1. T HE R OLE OF THE S CHOOL L IBRARY M EDIA S PECIALIST ? Prepared by Ruben L. Barkley MEDT 7487 Summer 2011

2. M ISSION S TATEMENT … The mission of the school library media program is to ensure that students and staff are effective users of ideas and information. This mission is accomplished as outlined in Information Power, Building Partnerships for Learning (American Association of School Librarians and Association of Educational Communications and Technology, Chicago: 1998): by providing intellectual and physical access to materials in all formats by providing instruction to foster competence and stimulate interest in reading, viewing and using information and ideas by working with other educators to design learning strategies to meet the needs of individual students

3. INFORMATION POWER, B UILDING P ARTNERS FOR L EARNING (1998) OUTLINES FOUR MAJOR ACTION ROLES FOR THE LIBRARY MEDIA SPECIALIST : Teacher Instructional Partner Information Specialist Program Administrator

4. T EACHER … In the role of teacher, the school library media specialist (SLMS) collaborates with teachers and Instructional Technology Specialist to ensure that students acquire the necessary information technology competencies and information literacy skills and the opportunities to integrate those skills into a standards based curriculum. Information Power (1998) has identified collaboration between media specialists and classroom teachers as critical to "support authentic, information-based learning."

5. I NSTRUCTIONAL PARTNER … In the role of instructional partner, the SLMS can also be an invaluable partner to the classroom teacher in ensuring that information literacy skills are seamlessly integrated into the curriculum. In Information Power (1998), collaboration between media specialists and classroom teachers was identified as critical to "support authentic, information-based learning.”

6. I NFORMATION S PECIALIST … In the role of Information Specialist, the SLMS is not only instructionally informed and aware of the specific school's curriculum, but skillful in locating and evaluating appropriate material to support that curriculum and meet the specific educational needs of students and teachers. In Information Power (1998), the SLMS is viewed as having “expertise in acquiring and evaluating information sources in all formats."

7. P ROGRAM ADMINISTRATOR … As stated in Information Power (1998), the SLMS is "proficient in the management of staff, budgets, equipment, and facilities" and works with other administrators and teachers to form policies, design activities, and provide leadership that would ensure outstanding use of information and information technology. One of the key components for effective program administration is adequate staffing. Regardless of the size of a school's population, support staff, including both professional and paraprofessional personnel, are required if the SLMS is to deliver a truly integrated library media program.

8. C ONCLUSION … The role of the School Library Media Specialist is provide a comfortable atmosphere for students to learn, select books, and to read. In addition to the role of collaborating with teachers to provide lessons to meet the specific needs of the students, today’s 21 st SLMS must be able to teach computer and technology skills, and maintain and update the collection to relate to the school's curriculum and promote 21 st Century literacy skill to all students, especially those with diverse needs and multi-cultural backgrounds.

9. A DDITIONAL INFORMATION … The History of AASL Standards Timeline: 1887-First library school established by Melvil Dewey, Columbia College (now University) 1915- NEA Library Committee-investigated actual conditions in High School Libraries 1917-Symposium of the North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools—1 st formal report on school library standards presented and adopted 1918-presented at the NEA meeting and adopted by Secondary School Department (Contributions by New York City, Chicago, and New York—C.C. Certain, chairman of NEA committee and Mary E. Hall, president of ALA School Library section) 1920-ALA endorses the “Certain Standards” and published by NEA quantitative standards—38 page high school library standards booklet 1925-Elementary School Library Standards by NEA and ALA chaired by C.C. Certain. 1939-Middle States Association developed “Evaluative Criteria” for school libraries…versions of which were used through the 1950s…state and accrediting agencies developed standards based on the Certain Standards or the accrediting standards. 1941-ALA and NEA joint committee created statement of principles 1945-ALA publishes School Libraries for Today and Tomorrow includes quantitative and qualitative standards in post-war Planning for Libraries series. 43 page booklet guided future standards. Mary Peacock Douglas, chair and Frances Henne—AASL school library standards committee

10. T HE H ISTORY OF AASL S TANDARDS … CONTINUED 1951-AASL moves from section to division in ALA—Leaders recognize the need for updating and addressing standards periodically in response to changes in educational philosophy and technology. A Planning Guide for the High School Library Program by F. Henne, Ersted, & Lohrer 1960- AASL under the auspices of ALA develops and publishes Standards for School Library Programs chaired by Frances Henne with input from NCTE and NEA Dept. of AV Instruction 1960-1962 Knapp School Library Development Project (Frances Henne on advisory board) 1965-passage of Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA)—school libraries received significant federal support – part of the Great Society legislation which included Library Services and Construction Act, Higher Education Act 1969- Standards for School Media Programs published by AASL and NEA Department of Audiovisual Instruction (DAVI) coordinated by Frances Henne—terms media, media specialist, media center, media program are used 1975- Media Programs: District and School published by AASL and AECT (former NEA-DAVI) 1988- Information Power: Guidelines for School Library Media Programs, AASL & AECT 1998- Information Power: Building Partnerships for Learning, AASL & AECT 2007- AASL: Standards for the 21 st -Century Learner

11. R EFERENCES … American Association of School Librarians (1998). Information power: Building partnerships for learning. Chicago: American Library Association. Cornelius, Cawood (2008). Georgia Library Media Association. History of School Library Standards – A Timeline. Retrieved July 11, 2011 from http://glma.wordpress.com/2008/02/06/history-of-school-library-standards-a- timeline/ Ellis, Kathleen V. & Lenk, Mary Ann (2001). Library Media Specialist, The Keystone to Integrating Information Technology and Information Library. Washington, DC. Retrieved July 12, 2011 from http://www.nais.org/ismagazinearticlePrint.cfm?print=Y&ItemNumber=1 44283 http://www.nais.org/ismagazinearticlePrint.cfm?print=Y&ItemNumber=1 44283 Hoverson, Kate (n.d.). What do Library Media Specialists Do? Retrieved July 12, 2011 from http://sites.google.com/site/osgoodk1library/what-do- school-librarians-do.