GEN: An Open Letter to Keith Swigger: The Importance of School Li

[Mike Eisenberg <mbe@U.WASHINGTON.EDU>]

NOTE: This open letter is also available as a formatted HTML document on the
www.Big6.com <http://www.Big6.com>  website.




                November 1, 1999

                Dr. Keith Swigger
                School of Library & Information Studies
                Texas Woman's University
                PO Box 425438
                Denton, TX 76204-0905

                Dear Keith,

                I'm writing in response to your October 1999 "Make Your
Point" in School Library Journal.  First, let me thank you for once again
raising these important questions. It's healthy for any profession to
respond to questions about its purpose and value.  This is particularly
appropriate in a world that's being turned upside-down, where even
traditional professions such as law and medicine are undergoing fundamental
changes.

                Some of what you say is right on target: school
librarianship should be consistently "professionalized" throughout the
country through rigorous education and certification programs-on the Masters
level.  But, most of the rest of what you say is absolutely wrong.

                School librarians have no identity crisis.  We have a widely
accepted mission statement adopted by AASL over 10 years ago and recently
reaffirmed in the new standards:  "The mission of the library media program
is to ensure that students and staff are effective users of ideas and
information."  (AASL, AECT Information Power, 1998, 1999) And, school
librarians know how to fulfill this mission: by (1) providing a full range
of essential services (including resources provision, access, reference and
information service, and reading guidance and literature appreciation) and
(2) teaching essential information and technology skills skills.  School
librarians don't have to choose between two equally important
functions-service and instruction-rather they are leaders in integrating
them. School library professionals are working hard to improve their ability
to deliver on both-through pre-service and continuing professional
development, by taking advantage of the opportunities afforded by new
technologies, and by expanding the reach of library programs in schools
through collaboration with technology specialists, classroom teachers, and
administrators.

                Interestingly, in my recent work with other types of
librarians-including academic, public, medical, law, and special-I find that
they too are increasingly recognizing the importance of instruction and
training in meeting the needs of their constituents.  In fact, in our
revision of the Masters curriculum at the School of Library and Information
Science at the University of Washington, we have added a new required course
for all library students: Instruction & Training in Library and Information
Environments. This course has been met with universal support from
professionals in the field, faculty, and students in our program.

                People no longer enter the school library profession to
escape the classroom.  On the contrary, they are drawn by the opportunity to
work with students in flexible learning environments, to make the connection
between students and information, resources, and literature, and to reach
across the school rather than focusing on one class or subject area.  You
state that a profession's legitimacy rests on three elements.  School
library work meets all three: school librarians have mastered the essential
skills of providing information services, of building and managing physical
and virtual libraries, and of teaching information and technology skills;
school librarians are increasingly able to meeting the needs of students
through delivery of services-

                including provision of resources and skills instruction; and
the school and broader community are increasingly recognizing the importance
of library and information work in schools and the unique and important role
of the school librarian.

                In my very first class in library school, Bill Katz raised
the same issue of service vs. instruction.  He made a strong case for not
teaching everyone to be a librarian; that we had unique skills and should
use those skills to provide services to patrons and not worry about teaching
them how to do our job.   I now know that this argument oversimplifies the
situation. There's a continuum from self-service to full-service.  Should
the public turn to a librarian every time they have the simplest information
need?  No, in the same way that  people shouldn't turn to a doctor when they
have a small cut or scrape or cold.  But, they should contact a medical (or
library) professional when we have a problem that requires unique,
professional-level services. Furthermore, we now realize that we are not
just talking about skills related to finding information.  People need to be
able to figure out just what they need in the first place, and then how to
use, apply, and pull together information from a range of sources to meet
that need.  These are essential information skills, and it is only logical
that the primary information professional in the school-the school
librarian-should be responsible for ensuring that students learn these
skills. At the same time, school librarians cannot teach every aspect of
every information skill; this requires a collaborative effort involving
classroom teachers, other educators and even parents.  However, school
librarians are the most qualified educators to plan and coordinate the
integrated information skills instructional program.

                Finally, you urge school librarians to "abandon zealotry and
hyperbole," because information isn't life, and it isn't even power. Wrong.
Information is essential to almost every endeavor in life-to learning,
various work activities, even recreation. Even football-something of great
importance in the state of Texas-can be viewed as a contest of competing
information systems.  Do you really believe that it really makes no
difference-in terms of success in school, business, public service, personal
well-being-whether or not a person is skilled in finding, evaluating, and
using information?

                You say that, "Librarians won't save the world." I say, "why
not?"  I believe in the value of information for decision-making, learning,
and helping people to achieve their aspirations.  Furthermore, I believe
that the full range of information skills (including the ability to define
an information need, to select and access sources, to extract relevant
information, to combine information to resolve the need, and to evaluate
effectiveness and efficiency) are part of the new basics of K-12 education.
I sometimes kid my friends in the medical profession that all they do is to
patch kids up so that we can do the really important work-to help them to
develop their minds.  Okay, I'll back down; medicine is important too.  But,
in my mind, there's nothing any more important than what we do as school
librarians: ensuring that students are effective users of ideas and
information.

                Sincerely,



                Mike Eisenberg
                Library Media Educator
                Director and Professor




++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Mike Eisenberg <mbe@u.washington.edu>
Director and Professor
School of Library and Information Science
University of Washington
Box 352930, Seattle, WA 98195-1237
ph. (206) 543-1794 fax: (206) 616-3152
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

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