Re: Changing face of school library media centers

[Darlene A Yasick <lib027yas@JUNO.COM>]

I see people everyday saying they are librarians/media specialists when
in truth some aren't even certified teachers (Wow that didn't come out
the way I wanted it to-please don't send me the teacher/librarian
flames--I would say the same thing about someone who was in a classroom
saying they were a math teacher and wasn't certified) The school district
considers them media specialists and list them as so because their
assigned location is the library! That helps to perpetuate the idea that
one doesn't have to have a special degree to do this job. I think it
reflects on the wonderful and dedicated people who work as aides/
parapros/clerks--they often do such as good job that the school district
feels it would be silly to pay for a professional at a teacher's salary
when they can pay an aide $7-10 an hour and "get the same thing" ( I
worked as an aide for eight years and never would have introduced myself
as the librarian) Also if you look at the suggested staffing levels set
up by the different states and accreditation agencies (didn't there used
to be a standard in Info Power) you will see that is most cases these
numbers seem very low and can be used to jusitify cuts/eliminations. So
at a time when our expertise is most needed due to the glut of
information and the pressing need to raise information literate citizens,
we seem to be most expendable. The very situation that makes us more
important, the vast amount of information at our finger tips makes it
seem like we are not needed. Our knowledge in training others to evaluate
and locate information is crucial.
In addition I think that a lot of people are not going into the
profession because of the difficulty in finding the training. Since in
most cases you have to have a bachelor's degree and/or a teaching
certificate first, it means that people are often settled before they
begin to persue the degree. Since there are not many schools that offer
this program ( at least not in Michigan-especially if you live in the
western part of the state-Thanks GVSU) it is difficult to persue the
program. Just my opinion.
Darlene Yasick, Media Specialist
Hopkins High School
lib027yas@juno.com
Only a mediocre person is always at his best. Somerset Maugham

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