[LM_NET] Honest Response Needed

[Cheryl Youse <cyouse@GMAIL.COM>]

I sent an email privately to Maria but after reading other posts on this
thread, I felt compelled to post to the list as a whole.  I have moved to a
high school this year from elementary school and I also have been a middle
school media specialist (K-8 actually in 2 different schools).  My cohort
(there are two media specialists for a school of 2300) started  2 years ago
and came from an elementary school.

We were both teachers before becoming librarians.  Our predecessors were
librarians who worked in schools.  I do feel that cataloging and
administration are important. If you can't access the materials you need
because of poor cataloging, or because items are improperly shelved it is
the same as not having the materials.  However, that being said, our mission
is first to support the curriculum and second to promote reading.  My books
are not cataloged to my satisfaction but they are cataloged to be usable.

I believe that supporting the curriculum means being ready and willing to
collaborate at any opportunity and to co-teach both in the media center and
in the classroom.  It means knowing the curriculum and selecting print,
audiovisual, databases, and websites that will be utilized in assignments.
It means helping teachers with their technology problems and equipment and
tracking down articles and books they request.

Promoting reading means locating and making available materials that
students want to read (both fiction and nonfiction) and creating an inviting
atmosphere.  It means knowing your collection so you can help students and
teachers find books to read for pleasure.  I don't have any statistics on
the matter but I believe kids who read for fun get better grades.

Our predecessors believed the library should be a very quiet and tidy
place.  One of them expressed to me the opinion that it should be solely a
research library and that the fiction section was totally unnecessary.  They
were librarians and administrators first and did not really consider
themselves to be teachers.

I am first and foremost a teacher.  I want to share the changes we are
seeing because of the different approaches...our media center is moving
towards becoming the hub of the school.  Circulation is up 228% over this
time last year.  It's not a silent place though we sometimes do remind them
that there are groups working who need to concentrate.  It is full of
student created displays, student volunteers, kids who stop in to say hello
every day, students who come in at lunch and read books and magazines for
fun.  Today, all at the same time, I had 2 classes doing research for
different projects, one class looking for books to check out, random
students in on passes for various reasons, the book fair going on, student
helpers shelving, and teachers popping in for cables, etc.  Our
administrators have noticed the increased reading in our building and
volunteered funds to replace the carpeting this summer, repaint the walls,
and for a general (long overdue) facelift to try to further our efforts in
the promotion of reading.  These are huge changes from the library in this
school in the past.  So while my cataloging may not be perfect, as long as
it's good enough and I can help the person standing in front of me find what
they need, learn something new, or get them interested in a book, I'm happy
and it seems to be working for us.  (I'll step off my soap box now--thanks
for 'listening').  By the way, though my name tag says media specialist, my
favorite job title is teacher librarian.

-- 
Cheryl Youse, MLS
Media Specialist
Colquitt County High School
cyouse@gmail.com

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