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ERIC Number: EJ1079857
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2015
Pages: 9
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1094-9046
EISSN: N/A
Communicating the Emerging Roles of Librarians to Teachers through a Collaborative K-12 and Higher Education Partnership
Schroeder, Eileen E.; Fisher, Stacy
Knowledge Quest, v44 n2 p34-42 Nov-Dec 2015
In 2010 the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI) responded to rapid changes in school libraries by convening the "Wisconsin School Library Summit: Envisioning 21st Century Learners and School Library Media Programs." Summit participants discussed the future of school libraries in Wisconsin. During the summit, several workgroups were created to address specific needs in the field. Since then, AASL has developed new standards for preparation of school librarians, and Wisconsin adopted an Educator Effectiveness model for teacher evaluation, bringing about additional changes. In 2014 a workgroup that, at the summit, had been assigned the task of creating a current job description for school librarians reconvened to update job description materials created in 2010 and to create new materials that would be useful to school librarians participating in the Educator Effectiveness evaluation model. As the group began its work, discussions about the need for advocacy generated ideas about what could be done to preserve and restore librarian positions in schools, how highly qualified teachers may be encouraged to enter the field, and how small districts can restore library services by identifying and recruiting existing staff members who can become certified as librarians while on the job. The group wondered, "Could we do something fun in the summer that would help accomplish these things?" As an answer to the workgroup's question, the authors of this article, representing library education and the K-12 librarians in the workgroup, formed a leadership team, brainstormed ideas with the DPI library consultant, and proposed a program called Wisconsin's Emerging Roles of Librarians (ERL). The ERL program was supported by the state's library education consortium (UWSSLEC), the Wisconsin Educational Media and Technology Association (WEMTA, the state professional organization), and the state Department of Public Instruction. The program included a summer workshop, offered in three locations around the state. This article describes how the leadership team designed the workshop to educate teachers--and subsequently, their administrators--about how the roles of school librarians have evolved, share the impact these roles can have on student achievement, and provide hands-on experiences to help the participants develop knowledge and skills they could take back to their classrooms in the fall.
American Association of School Librarians. Available from: American Library Association. 50 East Huron Street, Chicago, IL 60611. Tel: 1-800-545-2433; Web site: http://knowledgequest.aasl.org/
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Elementary Secondary Education; Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Wisconsin
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A