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It seems to me that if you are waiting for the ALA and the AASL or any other
organization to do something nation wide about librarians' image, you'll wait
a long time to see results. "Information Power" didn't do it.
"Information Power" was published in 1988. But to how many schools boards or
administrators was it presented? How many of them individually or
collectively or through their organizations endorsed or adopted it? None.
No articles explaining its contents or significance or aguring for adoption
of its standards appeared in the "American School Board Journal" in 1988,
1989, or 1990. IN fact, the ASBJ carried only one article in all those
three years that referred to school libraries at all, and it was a call to
engage businesses in making donations.
Nor did administrators pay any attention to it. The Nat. Assn. of Sec.
School Principals (NASSP) "Bulletin" carried nothing on it. The "School
Administrator," the publication of the American Assn. of SChool Administrators
carried nothing on it. One 1989 article in the NASSP Bulletin did mention it,
but it only said that three roles were defined for librarians. IT did not
endorse its standards. The High School Magazine has yet to mention it.
NOr did "Inf. POwer" get much play in literature read by classroom teachers.
The "Clearing HOuse" had one article on libraries in 1988 and it was not
on "Inf.Power". NO library articles in the Clearing HOuse in 1989, and one
in 1990. The one in '90 gave a paragraph's description of the Inf. POwer
guidelines, but made no connection with adminstration or teaching. The
"English JOurnal" had nothing on Inf. Power in 88, 89, 90, or 91. THe
"High SChool JOurnal" had one article on libraries in 90, but it was on
censorship. The ASCD's "Educational Leadership" ignored it . THe Phi
Delta "Kappan" was silent on libraries between 1988 and 1992, when it
printed 5 articles, but not one of those was solely authored by a K-12
librarian and none focused on Information POwer.
Look through the programs for the teacher and administrator professional
organization conferences and conventions. There aren't any library
presentations there worth the counting.
Librarians can talk all they want, and publish all the standards and
guidelines they want for each other --- and do absolutely nothing to
improve their image in the eyes of the people who make the decisions
about the respect they should receive, the budgets and facilities they
should have, and the resources they should control.
Unless the ALA and the AASL and the others are going to attack the real
targets -- the people who make budget, personnel, and curriculum decisions --
in schoolsl and school districts, their work will make for better librarians
in the library, but not for improved perceptions of librarians in the
world that controls the roles of, access to, and resources committed to
the library and to librarians.
Librarians have to do that themselves, individually at the school level
and collectively at the district, state, and national level. They need
to get OUT of the library and into the NASSP, ASCD, AASA, NAESP, PDK,
Nat. Council of Social Studies, Nat Council of Teachers of English,
Nat. Council of TEachers of Mathematics, and so on.
When those people (Teachers, board members, administrators, parents, and
national educational figures) -- and ONLY when those people -- see and
understand the value of the library and the librarian will their perceptions
of the library and librarian change for the better. Until then, you're
just marking time and talking to yourselves.
Gary Hartzell
Dept. of Educ. Administration
University of Nebraska, Omaha
On Fri, 24 Feb 1995, K. Gary Ambridge wrote:
> I'm still wating for ALA and
> AASL to do something nation wide about our image
>
> They have. It is called "Information Power" and it deals with the three
> roles of school librarians. Information specialist. instuctional
> consultant, and Teacher.
> Gary
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