The Record-Journal takes a look at the world of school libraries.
“School librarians are librarians, are curriculum resource people, are teachers, are facility managers and professional development teachers,” said Julie Hulten, Sheehan High School’s library media specialist.
The physical card catalog is obsolete in its original card form, and libraries now keep book information on a computer database, accessible from just about any computer anywhere. Technology has transformed the library from a room full of books into a multi-media information source.
Librarians vs. Media Specialist
When I decided to get my Ohio teacher’s license for school librarians around 1972 (I had a BA in Teaching and MLS and a license in another state), I discovered that my license said I was a “Media Specialist” not a librarian. In those days, media meant schlepping film equipment to classrooms and threading film and being able to put together a slide presentation. I thought it was strange that although I’d never had a class in media, I was one.
That was long before anyone even thought of computers in classrooms or school libraries. Interesting that the term “media specialist” has been allowed to expand to include a technology completely foreign to its original meaning, but “librarian” wasn’t.
At the university a Library Media Technical Assistant or Associate is a non-professional position that requires no course work in library and information science and no experience at the entry level in either libraries or computers.
Librarians need to take back a meaningful word and chuck that one that means not much of anything. They’ve allowed themselves to be turned into clerks with a click of the tongue.
Only Just Now?
My license, issued in 1986, was as a “Media Specialist.” However, I have never used the term to describe what I do. My feeling was that it was a little too trendy.
Even now, there is much debate about what to call ourselves. Just look at the last poll!
A rose by any other name – NOT
Ah, the “school librarian”. In the UK, these are librarians who work in schools. They may, or may not, be credentialled, depending on an individual school’s whim – or budget. The Unqualified are cheaper.
In Australia, teacher librarians have dual qualifications – and credentials – in both teaching and librarianship. Many have a MLS-equivalent in school librarianship as a specialisation. Some states have abandoned this in favor of the UK model – ie cheap and unqualified is better. Apparently.
In the U.S. of A, it seems that the states that are serious about their education standards are serious about their school libraries, and fund and staff them appropriately. Shame there’s no national standard – the various education departments should be beaten about the head with their own obsolete equipment and attitudes.
Biblia