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An Exploratory Review of Literature:

The 21st Century Media Program: Its Growth Phases, Growth Spurts and Challenges

J. Jean Smith

MEDT 7485 Emerging Issues

Summer Session 2011

Description of the issue

While there are complex issues facing the profession, the mission of the library media program to "ensure that students and staff are effective users of ideas and information" ( Information Power, 1998) remains relevant, particularly in light of changes in society, education, and technology. This paper examines the current challenges of the profession and the perceptions of its labor force. These perceptions have major implications as far as how the profession proceeds to re-define and extend itself into other information domains, many of which are not yet even discovered! It is evident that these information domains will include but also exceed traditional mediums, such as picture books, narratives. It is my hope that this paper helps persons to gain perspective and to possibly shed light on any ambivalence among LMS about joining forces with other information specialists and content specialists.

Rationale

We as library media personnel ensure that students and staff are effective users of ideas and information, and we fulfill that in our roles as teachers, teacher-librarians, technologists, and curriculum leaders. It is with that charge that we must continue to push and be persistent in order to have a place at the Teaching and Learning roundtables that are taking place across our educational landscape daily.

What is your agenda?

To open up ‘food for thought’ kinds of dialog, where we examine media related issues and media specialists’ perceptions of the profession as a whole, such as certification pro’s and con’s of teacher certification, information technology certification, and should technology be emphasized in our media programs to the detriment of more traditional mediums of library service.

Potential solutions / approaches for dealing with issue

Engage in candid discussion with fellow colleagues on where we are as a profession.

To whom will your findings and solutions be presented?

Directors of teaching and learning, school principals, GA State Teacher Certification Officials (GA Professional Learning Standards), administrators in higher education, particularly program directors of school library media training programs.

Resources used

Surveys and interviews with selected media specialists

Media Specialists’ Perceptions on Certification Issues: must school library media specialists be certified to be classroom teachers? Several articles point to the fact that the instructional partnership between teacher and school media professional is one not to be taken lightly.

Weil (2010) found in his Scholastic study that perceptions vary among various education pundits. For example Sara Kelly Johns, president of the American Association of School Librarians (AASL), comments and states her opinion. She thinks the best and brightest LMS graduates can be found: in programs that are partnered closely with the College of Education. She used the example of Eastern Carolina University, where teachers in training work with library media specialists, and library media specialists in training work with teachers. Both sets of students, she cites, will enter the workforce with skills that will change the world.

Of course, we are always encouraged to seek National Board Certification for Teachers, which emphasizes the instructional partnership role with that of teachers, through a rigorous set of National Board Teaching Standards.

Some states such as Texas require school librarians to have previous teaching experience, but one wonders just how much they are overfiltering qualified applicants, who might be excellently credentialed as certified library media specialists but not teacher certified. On the flip scenario, Florida teachers have a clear path to the media center profession, because if they pass the Library Media certification exam they are immediately considered highly qualified Media Specialists without taking a single class in Library Science!

A Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction publication (2008) points to our role as literacy skill builders, when pointing out the obvious fact that a school’s library media center is a rich repository for books, in all mediums and formats, and other technology resources, and an accessible environment conducive to instilling the link between reading and lifelong learning. As a natural co-teacher of reading, the library media specialist collaborates with teachers on the strategies and skills taught in the classroom to promote a love of reading and literature for lifelong reading and learning, and perhaps this is the strongest case yet as to why teacher certification is a bonus for library media specialists. As a co-teacher, the media specialist develops a partnership with classroom teachers and works directly with students and teachers to achieve the bottom line: higher reading proficiency of all students.

In juxtaposing the debate on whether or not LMS should hold teaching credentials vs. instructional technology credentials, Howard Simmons (2000) opines that the ‘re-definition of the librarian’s role as teacher-learning facilitator - - and not technology per se - - -will be the most constant factor in the empowerment of learners and their outcomes.

This leads right into an examination of the opposing side of this scenario, and that is to ask the question: Must school library media specialists be certified to be instructional technology specialists? I think that there’s quite a compelling case to be made for LMS holding certifications in instructional technology. A technology survey in Sally Brewer’s School Library Journal article (2005) supports this. Sixty-seven (67) percent of library media specialists help plan technology programming at their school; nearly all respondents provide technology instruction to students and 84 percent say they provide in-services and training to fellow teachers as well. Brewer’s 2005 article also revealed the following:

Besides taking the lead in teacher collaboration, library media specialists are also assuming a major role in the administration of school technology. More than two-thirds of survey respondents serve on their school's technology committee and half of them help devise technology-use policies for their school. In addition, 30 percent have a seat on the technology team for their district. (p. 1)

Skill sets like network administration are increasingly falling on the shoulders of LMS. In fact, my own colleagues in Atlanta Public Schools oversee entire computer labs, and out of that conversation it is evident that there is a fair amount of ambivalence towards being asked to do so, to the detriment of more traditional media center programming.

As we empower our 21st century learner with a more multisensory library environment, we are confronting the use of tools and information systems that require us to gain access to passcodesthat they are most familiar with, it becomes necessary to get beyond passcodes and security software that was once only the domain of the network administrator. I feel that we must be our own best advocate in this regard, and this is where I feel the strongest case for information technology certification resides: in the fact that if we are as knowledgeable as the network administrator then we will have one less middle man to break down barriers in order to complete simple tasks such as adding content to web sites, accessing services, or getting beyong security software.

As more and more staffing of instructional tech specialists remains in flux, we must carry the roles ourselves, of that of school or district technology coordinator. After all how many of us are lucky to have a full time IT specialist in our building? Ideally we would be part of a tech team to ensure adequate and seamless access to resources in order to avail ourselves to stakeholders. Sadly, this is not always the case. Anderson’s Library Media Connection article details a situation that occurred with a Massachusetts library media specialist:

I often have to rely on the network administrator’s assistance, because I’m locked out of the network management area for trouble-shooting purposes. I’m often frustrated because much of what I do depends on the other professionals in my building doing their job in a

timely manner. When the people you depend on do their job well, you soar; when they don’t, you crash and burn (p. 5)

As expressly detailed in Information Power (1988) a library media specialist carries out many roles: teachers, informational specialists, instructional partners, technologists, consultants on media center programming, and much more (p. 4-5) Can a library media specialist really do all these things? Should they? Is it fair to expect that the LMS carry out these roles simultaneously? I think I can reasonably assume that one must prioritize the roles and responsibilities based on ones workplace. Yes, these responsibilities seem overwhelming to say nothing of being quite demanding, but they are all important and quintessential to today’s library media program. Of course a media specialist can’t carry out these roles alone. That’s the reason that collaboration, leadership and technology are three common threads in any library media program.

Through collaboration, the media specialist is able to accomplish more than he or she could alone.

Through leadership, the teacher librarian can recruit others to participate in activities.

Through technology, the library media specialist can make center operations run smoothly, creating more time to focus on the most important program goals.

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A vision for how these various roles can work in tandem can best be shaped by some serious questioning: What is outlined in the school achievement plan? What is the vision of the administration and the school leadership team? What is the mission statement and the philosphy of the media program? The answers to these questions should help the LMS prioritize his/her multiple roles.

Can we as a profession have an impact on state certification requirements that assures, to the extent possible, that practicing library media specialists will be able to function as professionals envisioned in Information Power? An example of the power wielded by advocates within the profession is revealed in this piece of GA legislation (from GAE 2009 KNOW publication):

HB 243-Repeal National Board Certification Program

What it does: This bill originally would have repealed the law that established the national board certification program. Because of advocacy efforts by groups including GAE and the

National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, a House committee substitute was drafted. In this substitute, individuals currently in the program will receive the stipend (to be paid according to the original legislation). New entrants post March 1, 2009 will not be able to receive the stipend.

GAE Position: Opposed.

GAE opposed the original bill to eliminate the program but supported the House Committee Substitute Bill.(Passed: Sent to the Governor 4/13/09)

Had GLMA, GAE not fought this bill, it might have gone through as originally written!

There is a lack of state certification in instructional technology. Due to this absence in IT certification, and the lack of state-wide staffing guidelines or requirements for instructional technology specialists, there is a lack of consistency in the qualifications and staffing of P-12 instructional technology specialists in Georgia public schools. The result is a lack of defined and consistent support for the integration of technology into teaching and learning. Warren Goetzel, Media Coordinator, Atlanta Public Schools projects that in the absence of consistently staffed certified instructional technology specialists, media specialists may be playing an increasingly larger role in instructional technology and focusing less on library media, in Georgia P-12 public schools. “

I examine media specialists’ perceptions of practice and the importance of roles in a comparative study using Anne McCracken’s research study “School Library Media Specialists' Perceptions of Practice and Importance of Roles Described in Information Power. I surveyed several of my University of West GA classmates using a Google survey. I poll them about their various roles including teacher, instructional partner, information specialist, and program administrator. In the initial part of this survey, I asked them to share an anecdote that may shed light on their perceptions of their roles and competencies within the profession as a whole. They were asked to provide an answer using the following prompt:

“The 21st century library media center is . . . “

In analyzing their responses I attempt to answer the following:

Did their anecdotes contain elements of collaboration, leadership, and technology? Is this important? Why or why not?

The answers of two of the respondents point to our roles as information technologists and essentially meeting the 21st century learner at their point of need, using emerging information domains that make use of web 2.0 tools – so definitely the element of technology is strong in their responses. The fact that they chose technology over perhaps some of the other roles puts the spotlight on the role that technology has played in opening doors for them in terms of helping them to expand their role. The power of technology is a wonderful thing!

One respondent points out the need for the 21st century library media center to be a place where all kinds of multimodal learning experiences take place, meeting the demands of all learning styles. This certainly contains an element of collaboration, because teachers would need to be our collaborating partners if we are to understand the various learning styles present in classrooms. Subsequently, the library media specialists can plan the media center programming in such a way that best addresses these varied learning styles. The fact that this respondent pointed this out certainly yields some indication that he/she values the instructional partnerships role, and understands its importance in the overall schema of a media center program.

To sum up, the opinion of one respondent speaks strongly to our role as information specialists – selection and utilization of materials across a wide range of multimodalities – print, nonprint for both students and teachers alike. This speaks to the fact that information specialists is always something that we have been and will continue to be. While other domains may include or even exceed this, this is a dominant role for us.

Looking ahead to the future

Given the ever changing landscape of the profession, and the scenario outlined above, what should library science training programs be offering? Should technology be emphasized to the detriment of other more traditional course offerings? In terms of media center programming, what is the appropriate balance that one must strike within a library media program? For example, are technology programming initiatives emphasized to the detriment of other initiatives such as those in literature areas (i.e., book fairs, book talks) or vice versa?

I came across a Word Press blog post by Judy O’Connell (2010) and she opines about the dangers of being caught up in the excitement of the digital age. This new multimodal digital world can invite our kids to engage in risky behaviour - - fast facts, short abridged facts taken out of context, and other short cuts are just some of the reasons why it is even more important for our kids to be literate than ever before! She takes on those think tanks who tout the need to get rid of libraries, saying that there was a day in age (that some of us can remember) when schools had no libraries - - so why then would we try and regress to this myopic view? In every other aspect of education, we do not try and go backwards, so what is the logic behind this view?

Ms. O’Connell takes a stance on the kinds of ideas that people are leaving conferences with - - many good ideas come forth from such conferences as ISTE2010, but what is decidely missing is, according to her, the need for a ‘new hybrid synergy’ between learning and libraries. I agree with her assessment, of how so many of these conferences can tout the digital revolution to the detriment of other pivotal roles that the school library can play. Doing so is to achieve only a small percentage of what’s possible, regardless of how glamourous it seems, or how good it seems.

There are NO SHORT CUTS to literacy and there is no replacement for passionate readers! NO amount of blogging, tweeting, and social networking can replace the cognitive gains to be made by allowing our students to engage in deep reflective reading and engaging in deep research. Of course technology has so much to offer with the advent of the ebook/ereader, but it is no replacement for developing sharp cognitive minds when deep reading and researching is taking place. . nor can it replace the value that school libraries and media specialists can bring to our digital, multimodal century.

In all the excitement over a technology rich media program, let’s not forget the basics of reading, literacy, and information fluency - -what is needed is a hybrid synergy between teaching , technology, and the services of a information services ‘hub’ of literacy and innovation.

References

American Association of School Librarians., & Association for Educational Communications

and Technology. (1998). Information power: Building partnerships for learning. Chicago:

American Library Association.

Nesbitt, B.J. (2007, November) “A Vision of K-12 Student’s Today” Retrieved July 8, 2011

from

Anderson, M. (2005). TECHNICIAN OR TECHNOLOGIST? Library Media Connection,

24(1), 14-109. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

"1st Congress Issues in the Education of School Library Media Specialist," (2006) American

Library Association, retrieved from (Accessed July

12, 2011) Document ID: 143484.

Weil, E. (n.d.) Meet Your New School Library Media Specialist Scholastic Administrator

retrieved from June 24, 2011

McNulty, S. (2007) School Library Media Certification: A Question of Readiness, American

Association of School Librarians, retrieved from

Reading and the School Library (n.d.) Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction

Simmons, H. (2000). “Librarian as Teacher: A Personal View” The Hawthorn Press, Inc.

(Binghamton, NY). Retrieved from

Brewer, S. and P. Milam, (June 2005) “When it comes to education technology, librarians are

key players in bringing our schools into the 21st century” School Library Journal

Retrieved from

The School Library Media Specialist. Retrieved from

specialist.html

McCracken, A., (2000). “School Library Media Specialists’ Perceptions of Practice and

Importance of Roles Described in Information Power.” AASL. Retrieved from



Georgia Association of Educator, 2009 Legislation Wrap-Up. KNOW.

O’Connell, J. (2010) “Hybrid Synergy: The future of school libraries” Wordpress Blogpost.

Retrieved from

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