ACADEMIA DEL
PERPETUO SOCORRO
San Juan, PR
Is a Catholic, private school with a college-preparatory program. Our coeducational school runs from PPK thru 12th grade.
Information and Media Services Department
Philosophical Framework
Our philosophy is to contribute to the intellectual development of our school community, aiming to disseminate knowledge in the fields of humanities, science, and technology. This knowledge is integrated with our Catholic vision, to the purpose of strengthening the intellect and Catholic values of our school community.
We promote the constructivist teaching strategy and a curriculum that is integrated across all academic disciplines. We are directly linked to all areas of the academic program, which we strengthen and support by coordinating different activities with the teachers. These may include orientation sessions, workshops, access to digital and print information resources, and library or bibliographic instruction, among others. Our objectives and activities are guided by the principles of AASL Standards for the 21st Century Learner of the American Association of School Librarians (AASL), 2007. (See complete list of standards, at the end of the document).
Conceptual Framework
Our Information and Media Services Department is composed of one school library media specialist and several library assistants. The department is part of the academic program, and the media specialists are part of the teaching staff. Our department's work area is located in the Digital Learning Center (DLC), which many people simply call: the Library, although the term “library” refers to the place where the collections of printed materials are located. Today many school libraries have opted for replacing the term “library” with “media center,” since most of the information available at these centers is available in electronic, multimedia, and online formats. In other words, the main collections are located in the computers, videos, databases, and the Internet. Our department has elected to use the term “Digital Learning Center”, because most resources at our new center are in digital format although very important collections are available in printed format. Many school libraries in the United States are no longer using the terms “librarian” or “master librarian,” and currently prefer to use the title of “school library media specialist.”
The term “library services” refers to all the services offered by the Educational Media Department through the Digital Learning Center. Our services extend beyond the DLC itself, as we occasionally visit or are invited to visit the classrooms to provide orientation sessions and bibliographic instruction. The term “curriculum support” refers to strengthening the entire course curriculum at Academia del Perpetuo Socorro through the services and activities that our department offers. The term “Information Literacy Skills” refers to the ability to identify, locate, evaluate, and use information effectively (American Library Association, July 27, 2006). Information literacy provides the tools to develop the thinking and analytical skills that are necessary for a lifetime of learning. Academia del Perpetuo Socorro's present curriculum does not offer courses for the development of information literacy skills, but we are planning to develop these skills in our students by integrating the Big6 model into our curriculum (see Big6 model in detail).