A stratified random sample of educators from the 1,827 schools in Florida with one or more full-time media specialists was surveyed in order to determine which of the 62 competencies for media specialists proposed by the Florida Department of Education Council on Teacher Education were considered essential. Respondents were sent an initial questionnaire and one follow-up mailing. Five school-based subgroups, consisting of school district media supervisors, building level media specialists, principals, and elementary and secondary teachers, were surveyed along with a sixth subgroup of Florida media educators. The 21 competency statements which were designated as essential by the respondents fell into three categories--teacher oriented, librarian oriented, and manager oriented. Of the remaining competencies, 31 were considered non-essential by all of the first five subgroups; these included competencies on research capability and instructional technology. The media educators subgroup considered only four of the proposed competencies to be non-essential. Included in the appendix are the survey questionnaire instructions, the questionnaire, cover letters and enclosures, and data on the ranking by weighted average for total responses and for each subgroup. Twenty-one references are included. (Author/BK)