According to Information Power (1998), Librarians are:1. Teachers - who work with students and other faculty members analyzing and developing

curriculums for the group and individual needs of students.

2. Information Specialists- Obtain, evaluate, and analyze informational resources of all formats,

specifically printed and electronic mediums. Also, teaching and disseminating new materials, methods, or resources to teachers and students.

3. Program Administrators- Manages and administrates the entire media center by regulating the

information and resources, delegating task to other library staff, and advocating for the media center within and beyond the school building.

4. Instructional Partners – Collaborating with teachers and other faculty members.

WHO ARE SLMS (SCHOOL LIBRARY MEDIA SPECIALIST)? WHAT ROLES DO THEY SERVE

WITHIN THE CONFINES OF A SCHOOL

“Library media specialists empower students to be critical thinkers,

enthusiastic readers, skillful researchers, and ethical users of information,” – Sara Kelly Johns,

President for [one of the 11 divisions of the Chicago-based American

Library Association] (Weil, 2012).

Johns describes LMS (s) as individuals: - who collaborate with educators/teachers to design or ameliorate classroom curriculums and lessons.

- Design curriculums and engaging lessons and learning experiences developed to suit the specific needs of individual students.

- provide access to materials in all formats. Formats include print literature (of all varieties), electronic resources (such as virtual databases, online encyclopedias, and educational websites that provide fun games for children to play), physical technological mediums (such as electronic maps, technology designed specifically to assist students with special needs or disabilities).

- Librarians must be socially, culturally, and technologically aware of their students needs. (not mentioned in Weil article or Johns response).

- Offer students, teachers, and faculty members the most current and accurate information and materials as possible.

THE EVER-CHANGING ROLE OF THE SCHOOL LIBRARIAN

1. Information, Media Literacy, and Technology Skills (specific

to Media Center) 2. Learning Innovation Skills

[creativity, critical thinking skills, communication, and collaboration

are often required to achieve Information, Media, and Technology

skills)

Information Literacy – Students developing research skills by locating articles, evaluating information, and judging to see if it s appropriate for their assignment at hand. (critical thinking).

Media Literacy – Students developing the ability to decipher, analyze, and demonstrate personal meaning of information and knowledge located on TV, radio, newspaper, computers, and magazines.

Technology Skills - Houghton-Jan (2011) proposes a list of technology skills on AASL website: http://alalearning.org/2011/01/21/techskills/

Types of Skills

How skills are acquired in the media center?

DEVELOPING 21ST CENTURY SKILLS

Bunn (2010) discussed the matter of being called a school librarian (as

demanded by AASL), instead of school librarian media specialist. She

responded:“…My first response is one of fear. 

Taking the words ” media specialist” out of my title will just give the

powers that be (Board of Ed. or the state) more juice to eliminate my job. Public and academic libraries have

held on to the traditional title without change through the years, so what’s the difference? In schools, we’re in a

crises of unknown identity- Administration still doesn’t know

exactly what we do... I wear every hat, from traditional storytelling and book searches to Web 2.0 infused lessons, 

and I work every day to keep my program afloat and dynamic.”

• It remains imperative for SLMS to define their

roles to prinicipals and faculty members as much

as possible.• Oftentimes, faculty members and principals

can develop a gross misconception of the

duties and responsibilities of a

media specialist.• Table 94 from the Lance,

Rodney, and Russell (2007) study

demonstrates a few of these misconceptions.

CONTROVERSY OF SCHOOL LIBRARIAN VS. SCHOOL LIBRARIAN MEDIA

SPECIALIST: WHAT’S IN A NAME?

Mike Eisenberg: Regarding brand (on AASL’s decision to be call a librarian):

No, “I cannot agree with School Librarian. To me, it’s retro – conjuring black and white images of stereotypical 1950s librarians. At the very

least, let’s use teacher-librarian. Teacher-librarian emphasizes that we are educators – along with classroom teachers, special education

teachers, technology teachers and others. That’s the term used in Canada and Australia. Here in Washington State, it’s the term written into educational code. I urge AASL to reconsider their decision. Yes – let’s move away from the 60’s – away from library media specialist or

media specialist. But, let’s go forward, not backward.Also, please remember the audience – it’s school boards and

administrators and other teachers and students and community. It’s not us! It’s not how WE feel. This is how we are perceived by others.”

(Nelson, 2010)

WHAT’S IN A NAME?: RESPONSE FROM MIKE EISENBERG, PROFESSOR AT THE UNIVERSITY

OF WASHINGTON AND SCHOOL LIBRARY ADVOCATE

CONTROVERSY OF SCHOOL LIBRARIAN VS. SCHOOL LIBRARIAN MEDIA SPECIALIST: LANCE STUDY

1. SLMS are still mostly seen as story-time lady or the book lady, as most teachers in the study saw librarians as a reading motivator.

2. Outside of being a tutor for at-risk students, teachers did not associate the word “administrator” with SLMS.

3. Teachers did not associate school librarians very highly with school website manager or curriculum designer.

4. Teachers did associate school librarians with being instructional resource managers and instructional support very highly. 5. Teachers also identified school librarians as being teachers at a very high percentage.

TRUTHS AND MISCONCEPTIONS OF LIBRARY MEDIA SPECIALIST BASED ON

LANCE FINDINGS

• Yetter (1994) revealed in her study that prinicpals’ personal attitudes and characteristics affected the

success and failures of restructuring schools with regards

to the actual school facility, the building level functions of faculty and staff, along with the library and the role of library media specialist for resource-based

learning.

• Oberg (1996) concluded that principals who supported their school media center programs, promoted it to teachers and elucidated to teachers that it was to be an integral part of instruction and the educational experience. Tended to support the program with adequate funding, staffing, and scheduling (mostly flexible).

Lance, Rodney, and Russell (2007) found that that Indiana students across grade levels and socio-economic class achieved higher standardized test scores in schools where principals valued collaboration between classroom teachers and library media specialists.

HOW MUCH EFFECT DO PRINCIPALS HAVE ON SCHOOL LIBRARY

PROGRAMS?

Dorrell and Lawson (1995) revealed that most Missouri

principals used in their study held a rather

traditional views of media specialists – “one who

performs clerical duties and selected, purchased,

cataloged, and circulated materials.” Not as

instructional leaders, curriculum planners, or program administrators.

Lau (2002) deliberated on findings from the School Library Journal, which

surveyed 242 principals across the nation to

determine their understanding and

perception of a school library program. Most (80%) of the principal did view the

library media program favorably, but only forty

seven percent saw a direct correlation between the

school libraries and student achievement. Even less at 41% saw direct correlation between school programs

and standardized test scores.

HOW DO TEACHERS’ PERCEPTIONS DIFFER FROM PRINCIPALS OVERALL

PERCEPTION?

Weil, E. (2012). Meet Your New School Library Media Specialist. Scholastic.com. Retrieved from http://www.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=3748779

Yetter, C.L. (1994). Resource-based learning in the information age school: The intersection of roles and relationships of the school library media specialists, teachers, and principal. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Seattle University.

American Association of School Librarians & the Association for Educational Communications and Technology. (1998). Information power: Building partnerships for learning. Chicago, IL: American Library Association.

Lau, D. (2002). What does your boss think of you? School Library Journal 48(9): 52–55. Retrieved from http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA240049.html

REFERENCES

Oberg, D. (1996). Principal support—what does it mean to teacher-librarians? Worcester, England: Annual Conference of the International Association of School Librarianship. ERIC Document ED400851.

Houghton-Jan, S. (2011, January 21). Technology Skills Library Staff Should Have. Learning Roundtable of the American Library Association: American Association of School Librarians. Retrieved from http://alalearning.org/2011/01/21/techskills /

Lance, K. C., M. J. Rodney, and B. Russell. (2007). How students, teachers, and principals benefit from strong libraries. Indianapolis, IN: Association for Indiana Media Educators.

Bunn, A. (2010, February 20). Name Chang from Media Specialist to Librarian- moving forward?. Library Garden. Retrieved from http://librarygarden.net/2010/02/20/name-change-media-specialist-to-school-librarian/

REFERENCES

Dorrell, L. D., and V. L. Lawson. (1995). What are principals’ perceptions of the school library media specialist? NASSP Bulletin 79(2): 72–80. Retrieved from http://bul.sagepub.com/content/79/573/72.abstract

Nelson, C.J. (2010, February 2). What’s in a name? A discussion about identity & vision. Retrieved from http://blog.cathyjonelson.com/?p=1148

REFERENCES