The School Library Media Specialist: Overview

John M. McDonald, recent graduate of the master in library science (MLS) program at IUPUI, was honored at the 2005 national conference of the American Library Association (ALA) as "New School Library Media Specialist of the Year." John received the "Frances Henne Award," named for a leading figure in school media education from Columbia University. He was also selected as the new school librarian of the year in Indiana.

After several years of teaching in the elementary classroom, John became the school media specialist at Connersville, IN Middle School in 2003. He will serve as President-Elect of the Association for Indiana Media Educators (AIME) in 2006.

Among his accomplishments, John has been successful in leading his school to adopt a school-wide approach to information inquiry, developing a student media cadre group, staff development activities, ongoing development of a center website, and collaborative teaching efforts.

Connersville Middle School Library Media Center http://fayette.k12.in.us/cmslmc/

A couple of John’s projects can be found at:

Birdwatching Mediagraphy (L552, 2004) http://www.fayette.k12.in.us/%7Emcdonald/l552project1/bwintro.html

Creating A Panomoramic Image (L552, 2004) http://fayette.k12.in.us/%7Emcdonald/l552project2/index.htm
The goal of this project was to create a usable 360 degree panoramic image of the media center. The website details the process and results.

Professionals: John McDonald