The media center is making changes to benefit the students at Plymouth High School.
As the school year starts, the PHS media center is working with all of the new changes: laptop problem and welcoming Mrs. Traci Hilliard as the new Information Literacy Assistant. Before coming to PHS, Mrs. Hilliard worked as a Career Specialist/Instructional Assistant at Lincoln Junior High. Her job at PHS is to “assist students and staff members of PHS with library materials as well as computer/technology questions or problems.”
New coming Information Literary Assistant Mrs. Hillard works from her desk. Photo by: Taylor Drake
From Mrs. Hilliard’s work at both schools, she says there are only a few differences between the two schools. She says, “One of the main differences between Lincoln and PHS is the obvious larger number of students in the building. The other main difference is that students at PHS are given more freedoms to manage their behavior. But, with that freedom expectations are higher.” While working with the younger and older students, Mrs. Hilliard said, “Although some of the content of the material at PHS is either of a higher reading level or more adult in content, the topics that junior high students and high school students are similar.”
As for Mrs. Hilliard’s training, she has on-the-job training and uses her prior knowledge. “As I become more familiar with the duties of my new position, I am sure I will make subtle changes to the way I handle things in the media center. Right now, I am still learning all the in’s and out’s of my new position,” says Mrs. Hilliard.
PHS’s Media Center offers students comfortable chairs to relax while studying. Photo by: Taylor Drake
The media center is used for helping and benefiting all of the students and staff. Mrs. Hilliard said, “[It] absolutely has a big impact on the students of PHS. Not only is the media center the place to get help in locating a good book to read, we act as the first response center for computer/technology issues. Students in online classes report here if they need a workspace while at school.” In the media center, they offer many different kinds of books which include both hard-back books and online books. “Although our hard copies of books far out numbers our e-books, we are adding new titles to this list all the time,” said Mrs. Hilliard. The media center gets new books throughout the year. “Every book that gets distributed throughout PCSC also first must come through PHS to be processed. [Right now] we are in the process of compiling a list of books to place on the next book order,” says Mrs. Hilliard.