TARGET-Library Media Specialists- Where do they come from

[Josephine Dervan <rderva@INJERSEY.COM>]

I have been reading the comments in this thread and decided to add my two
cents...

Unlike many of the correspondents I have "always" wanted to be a librarian.
Actually this "bookworm" became "hooked" while working as a volunteer in a
local school library at age 15. I lived in a state (NY) where a teaching
degree is necessary for the LMS liceanse. So I earned my history/elementary
ed degree and immediately pursued my MLS part time while working as a
Librarian Trainee at the NY Public Library. I found NYPL a great place to
learn about the profession but missed the teaching aspect of the job. So as
soon as I recieved my MLS from Pratt Institute I left NYPL and went into the
NYC school system as a school librarian.

After 3 years in the NYC system I left to raise my family. When I returned
to the profession I was in another state (NJ) and found many changes in the
technology part of the job. After a 1 year leave replacement position and a
5 year stint as a Librarian AND Kindergarten teacher, I found myself in my
present position. I have been in this district for 8 years and for the first
time REALLY consider myself a Library Media Specialist rather than just a
Librarian. I love it.

When I graduated from undergraduate school a teacher needed to know how to
operate a record player, a filmstrip projector, an overhead projector, a
16MM projector and a mimeograph machine. Today this knowlwdge has expanded
to include VCRs, computers, CD players, tape recorders, copy machines, LCD
panels and fax machines. No one knows what new technology will be in use by
the time I retire in 2009.

I find these new technologies fascinating. Never in my wildest dreams did I
imagine that in 1997 I would have 9 classes of students in Aberdeen, N.J.
corresponding electronically with students on 4 different continents. After
my students are finished listening to the House of Dies Drear they can now
see the video and compare the two. We can read Arthur's Teacher Trouble in a
book or on a CD ROM. We can now consult electronic reference books and the
Internet as well as the books, pamphlets and magazines on our library
shelves when we do research. All of cyberspace can go to our school website
and share our students' art work that graced the bulletin boards the week
before. In September we will hunt books not by using cards in a large
catalog but rather by computer.

Though I wholehartedly embrace the new technologies (I've taught Internet
use classes and have taken a distance learning course), I am still a
"bookwoman". It's just that now instead of ordering only from print catalogs
I can use a disk on my computer to speed up the process. Although I envy the
new grads who have been taught to use the new media as part of their
instuctions, it has been fun (!?!) learning on my own. My own experiences
have made it easy to teach my students the values of becoming lifelong
learners.

Jo Dervan
Library Media Specialist (and proud of it)
Strathmore School
Aberdeen, NJ 07747

rderva@injersey.com