Re: Help needed on role of LMC

["D. Louise Edwards" <ledwards@EAGLE.ESD189.WEDNET.EDU>]

Dear Val,

I think you are facing an issue that many librarians will address - sooner
or later.  What is the role of the library media center in this new
information age?

While enrolled in a class called Integrating the Internet and the
Curriculum, my instructor Steve Goodwin, gave an excellent argument for
the librarian's role.  Basically, the internet is a vast resource which
has to be interpreted and catalogued by someone.  Who is better qualified
than the librarian?  We will be needed more than ever.

Media specialists or librarians will need to identify bookmarks and
create folders for subjects and topics needed and requested by students
and teachers.  Teachers will not have the time to search the internet for
their resources to prepare for their classes.

And media specialists or librarians will need to train students and
teachers to be discerning users of all this uncatalogued and undisciplined
information. Librarians will need to be internet experts.

In my opinion, the curriculum will, to a greater extent, *emphasize* process
as well as content.  This will influence the role of teachers (?) or
librarians(?) or both?  Librarians are trained in both these areas.

And the information and thinking skills presently being taught in media
centers will still be needed in the future.  These skills are as
critical as they have always been and they will always be.

Louise Edwards
Elementary Librarian
Mount Vernon, WA
ledwards@eagle.esd189.wednet.edu