Building and sustaining customer satisfaction
ReflectionOperating a media center is similar to running a business. Our success and future depends upon customer satisfaction, whether those customers are students, staff, parents or administrators. They must have access to what they need. To meet this goal, media specialists must be well-organized and have clear policies and procedures, which provide not only insight into an organization’s structure but also its purpose or philosophy.
When I saw that we were required to create a collaborative policies and procedures wiki in my organization and access course, I was honestly worried about being bored. I prefer designing lessons and developing creative promotional activities. I enjoy trying to solve research problems or support a teacher’s use of technology. But putting together policies and procedures? Ugh. By the end of the course, however, I learned that policies and procedures are not just steps or rules. They represent how we do business in the media center, offering insight into our philosophy and beliefs. They safeguard the rights of users so that everyone has equal access to the media center’s space and materials. They also provide all stakeholders with a clear understanding of how decisions are made. This ensures that each user is treated in the same consistent, respectful manner. I went from knowing very little about running a media center to creating a valuable resource that will help me smoothly manage one. One of the most challenging components of this project was examining the various policies found in different Maryland counties, along with the Maryland Department of Education recommendations. The enormous amount of information regarding policies and procedures clearly demonstrated how important these were in guiding the operation of the media center. From job descriptions for media center assistants to handling ethical issues, I began to understand the many, “behind-the-scenes” responsibilities of media specialists. They spaces, people, budgets and resources. Another valuable aspect of this project was working with fellow students through technology. The four of us met one time face-to-face to delegate tasks, but everything else was completed and organized through the wiki workspace. This served as a great model of how collaboration can occur without participants being in the same place at the same time. It also forced me to reflect on my group work skills. I am used to taking the reins and getting the horse running, but I needed to slow down and ensure we all had equal leadership opportunities. One of the benefits of working through technology was that I had built-in wait time, which allowed me to be more thoughtful and open-minded. While some people view policies and procedures as rules and restrictions, media specialists use them to make the library open and accessible to all. Policies and procedures remind everyone that the ultimate purpose of the media center is customer satisfaction. |
5.3 Personnel, funding and facilitiesCandidates develop, implement and evaluate policies and procedures that support teaching and learning in school libraries.
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