OVERVIEW OF MEDIA CENTER: AWES

The school has one media specialist and one media clerk. The media specialist has been at the school for two years while the clerk has been there for twenty. The media center houses five computers for student use, an on-line card catalog (not available for student use), wireless internet access, five projector carts, and a screen to be used for meetings. Its collection includes 12,294 books, 938 videotapes (VHS), and 27 DVDs. It also contains audio/visual equipment to produce the morning news which is broadcast daily in lieu of regular announcements. The media center is responsible for the check-out of the class set of laptops (not housed in the mc).

After entering the school through the front door, the media center is located on the left across from the office. Students enter through a double door. There are no windows looking into the mc from the hallways. The mc does have its own outside door opening onto the sidewalk, and two double windows allowing sunlight in. The majority of the light is flourescent. In addition to the main space of the mc, it contains: a small production room; a very small office for the ms; a workroom used for storage and breakroom; the community liason's office; and a storage closet.

The media center is open for check-out from 8:30-2:45. It operates on a flexible schedule. Teachers must sign up a week in advance if they want to bring their classes for instruction or check-out. They may not sign up for the same time/day each week. The media center is closed during lunch for thirty minutes.

Fines are not charged for overdue books, but students are charged if they damage or lose a book. There is significant difficulty collecting funds from students.

The media center is too small for the school. It was discussed at one time that it be enlarged, but the county opted instead to add more classrooms and a lunchroom. It is hoped that at some point the county will be able to enlarge revisit the idea of enlargement.