Job description

[Barbara Gottlock <bgottloc@LLWNET.LL.PBS.ORG>]

Hi All LM_netters,
>     I have been following the discussions about library title and job
> descriptions with great interest.  As some of you may know my school
> district, Clarkstown, tried to fire all the teacher-librarians and replace
> us with public librarians.  One of the reasons they wanted to do this was
> because they perceived us as being "book" oriented and not "technologically"
> oriented.  While many of us pushed to automate our libraries and to add
> other computers to our libraries, some did not.
>    The school board seemed to equate running computer labs and running the
> libraries.  They wanted us to be responsible for the computer labs in our
> buildings.  Once again some of us were running the labs because of interest
> and access, others were not. In some school building the computer lab was
> located next to the library but in other cases it was not.  (In one school
> the lab was up a flight of stairs and down a corridor)
>    There was little understanding on the part of the school board what the
> job of a school librarian was.  They wanted us to embrace technology but
> there was no understanding what that meant.  They didn't seem interested in
> the other jobs that went along with running a library.  They certainly
> weren't interested in the many "maintenance" jobs it takes to run a library.
> Their main concern was "technology."  This term was never clearly defined by
> the school board.
>    Last year we were actually fired and were only rehired July 6, 1994.
> We were rehired because of community pressure.  The community understood
> that we were teachers first, librarians second.  The teaching part is what
> our school board never understood.  It is our job to teach the students of
> our district how to search for information, whether it be in the card
> catalog, in an OPAC, on CD ROM, on the internet or whatever ways the future
> will bring.  It makes no difference what form the information takes, our
> responsiblity is to show our clients how to locate that information.  These
> clients could be students, teachers, parents, administrators or school board
> members.
>    I know LM_Net will continue to discuss all the issues that come along.  I
> know I look forward to them.
>
--
Barbara Gottlock          Clarkstown High School South
                          31 Demarest Mill Road
                          West Nyack, NY 10994
E-mail address:    bgottloc@LLWNET.LL.PBS.ORG