Linda Zop wrote-
> As for Kelly's response, I disagree. Paras cannot assist students in
> obtaining materials....book selection, article retrival online, that
> requires the training of a LMS. >
Linda and all-
In a perfect world, paraprofessionals would NOT have to assist students in
book selection and other professional tasks. Rather they would only do
clerical tasks. However in reality, there are many libraries that function
solely with a paraprofessional for a part or all of the day. I have seen
that happen to many library media programs here in NJ and in other places.
The job is for us to convince our administrators and school boards that
certified trained librarians are important to student achievement. However
in the final analysis, they are the ones making the decisions and sometimes
those decisions include turning a library over to a paraprofessional or even
a certified teacher with no library training.
Our state regional library cooperative has even gone so far as to set up
professional development workshops for those paras who find themselves in
charge of reader services in a school or public library occasionally.
I have been a public and school librarian for over 25 years and encountered
many paraprofessionals who were as competent as the professional librarians
in charge. Some were inspired to go onto college for the MLS degrees.
Jo
******************************************************
Josephine G. Dervan. Library Media Specialist
Strathmore Elementary School
Aberdeen, NJ 07747
rderva@infionline.net
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