the middle to all five roles, and why the roles all have lines between them showing how they work together. The use of books and computer monitors as the background for the roles shows how both physical and digital resources are essential to the school librarian’s job.

            As a teacher and instructional partner, the media specialist’s job is mainly to ensure that all students’ needs are being met in regard to learning standards, both the Common Core States Standards and the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) standards framework for learners. In order to do this the media specialist must work closely with classroom teachers to ensure that students are supported in their learning environments. The media specialist must also have a collection of curated resources to support these lessons, both physical and digital.

            As an information specialist the media specialist must seek out the gaps in staff and student understanding regarding information literacy and aim to fill those gaps. For students that may be done through information literacy and digital citizenship lessons in the media center, for the staff that may look like a professional development session targeted to meet the specific needs of the staff. I view this role as most closely tied to the role of leader due to this connection.

            As a leader, the media specialist’s job is to advocate for the needs of staff and students. Again, this can be done through lessons and professional development designed to meet those needs, but also goes beyond those responsibilities. The media specialist should serve as an integral part of the school leadership team and the wider learning community in order to be a leader for all stakeholders. Reaching beyond the staff and students, the media specialist should also advocate for the informational needs of families and meet those needs in various ways.

            As a program administrator, the media specialist must curate a collection of engaging, accurate, and accessible resources to be used by the learning community. This collection should include both digital and physical resources that stakeholders can access from school or home as reasonable. In order to keep the collection engaging and accurate, the media specialist must carefully evaluate materials being ordered as well as regularly analyze the collection for materials to be weeded or removed. These resources are essential for staff, students, and families, so the upkeep and analysis of the resources is important to the running of a SLMP.

            Through my course work in this program, I have had a chance to practice all five of the roles of a media specialist numerous times. I have designed and taught multiple library media lessons for the role of teacher. I have also designed multiple lessons designed to be co-taught between a classroom teacher and the media specialist and implemented one such lesson in the role of instructional partner. I have learned the many facets of information literacy and digital citizenship, as well as becoming familiar with multiple information databases as an information specialist. Using that knowledge and the needs of the staff I have created numerous professional development modules to meet the needs of staff and students as a leader. And lastly as a program administrator I learned to evaluate materials, weed (or remove) those materials that are no longer useful, and order new materials as needed. This program has given me many opportunities to serve in the five roles of a library media specialist.