Planning to meet with the Principal

7th March, 2006
I have asked my principal for a meeting this week to discuss some issues that concern me and also to get feedback from him about how he thinks things are going in the library. I have made sure all my planning is up to date and intend to leave it with him for the week as it is also contains a collection of ideas for the future.

Some issues I would like to raise with him are:

• Allowing me to attend local teacher-librarian network meetings. These occur 6 times per year and for many years I was the coordinator of this group and also set up the listserve. These occur partly in school time and partly outside school hours. I am considering rolling all my NCT into this, as 15 minutes on a weekly basis is not a useful time for me to use effectively.


• I would also like to attend the ICT meetings held in our region. These are after school. Both of these meetings however occur on our staff meeting day, so that could be part of a stumbling block.


• I am having issues with a couple of teachers leaving me to their classes while they do other tasks. I know teachers are busy and I would not mind if it occurred once or twice, but it is happening on a weekly basis. My role is not to provide NCT relief.


• I need access to teachers planning as many of the lessons I am doing are almost off the cuff and I don’t know what is happening with the class until I arrive on the day to teach them. That is not good use of my time nor a useful lesson for the students. Part of the problem is that I am not on site every day and have to pick up on the day that I arrive.


• Budget – I do not understand how the Key Learning Areas are funded. It appears that each coordinator can purchase to the full extent of their budget without consulting with the library staff time to process the resources, and without allocating funds for plastic and other processing materials.


• I think our library is in a prime position to take advantage of Innovation Grants from our Education Provider. Our physical size and collection age and size do no cater well for our school or community needs. If we were to have a virtual presence by using more online, digital materials we could cater for both in a more meaningful way. Our OPAC could go online and a website with links for home and school use would be useful, making the library more accessible even on the days when I am not on site. There is a possibility to explore some open source digital content as well. It is certainly something to consider and with support could be done. But we do need a curriculum server to begin this journey.

So I hope this is a successful meeting with positive outcomes.