Role as Teacher
Many school library media specialists embrace their role as teacher and instructional consultant. However, some naysayers make statements such as "I don't have my own classroom", "I don't give grades", or "teachers view me as the librarian, not another teacher." It's the job of the media specialist to help teachers understand the essential instructional role of the media program in a school. When teachers embark on any project that involves information inquiry or resource-based learning, the media specialist can serve a center role collaborating with a teacher in designing a student-centered learning environment.
Teachers of Information and Inquiry
In their article, Current Themes Regarding Library and Information Skills Instruction: Research Supporting and Research Lacking, Michael Eisenberg and Michael Brown explored four major themes about library and information skills instruction. Although written in 1992, the basic elements of this article remain very timely. These include the following ideas:
- Instruction in library and information skills is a valuable and essential part of the school's educational program.
- Essential library and information skills encompass more than just location of and access to sources. The skills curriculum should emphasize general information problem-solving and research processes and the specific skills within these general processes (e.g., selection, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation).
- Library and information skills should not be taught in isolation. The skills program must be fully integrated with the school's curriculum.
- The use of innovative instructional methods and technologies can enhance the teaching of library and information skills.
Media Specialists as Instructional Consultants
Library media specialists must promote themselves as educators. In her article The Changing Instructional Role of the High School Library Media Specialist: 1950–84, Kathleen Craver documented the instructional role of the school library media specialist from the 1950 through the 1980s.
In the early 1990's Patricia Pickard in Instructional Consultant Role of the School Library Media Specialist studied the instructional consultant role of the media specialist. According to Pickard, "the role of the school library media specialist has progressed from that of librarian, or keeper of books, to master teacher, instructional design consultant, or teacher-librarian." She found that although they felt their instructional role was important, most media specialists were not practicing this role. Lack of interest, knowledge, and/or training of the library media specialist; a lack of administrative support, including clerical, budgetary, and scheduling factors; and a lack of interest, a resistance to cooperation, or a lack of information about the instructional design process on the part of teachers were all given as possible reasons for this discrepancy.
Then, in the mid 1990's, The Instructional Consultant Role of the Elementary-School Library Media Specialist and the Effects of Program Scheduling on Its Practice by Eleonor Putman noted that Information Power raised the consciousness of media specialists regarding the importance of the instructional consultant role. Putnam suggests that school library media specialists must keep informed of curriculum changes and teaching models.
The instructional role of the media specialist continues to evolve today.
Read Chapter 8: Foundations of the Library Media Specialist's Instructional Role in THE BLUE BOOK by Callison and Preddy, p. 131-145.
Read Chapter 9: The Instructional Media Specialist: A Role for All Inquiry Educators in THE BLUE BOOK by Callison and Preddy, p. 146-169.
Read The Teaching Role: Are Librarians Teachers? by Ruth V. Small in The Best of ERIC. The author examines the role of teacher librarians.
Learn More
Craver, Kathleen (1986). The Changing Instructional Role of the High School Library Media Specialist: 1950–84. SLMQ, 14(4).
Eisenberg, Michael B. & Brown, Michael (1992). Current Themes Regarding Library and Information Skills Instruction: Research Supporting and Research Lacking. SLMQ, 20(2)
Kahn, Cynthia & Mallette, Michelle (April 2002). Why Do We Need a Teacher-Librarian or a Library When We Have the Internet? Teacher Librarian, 29(4).
Pickard, Patricia W. (1993). Instructional Consultant Role of the School Library Media Specialist. SLMQ, 21(3).
Putnam, Eleonor (1996). The Instructional Consultant Role of the Elementary-School Library Media Specialist and the Effects of Program Scheduling on Its Practice. SLMQ, 25(1).