Digital Bookends

Recently I’ve been examining the hierarchy of librarians within school districts in my area and I’ve discovered an interesting thing.  Many of the larger school districts with several schools and a District Librarian to coordinate their programs seem to keep to themselves.  In other words, I don’t see a “web or print presence” among the individual school librarians on many of the listservs or in the professional journals. (Although I often see their District Librarians monitoring and contributing insights and ideas.)  Rather than sharing some of the great projects that these individual librarians are working on, providing others with their professional insights and great ideas, or asking questions about particular situations, these individual librarians seem to work autonomously but within their districts.  They never interact with others outside their district and their valuable work is often never seen.  I know that they are doing great things (as I’ve noticed some individual librarians who have made presentations during our state’s library conferences) but otherwise, we might we working side-by-side within a regional area and never know that the librarians in the district just 10 miles down the road are integrating technology into the curriculum through a multi-million dollar grant project that they received and carefully hid from the rest of the world.

I’m not sure if this is being stingy…or just being strange.  However, I do know that one of the points in the ALA Code of Ethics requires that:

   “We strive for excellence in the profession by maintaining and enhancing our own knowledge and skills, by encouraging the professional development of co-workers, and by fostering the aspirations of potential members of the profession. ”

In my opinion, that would mean that we are supposed to share our work with others, mentor those entering the field, and provide insights into new theories, ideas, projects, and programs to our colleagues.  However, I find that in my “corner of the world” few districts are sharing and even fewer individual librarians are showcasing their talents.  Am I missing something?

After working in a few larger districts that had District Librarians who supervised the entire library program and the work being done at each campus library within the district, I sensed a level of intimidation by those DL who did not want individual librarians within the district to “break-out” of their isolation and become a part of the main-stream.  In fact, I watched one DL become frustrated with my ”professional independence” because I shared new instructional content lessons that I learned from listservs with the other librarians within my district.  This DL sent me an email reprimanding me for sending the information to the librarians as this individual felt it was the responsibility of the District Librarian to send out information to the librarians within the district, should that information be considered valuable for their use. (Hello?)

So, then, are some District Librarians on a “power-trip” to control the thoughts, minds, and actions of the librarians that they supervise?  Are young librarians moving into larger districts easily swayed into believing that they do not have a voice and cannot have an original idea or share information with others outside of the district.  Are they even aware that they need to be working to become a part of the profession ”outside of the district” for which they work?  Are they discouraged from participating in listservs because it will “take too much of their valuable time”….?  Are some librarians even aware of what is happening outside of their own districts? 

All of these questions then lead me to wonder if some District Librarians are intimidated by the wealth of knowledge, skill, and abilities that their young, enthusiastic, and often, fresh-faced campus librarians exhibit.  Do these DL ”encourage” their campus librarians to only share their ideas, projects, or resources with the colleagues within their district and not share them with the outside world?  What happens to those ideas once the librarian leaves the District?  Do “outsiders” ever see their work….What are we missing?  What are they missing?

Obviously, not all DLs behave like this —and it’s very obvious because we see their district’s “power and presence” everywhere within the literature (and online).  However, I still wonder with all of these larger school districts in my state, why it is that we (outside of the district) never hear about the wonderful library projects or the fantastic librarians working in those districts?  Why is it that these districts refuse to share with others? 

Living vicariously through others, I’ve visited blogs describing the recent conferences (NECC and ALA) and the presentations at each.  (Next year’s NECC conference will be in San Antonio…and I’ll definitely be there!  Here’s more…. )  But this year’s NECC presentations brought me to an interesting instructional concept and wiki entitled Flat Classroom Project.

Based upon the concepts behind Thomas Friedman’s book “The World is Flat,” the project brought two classes (which were literally a world apart)  together as they examined the technologies that make the world a much smaller place.  The students involved in the project examined how technology has changed the world and how productivity can be increased through the use of such technologies.  (The “Flat Classroom” blog by Julie Lindsay is posted here.)

As I read through the wiki and the blogs dealing with this concept, I am reminded that I am also being introduced to new ideas that were once never even considered by school librarians.  The teachers involved in this project were technology instructors with a definite interest in the use of these new types of interactive technologies, but how could librarians incorporate these ideas into their libraries?  How can we create Flat Libraries….have we already created Flat Libraries without realizing it? 

A recent discussion on LM_NET about the use of Wikipedia by students as a resource site made me wonder why WE (as librarians) haven’t begun using Wikipedia as an Advocacy Tool?  Librarians talk about what they do, how they do it, and then they write about it for one another—but very few of us actually write outside our professional journals.  If Wikipedia is used by millions daily, why not advocate for our profession (and our impact on student achievement) on those free pages that are read by everyone outside of our profession?

Sure, we’re adding to a forum that we are so often fighting against during library research sessions; however, because Wikipedia is a “living, breathing entity” that contains immediate information about events around the world, why not take advantage of a free, flexible, and instantaneous site to direct others to what we are doing on a daily basis…why not showcase our mission, our talent, and our results? 

Check Wikipedia for the term “librarian” and you find a lengthy description of the profession that would make any encyclopedia publisher proud.  Then, search for the terms:  school librarian or school library media specialist and you won’t find an entry.  Look for the names of those librarians who are creating history today by changing the face and function of school libraries, and you probably won’t find them either.

Can we send users to the resources, sites, and materials that showcase our NEW abilities as teachers, instructional partners, information specialists, and program administrators through Wikipedia? (By the way, Information Power is not in Wikipedia either.) 

Will a hyperlinked term about a popular novel direct a student to the YALSA website and then to some incredible programs that school librarians are doing?  Can a terminology search by a teacher who did not ask a question during the librarian’s copyright presentation bring her to the pages where new ways of collaborating with librarians is described as ways to freshen-up those tired (and plagiarized) research projects?

Can we share with administrators (who secretly browse Wikipedia), how we implement technology, research, and collaboration skills in the classroom without sending articles that we know they won’t read?  If we add information about our changing profession to Wikipedia, can we provide the average reader with information that they never knew about us or what we do? (Okay, maybe not everyone wants to know everything about us….but we do have some interesting characters in our profession that we need to share with the general public!)

Can we advocate for the importance of school libraries and school librarians by using an online tool that we have disregarded as being unworthy for research?  If we do, what will others think? 

 What do others think (or know) about us now?

I don’t know if it’s the profession, the people, or a combination of both, but it seems that there are many school librarians who are completely frustrated with their situations.  Throughout the year as I monitor several listservs for school librarians, I see the same thread of frustration stemming from librarians who must re-educate (or perhaps initially educate) administrators, teachers, and others, about their roles within the school’s educational curriculum.   Although the profession is demanding and requires flexibility, patience, understanding, and tolerance, it seems that school librarians are really being relegated to the lowest level of professional education through the ignorance and apathy of their educational peers.

After nearly 24 years of professional experience as a librarian, I’ve encountered several unique situations that were frustrating; however, within the last ten years I’ve watched, listened, and experienced myself, how demoralizing (and damaging) the educational profession has been toward librarians.  What is even more interesting is the reaction and response that many librarians have taken toward those who completely disregard librarians as educators.  Rather than administrators utilizing former classroom teachers who have taken the challenge to gain additional certification (or perhaps even a Master’s degree) in Library and Information Science, as an expert in the field of information literacy, technology, reading, reference, and collaborative instruction, most are expecting those educators to return to their schools to perform the duties of clerks in order to circulate materials or babysitters to provide teachers with lesson planning time.

Without question, many librarians who show outstanding potential as educational leaders within a school are forced to remain hidden in many curriculum programs.  And while most librarians tend to be “non-confrontational” regarding their placements within their school programs, it is no surprise that they spend many years in positions where they achieve some success but find little satisfaction professionally.   As a team player, most librarians work harder than their peers –even those librarians in elementary schools where the “golden halos” are usually always awarded to elementary teachers for their tireless efforts to work with 30 students on a daily basis, but are seldom offered to the elementary librarians who work 12-15 hour days without lesson planning periods to meet the needs of 500+ or more students each week.  In high schools, those librarians are the ones that classroom teachers envy for being able to “read books” all day rather than teach and yet, those librarians are the ones desperately seeking instructors in hopes of collaborating on those “yearly projects” that have grown tedious and boring for both the students and the teacher.

Most school librarians watch each year as their responsibilities outside of the library grow and they assume the duties of lunch room monitor, playground assistant, crossing guard both before and after school, or a myriad of other activities assigned by administrators.  No one sees the over-worked librarian who takes 200 books home (little by litte) in order to catalog them remotely each night because there is no library assistant and definitely no time during the day.  No one sees the librarian who evaluates the best sources and writes purchase orders over the weekend for materials needed by the English teacher later in the semester.  No one sees the time devoted by the librarian during the holiday break to tediously write a $5,000 grant to increase the library’s budget, but everyone assumes that grant writing must be easy once the funds are awarded.  No one (except the student) realizes that the librarian is monitoring the school’s email on a nightly basis to assist students in their research assignments, suggesting databases, resources, and places to locate information online, all the while encouraging the struggling student writer to continue writing.

No one sees this because most librarians don’t post the Friday night ”score” on the school’s website.  

Books Circulated:  753    Students Assisted:   453      Questions Answered:  245

Librarians don’t “toot their own horns”…they don’t brag about the number of questions that they’ve answered each week or the number of students who now understand how to use the online databases.  They instruct, guide, re-teach, and listen.  They promote, share, give, and watch.  Their success comes from the success of others….regardless of whether that person is the kindergartner who, alone, can find Curious George on the bookshelf or the science teacher who suddenly was able to locate from home those journal articles that she didn’t realize the library provided through the online databases.

Although librarians are not Clark Kent-like personalities who hide behind their Superperson identities, saving others from information overload or intellectual illiteracy through swift and thoughtful intervention, they are often the ones disregarded by those who have the power to best understand what it takes to make a mediocre school program a powerful institution of learning.  As more and more administrators go through certification programs, fewer and fewer are aware of the importance of school libraries or school librarians to a successful school curriculum.  Even while studies, research, and powerful messages are being presented to the educational profession, few administrators are taking the time to read beyond their own professional journals and even fewer are taking the initiative to listen or gather facts about this subject.  Rather than reading the research materials that demonstrate how to create a successful academic program through the use of librarians who collaborate with teachers, or librarians who implement new ways to incorporate technology into the curriculum, many administrators are swayed by glossy advertisements in “fluff journals” that showcase the latest technology programs that guarantee academic achievement.  Few see the strengths of the person in the library as the answer to their academic conundrum.

So, as librarians ponder their places within schools…as they discuss and complain about the problems that they see, can they truly make an impact in an educational program that may completely disregard the largest investment (the school library) and the most diversely educated and trained individual (the school librarian) within the school’s program? 

As they question their roles in the school and wonder about their futures, many feel that they are becoming “burned out” with the profession.  What differences can they make when they are limited by others who do not (or will not) allow them to truly showcase their expertise and talent?   What importance can they bring to the curriculum when they are not allowed to participate as an educator —a position they once held during their time as a classroom teacher, but not now as a librarian? 

Who is responsible for making administrators understand what librarians can do for student achievement when a philosophy of ignorance toward libraries and librarians permeates both the administrative and teacher-education programs at the university levels?

As librarians ask these questions and work continuously to make things better in their own “corners of the world,” they will continue to find situations that make them question if they are becoming “burned out” with the profession.  What else can they do to make their skills, knowledge, and abilities shine? 

Perhaps the better question to ask is whether school librarians are burned out or are they just fed up?  At that point, will they continue to remain hidden and do their jobs quietly, or will they demand the respect given to others within the field of education and brag to teachers and administrators that they provide the best solution to a stagnant and unsuccessful educational program?