New district library media specialist outlines plan emphasizing media literacy, collection review and community engagement

Jamie (library media specialist) presented a district libraries report to the RSU 40 School Committee describing short-term goals, collection-management work, professional development and plans to expand media-literacy instruction.

Jamie said she has spent time visiting each school and surveying staff about collaboration and inquiry-based lesson planning. She proposed a short-term focus through the end of the school year on community building among librarians, shared professional development (half-day meetings and a May visit to the Friendship School), and a district collection-management plan. "A consistent message that I've heard from all the librarians is that they really need to meet their libraries," Jamie said, describing a deliberate "weeding" process to retire outdated materials and to redirect purchasing based on circulation data.

Jamie described several concrete steps and tools: tracking collection currency (average publication dates), using the CREW method (a common library weeding standard) to guide de-selection decisions, developing a collection management plan aligned to curriculum, and producing a "state of the library" dataset to inform purchasing. She said many nonfiction areas — for example, medicine, construction and technology — need newer materials and that the district's average copy dates show some collections are two decades old in places.

On programming and partnerships, Jamie said the district is pursuing a media-literacy and film/production offering at the high school in partnership with Lincoln County Television (LCTV); LCTV will bring equipment and apprenticeship opportunities for students. She mentioned existing student apprentices (Sam Schuster and Quinn Natale) who are already working with LCTV. Jamie also described plans to pilot a spring semester library course, to increase elementary and middle-school library programming, and to focus time at larger elementary sites (for example, Miller) that lack weekly library programming.

Jamie addressed selection and book-challenge concerns in the meeting. She said the district follows selection criteria and professional review sources; when asked about "personally review" language in district policy, Jamie said it would be impractical for one person to personally review every title and that libraries typically rely on professional reviews and established selection criteria. She noted the district has procedures to flag titles for individual parental preferences and that selection criteria include curriculum alignment and diverse viewpoints.

Digital services and engagement: Jamie described Sora (the district's ebooks and audiobooks platform) as in use at the middle and high school levels and said the district is evaluating additional ebook/audio purchases for broader access. She also discussed reading-engagement tools such as Beanstack (a reading-challenge platform) as options for district reading challenges, and mentioned the district's interest in apps and programs that allow class, school and district reading challenges or book-of-the-month efforts.

Why it matters: Jamie framed libraries as vital to information and media literacy in an era of algorithmic search and misinformation, emphasizing that librarians teach students how to vet sources and make meaning from information. The plan would change how librarians coordinate across schools, how collections are updated, and how library instruction supports curriculum and digital-literacy instruction.

Next steps and outstanding items: Jamie said she will continue to collect data on circulation and collection dates, refine the collection-management plan, pilot programming and return with a multi-year plan (3–5 years) and budget requests for additional staff if needed. She said she will also continue to recommend purchases for Sora and explore pilot courses and district reading challenges.

Ending: Committee members praised Jamie's early work and energy, described the hire as a positive change, and asked staff to return with data and cost estimates if the district were to seek additional library personnel or expanded digital licenses.