School Librarian, Waltham High School, Waltham, MA

Posted November 14, 2016

QUALIFICATIONS:

A highly qualified candidate will be state certified as a school librarian, have completed a teacher preparation program/educational degree, and hold a master’s degree from a program accredited by the American Library Association or from a master’s level program in library and information studies.

REPORTS TO: School library supervisor/department head [in a large building] and building principal

SUPERVISES: Paraprofessional(s) who comprise the school library staff, and, if applicable, volunteers, student assistants

JOB GOALS:

• To ensure that students and staff are effective users of ideas and information
• To empower students to be critical thinkers, enthusiastic readers, skillful researchers, ethical users of information
• To instill a love of learning in all students and ensure equitable access to information
• To collaborate with classroom teachers to design and implement units of instruction, assess student learning
• To align the School Library Program (SLP) with the mission, goals, and objectives of the school/ school district

TERMS OF EMPLOYMENT: Teacher work year as specified by the WEA contract

EVALUATION: Performance of this job will be evaluated in accordance with district policies.

ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

TEACHER:

• Collaborates with classroom teachers as a partner in the instructional process
• Collaborates to design, teach, and assess learning experiences that incorporate inquiry learning, information literacies in their formats, critical thinking and self-assessment
• Provides and plans professional development
• Promotes a love of reading and lifelong learning through implementation of One School One Story and other library programs and initiatives
• Promotes and works with Digital Learning Teacher to enable integration of instructional technology to improve learning
• Teaches students to build on prior knowledge to construct new knowledge

LEADER:

• Serves on decision making teams, school improvement and accreditation activities; presents work at curriculum and professional development meetings
• Benchmarks the library program and collaborative lessons to school, state, and national standards
• Stays current in professional practices, educational research; maintains active professional memberships
• Advocates for library program through effective public relations and updating of the school library website
• Collects and analyzes data to improve instruction; demonstrates correlations between the SLP and student achievement
• Administers the SLP budget to support program goals
• Participates in the recruiting, hiring, training and supervising of library staff and volunteers; evaluates support staff

SCHOOL LIBRARIAN:

• Fosters a creative, flexible environment so that the school library is an essential part of the learning community
• Develops and maintains resources appropriate to the curriculum, the learners, and instructional strategies of the school community
• Cooperates and networks with other libraries/agencies
• Establishes procedures for selection, acquisition, circulation, resource sharing of resources in all formats
• Evaluates, promotes and uses existing and emerging technologies to support teaching and learning
• Promotes the ethical use of information: copyright, fair use, and licensing of intellectual property. Teaches and models ethical use of information for teachers and students.