DISQUS

Patrick · 8 months ago

I hope you responded with a hearty "What's the difference?"

Robin Ellis · 8 months ago

There are times you must begin anew, and this is one of them. With a position like this, not all current library media specialists will be comfortable with the role described, nor will all agree, as you found out today, with the role you envision. We know many who would embrace what you have posted as an ideal position, and love the opportunity to work in an environment which supports this role, but if you don't have individuals with this philosophy currently, you cannot afford the luxury of time to convince someone this shift is necessary. Congratulations on having the vision and support to post for this position Darren, too bad Utah is so far away, because it sounds like a job I would love to have :-)

timgee3 · 8 months ago

I bet even the monks would agree with you to a point...
http://tiny.cc/RmVMP

Doug Johnson · 8 months ago

Have your media coordinators been watching what has been happening to "library" positions in schools lately?

Everything you've described helps assure a valued position in schools.

Keep at 'em!

Erin Ells · 8 months ago

In some situations, librarians are asked to only troubleshoot technology - not really use it. Then they come to resent it because "The Teachers" believe that they can teach information literacy and technology on their own, as they have the web in their classrooms. Some of them think because they use computers that they are teaching information literacy. Then the library becomes the place that houses the mobile carts - not the place with information cataloged specifically based on the school's curricula.

The fact that Library Media Specialists, the term we use in NY, represents ALL types of media helps me make my (and your) case. I also recognize there is a big difference between using it, teaching it, teaching with it and troubleshooting it. When they all get lumped together, the reality is that teachers need help getting it to work - and they ask the librarian. In my district, the librarians actually want to help "The Teachers" design better lessons...not just get their projectors to work.

Thanks for doing it with love!!

Darren Draper · 8 months ago

I think you're right, Erin. The crux of the disdain that Media Specialists
have for technology likely comes because they've been asked to perform
duties outside of their capacity (like technical support).

While I have no doubt that many are capable of swapping out a hard drive, I
think that their duties should involve more teaching of information and
media literacy than hardware, network, and software troubleshooting.

Erin Ells · 8 months ago

Darren: I supervise the library department in my district. One thing we started to do last year was collect data about what the library staff does - beyond just circulation stats, but how many times they are asked to provide PD (one-to-one or group) or how many students/teachers walk in the doors every day. We quickly saw that our 11 librarians and 11 library teaching assistants provide PD between 600-750 times a month. No one ever taught them how to do it - but now that we know how often it happens, we are looking at WHAT they are providing and creating a better system for teachers. Oh - and the LMS are shocked that number is so high. They know teachers ask them for a lot, but they had no idea how invaluable they are.

Bev_Stout · 8 months ago

It appears that I pretty much cooked my goose, doesn't it. As a former full-time library media teacher in a middle school I very much enjoyed not only keeping up with the latest in young adult literature so as to connect students with good books, but also collaborating with teachers in designing and implementing technology-based projects for students to evaluate and synthesize information from multiple sources. Professional development was also successful and satisfying. However, in my present job as the professional librarian over multiple (first 18, then 14, now 10) elementary libraries, I've encountered great challenges, not the least of which include inadequate numbers of antiquated computers with no budgets for replacement and overworked teachers who have little or no interest in adding one more thing to their long list of new demands on instructional time. I have to agree with you that your vision for sweeping change must come by "Baby steps, one teacher at a time, and with lots and lots of love," and I have no doubt that it will happen under your capable and thoughtful direction. Time to do my nightly reading........

Bev_Stout · 8 months ago

Darren, I want you to know that we (elementary library media specialists) are not only on board, but we've been steering our own ship for some time. We manage all of our library databases through an online program, we have trained our assistants to use wireless laptops and data projectors to present electronic lessons that we have posted online to help students in using the library and in finding, evaluating, and using information and ideas. We use sophisticated wireless hand-held devices to inventory our collections. We communicate electronically and collaborate in online documents. Each of us has a blog where our assistants post ideas to share materials to use with students in our libraries, and we have a wiki for posting useful websites.

After a day of balancing 20 budgets (2 for each school) and cleaning up unwanted call numbers from most of my school databases, I had a hard time getting my head around an expansion of my job, but realize that we already do a great many of the things listed. We can do what you're asking and do it well. We are part of the communities in our schools.

Darren Draper · 8 months ago

Bev, I fully understand the kind of pressures that you have all been under
and sincerely hope that the support structures that we've put in place in
the Canyons should greatly alleviate many of these problems. Trust me when I
say that the school communities in the Canyons School District will be
receiving a level of service greatly superior than anything they've ever
been accustomed to.

I will be posting an explanation of the entire Technology Services team as
soon as I can get a free minute or two to write it all up.

As far as cooking geese goes, I know you well, and look forward to seeing
your application.

Bill Ferriter · 8 months ago

This is an interesting strand of conversation to me because I've run afowl (pardon the cooked goose pun) of library media specialists more than once in the past few years by asking one central question over and over:

"As teachers become more and more digitally savvy and as more and more material is available and consumed online, couldn't districts do with fewer media specialists? Aren't teachers becoming 'media specialists' themselves?"

That inevitably sets off fireworks and I'm fed to the wolves by angry professionals who feel like their positions are being questioned. Usually the pushback sounds something like this:

"Do you REALLY think you have the understanding of digital literacy, information management and young adult literature that WE do?"

My answer is always the same: Yes.

Which can mean only one thing----It's time for media specialists to tailor their role to the current reality. If your customers are able to do what you once were able to do for them, you'd better start finding new ways to add value to the school.

Otherwise, you'll see your positions cut!

I never quite understand why the idea of changing is so hard for media specialists to get their heads wrapped around. Even the term "media specialists" implies constant changing, considering that media is ever evolving.

Whew---can you tell that this is a strand that gets me all fired up?!
Bill

Pete Caggia · 8 months ago

Do we need less Media Specialists? No. Do we need less of the type of Media Specialists that most schools have? Emphatically, yes. I agree with Bill that some teachers are quite capable of teaching the skills that used to be "owned" by Media Specialists.

I don't agree that there a lot of those teachers out there. Until there are, we need Media Specialists who are able to be technology leaders in their schools. They need to share technology, use technology, and encourage and praise teachers in their use of technology. They have to champion technology and 21st century learners.

When you finally have a lot of teachers who are true 21-century teachers (and I know Bill is one of those), we'll still need Media/Technology Specialists who can coordinate a consistent approach so that students can expect to grow in their technology use when they leave one classroom and go to the next.

I am a Media Specialist by occupation, but I refer to myself as a Media/Technology Teacher. I am a coach, a mentor, a coordinator, and a champion of my teachers in their efforts to use all forms of Media and Technology. Unfortunately, I don't think there are enough of us out there who fit this model. They're out there, but we haven't reached the tipping point yet. We need more Media Specialists who embrace the future rather than those who preserve the past.

Bill Ferriter · 7 months ago

Pete wrote:
When you finally have a lot of teachers who are true 21-century teachers (and I know Bill is one of those), we'll still need Media/Technology Specialists who can coordinate a consistent approach so that students can expect to grow in their technology use when they leave one classroom and go to the next.

This is a brilliant comment, Pete---Media specialists can be the bridge between classrooms, ensuring that there is some consistency between applications of digital media and information management skills.

I think my only worry as a classroom teacher is where do we find the time to meet with y'all?! That's always been the barrier between productive working relationships with media specialists for me.

The media people that I've worked with have always been bright people that I knew I could learn from---and they were always willing to help---but I never had the time to do the learning.

I actually got tired of hearing "My door is always open," simply because my door is always closed and my room is always full----of kids, of colleagues in PLC meetings, of parents in conferences, of special programs teachers planning interventions.

For media specialists to truly become contributing members of a "learning" community, there has to be more opportunities for structured collaboration with teachers that are not add-ons to already filled days.

Any of this make sense?
Bill

Mary Reiman · 7 months ago

I find this strand interesting also, especially since I've just sat in on 4 webinars from AASL, the American Association of School Librarians, which have addressed our new national standards that align quite closely with the new NETS standards. In our district, our media specialists (teacher librarians, collaborators...call them what you want) blog, create wikis and podcasts, chat with authors via Skype, win national Cable in the Classroom awards (actually they work with the teachers so the teachers win the awards), teach research that aligns with our new K-5 writing curriculum, and do whatever else needs to be done to help students. They do this with no less dedication than ever...even though our jobs are being cut, paraeducator hours are gone so they also have to shelve books (because we check out over 940,000 books per year in our 55 schools) as well as collaborate with our teachers. I'm proud of all they are and all they do and we will continue to create dynamic professional development so they have opportunities to keep learning new technologies to best serve our students and staff.

Darren Draper · 7 months ago

I agree with Erin, Bill, Pete, and Mary and suspect that a majority of the Media Coordinators currently in our district's schools fall into the category that Mary has described. They truly are teacher librarians and collaborators.

However, by providing additional support and training, I hope to bring every librarian in our district up to this standard. Baby steps, yes, but steps nonetheless. Personally, I think that librarians should be leaders in the school - if they're not already - and walk the walk when it comes to utilizing technology to teach and to learn.

I just hope that they don't get too nervous when I hold them to such a high standard.

Karl Fisch · 7 months ago

I think that was also exactly my concern I was trying to share - albeit not very well - in that twitter conversation. We need to have an ongoing, public, and vigorous discussion about what a "media specialist" - no matter what particular name your district is using - is.

Can you be a media specialist without being a specialist in the media forms of the day? What are the important and essential media forms of today? How can we utilize them with teachers and students? How do we prepare teachers and students for the inevitable rapid change of what the current media forms are? The questions (and I'm tired, so they perhaps could be worded better) go on and on and on.

But the concern is are those questions even being discussed/debated out in the open? Yes, many folks are having the discussion, but is it enough? How do we help current media specialists who perhaps don't feel comfortable having the discussion, much less working with these new media? And how can they help us? And can folks get beyond defensiveness to talk about the issues, and about what's best for our students? Or is the end of the discussion, "too much technology, not enough library?"

Bill Ferriter · 7 months ago

Karl wrote:
The questions (and I'm tired, so they perhaps could be worded better) go on and on and on.


Actually, Karl, your questions are brilliant! They're exactly the kind of wording that I think can push the conversation forward in a safe way for media specialists not quite ready for change.



Karl also wrote:

But the concern is are those questions even being discussed/debated out in the open?


In my experience, the answer to this is no. In fact, the discussions I've been involved in end up being derailed by an overconfidence on the part of media specialists that they automatically know more than anyone about media, so their perceptions of reality are unquestionable.

I guess that a part of that defensiveness has to come from working in positions that are constantly on the chopping block or that often "fly under the radar," but my skill set in building relationships just isn't strong enough to work through the wall and to drive productive dialogue.

It's been a frustration in my professional work, that's for sure....
Bill

Darren Draper · 7 months ago

Excellent points, Karl. The discussion DOES need to take place, and with the discussion an eventual determination to move in the right direction.

In thinking more about this, I'm concerned about the tone of many of the comments in this thread about how librarian-type positions are being heavily downsized.

How bad is it out there, really?

Diane · 7 months ago

In reading more of this thread, I'm concerned that we are only talking about secondary school libraries where, at least to this point, our schools have maintained a full-time certified librarian. Most of this is due to accreditation requirements. The elementary schools, on the other hand, have sadly eliminated most of the certificated librarians. The need for professional librarians here is critical. Without them in every school the need for District Specialists is even more crucial. The techology needs are different in the elementary schoolsl from those in the High Schools. Teachers want and need to be trained to use thechnology, but the students are served greatly from the library program first-hand. We need to address their needs differently.

Darren Draper · 7 months ago

I agree with you completely.

Evan Abbey · 7 months ago

The other dimension to this question is whether the media specialist plays the role of "resource" or "curriculum supervisor". Even if they are technology savvy, one needs to question their role if they are only serving as a resource. As Bill pointed out, that resource can be reproduced in many different ways that doesn't require the cost burden of a paid position.

Instead of "helping students find books" and "helping teachers find websites", the media specialist should be developing the comprehensive media literacy (and in many smaller districts, the infotech literacy) curriculum, looking at "what gets taught where", overseeing building-wide professional development around those literacies, being the driving force behind cross-curricular units that meld media with core content, and supervising the assessment of the curriculum to determine if what they are doing is working. I would also argue that the media specialist should be a key figure on the schoolwide reading committee, doing those above tasks with reading literacy in addition to media literacy. In many cases, these tasks are left to teachers, which ties down their time to do other things and results in an add-on program, not an integrated one.

Nancy White · 7 months ago

Sorry to be joining in this conversation so late - just caught the link to it on Twitter. The job posting you shared is the job that I have in a mid-sized school district in Colorado. My title has evolved from "Media Services Specialist" to "Information Literacy Specialist." I do all of these things and more. A focus for me in the past year has been facilitating the writing of a 21st century learning plan for the district, and providing professional development for teachers to help them transform to more 21st century classrooms. One of the best strategies I can offer them is to collaboratively plan, teach and assess student skills with their school's teacher-librarian. Why? Because of the important emerging role that a teacher-librarian has adopted - promoting 21st century skills in their schools as an instructional coach. They not only bring the knowledge of the resources (to include Web 2.0 tools!) and the strategies to teach students effective information skills, but have the broad view of curriculum, technology skills, and great ideas to help transform a mundane, lower-level Blooms research paper into a vibrant, real-world project that allows students to use critical thinking, problem solving, and 21st century tools. In my district, teacher-librarians are leaders in the 21st century learning movement.
I also serve on several state level organizations and can tell you that there are some really amazing teacher-librarians in Colorado. Yes, there are some as you describe - old school librarians who still "shush" the students and shy away from technology. I suspect that in any profession you will find some with this attitude and fear of change. I recall a video satire in which a teacher proudly states, “I became a teacher and have been for 25 years so I can do the same thing – for 25 years!” Fortunately, teacher-librarian leaders come equipped to help and support teachers with that attitude – and are leaders and the driving force in making 21st century learning a reality in their schools.