The role of the school library media specialist in distance education

Abstract

Statement of the Problem Marian, the Librarian, from The Music Man, typifies the image that many people have of librarians. The stereotype of the introverted librarian is still present today, even in the minds of many of those in the profession (Loertscher, 1988). Changing that image among library professionals has been a slow and sometimes unsuccessful process. Information Power: Guidelinesfor School Library Media Programs (1988) was written as a guideline to promote change on the part of the professionals in the school library media center. The introduction to Information Power states: Promoting effective physical access to information resources and intellectual access to the content is the central unifying concept ofthese guidelines. Library media specialists serve as the link between students, teachers, administrators, and parents and the available information resources. The roles and services defined in this document are dynamic; they are changing and evolving in response to the societal, economic, and technological demands on education. (AASL & AECT, 1988, p. 1) The role of the school library media specialist in education has been changing for several decades. As new technological innovations, such as distance education, are introduced in the schools, one problem school library media specialists face is how to become knowledgeable about and involved in them. Information Power has clarified the role the school library media specialist plays. "Information, the organizing metaphor of the new guidelines, brings to the foreground of our professional conversation a certain consistency of purpose and, equally important, a language that is grounded in that purpose" (Cleaver, 1989, p. 2). Information Power provides school library media specialists with the vision and guidance to assist students, teachers, and parents to access and use information (AASL & AECT, 1988).

Prediction of and differences in computer use: universal adoption of notebook computers at three undergraduate institutions

“…Marcinkiewicz (1994/95) who found IS contributed significantly to elementary school teachers' computer use in teaching, Crawford (1995) who found that Ubrary media specialists are more innovative than the general population, and Witteman (1976) who hypothesized that high levels of innovativeness would be related to the levels of opinion leadership. Whitteman's results indicated a significant linear correlation of .50 between the response to the IS and the measure of opinion leadership (N = 936).…”