Re: [LM_NET] serious concern

[Barbara COMBES <b.combes@ECU.EDU.AU>]

Hi All,
I have watched this discussion with interest. How do you raise your
profile in the school to show people that the term librarian (and I like
it because I feel it is all-encompassing) means so much more than the
keeper of the books?

Offer to do some PD with your staff. Show them how to search the
Internet properly, talk about information gateways and electronic
portals, include snippets of information in weekly newsletters about
happenings in the technology world. Call yourself an information
specialist. Take on board the new technologies and if you haven't been
back to uni to upskill in the last 7 years, then get on board and do
some intensive PD for yourself. If you go to conferences, report back on
these to the staff and the Principal. Talk about (knowledgeably of
course) learning objects, metadata and online curriculum. Changing
perceptions will only happen when we move out of the library, stop
presenting ourselves as library managers or keepers of the books and
sell ourselves to staff and admin as the gatekeepers to global
information sources and knowledge. We are also the keymasters in that we
are the ones who teach informatgion literacy skills and unlock the
lifelong learners within. Ask staff - What can the TL do for you? - then
tell them. You are always a teacher first and a library and information
centre manager second.
:)
BC


Convenor for the Transforming Information and Learning Conference
http://www.chs.ecu.edu.au/TILC

Barbara Combes, Lecturer
School of Computer and Information Science
Edith Cowan University, Perth Western Australia
Ph: (08) 9370 6072
Email: b.combes@ecu.edu.au

"Whatever the cost of our libraries, the price is cheap compared to that
of an ignorant nation." Walter Cronkite

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-----Original Message-----
From: School Library Media & Network Communications
[mailto:LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU] On Behalf Of Charlotte Ballard
Sent: Wednesday, 1 March 2006 12:48 PM
To: LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
Subject: Re: [LM_NET] serious concern

These comments all ring true.  My favorite one came from a very good
Kindergarten teacher--excellent, in fact.  But she stopped me in the
hallway one evening and asked me, Why are you a librarian when you are
so smart you could be anything you wanted to be?"  And so on, implying
that I was wasting my talents as a children's librarian.  I asked her
sweetly since she was so sweet, "Don't you think the children deserve
the best librarian they could have?"


>>> Jennifer GARCIA <garciaj@UCISD.NET>  >>>
I left the classroom and have never looked back again!  As far as I am
concerned, I still teach all the time only now my classroom is bigger
and has more books.  Not only that but i reach many more students this
way.  I don't know why you are getting that attitude, but I get comments
all the time about how they would LIKE to have my job and get out of the
classroom.   Good luck and don't look back! 
 
Jennifer Garcia, Librarian
Uvalde Junior High School
P.O. Box 1909
Uvalde, TX 78802
(830)591-2980
garciaj@ucisd.net

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