April 21, 2008
Librarians Urge Department of Education to Tag Library-Tech Instructors as 'High Need'
Librarians are showing a keen interest in a federal grant program that provides college scholarships worth $4,000 a year to students who agree to work as teachers in certain schools.
The program, known as Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education Grant Program, or Teach, awards scholarships to students who commit to teaching—after graduation—a “high-need” subject for at least four years at schools serving low-income students.
The grant program definition of a high-need field includes: mathematics, foreign languages, bilingual education, science, reading specialist, and special education. The American Library Association wants “library media specialist” included on the list. The specialists teach students how to find, evaluate, and communicate online information, a field known as information literacy.
The library group is urging its membership to write to the U.S. Department of Education and prod it into categorizing library media specialist as a high-need field. The department released a proposed rule last month on how it would carry out the program, and asked that public comments on the rule be turned in by today. —Andrea L. Foster
Posted on Monday April 21, 2008 | Permalink |Comments
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ABSOLUTELY! It’s about time that the education arena truly recognizes the expertise provided by the dedicated professionals who have been the purveyors of what is now becoming INFORMATION SCIENCE -definitely a much-needed field in education.
— Lee Apr 21, 11:47 PM #
“Information science” is just “librarianship” for men too insecure to be called librarians. Let them find something else to do; librarians are more than equal to this task.
— Ned Lud Apr 22, 06:50 AM #
Ned – I am a proud librarian, however, the many names used by others in our profession have meaning for themselves and for others. For many, the word librarian conjures some fairly antiquated images. Whether the word or ideas change (or both), let’s not underestimate our collective job to effect those changes. This is more than an issue of a person’s sex.
— Stephen Spohn Apr 22, 07:59 AM #
Stephen – Well stated. Library services go far beyond what they used to, however, often the title librarian conjures images of index card files and dark, intimidating buildings. Today’s academic libraries offer many more informational services and resources than in the past. Why shouldn’t they update their terminology to reflect these changes?
— Betty Apr 22, 08:25 AM #
Hmmm… I’m sorry, but this seems to be a stretch to me. After 30 years as a ‘librarian’ or ‘Information Scientist’, I’ve seen a lot of insecure posturing by the profession. Information literacy is a noble goal, no argument there, but to equate it w/ math, science, reading, is a tough sell. I’m also not convinced that the library world is the natural provider of this literacy – we tend to bring along far too much baggage.
— Jim Apr 22, 10:36 AM #
It sounds to me as though we are discussing K-12 here. The “Library Media Specialist” is (especially in low income areas) the technical site coordinator. This is a critical person in that environment, and I suspect that this is the reason for a concern about too few qualified teachers going that direction with their careers.
— mike Apr 22, 10:49 AM #
Stephen & Betty: The ability to name things is a powerful attribute. Librarians need to withhold that power for themselves in describing what they do. If the word “librarian” conjures up, for the uneducated, an antiquated image, then we have the power to alter that image. When others name themselves “information scientists,” yet retain those actions still (and best) undertaken by librarians, it is only to diminish our positions in the eyes of those that control our budgets.
Jim: Who better than librarians, who see ALL students from ALL disciplines, to provide detailed instruction on the distillation of facts into good information?
— Ned Lud Apr 22, 10:57 AM #
Library media specialists is the title used by most K-12 systems for Librarians. They not only provide typical librarian services, but teach students how to use computers, how to do library searches, and how to use digital cameras, movie cameras and scanners they also teach those same things to the teachers.
— joanne Apr 22, 12:26 PM #
Since when do “typical librarian services” not include “how to do library searches” and computer hardware and software instruction? What exactly is a typical librarian service?
— KE Apr 22, 02:33 PM #
Regardless of the job title, the person who works in K-12 providing traditional library services and those that involve online searching, use of media services, running school TV systems, assisting other teachers with technology needs and whatever may be the newest information services is undervalued! It is essential that skills that enable one to identify, locate, access, evaluate, and understand information be taught and that someone be in our schools with the skills to select, organize, and manage the tools and resources and to teach others about their use.
— MD Apr 22, 06:40 PM #