Re: (Fwd) New national guidelines for school

[Gary Hartzell <ghartz@CWIS.UNOMAHA.EDU>]

On Fri, 8 Dec 1995, MARILYN MILLER wrote:

> The AASL National Guidelines Committees have begun work on developing
> new guidelines.  The Vision Committee charged with writing the
> document is beginning the writing process this week-end.

RE:  Information Power:
> 1.  What are the strengths of Information Power? Of these, which are
>       key components to an updated Information Power?
> 2.  What currently in Information Power needs to be dropped from an
>       updated version and why?
> 3.  What not currently in Information Power needs to be added and why?
> 4.  Any additional comments
>
> We would appreciate your comments.  Please forward them to me or
> share them with the list.  An open discussion might be helpful to all.
> I will be synthesizing responses and forwarding that synthesis to the
> Vision Committee.  Marilyn Miller


Dear Marilyn:

I would like to offer this thought:  To make a difference in the real world
of schooling -- whatever the revisions to Information Power -- the
delivery/presentation of the new version must be strong, more diversified,
and more targeted to non-librarians than was the 1988 version.  To judge
by the changes in schools an by the literature available, the original
Information Power had virtually no effect on the way teachers,
administrators, or board members --- the people who set budgets and make
decisions -- view the school library and librarian.

Let me offer some evidence:

No articles explaining Information Power's contents or significance or
arguing for adoption of its standards a ppeared in the American School
Board JOurnal in 1988, 1989, or 1990.  In fact, the ASBJ carried only one
article in those three years following IP's publication that referred to
school libraries at all.

In the same time period, neither the NASSP Bulletin -- the premier
publication of the National Assn. of Secondary School Principals -- nor The
School Administrtor -- the publication of the American Association of
School Administrators (AASA) carried any articles on IP or on what it
might mean to schools.  One 1989 article in the NASSP Bulletin did mention
IP, but it said only that a three-part role had been defined for librarians.

Nor did IP get play in the literature read by teachers.  The Clearing
HOuse, for example, carried only one article in 1988 that centered on
school libraries, but it had nothing to do with IP.  After going through
all of 1989 without offering any ibrary articles to its readers, The
Clearing HOuse in 1990 again published one article that dealt with school
libraries.  That article gave a paragraph description of the IP
guidelines, but made no connections with administration or teaching.  The
English Journal hd noting on IP in 1988, 89, 90, or 91.  There was a
January 88 article on "English Teachers and Librarians Working Together,"
but it preceded the appearance of IP and didn't have a line in it from a
librarian.

The High School Journal had one article on libraries in 1990, but it was
about censorship.  The ASCD's Educational Leadership ignored the
appearance of IP altogher.  The Phi Delta Kappan, probably the premier
publication in education in the US, was likewise silent until March of
1992 when it presented a section of 5 articles on school libraries -- but
IP wa not prominent in those articles, an only one of them was co-authored
by a practicing school librarian.

A look through The American Biology Teacher, The Science Teacher, The
Mathematics Teacher, Social Studies, The History Teacher, The Magazine of
History for Teachers, and the English Quarterly in the late '80s and
early '90s also shows no recognition of either IP or of a librarian's
potential for curriculum development cooperation, teaching consultancy, or
staff development.

Unless the roles and standards of school libraries and librarians promoted
by library associations and publications are recognized, adopted, and
supported by school boards, administrators, and teachers, they are of
little value in strengthening either libraries, library programs, or
librarians in the schools.  In order to be recognized, roles and standards
have to be communicated to the people who count -- that is, the people who
set budgets and schedules, who hire and fire, who make staffing decisions,
who represent schools to the public and to the legislatures.  Librarians
need to write and make presentations to educators outside the library.
Unless the presentation of the new Information Power includes heavy duty
presentation to board members, administrators, and teachers, a great deal
of effort and thought will have gone for nothing because nothing will
change.  The new IP will be just one more book on the shelf in someone's
office.


Gary Hartzell
Dept. of Educational Administration
University of Nebraska, Omaha
ghartz@cwis.unomaha.edu