SLS Council and Communication Coordinators

The governing board and the council shall be responsible for development of the plan of service. Upon approval by the council, the governing board shall submit the plan to the commissioner for approval. After approval by the commissioner, it shall be the responsibility of the governing board and the council to monitor the implementation of the plan of service.

per Commissioner's Regulations 90.18 (b)(s)

Communication Coordinators

Communication Coordinators are to provide the communication link between the SLS and each library in a district or nonpublic school. The Commissioner's Regulations that created School Library Systems, also defined Communication Coordinators and the districts responsibility to provide time, and specific equipment to facilitate communication and data gathering. District Superintendents appoint a certified LMS to serve as SLS Communication Coordinator. Attending these meetings is a mandatory part of SLS membership. Non-public schools are encouraged to send their librarian to Communication Coordinator meetings in order to maximize the value of SLS participation.  

The main function of the communication coordinators (individually and as a group) is to provide two-way communication between the member libraries and the school library system. This can be accomplished through:

• Regular meetings in which the communication coordinators discuss how to implement the policies recommended by the council
• Sharing information on system programs (e.g., training), procedures (e.g., interlibrary loan), data collection (e.g., database development, statistics on interlibrary loan, etc.)
• Developing committees and/or interest groups (e.g., an elementary school librarians cluster group, automation users group, etc.)
• Bringing the needs of school library system users (students, faculty and administrators) to the attention of the school library system council and director
• Identifying subject experts from among member librarians and others and recruiting them to participate in SLS projects and committees; and identifying and recruiting potential council members.