Hi All,
The library program is dead because it deserved to die - fighting words
I know. But how can you teach what are essentially thinking skills and
information skills outside a relevant context? We are teachers first and
should be curriculum designers and leaders. The TL is one of the few
people in the schoiol who has an overview and understanding of the whole
curriculum from a resource perspective. When we design and create
wonderful collaborative programs with teachers we need to promote
ourselves and the library's role. We are more often what Gary Green
calls the 'humble functionary', we rarely say no, we are incredibly busy
(and I'm not being facetious here), but what are we really doing? We
need to make space in our day so we can take on the more proactive roles
in literacy and information literacy, not as separate discrete 'library
programs, but as collaborativly planned and taught programs with
teachers.
My PhD study is looking at the information seeking skills of the Net
Generation - there is an assumption that the kids already know how to
use the technology effectively, so we don't see a need to teach them IL
skills any more, if we ever did (my research is also looking at
ingrained cultures of use). My research and other research in the UK and
the US is now telling us that the Net Generation (Generation Y) aren't
as tech savvy as the media would have us believe.
As the information landscape becomes even more dense, complex and
overloaded, the role of the Librarian and especially the TL will become
increasingly important. The TL particularly is the person whose role it
is to ensure that IL skills development is embedded into curriculum
programs - preferably with admin support and a whole school approach. Is
this blue-sky dreaming? I hope not, otherwise we will have a whole
generation of new citizens who will be disenfranchised, disempowered and
part of the Digital Divide because they can't access (cognitive) the
information they need on time.
:) BC
Vice President, Advocacy & Promotion, IASL: www.iasl-online.org
LIS@ECU: http://www.chs.ecu.edu.au/portals/LIS/index.php
Transforming Information and Learning Conference
http://conferences.scis.ecu.edu.au/TILC2007/
Barbara Combes, Lecturer
School of Computer and Information Science Edith Cowan University, Perth
Western Australia
Ph: (08) 9370 6072
Email: b.combes@ecu.edu.au
"Whatever the cost of our libraries, the price is cheap compared to that
of an ignorant nation." Walter Cronkite
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-----Original Message-----
From: School Library Media & Network Communications
[mailto:LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU] On Behalf Of Naomi Bates
Sent: Friday, 29 February 2008 12:41 AM
To: LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
Subject: Re: [LM_NET] RE HONEST REPLY NEEDED
Interesting views...
I have rarely seen a librarian in the last five years that does only
clerical work and completely ignoring classrooms, teachers, and students
on a collaborative or information-teaching role. My opinion is if that
is what is happening in the library, then two things are occurring:
1. the library program is dead
2. administrators don't really care about the library or what happens in
them Librarians in this position want a cave to run and hide into - a
domain they can control and oversee - and welcome signs are not up and
students and teachers don't even know the librarian's name.
I would venture to guess that librarians have a teaching background and
know how important collaboration is. But it's always not in the form of
person to person/class to person. Technology has gained so much in the
foothold of education, it's possible to collaborate and teach virtually
- and sometimes students like this forum much more than traditional
lecture and paperwork. They are digital natives, for the most part.
But this isn't to push aside clerical work. Cataloging is important,
but once again, technology to the rescue! (Thank goodness!!) I was of
the mindset that if I couldn't process books (ie shelf ready vs. raw)
then I wouldn't know what came in...but now I have them mostly processed
with me and staff (including student aides) who do some partial work on
them. Simply because I HAVE to look at them, read inside and decide
which ones I'll choose to booktalk, share, work into a collaborative
project, etc...
Teachers bring home work to grade, tests to create, projects to
amend...and librarians should do that as well. If it's a 9-5 job with
the door closed promptly and work left for another day...well, just
another reason why libraries don't have the clout they should have.
Naomi Bates
Northwest High School Library
Justin, Texas
nbates@nisdtx.org
817-215-0203
>>> Sarah Latcham <Latcham.Sarah@ICCSD.K12.IA.US> 2/27/2008 3:02 PM
>>>
Hello -
I am a teacher librarian. I have never taught in a classroom that wasn't
a library and I have never worked in a library that wasn't a school. I
think it is rather short-sighted to say that teachers can't be
librarians (as far as cataloging and processing books goes) or that
librarians can't be teachers. I believe that all librarians whatever the
type should be teachers for their patrons educating their patrons on how
to become better users of information. I also believe that my catalog is
the best it can be. Managing our 2 "hats" of teaching and managing the
collection takes time (much outside of the workday) and dedication.
I would hope that we could be more open-minded about our fellow
librarians and not lump people into categories. It is unfortunate that
we have dealings with people who are unable to manage all facets of the
job, but blasting all people is unfair.
Sarah C. Latcham
Teacher Librarian
Hills Elementary
301 Main St.
Hills IA, 52235
319-688-1107
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