Media Center

What is the purpose of our department?
The mission of the American Fork High School Library Media Center is to ensure students and staff members are effective users of ideas and information and to promote activities that encourage lifelong reading and learning skills.

This establishes measurable targets that make a difference in student achievement.
To accomplish our mission statement, the AFHS Library Media Center continuously strives:
• To provide intellectual and physical access to materials in a variety of formats for educational purposes.
• To work with educators in the selection, organization, and distribution of materials to meet the needs of the curriculum and the individual learner.
• To provide instruction in library procedures and information literacy skills (“The Big 6”).
• To provide reference and bibliographic services.
• To provide guidance in reading, reference, listening, and viewing for all students.
• To stimulate interest in reading, viewing, and using information and ideas.

How must we behave to support our mission and vision? In order to support our mission and vision we value:
• Integrity
• Honesty
• Ideas
• Responsibility
• Respect
• Confidentiality
• Increasing knowledge
• Students right to read
• Selection of materials but not censorship
• Literacy skills
• Appropriate behavior

What are our fundamental beliefs?
• We believe every student should have equal access to the library and its materials.
• We believe that every student should leave high school possessing lifelong reading and learning skills.
• We believe every student should be taught information literacy (“The Big 6”).
• We believe that the library is the heart of the school and helps to stimulate interest in reading, viewing, and using information and ideas.

Focusing our MVVB on the Four Questions
Question 1 – What do we expect our students to learn?
We expect our students to know the state standards and objectives found in the Media Core (The Big 6).

Question 2-How do we know what they have learned?
• Observations of students accessing information throughout the library to evaluate literacy
• Informal queries to judge the level of literacy
• Information Literacy Rubric
• Information Literacy Quiz on UTIPS
Question 3-How will we respond to students who aren’t learning?
• Purchase and promote new materials on weak academic areas as indicated by test data.
• Increase student/parent awareness of new book and audiobook arrivals.
• Create Library Media Center wiki and blog.
• Communicate with the school community about important issues and upcoming events.
• Focus on buying books and A.V. materials that will help struggling students help themselves before they fail.

Question 4-How do we respond to students who have already learned the material?
• Plan author visits and allow students to pursue authentic writing beyond classroom assignments.
• We are in the process of creating a Book Club to encourage high-achieving students to pursue literacy beyond what is required in the language arts curriculum.