Wellsley Kate Melvin

FRIT 7739

Narrative of Interviews

Dr. Downs
 Interviewing each media specialist was very insightful. Each of my field supervisors may

have had the same title but they each had marked differences. Throughout this process I learned

that not only does each school have varying expectations for media specialists, but the different

grade levels also pose unique challenges from the students and teachers. When interviewing Mrs.

Miller spoke of running makerspace connections this daily connection class is vastly different

from the typical day in Dr. Carter and Mr. Bullard’s libraries.

Dr. Carter explained that most of her day consisted of assisting with the distribution of

technology and facilitating the library interactions. Dr. Carter spoke to the challenges she faces

with student engagement in the library and how it is harder to get middle school students to read

AR books as they are reading other forms of books, articles, and social media.

Mr. Bullard agreed with Dr. Carter in his interview as he stated it is exceptionally harder

to engage high schoolers in checking out library books. He stated that his typical daily activities

are more technology based with the distribution of chromebooks and checking out textbooks. He

explained that in his role he really works with teachers to assist them with technology integration

rather than checking out books to students.

Regardless of the grade level, school, or field supervisor there were three key elements all

librarians agreed on. They all stated that the best part of their jobs were the students. In the end,

aren’t we all here for the students? In addition to similar missions all three stated that each day

the duties and responsibilities differed. In order to successfully run a library media specialist

must be well versed in technology, literature, and be flexible to balance the different roles and

responsibilities required to execute daily.

FIeld SupervIsor: Sarah MIller IntervIew

https://youtu.be/Eyg0wH74_FY
Me: You ready?

Sarah: *gIggles*

Me:So what Is your tItle?

Sarah: My MedIa SpecIalIst

Me: And you’ve been doIng It for just thIs year?

Sarah: Just thIs year, yep brand new

Me: Do you lIke It?

Sarah: I do

Me: What type of degree Is requIred for your posItIon?

Sarah: So technIcally you need a certIfIcatIon In school lIbrary medIa, so typIcally you would get
your degree In school lIbrary medIa. If you don’t lIke, I have got mIne In InstructIonal
Technology. I have to take the non degree certIfIcate program In school lIbrary medIa before I
can move forward wIth anythIng.

Me: Are you already In that program?

Sarah: No I am startIng thIs summer.

Me: I gotcha, what are your job responsIbIlItIes?

Sarah: Umm, they are kInd of all over the place, so sImply speakIng runnIng and managIng the
medIa center, whIch Includes books Inventory, thIngs lIke that, orderIng new books workIng
through all of those, and also technology for the school so I do all of the Ink Inventory, so If the
prInter Is out of Ink I’m responsIble for havIng all those ordered on any technology Issues I work
wIth the IT department, and we handle some of those Issues together so those are some kInd of
In sImple terms what I’m responsIble for.

Me:How are you meetIng the needs of faculty and staff durIng the transItIon to remote
learnIng thIs semester?

Sarah:Um thIs one Is trIcky, as you guys know have been doIng Google classroom so I have
been pretty hands off sInce the begInnIng of the school year we I had to provIde support for that
wIth the teachers our dIstrIct had a plan and I was helpIng to Implement and support the
teachers along the way and we have some upcomIng Google traInIng that our teachers wIll be
goIng through so I’ll be leadIng and supportIng that as well

Me: and are the vIrtual teachers stIll meetIng In the lIbrary wIth you?

Sarah: They don’t, they dId just for a couple of months In the very begInnIng

Me:How are you meetIng the remote learnIng needs of students and parents?

Sarah: umm personally I was really Involved In the begInnIng and I dId all the vIrtual
remote learnIng open houses and dId a lot of phone calls support tech-support basIcally
for them In the very begInnIng and for the teachers so students or parents would call
wIth some Issues and I would walk hIm through It over the phone and I thInk that has
contInued but It’s lessened wIth wIth our school especIally.

Me:What are typIcal daIly actIvItIes for your job?

Sarah:Well of course It depends on the day. We’ve recently started maker space back
In medIa center so on a typIcal day In the mornIng we’re managIng the medIa center
and then I have sIx classes of maker space each 30 mInutes apIece and from 9:45 to
1:15 we’re doIng maker space and between 1:15 and 2:00 Is our busIest tIme In the
medIa center so then after maker space leave leaves on answerIng 10 mIllIon
questIons about searchIng for books do you have thIs book I don’t remember It was a
red cover you know there’s ever a questIon that we get an answerIng all those
questIons and then I do car rIder duty just lIke everybody else that’s In the meantIme
then there are days lIke today where I had to put together the chrome book dIstrIbutIon
for the entIre school testIng for tomorrow so I worked on that In between In between all
these other thIngs so It just really depends on the day some days I’m workIng on
technology stuff some days and a lot of plannIng happens.

Me:Do you have a budget that you control? How do you make decIsIons on selectIng
resources?

Sarah:So our medIa center has two budgets we get a cut from InstructIonal funds and
we also have our medIa lIbrary funds that we raIse money for. I am more In charge of
the medIa lIbrary funds than I am the cut of InstructIonal funds. The InstructIonal funds
have to go through a lot of processes to get lIke If I wanna order a book through them I
have to go through multIple people before I can get approval and It typIcally takes a
long tIme versus the other one It’s just I submIt an order and It comes so I’m technIcally
In charge of two but they’re all goIng to the same place.
Me:Have you had an opportunIty to Impact technology ImplementatIon throughout your
school? I thInk I know the answer to that as you are our go to tech person but

Sarah:Yes and at my former posItIon I feel lIke I dId there’s a lot more frequently but
that was my maIn responsIbIlIty In that former posItIon thIs year we’ve we Impacted
technology ImplementatIon through just some of the traInIngs especIally In the
begInnIng of the year wIth the the remote learnIng lIke the Google classroom to CamI
that sort of thIng but I am It really has been mInImal I thInk we’re gonna have some
more Google stuff comIng up that I am I’ll Impact that way but not quIte as much as I
am used to.

Me: Do we have a technology commIttee?

Sarah: No

Me: I dIdn’t thInk so.

Me:How are technology decIsIons made?

Sarah: TypIcally through the leadershIp team and ultImately admIn and hIgher up make
those decIsIons

Me: okay, What Is the best part of your job?

Sarah: The kIds of course wIth my other posItIon as technology specIalIst I dIdn’t get to
work wIth the kIds really at all anymore so I’m so thankful to be as medIa specIalIst I get
to work wIth the kIds and that’s all of them In the whole buIldIng so that Is absolutely the
best part of the job.

Me: What do you thInk Is the most challengIng part of your job?

Sarah: The most challengIng part Is just keepIng up wIth all the movIng pIeces.It’s not
lIke; there’s no set schedule so I can’t ever predIct wanna meet us there was gonna be
busy or slow so It’s not lIke you know I don’t wanna say lIke I need a para all day
because I defInItely don’t there’s lulls and there’s tImes where It’s not super busy and
then there’s other days lIke today where I felt lIke I had all these deadlInes I had to get
thIs done before lunch and I had a maker space classes so It just togglIng your tIme
around just lIke wIth wIth any other job I thInk It’s In a challengIng Is fIndIng the tIme to
get everythIng done and stIll have fun wIth the kIds when you’re there.
Me: Well we are glad you are at our school. You are defInItely a blessIng to have, so we
are glad you are back wIth us

Sarah: I had some bIg shoes to fIll for sure.

Me: No doubt, but you are fIllIng them well.

Sarah: Thanks.

Me: Thank you for lettIng me do the IntervIew and I wIll be talkIng wIth you soon about
the PL development and all of that.

Sarah: Ok sounds good.

Me: Thank you, Talk to you soon.

Field Supervisor #2
Dr. Karla Carter

Me: I can hear you I thInk I can hear you.

Dr. Carter: Ok, the chromebook was too low for Max so hopefully the headset wIll be
better.

Me: I can hear you good enough. It should be fIne. Thank you for doIng thIs though for
real owe you big time!

Dr. Carter: You're welcome

Me: First question is; What is your title?

Dr. Carter: My title is media specialist at Brantley County MIddle School.

Me: Okay, how long have you been doing that?

Dr. Carter: I've been here at the middle school for about eight years prior to that I
started my career as a high school history teacher and then I moved to the position of
technology coordinator for the district and then into the media center.

Me: What type of degree is required for your position?

Dr. Carter: I have a master's degree in InstructIonal Technology with the media library
media track.

Me: Okay, what are your job responsibilities?

Dr. Carter: Oh I have quite a few as most people do in education.

Me: Right.

Dr. Carter: Obviously I oversee our library collection, I handle technology requests
from the teachers I try to fix as much as I can on my own but if not I do have a
technology help desk that I've put those requests on that our technology specialist
takes care of, I maintain our school website, I do help with these school social media
accounts. In addition to that of course I have a media center budget that I'm
responsIble for, and I have an afternoon class during our ELT time that I help monitor.

Me: Okay, that's a lot.

Me: How are you meeting the needs of faculty and staff during the transitIon to
remote learnIng thIs year.

Dr. Carter: Well I can really say it was more of last year some things this year, but
when we left school in march and did not return to school we had to quickly gather
resources that we could provIde to the students and the parents and I got some
informatIon of course from what the state was sending out as well as suggestIons
from our teachers of what types of things to include on our school website page for
tutorials, resources for parents and students, and then also we sent out some of that
information on social media.

Me: Okay, the next questIon well it's kind of the same, but are you all still doing the
distance learning so where some are virtual.

Dr. Carter: Well we have a very small percentage just probably a handful of seventh
graders the same for eighth grade students, and they work through their Google
Classroom with their teachers, and any additional resources they could find on our
school website page.

Me: What are your typical daIly activities for your job?

Dr. Carter: Well no two days are ever alike. Generally, I start my mornIng by getting
our nine chromebook carts checked out for the day they're checked out every single
day some days teachers keep the same one other days they're switched out so really
from the time I get here until about eight o'clock I'm doing those things getting the
carts ready for the day as well as you know having our students come in and begin
checking out books after eight it's pretty much whatever happens of course I'm with
the students all day monitoring the library, I have students come in to take tests I have
students come in to make assignments use the computers use chromebooks I just try
to help out any way I can no two days are like.

Me: Do you have a budget that you control and how do you make decisions on selecting
resources for your stakeholders.
Dr. Carter: Yes I do have a budget my princIpal is very… What's the word I'm looking
for charitable?! He gives me a good amount of money to spend on books. I do take the
suggestions of teachers faculty members students they give me ideas for books they
would like to see in the media center I also look at reviews on several different websites
before I order anything and I really try to of course use that money very frugally and only
get things that are needed and high interest for our students.

Me:I gotcha, have you had the opportunity to impact technology implementation
throughout your school?

Dr. Carter: Yes, currently I am the facilitator for our Google One and Google Two
classes for teachers (excuse me), the the class itself was created by RESA, but at the
school level I'm the administrator so, if they have any questions or need any help I'm the
person that will deliver that instructIon to them.

Me: Okay, we're doing the same thing here, so does your school have a technology
committee?

Dr. Carter: We do not have one that's actually titled a technology committee, but we
do have our school leadership team which oversees all of those type decisions. I see
the school leadership team as really a team of various committees. You know it's our
technology committee, It's our library media committee, our leadership team serves a
lot of roles.

Me: How are technology decisions made?

Dr. Carter: The technology decisions made at the school level would be coming from
our school leadership team, and we'll discuss it at that level if it's something that our
principal and our administration approves of they'll then take it to the admin team
meetings at the board of education, and from that point if the superintendent approves it
then it's presented to the board of education.

Me: Okay, what do you find to be the most challenging part of your job?

Dr. Carter: The most challenging part is probably getting middle school students
interested in reading.

Me: I can imagIne that's diffIcult.

Dr. Carter:There is such a decline and of course there's plenty of research to back it up,
but from middle (excuse me) elementary to middle school we just see a decline of
students reading and I think they're still reading, but not necessarIly library books. More
of what they're doing online and for example my son who's a little bit older than middle
school, but especially when he got to middle school I never saw him in the library and
I'm his mom. He did a lot of his reading on the phone in regards to live articles that he
would you know look up something that interested him and he'd read that, so they're still
reading it's just not here in the library necessarIly.So, my biggest challenges is getting
them in here and reading for enjoyment.

Me: Well that that kind of sums up all my questions thank you so much for taking time to
let me interview you.

Dr. Carter: Sure anytime.

Me: oh thanks I'll talk with you later!

Field Supervisor #3
Mr. Frank Bullard III

Me: What is your title?

Mr. Bullard: I am the media specialist here at Brantley County High School

Me: What type of degree is required for your position?

Mr. Bullard: You have to have a degree in library information science.

Me: Where did you get your degree?

Mr. Bullard: Valdosta State University. I got my Master’s and then my specialist. I’m working on
my dissertation for my doctorate.

Me: Cool! What are your job responsibilities?

Mr. Bullard: i have a lot of responsibilities that range from checking out books, to assisting with
technology to, troubleshooting technology, to managing students as they come in making sure they've got
a computer log in, and making sure that the tech guys can assign them school email address so they can
access things that we use, and all all things like that.

Me: How are you meeting the needs of faculty and staff during the transition to remote learning?

Mr. Bullard: when we first went last March we one of the things I did was found resources for everybody,
and I created a document that had a couple of hundred a couple hundred resources and since then it's
more been just supporting in whatever way they need just trying to find if there's something in particular
they want to use finding ebooks or finding things like that just online resources they can use with their
Google Classroom information.

Me: That’s very helpful. I know we appreciate those resources.What are your typical daily activities?

Mr. Bullard: A day, a typical day is hard to describe. Even many of those runs a gamut from checking out
books, and making sure students have what they need whether it’s textbooks, which we check out through
the library at our school and some classes don’t have assigned textbooks they use a class set, but if a
student wants them they have to come get the textbook from us, helping teachers with minor technology
issues, and just kind of in my spare time working on making sure the catalog’s up to date and making sure
that we’ve got the resources I need and I’m ordering materials that we need.

Me: That’s a lot. Do you have a budget that you control?

Mr. Bullard: I do. They gave me a set amount. It was cut a little this year, but I do have a set amount, but
from my budget I also have to pay for the copy machines. Which is a big part of my job, because we’ve got
two in the library so I’m responsible for them plus we have one in the teachers lounge and so if there are
any issues with that it’s something else I have to take care of.
Me: How do you make decisions on selecting resources?

Mr. Bullard: We do have a committee, but primarily i get i find out what teachers need and then i talk to the
principal we go from there I do have a committee that can meet, and decide okay so we want to do this,
but it's mainly whatever sources the teachers need and the principal feels like we need and those are the
things that I work that I work to make sure we get.

Me: Have you had an opportunity to impact technology implementation throughout your school?

Mr. Bullard: Yes, when we first started with getting chromebooks i did a lot of research on what would be
the best thing to use uh whether it would be ipads or whether it would be chromebooks , and everything I
read said that chromebooks were better for high school students so I did all sorts of research and then
came back and presented that to the administrators and to the teachers, and everybody agreed that we
wanted to go with chromebooks instead and now we've got about uh 600 and 700 in the school that's a
lot and we still don't have enough for everybody, but we're getting there.

Me: Does your school have a technology committee? I know you kind of already said y’all do. Who’s
typically a part of that committee?

Mr. Bullard: The tech guy, me, and the administration are the primary ones, but if anybody recommends
anything then all of us can discuss it including the person that recommends it so it’s the committee. The
official committee I guess you can say is the tech guy, me, and the administrators, they're the ones that
determine the specific needs, but also input from anybody that has any type of input to give on what we
are doing, but largely by teacher request.

Me: What’s the best part of your job?

Mr. Bullard: There are a lot of things I love about my job. I really like working with the kids, I like organizing
things, I like trying to stay on top of everything going on. I enjoy that most of the time, but my least
favorite part of the job is budgeting anything to do with budgeting, I don’t like that part.

Me: What do you find to be the most challenging part of your job?

Mr. Bullard: budgeting and training in general and trying to keep up with everything. Yeah it’s a challenge
for me.

Me: Well thank you for taking time to let me interview you. I really really appreciate it.

Mr. Bullard: No problem!