OSAT Library-Media Specialist cheat sheet

A school library program is defined by four roles in AASL's National School Library Standards framework: learner, school librarian, school library, and school community; each role carries its own competencies.

The library media specialist's schedule must serve both fixed classes and flexible access; AASL's position is that flexibly scheduled access for individuals and small groups is essential to inquiry, while fixed scheduling alone limits collaboration.

Budget lines typically separate print materials, digital resources, supplies/equipment, and professional development; per-pupil library funding formulas vary by state, so cite the district allocation formula rather than a national average.

Weeding follows the CREW/MUSTIE criteria: Misleading, Ugly, Superseded, Trivial, Irrelevant, Elsewhere. Apply them to maintain currency and shelf space.

A collection development policy should include selection criteria, reconsideration procedures, gifts policy, challenged materials process, and weeding guidelines; board approval is required in most districts.

Program advocacy uses circulation data, collaborative lesson counts, and student achievement correlations; AASL's empirical work links flexible scheduling and staffing levels to student test performance.

Annual reporting often requires state library reports (e.g., number of volumes, circulation, visits, staffing FTE) and alignment to school improvement plans.

Professional standards: AASL Standards for the 21st-Century Learner (2007) and the National School Library Standards (2018) provide the Shared Foundations: Inquire, Include, Collaborate, Curate, Explore, Engage.

Copyright and fair use apply to the library's own copying and to teacher requests; library media specialists model ethical use and maintain records of permissions.

Selection criteria commonly include accuracy, currency, authority, appropriateness, literary merit, curriculum relevance, and diversity of perspective; document criteria in the collection policy.

Reconsideration of challenged materials: follow the district's formal request form, review committee, and board policy; do not remove materials preemptively before the process concludes.

Weeding rate benchmarks vary; a common guideline is removing roughly 5-10% of the collection annually to maintain currency and space.

Balance formats: print, ebooks, audiobooks, databases, and open educational resources; consider accessibility (screen readers, captions) and licensing terms for digital content.

Database licensing considerations include simultaneous access, remote authentication (proxy or SSO), usage statistics (COUNTER reports), and renewal costs.

Diversity audits examine representation by author identity, character identity, and topic; tools include diversity audits of the collection against school demographics and published bibliographies.

Intellectual freedom: ALA Library Bill of Rights and the Freedom to Read Statement; minors' access rights are governed by district policy and state law.

Gifts and donations should be evaluated against the same selection criteria; document acceptance and disposition rules.

Collection mapping aligns holdings to curriculum areas; identify gaps between what is taught and what is owned.

Inquiry models commonly taught: Big6 (Task Definition, Information Seeking Strategies, Location and Access, Use of Information, Synthesis, Evaluation), Guided Inquiry Design (Open, Immerse, Explore, Identify, Gather, Create, Share, Evaluate), and the Stripling Model of Inquiry (Connect, Wonder, Investigate, Construct, Express, Reflect).

AASL Shared Foundation 'Inquire' emphasizes formulating questions, evaluating sources, and drawing conclusions; align lessons to grade-band indicators.

The research process: formulate a question, locate sources, evaluate credibility (authority, accuracy, objectivity, currency, coverage), synthesize, cite, and reflect.

Source evaluation frameworks: CRAAP (Currency, Relevance, Authority, Accuracy, Purpose) and lateral reading; teach students to verify claims across independent sources.

Citation instruction: MLA is standard in English language arts; APA in sciences; teach consistent citation format and academic honesty.

Collaboration between library media specialist and classroom teacher is a hallmark of effective inquiry; co-planning and co-teaching increase student engagement and information literacy outcomes.

Formative assessment of inquiry includes research logs, annotated bibliographies, process reflections, and conferencing.

Media literacy includes identifying bias, evaluating advertising, and recognizing misinformation and disinformation; integrate news literacy into inquiry units.

Inquiry-based learning aligns with state standards and the Common Core's research and literacy standards across content areas.

Copyright: fair use factors are purpose, nature, amount, and effect on market; educational use is not automatically fair use.

TEACH Act applies to distance education; it permits certain performances and displays of copyrighted works in online instruction under conditions.

Digital Citizenship framework (ISTE) includes internet safety, privacy, cyberbullying, digital footprint, and copyright/creative credit.

Creative Commons licenses grant permissions: CC BY (attribution), CC BY-SA (share-alike), CC BY-ND (no derivatives), CC BY-NC (noncommercial); CC0 is public domain dedication.

FERPA protects student education records; COPPA restricts collection of personal information from children under 13 online; CIPA requires filtering and internet safety policies for E-rate funding.

Acceptable Use Policies (AUPs) govern student and staff technology use; teach students to read and follow the AUP.

Accessibility: WCAG 2.1 guidelines (Perceivable, Operable, Understandable, Robust) apply to digital resources; Section 508 and ADA require accessible materials.

Digital tools for integration include learning management systems, curation tools, and interactive presentation platforms; select tools that align with learning objectives and privacy policies.

Plagiarism and academic integrity: teach paraphrasing, quoting, and citation; use plagiarism detection tools as teaching aids, not punitive measures.