The Library Media Specialist: Meeting the Challenge

Abstract

Do you remember Mrs. Wortman? She was the high school librarian. I remember how she helped me gather information to write a report about clipper ships. We had to wait two weeks for books to arrive from the library in Indianapolis. Last week daughter asked her Mrs. Wortman for help in finding information for a report on space stations. Fifteen minutes later she had a list of fifteen articles available on CDROM and a summary of reports, including proposed designs, on a 3-inch floppy from a conference that had ended the week before. I couldn't help but think how my Mrs. Wortman would have loved to have been able to respond so quickly. According to Webster's New Twentieth Century Dictionary (1978), a library is a room or a building where a collection of books is kept for reading or reference. In the 1982 World Book Dictionary, library is defined as being a place for a collection of books, periodicals, manuscripts, and to be kept. It is the phrase other materials that has been instrumental in bringing about changes in the role of the traditional library, especially the elementary and secondary school library. As the role of the library has changed, so has the role of the librarian. In the past, few school libraries were the central learning point for all disciplines. All too often, the library's main purpose was that of study hallbook dispensary, with the librarian keeping thirty or more students each hour, in addition to printed materials. Over the years, as the depth and variety of and media forms have changed, the concept of the library has grown to include many more aspects of the total learning process for students and teachers. It now is more commonly referred to as the library media center-with emphasis on the media center. The role of the library media center in the educational process has changed to encompass multiple activities and services. To support and enhance educational goals of students, the library media program interweaves with all areas of the curriculum. Rather than being a centralized depository with a collection of printed and limited audiovisual materials, as was common in the early 1960s, it functions as an integral part of the teaching and learning experience. Today's library often contains numerous media formats, audiovisual equipment, and information storage and retrieval systems necessary for a rich and well-balanced instructional program. The role of the school library media center and the library media specialist (or media specialist) has expanded; it includes leading students to discover the joy of reading and leading both teachers and students to choosing the best methods for gathering desired data and information from a large variety of sources. The traditional role of the school librarian now includes more active participation in the development of collections, more guidance in reading, and more promotion of literature or reference in multiple formats. In one investigation of the changing role of the library media specialist, Eisenberg (1987) found that the teaching role is more dramatic and far reaching than the traditional function of reference and information services. Today a librarian must be more than a cataloguer of books and finder of information sources. A true media specialist must be a well-rounded educator with a variety of skills and talents. Throughout the 1980s, the shift in emphasis and role that began in the 1960s has accelerated and become more clearly defined than ever before. To help understand how this change in role and function has occurred, a brief look at the recent past may be helpful.