The Good Librarian

[Lawrence Newton <lwnewton@YAHOO.COM>]

 I didn't respond to the first target on this topic
because the author was looking for specific
research-based data.  However, Wendy from Louisville
has thrown down the gauntlet and asked for our
personal definition of "The Good Librarian".
   Okay, Wendy, here's mine:
   A good librarian is responsive to the immediate
information/curriculum needs of his/her patrons, but
also looks beyond them.  The primary focus of the
classroom teacher is the step-by-step development of
the academic skills needed for the child to succeed in
his/her further education, then an adult making a full
contribution to society and our republic.  We as
librarians are here to support them in this.  However,
our role goes beyond that. We take the long view, and
work to prepare our students to be life-long learners.
 If education stops at the end of the twelfth grade
(or college), we have failed.
   We make life-long learners several ways:
   We should make books and reading so enticing and
enjoyable to our students that they will turn to them
for enjoyment and enrichment all their lives.  We do
this by making the best of literature available to
them, and then by introducing it through book sharing,
storytelling, book talks, etc.
   The good librarian has information readily at hand
at the point the student needs it, and shows him/her
how to find and use it quickly, interestingly, and
relevantly.
   The good librarian is more interested in people
than in objects; preserving the library's books and
other information sources are means to an end, not the
end itself.  Outdated information and technologies
needs to make way for the current, but only if they
are an improvement over the old.
   The good librarian is open, friendly, and helpful.
He is always the patron's advocate.
   The good librarian is aware of the world around
her, in and beyond the library profession.  She keeps
well-informed about books and other information
sources relevant to her patrons, but also keeps up
with popular culture and the world beyond the school
and library.

   I look forward to seeing the thoughts of our
colleagues on this.





=====
"Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend.  Inside a dog, it's too dark to 
read."  Groucho Marx
Lawrence Newton, Librarian
Carnegie Elem. School,
Houston (TX) ISD
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