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TL10.2p1-9 14 Ontario School Library Association the Erin Meadows Library Staff eagerly awaited its newest cus- tomers on September 4, 2001: the students of St. Aloysius Gonzaga. By this time, in Gonzaga's second year of operation, we had added another grade and some new pro- grams. From a small student popu- lation of 240 grade 9's, the school expanded to a population of 750 grade 9's and 10's, including an extended French program, Career Path (i.e. vocational) program and an autism program. Another forty or so teachers joined the original staff, including a vice-principal. We certainly seemed to be swallowed up by our huge and grand sur- roundings. Even so, we weren't using our entire building: our sec- ond floor was occupied by St. Mark's elementary school whose building was being renovated). There were many adjustments to make but it was worth the count- less benefits the entire Gonzaga community enjoyed. By our second year in the facility, Gonzaga added another grade to top the student population to 1,260 students. We have hired on another 40 or so teachers (teaching staff of 85) and the entire building is now inhabited by Gonzaga students. The library agreement The Library Services Agree- ment Contract set the framework for how Mary Anne and I are to conduct business. Normally, in our board, the high school teacher- librarian works with a team of a library technician and library sec- retary, on a schedule that is purely decided by budget. In other words, the teacher-librarians might not have access to these very impor- tant resources on a full-time basis. As well, the teacher-librarian estab- lishes a budget, organizes the pro- cessing and cataloguing of materi- als, and oversees circulation, reshelving, and collection of fines. In some schools, teacher-librarians might be in charge of audiovisual equipment and, of course, comput- ers. My teacher-librarian position at St. Aloysius Gonzaga is entirely different. Since we share our facili- ty with the Mississauga Public Library System, the library is oper- ated and organized by their Central Branch. The Erin Meadows Library employs approximately 30 people on a full- and part-time basis. These people oversee circulation, acquisitions, budget, promotions, and special programs, carried out according to their chain of com- mand. My role, as outlined in the Library Services Agreement Contract, is specifically to serve the curriculum needs of the stu- dents and teachers of Gonzaga. Essentially, it is the quintessential teacher-librarian job. That is not to say that I do not have a say in acquisition of materi- als and budget matters. Since our target audience is narrowed down to high school students in a Catholic system and not the gener- al public, our school has pur- chased thousands of dollars of books to complement and supple- ment the current library resources. If I see a specific area of curriculum that could benefit from additional materials in our library (e.g., titles which address the new Ministry curriculum expectations), I submit a budget for these items. I get to offer suggestions to Mary Anne on resources being purchased by the public library, including periodi- cals and electronic databases. Identity and operations Along with curriculum matters, the Library Services Agreement Contract addresses the issue of student discipline. It is clear that any classroom management issue that takes place in the library dur- ing school hours is strictly the Continued from page 12 Teacher-Librarian Donna E. Berzaitis domain of the teacher-librarian. The contract stipulates that all classes are to be accompanied by their classroom teacher. This fac- tor definitely assists me. It is also my responsibility to supervise the students before the school day and during lunches. The library opens at 8:00 am and school begins at 8:20 am. This early opening is a boon to the public since most Mississauga public library branch- es open at 10 am on weekdays. Because we have uniforms, identifying Gonzaga students is a straightforward task (for me and the Erin Meadows branch). I wear the school uniform as well to sepa- rate me from the Erin Meadows staff and to allow students to locate me easily; some of the teach- ers and administrators also wear the uniform. The student photo identifica- tion card serves as the student's library card at any Mississauga branch. This library card set-up was co-ordinated by the Erin Meadows staff and Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board. The Erin Meadows library staff has a pictorial directory of our stu- dents so that if concern about a student or group of students aris- es, they are to provide me with names. In fact, the contract does cover after school hours discipline Continued on page 16