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Having just the vision’s no solution,
everything depends on execution,
Putting it together.
–Stephen Sondheim

Last week I wrote about the new vision for 21st century libraries that we have adopted in our district. In the process of creating this vision, we also revised our mission statement.

Our guide in this process was the book, Failure Is NOT and Option: Six Principles That Guide Student Achievement in High Performing Schools by Alan Blankenstein, which lists having a common mission and vision as the #1 principle for success.

Creating a mission statement according to the guidelines in this book was a little bit different than other processes I have used in the past. We all know that a mission statement gives the people involved with an organization a clear understanding of its purpose for existence. Blankenstein, however, finds fault with the typical mission statement. He says:

A quick survey of mission statements reveals a common pattern. They use superlatives and absolutes. Such an approach leaves people feeling as though they had cotton candy for lunch: happy but still hungry for the real meal! Phrases like “world’s best,” “premier,” “largest,” and “first choice of customers everywhere” abound. How “premier” status will be attained and how “best” will be measured are rarely clarified or discussed. Schools and school districts also have mission statements – and they should. Unfortunately, education is not exempt from the tendency toward generic, vague and meaningless mission statements.

In order to create a more effective mission statement, our group discussed and debated the following questions:

1. Why do school library programs exist?

2. How will we know if a library program is successful?

3. What can we do to ensure that our library programs are successful?

The result is a mission statement that describes why school library programs exist in our district and how we will know if they are fulfilling their purpose.

The mission of the MISD library program is to:

• teach literacy skills (reading, research, technology, etc.) and

• promote open access to quality resources for the school community.

The success of the library program is determined by campus student achievement in conjunction with state and national library standards.

MISD librarians ensure success by proactive commitment to continuous improvement of the library program.

Does your library program have a written mission statement?

This entry was posted on September 9, 2009 at 12:07 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.