The School Library Journal blog has a link to a spot called Common Talkback Threads http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6640367.html#talkBack. Here, I found a great article and accompanying video on the duties of a library media specialist in the 21st century. The New York Times featured the article, "The Future of Reading: In Web Age, Library Job Gets Update" on a front page edition in February. I saw myself and my school’s library in some parts of the article but not at all in others. I could NOT believe it when I read, “At the end of every week, Ms. Rosalia opens the library for classes to come in solely to check out books. . . . . By the end of one period, more than 30 students stood in line at the circulation desk. This is an everyday occurrence at my school.” At my school, we check out books throughout the instructional day for the entire school year! Not to belittle, by any means, any of the technology/Web 2.0 “stuff” that this librarian and others are doing, but if they only open the library for check out one day a week, then I’m sure there is plenty of time to show students how to create videos, blogs, and Powerpoint presentations.
As a media specialist, I think it is incumbent upon me to go with the flow of what my teachers and principals “want from” the media specialist. My group is big on the reading component – far more so than on technology. So I need to approach Web 2.0 applications in concert with inspiring a love of reading, with the objective of serving a two-fold need for students. However, at my school, we are in a place where the reading takes precedence.
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That does sound pretty pathetic that the media specialist only opened the library at the end of the week. What ever happened to reading a real book? I am glad that the media specialists here have their priorities straight.
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