Mission

Our Mission:
The Murray Hill Middle School Library Media Center supports learning by providing a safe and rigorous environment in which everyone is challenged to become future ready problem solvers, makers, creative thinkers, and lifelong readers. We also put a great value on honor, civility, and kindness.  We strive to model our school’s shared core values:  responsible, respectful, reliable, and ready.

Our Shared Goals:

We strive to ensure that our students leave our school as competent, critical, and ethical users and producers of ideas and information and make positive contributions to our world.

We want to empower literate and transliterate citizens who are able to determine their information needs and who can recognize and verify relevant and credible information.

We want to nurture creative constructivist thinkers who can solve problems and effectively communicate results of their inquiry and research, and share their stories.

We understand the importance of sharing with audiences beyond our school walls and the benefit of creating a positive digital footprint.

Instruction, formal and informal, provides students with a process transferable across subject areas and from academic to real life. The bulk of the learning is “laboratory style” with students involved in guided, inquiry-driven research using resources in all formats: traditional, new, and emerging.*

 

Our Staff:

Our Libary Staff:  Gwyneth A. Jones – aka The Daring Librarian  Teacher-Librarian & Technology Specialist. 25+ years teaching in Howard County &  was part of the opening team in 1997 of Murray Hill Middle School. Also known as, The Daring Librarian, Ms Jones is a blogger, a Tweeter, an International Ed Tech keynote speaker, trope and meme archivist, creator of content, a citizen of advocacy, and a resident of social media. Gwyneth is a Google Certified Innovator, a PBS/MPT American Graduate Champion, named one of 15 Librarians to follow on Instagram by Scholastic, and the author of the award winning The Daring Librarian blog.

In recognition of being a change agent in her field, Ms. Jones was named an Innovator and a Mover & Shaker by Library Journal Magazine, a Gale/Cengage New Leader, and the Best of the Best and a Visionary Leader by Teacher Librarian Magazine. She was honored to have been elected twice to the ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education) Board of Directors globally representing  all PK-12 educators, classroom teachers, and school librarians. Her work & writings have been featured in the New York Times, NEA Today Magazine, Information Today Magazine, The Washington Post, and the Huffington Post. Admittedly, she’s also a goofball, a geek, and ridiculously humble.

Kathi_Avatar15Ms. Kathi Bell – Library Media (Now FULL TIME!) Assistant – 10+ years with MHMS & a wonderful asset to our school library. Her heart is made of gold and she has such a patient, loving, and caring spirit which is such an amazing addition to our school library. She’s also very patient. God bless her!

The Murray Hill Library Media Program will:

  • Strive to prepare students to become daring, independent, confident, and lifelong readers and learners.
  • Foster information literacy and transliteracy skills by teaching students to search, locate, select, evaluate, curate, create, verify, and present information.
  • Create an atmosphere that promotes creativity, making, and creation.
  • Prepare students to become ethical users and creators of information in all its forms.
  • Excellence is our standard.
  • “Learning Happens Here” is our motto!

Hours of Operation – 8:00 am – 3:10 pm, Monday-Friday

Students can come to the Library Media Center to exchange & check out books ANY day and ANY time as long as they have teacher permission & a signed agenda book. (The Media center is closed ONLY during academic testing, administrative meetings, & when under zombie attack.) Even when we are testing, Ms. Jones & Ms. Bell come in an hour early to be available to help students and so that our kids can come get the books they need and want.

Check-out Details:

  • Students may check out up to two books for up to three weeks and can renew books at anytime.  However, students may have more books if needed for a special project or assignment – you just need to ask!
  • Students may check out up to two reference books for 3 weeks the same as any other book. But also, don’t forget our awesome electronic databases on CLEVER!
  • Students may check out one audio Playaway digital book or set of CD Audio disks at a time
  • The official HCPSS stance is: Students with overdue books cannot check out new books until their account is reconciled. But at MHMS we will rarely refuse to give a kid a book if they want or they need one. We also don’t charge overdue fees but we really do want to foster responsibility, reliability, and accountability. So, we will charge to replace a book if it’s damaged beyond repair or lost. Off the record though, we’d rather have the books back than the money! So please keep trying to find those lost books for the next kid & community member to enjoy.

MHMS Media Center Procedures:
Because the MHMS Community values the resources provided by our Media Center, the following procedures are expected so that all may use and enjoy the Media Center:

When entering by yourself or in a small group:

  • Check in with either Ms. Jones or Ms. Bell showing your signed agenda book or pass and let us know if you need any help.
  • Ask permission before using a computer for any reason other than the PAC, Canvas, Synergy or GAfE.
  • Directions on how to print your homework from GAfE are posted at every computer station. Please always make sure to spell check first and get rid of any orphan pages! (blank pages at the end of a document)
  • HCPSS RUP says no free Google searching on the Internet at any time in a middle school. However, you may work with Google Apps at any time and print out homework or assignments.

Because we want to help as many people as possible, all people should:

  • Use quiet voices when in the Media Center if students are taking a test or if we’re researching.
  • Louder voices are OK if we’re brainstorming or doing a hands-on activity connected with teaching, creating, & learning- then some boisterous but productive chaos is all good!
  • Maintain safety at all times (no running, tipping on chairs, pushing, etc. unless we’re filming a lip dub, doing a fashion show, or creating a cool project – be careful, no stunt doubles are provided!)
  • Use the materials with care and respect – they’re community property.
  • Treat other students and teachers with civility, care, and respect. No tea no shade! Be kind. This respect is expected both in person and online. If you wouldn’t say something to someone’s face, don’t say it online. Think before you post. Ask yourself before posting: Is it kind? Is it true? Would you want it said to you? What you say online never really goes away, and I will show your posts to your Mama or Grandma if I need to!
  • Observe the MHMS Expectations as you would anywhere in our school.

MHMS kiddos, thank you for your part in making our Library Media Center an information learning commons a place for creativity! We are a 24/7 library providing research database, homework help, & tech help online. We hope to give help, inspiration, and encouragement our kids, parents, and the community.

Cheers & always feel free to contact us!

@GwynethJones – gwyneth_jones(at)@hcpss(dot).org
The Daring Librarian

Follow us on Instagram!

Here is my Daring Librarian Professional Mission Statement:

Librarians: This graphic is Creative Commons Non-Commerical Share-Alike. Feel free to grab it in various sizes from my Flickr gallery. Would love to see what you come up with! Here’s another graphic for what Future Ready cutting edge Teacher Librarians teach and do. In a perfect world. A world with LESS standardized testing, that is! (Not that I’m bitter, mind!)

 

I #mustache you to enjoy these #shelfie pics! @hcpss_mhms #CelebrateHCPSS

A post shared by Gwyneth Jones (@thedaringlibrarian) on

* Shared goals statement adapted & inspired by Dr. Joyce Valenza

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

8 thoughts on “Mission

  • September 26, 2014 at 6:41 pm
    Permalink

    the library is really cool I checked out to new books today and Ms.Jones always give me a scent bookmark which is cool and Mrs. Bell is really nice . Mrs. Bell makes sure the book is right for me.

  • September 30, 2014 at 1:19 pm
    Permalink

    Aww Kayan!
    Thank you for your kind comment! So glad we could help you get get some cool books to read! And we’re happy you like our scratch and sniff bookmarks! Please come back and visit us again soon! Mornings before MHTV are the best right now as we’re DEEP in the middle of MAP standardized testing 🙂
    ~Ms.Jones
    YOUR Daring Librarian!

  • January 27, 2016 at 2:01 pm
    Permalink

    Hey this is Owen I miss u guys🤑

  • January 27, 2016 at 8:33 pm
    Permalink

    Hi Owen! I remember you! You had such a bright personality and you were so funny! Come back and visit sometime! Cheers! Ms. Jones

  • June 10, 2019 at 6:28 am
    Permalink

    Hi
    I work as a part-time librarian in a Primary School in New Zealand. 300 or so kids.
    I’ve just been doing an online course with The School Library Association of New Zealand Aotearoa (SLANZA), part of which is discussing library mission statements and visions.

    Please may I quote your mission statement. The one with the awesome picture of you in your superwoman outfit. Yours is the first mission statement I’ve found (and believe me I’ve yawned through heaps) that isn’t boring and stuffy and basically blah, blah, blah. You have written and illustrated just how it should be. Fantastic.
    Paula

  • June 10, 2019 at 7:34 am
    Permalink

    Hi Paula!
    Thank you so much for your kind words – they mean the world to me! Of course, you’re welcome to use it, it’s Creative Commons, too! ! I’ll post the original image source link under the graphic so you can grab whichever size works best for you. There’s also another graphic that Dr. Joyce Valenza & I worked together on that may also be helpful. Will add that to the page, too!
    Cheers!
    ~Gwyneth

  • November 17, 2020 at 5:42 pm
    Permalink

    Hi daring librarian,
    I love your school library blog! Your graphics are amazing! This is my 2nd year as a librarian in BCPS. I work with 4th and 5th graders and I love my job! I still have A LOT to learn, but I wanted to comment you on a job well done! I even started to follow you on Twitter! 🙂

    Sincerely,
    Amy Levengood

    P.S. I need a cool name like you!

  • November 17, 2020 at 5:57 pm
    Permalink

    Thank you so much for your kind comment and I followed you back on Twitter! Keep up the good work, the passion, and lifelong learning is the best!
    As for the fancy or cool brand names? They aren’t needed or necessary – just use your own name and be your authentic self!
    Cheers!
    ~Gwyneth

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *