[LM_NET] Negative and nasty comments -- Discussion

[Paula Yohe <paula_yohe@YAHOO.COM>]

You know
it has been interesting
I received private emails thanking me for posting.
And I received an email telling me that even technology people ought to be able to 
spell

This is not a post about this particular topic - but a discussion in general on 
what we are actually doing as a profession when we say negative and nasty things ..


I have been a media specialist for more years than I care to remember
I am also a certified administrator..


I am involved in many different things --
from dealing with IT folks - to principals -- to software developers -- national 
committees working on data quality -- technical development of products  -- school 
information systems - technology integration groups - technology coaches and 
library groups.

Overall -- media specialists are considered by most of these groups to be negative 
and hard to get along with --
I fight the battle at almost every meeting I attend that media specialists needs to 
be included -- and 90% of the time -
I get no
because of the attitude of librarians --- 

Are there some bad IT folks out there - yes
Are there some bad principals out there - yes

But overall when I go to different meetings -- I do not get the negative responses 
about these groups that I get about librarians --

This tells me that overall our profession needs to do a better job in presenting 
ourselves to various groups of people --
I actually ended up having this discussion earlier today with a group of librarians 
from academic, public, school, and technical colleges - about the perception of 
libraries and librarians and
I came home with that on my mind and received some email about this very thing...

which was my point in my original post --
and after receiving one email in particular

I decided that we need to have a discussion on ways that our profession can begin 
to change the perception out there about libraries and librarians

Not one person can do it -- it has to be a group effort
We need to get involved with other groups and work together --

If you don't like the IT folks -- get to know them -- and understand what their 
problems are 
if you don't like the technology coach -- get to know them --

Stop being the barrier and being a bridge

I truly believe the survival of libraries and our profession is ultimately at 
stake..






I fight that battle almost every time 




Paula Yohe
Director Of Technology/Library Media Center
Dillon School District Two
405 West Washington Street
Dillon, SC 29536
Phone: 843-841-3604 Fax:843-774-1214
paula_yohe@yahoo.com


      

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