One would think that in a strong school district, the elementary school librarian would be sacred. After all, the librarian is the gatekeeper to the world of literature that is going to engage and excite and inspire children. The librarian guides her students, enthusiastic and reluctant alike, to just the right book that will meet their interests or needs. The librarian knows important things, like that Elena and Georgia like mysteries, and Anders only likes to read nonfiction books about fish. The librarian is there to help develop in students a love of reading and to manage the resources that students need to learn.
But that’s only HALF of the picture in 2009. That’s because the librarian is also a media specialist, the person who is helping our children prepare for the ever-expanding demands of a digital world. In the media lab, children learn how to use the computer to record and track data, to organize information to make presentations, to write and manage text. How can we expect to help students develop their full potential to be leaders in the 21st century without a Media Specialist guiding the way?
The librarian helps our children develop information literacy. From the ALA:
What is Information Literacy? Information Literacy is the ability to identify what information is needed, understand how the information is organized, identify the best sources of information for a given need, locate those sources, evaluate the sources critically, and share that information. It is the knowledge of commonly used research techniques.
Do we honestly think we can manage without a librarian in elementary school libraries???
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