Deb, I would LOVE to agree with you - I really would. It just seems
more complicated than tackling each of the solutions you suggest.
On Apr 10, 2007, at 8:40 AM, Debra W. Waugh wrote:
> David,
>
> You've raised an interesting issue here. I'm surprised more people
> haven't posted to discuss it already.
>
Each of the areas you mention are not services that are not necessarily
understood or embraced by our fellow educators:
> I would agree with you that many of the traditional library tasks are
> now automated, but I think that if we focus on our growth as
> professionals, we can prevent our own obsolescence. By stressing the
> importance of developing a love of reading in children of all ages,
Yes, we have a role in developing a love of reading - however some
schools are deciding that classroom libraries are a better way to
develop a love and skill at reading
> developing the skills to be technology mavens,
Absolutely, we need to be technology leaders in our buildings. We are
the point-of-need, go-to person -- if we aren't tied down to a crushing
schedule that doesn't give us the flexibility to learn and implement
new technology.
> proactively collaborating with classroom teachers to make their jobs
> more pleasant,
If you can get the teachers to collaborate with you but to do it means
reaching out and following up because they don't know, anticipate, or
assume that we can have a value-added impact to their teaching.
> and by finding ways to tie library services to standardized learning,
Which means that we can't wait for someone to come to us - we need to
be doing the connection between the media center and better test
results.
> we can maintain our level of importance in education.
>
> I agree with you that resting on our traditional laurels would be a
> mistake. We need to make our administrators aware of how we can help
> them, help the faculty, and help the students. And we need to behave
> like leaders. Classroom teachers generally do not have time to keep up
> with the latest trends in
And this is where it comes down to the individual who must be active in
making it happen. My fear is that we are still in the realm of thinking
that we will exist because libraries are good and librarians are nice
people. It comes down to what do we do that no one else does do/can do
in our building. If we are missing from the equation what doesn't
happen or how is the process diminished? We have to be very concrete
about our activities and making sure our colleagues know about it.
Obviously I believe there is a fundamental and critical role for LMSs
in the educational process. We need to make sure we're doing it.
floyd
>
> Deb Waugh, Librarian
> Graham High School
> Bluefield, Virginia
> dwaugh@tazewell.k12.va.us
Floyd Pentlin
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