Add your interview to the top of the pile below and draw a horizontal line between yours and the one previously added. Previous Middle School Interviews

Add yours here:

 

Donna Leaf/Middle School Librarian Interviews: 10/10/09

 

 

                I actually ended up interviewing, either in person, by phone or through e-mail, a total of four  librarians, one of whom is a member of our class, who will remain anonymous, but to whom I owe a great debt of gratitude for not only agreeing to be an interviewee, but also sharing some ideas with me for finding interview subjects and for additional questions to ask.

           In all the interviews, a common theme appeared. Regardless of what level  each librarian felt most at ease with, or what level a librarian felt most of her interactions took place at, the attitude of administration toward the position of Teacher Librarian was key.  Support (or the lack of it) in some cases came from the school administration, either at the site or district level; in others,  the community at large has taken a significant role in supporting  the role of Teacher Librarian, by passing bond or ballot measures providing funding earmarked for the improvement of school library staffing. I had mentioned in class that the LMT (Library Media Teacher) at my own school was currently serving as our roving substitute; what I did not mention was that she had been designated by a previous principal to teach five periods of English Language Development classes, and that, by switching her to the roving sub position, our new principal has actually increased the amount of time she has available to be in the library, as there are days and even weeks when she is not needed as a sub.  

                With respect to levels of interaction, it was generally agreed that a good deal depends on the willingness of teachers to collaborate with the librarian. Most of the librarians I spoke with said that interactions spanned Level One and Level Two quite regularly, but that Level Three was fairly rare. What was notable was that the partnership mode was spread across the curriculum quite broadly, although Language Arts and Social Studies did predominate.

                All the librarians I spoke with noted that the increased role of technology certainly has the potential to increase the interaction between teachers and librarians, and that keeping current with technology is perhaps the most challenging part of being a middle school librarian. One of my interviewees, because she is the only credentialed librarian in the district, has been given a quasi-district librarian status, and has a position on the district technology committee. In that district, student access is heavily filtered, but the librarian can get access through the tech department. In another district, the filters are somewhat less stringent, but the tech department is less responsive.

            Reflecting on these interviews, I have to say I was surprised to find that there actually are Level 3 interactions taking place in so many districts. When I worked as a Library Media Aide in another district, I really had very little interaction with teachers, and despite the “Media” in my job title, I was primarily concerned with clerking functions. I certainly knew that the role of a Library Media Teacher would be vastly expanded beyond those limitations, but I was not aware of how great a shift it would be.

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Erin Oliver_Middle School Librarian Interview_9/29/9

 

One librarian currently works at our school district’s one middle school.  I spoke with her on Tuesday, September 29, 2009.  When asked where she felt she fell on the continuum, she said sometimes a two and sometimes a three.  Like the high school librarians, this librarian works with certain teachers and within certain subject areas more than others.  Most often she works with the English teachers and Social Studies teachers.  She very rarely works with the Math and Science teachers.  This librarian does strive to reach a level three with more consistency across the board.  I also got the feeling that the teachers there might have more freedoms than the high school’s teachers. 

 

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Tahni Holmes_Middle School Librarian Interview_29SEP09

The Middle School Librarian has served in her position for a few years, however not consecutively. She is not a certified librarian, and informed me that the job’s educational requirements only required a high school diploma. She currently fulfills all of the duties as the school’s librarian with the assistance of 8^th grade student volunteers and 2 parent volunteers who help with processing books. She does not perform tech support/media specialist duties. She has a passion for working with middle schooled aged children with a personal interest in teen fiction. She stressed the state standards have much to blame for the limiting interaction between teacher/librarian and students. However, when asked if teachers were stressing the importance of using library resources and referring students to the school’s librarian as a reference resource expert, she told me it wasn’t happening. That was disappointing to me, and clearly illustrated the lack of teacher support the librarian must have in the school. The librarian didn’t appear to be extremely proactive in establishing a better working relationship with the teachers of the school, but it could have to do with the school year just beginning and her not being the school’s librarian the year before. She mentioned a teacher who she was aware required that his students use two printed sources for their research in addition to internet sources –which brought the students down to the library. Otherwise, she found most students use online searches to conduct their research. Based on the continuum, the librarian felt she was at Stage 2, maybe even Stage 1. Though she supported the middle school curriculum by increasing the collections of frequently used references sources and fiction reading material for the students, she really wasn’t working with teachers to collaborate in helping students in the process of their educational and research pursuits.

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Three Stages of Three Middle School Librarians

--Tatjana Ravnik

 

Recent School Library Media Specialist Graduate: Stage 1

My first interview was with a brand new school library media specialist (SLMS) working near Rochester, NY.  She currently works at a 9th grade school with 650 students; however, her dream job would be in a K-2nd grade school. Her position is actually a one year position while the main SLMS is on sabbatical. She believes that her school and district are very much into collaboration. However she thinks that the school could show more support by providing periods that are designated specifically for collaboration during the school week.  Her school appears to value the library but could do more to encourage the usage of the library and the resources offered there. She has presented a few times already to different teachers on using the library.  She has also sent e-mails offering assistance.

 

In general the staff is very receptive to collaboration and has been receptive to her efforts to reach out to them.  This staff seems to know how to collaborate but mostly among the teachers rather than with the SLMS. A few teachers do collaborate with the SLMS even though she feels that she is primarily operating at a stage 1. The vast majority of teachers come into the library with specific requests for materials.  She fills the orders but little collaboration occurs beyond that interaction. She enjoys the teaching aspect of the collaborative process but is frustrated that true collaboration is not really happening. She hopes to promote the school library and the ways in which teachers could use her services.

 

She believes that communication is the key to success in terms of library use by staff. The biggest obstacle so far has been teachers ask for materials and information in a rush.  For the most part however, the teachers have been great. She gets a kick out of students asking her for feedback on finished projects that they started in the library.

 

She firmly supports new teachers (when in college) being taught the role of the SLMS in the schools and how to best use the resources they offer. She knows of many teachers, especially new graduates, simply not aware of the breadth of knowledge, and skills, of school library media specialists.

 

Veteran Teacher Turned Teacher Librarian (2 yrs): Stage 2

The second teacher librarian I interviewed has been a librarian for 2 ½ years after teaching for about 12 years.  She is a middle school librarian in an urban district with a high percentage of low-income households in the San Francisco Bay Area. Unfortunately she realizes that there is a district-wide history of moving “burnt out teachers” to the school library in order to finish their last few years before retirement.  Because of these often “low energy” librarians, the culture of collaboration with libraries in the district is nonexistent causing many teachers to accept substandard librarian service or no service at all.  Because of this she feels that sometimes she is at a stage 0 which is pretty much irrelevant. She is still young (thirty-something) and has an interest in promoting collaboration and is spreading the word around her school.  Fortunately she was a History teacher for at least two years at her current school before she became the teacher librarian. Her working relationships transferred over to her position as a librarian and she has collaborated with several teachers in the school.  With these teachers she considers herself to be at a stage 2 and occasionally sneaks into stage 3.  She does not feel that she has reached stage 3 yet but has every intention of achieving that goal. 

 

One of her biggest issues is underfunding in the library.  Last year she spent quite a bit of time on fundraising efforts which cut into her time for collaboration.  She is lucky though to be in a newly built school with several great pieces of technology.  Unfortunately she has noticed several obvious examples of cutting corners and not valuing the place of technology in education and the library.  Her new projection screen is not anywhere close to an Internet drop nor does she have an LCD projector or laptop in the library. She ends up borrowing a projector and laptop from the English Language Development (ELD) department when she plans to the use the screen.  She is also a bit frustrated at the lack of foresight since only five internet/computer stations for students were built into the library design. This is simply not enough computers especially when a whole class visits the library. Despite her frustration she loves her job as a librarian.  She works closely with the History department, the ELD department, and one of the French/Spanish teachers. She has recently been approached by the Math department to help them practice math skills in real-life scenarios requiring using library resources for research. Math is not her strongest academic area but she is excited with this new challenge.

 

She thinks that school librarians need to start publicizing at educational conferences and really start making it known what school librarians can do to improve California’s education. This advertising campaign should be focused on teachers, as well as lawmakers, and should model collaboration while identifying useful library resources. Teacher librarians need to have a bigger presence at the elementary level as well.  If students at the elementary level become used to a high level of service from librarians then they will expect this type of interaction and collaboration while in middle and high school.

 

Veteran Teacher Librarian (12 yrs): Stage 3

The last librarian I interviewed has been a middle school librarian in the same district as the second librarian I interviewed.  She has been the teacher librarian at the same school since 1997 but didn’t earn her MLIS (from SJSU) until December 2004. Her old school was condemned due to earthquake damage so this is her first year at a new middle school with a very different staff and “school culture”. Fortunately some of her previous coworkers/teachers moved with her to this school.

 

She really likes working with middle school students. She believes that middle school students think they know everything but they really don’t.  In the end they have to be tricked into learning.  Parents and teachers kept a close eye on them in elementary school but now they have a new freedom to pick what they want to read. She likes to show them that the library is a cool place to be.

 

At her previous school, the library was the heart of the school. She was involved in every phase of curriculum, collaborated and was appreciated by administrators, teachers, parents and students. She had significant amounts of categorical funding so she always had money to spend. This new school is a new and different place for her. The administration is happy to have her there but doesn’t really know what to make of her because her style is radically different than the “school culture”. The teachers who collaborated with her predecessor were the first to accept her invitation to collaborate. As the year progresses others are starting to come forward. However, there is a school-wide culture of everyone doing his or her own thing. She believes that the library has not been used effectively in the past. She believes that her main task is to change this pattern. She hopes that eventually word will get out that she is a willing, able and excellent resource for collaborating on projects for the students. She considers herself to have definitely been a stage 3 at her old school but right now is at a stage 2.

           

She believes that teachers from California who were born and raised in California don’t really understand how to use the library because they have been exposed to poor library services due to the absence of funding in the state. She is from western NY and grew up having spectacular public and school library services. She mentioned that teachers from out-of-state tend to understand this concept. [As a California educated teacher that moved to NY I can attest to the difference in attitude and facilities of school libraries.] She works hard at mentoring new teachers on how to the library. Because of this her previous faculty is now scattered at six different schools in the district and are expecting great library services. She has warned her library colleagues to expect these teachers to want to collaborate. She believes that many teachers, and even some librarians, have blinders on. They think that the standards movement means they can only teach whatever they are told to teach. They blame No Child Left Behind (NCLB) for their own lack of creativity. She knows that there is so much more that can be done.

 

Her advice is for teacher librarians to “wow” the teachers. They need to become indispensable to both teachers and administrators. The most “seasoned” of our librarians (mostly retired now) used to roll their eyes when she would talk about programs and ideas for the library. Several librarians have told her that she “does too much” and that she makes them look bad. She does not understand how anyone has the luxury of sitting back when so many students are failing.

 

Her district does not have a district librarian, which means that the librarians do not have “a seat at the table” with district administrators. She has hope though since libraries, and teacher librarians, tend to get shuffled from district administrator to administrator and are now are under the realm of Curriculum & Instruction. By the greatest of luck, the Director of C&I was working toward an MLIS but switched to administration instead. She took enough library classes, however, so that she fully buys in to the purpose and necessity of having strong school libraries.

 

My Reflection

It was very illuminating to listen to three different librarians at different librarian stages and at different stages of their librarian careers.  Each librarian felt it was essential to collaborate with teachers with very different hurdles and obstacles to negotiate.  The more veteran librarian (stage 3) and veteran teacher (stage 2) appear to be more confident and likely have more “tools” in their teacher librarian “toolbox” to be able to collaborate with teachers.  The first librarian (stage 1) is really just beginning her career as an educator as well as a librarian.  She is still developing her skills working with students and teachers, enhancing lessons and attempting to apply what she learned in her graduate SLMS program. The second librarian has the advantage of a new library (although with a few technical difficulties) as well as previously teaching in the same school. However she recognizes that her collaboration with teachers needs to increase.  She is very much looking forward to eventually reaching stage 3. The last librarian was clearly very comfortable being a librarian, even though she is at a new school.  She has 12 years of experiences to draw upon when collaborating.  This was quite a valuable assignment to be able to witness three different librarians talk about being school librarians at different stages.  I realize that the librarian stages do not always follow years of service as in the case of my three interviews. I am curious, though, how many veteran librarians actually go beyond stage 2 and why and how they managed to jump to the last stage.  Or perhaps what obstacles have prevented them from reaching the last stage.

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Lori Hermelin

 

Interview with middle school librarian Sept. 29, 2009

 

Middle School

            The second library media teacher I interviewed said that she is at all three stages with her junior high faculty. She also cited time as her biggest obstacle—her teachers are reluctant to devote the time needed for extensive projects despite the fact that they acknowledge the benefit of deeper understanding such projects provide. Teachers at her school feel pressure to narrow their focus to content that is dictated by pacing calendars and tested on district-wide benchmark exams. For those teachers who are willing, she cites good rapport with the colleague, enthusiasm for the project, and planning as the most important factors for success. For her school she has co-created three projects that reach every eighth grade student. These are in science and history and build on skills throughout the year. Another such project is in development for the seventh grade world history classes. The impetus to move toward the higher level stages comes from school leaders such as department chairs, professional development personnel, and team leaders. However, most of her work remains at stage two. Once a teacher approaches her with a proposal, she works to move them through by offering her support and taking on responsibility for planning and development.

 

 

 

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LIBR 250 Interviews

MIndy Harper

 

To gather information for this assignment, I first went to our middle school’s teacher-librarian, Dr. D.T., and I asked her for a few high school librarian recommendations. Because I am currently undecided as to which level of students I would like to work with in a library setting, I chose to interview one middle school librarian and two high school librarians. I sent out an email to each of these librarians, and their responses were enlightening! I included only the middle school response below. (High school responses were posted separately.)

 

Middle School Librarian - D.T.

 

1) Where do you feel you fall on the continuum? (i.e., stage one, two, or three) Why?

It depends upon the teacher with whom I am working. With over half of the history teachers, I would say I am between 2-3; the rest at 1.  With half of the English teachers, 2; with a few, near 3; and a few, near 1. With most of the science teachers I am still at a 1; and at a 2 with one or two. Science teachers seem least willing of all to let go some and let me take over more of the teaching, even though they know I was a classroom science teacher, and it frustrates me sometimes. I know I could do a much better job with the students if they let me have more input on planning and implementing resource-based science in the library. The Art teacher, when she comes in, works with me on a 2. The same is true with the PE teacher who has come in. And, with the Home Economics teacher, I am at a 1.  At my previous school, the Music teacher and I worked at 2-3. With 3 teachers there, we functioned at 3 for several years, even presenting our collaboration at CSLA twice, and doing Action Research one year.

Math teachers have expressed a sincere interest many times, even as far as planning, but the time has always gotten away from them and we never made it. We are trying again this year…

One thing that makes it difficult from the library point of view is that our schedule is very full throughout the year, and there is little opportunity for inspiration and spontaneity.  After awhile, it is not so flexible due to the high demand. 

 

2) In what area would you most like to improve? Explain.

Improve what I can control:

•   Continue to make more of my instructional materials available on my web page

•   Share examples of improved student work due to team-teaching in the library

•   Promote the advantages of 2 teachers teaching 36 students

•   Do parent support presentations at PTA meetings, showing parents how they can help their students with research projects (citing resources, selecting resources when using the internet, following fair use of copyright materials). They have agreed already.

What I cannot control:

•   Teachers have less time wasted by last-minute changes in pacing from the district level, reducing time teachers have for authentic assessment.

•   Testing in the library, forcing us to close.

 

3) What do you think the future holds for school libraries and the teacher-librarian profession?

Libraries and librarians have always changed over the decades, changing to meet the needs of the clients and being leaders of change. I believe this will continue. However, there are librarians who will never change and will remain locked to old formats. In addition, there are teachers who are open to change and willing to let go of some of the control of their actual teaching, and some who will never embrace the team-teaching that could come out of collaboration. Thus, the wide range of stages will continue across and within schools. The goal is to move closer and closer to stage 3. 

Budget issues will hold progress back in several important areas:

•   Electronic resources, shared licenses for electronic resources, updated computer systems

•   Reduction and elimination of school librarians

•   Fewer book purchases

Increasing emphasis on standardized testing and decreasing emphasis on authentic assessment will further erode advances that have been made towards stage 3. Budget issues and standardized-authentic assessment issues roll in waves and cycles, and through these cycles and waves, libraries will make additional progress towards stage 3  (i.e., 2 steps forward, 1 step back, 2 steps forward).

 

My Thoughts Prior to Interview…

Before the interviewees responded to the questions posed, I examined the stages in detail. I predicted that all librarians interviewed would be at Stage 2 or higher. My own perception was that school libraries had already evolved from the typical school libraries of the past. I have watched our own middle school library change from Stage 1 to somewhere between Stage 2 and 3. This amazing transformation began when our current librarian came to our school about six years ago. It certainly was not easy for her to make so many changes, but over time, the library has truly become a real information hub.

 

Reflections on Interview Responses…

I was somewhat surprised to learn that the high school libraries had not completely made it to Stage 2. As a teacher myself, I definitely understand how difficult it is to schedule library time separate from required instruction. So many teachers just do not understand how useful the librarian can be in helping content area teachers achieve objectives through the use of the library or media center. Teachers are busy, and they do not want to put forth the extra time for collaboration with the media teacher. As a future teacher-librarian, I will have to come up with some very creative ways to inspire a variety of teachers to utilize the library as part of their instruction. I am certain that this may be a Herculean task!

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I interviewed 3 librarians for this project, one middle school librarian from my hometown in Pennsylvania, one elementary school librarian also from Pennsylvania and one more elementary school librarian from Tuolumne in Northern California.

Interview #1 Benjamin Wingard, September 2009

     My first interview was with a middle school librarian who works at the middle school I attended in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania.  The library itself is called the Instructional Media Center (IMC), serves approximately 580 students in grades 6-8, has 10,000 volumes of all types of materials and 16 computers for student use.  This librarian came into the position in 1997 by replacing her mother, who was retiring that year.  The big project for students in the IMC happens in the sixth grade with a research project that every student must do and groups of students are rotated through the unit at staggered times throughout the year.  When first starting in 1997, the librarians role in the research project was to introduce the students to the resources in the IMC and help them locate the appropriate materials (very much a stage one interaction).  Slowly, the librarian began to change this and work towards a more collaborative experience with the teacher.  The librarian began working with many of the teachers and during the students time in the IMC, would act as the other teacher in the room.  As some of the older teachers retired and new teachers began working in the middle school, the librarian began to be seen as an integral part of the unit.  Now the teachers will often share instructional duties for the unit with the librarian and they collaborate on the planning on the research project unit.  The librarian does note that this was not a change that occurred overnight.  She actively engaged the teachers and made them more aware of what she could do to help them with the unit.  In that vein, there are still teachers who are resistant to her help and want to be solely responsible for their content areas.  This librarian rates herself as right between a stage two and three librarian and notes that this would not be possible without the support of the principals she has worked under, who view her as an essential part of the staff.

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Interviws - Karen Zilch

 

 

I interviewed three librarians, Librarians A, B and C, who gave very similar responses.  One point brought up repeatedly was that if you incorporate an information literacy requirement school-wide, the teachers have greater buy-in because they better understand what the librarian can offer.  Each librarian reported a desire to be at Level 3, but said that they seem to bounce back and forth between the stages.  They told me consistently that it really depends on how well you can develop a relationship with your teachers, one that includes trust and mutual support.  A said that this takes time and determination.  A also mentioned that teachers often don’t give you any warning, and they often may forget to include you in their plans.

 

Librarian B had some really good ideas about how to reach and strive to maintain Level 3.  She actively goes to teachers with collaboration ideas and helped streamline the curriculum, particularly in the journalism department.  She was most excited about a project she did with an ELD class where she worked with the teacher to help the students create book commercials using Powerpoint, using scaffolding and incorporating technology. 

 

Librarian C said that she had the best luck with informal planning sessions where she focused on making teachers feel welcome in coming to the library just to visit and chat.  She said she got a lot of mileage out of this approach, and found that teachers were including her more and more in their planning and implementation.  She said that she’s getting more “buy-in” and she’s finding that teachers are very open to her ideas and strategies. 

 

All three teacher librarians sound as if they are “mostly satisfied” with their progress toward Level 3, but in each case, it is a continual and conscious process.  In other words, they did not feel like they could let go on continuing to reach out to teachers and keep developing relationships - that has to be ongoing and deliberate.

 

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I interviewed 3 librarians at the lower, middle and upper school levels at a nursery-12 private college preparatory school

Interview #2 by Joanne Bradley, September 2009

The middle school librarian stated she felt she was mostly at Stage 2 though occasionally in Stage 3 with 5^th & 6^th grades.  She has planned and executed joint lessons and projects with the science, English and geography teachers; sometimes after the planning she makes the worksheets, other times they do, and at various times the librarian and teachers jointly make them, but both the teacher and librarian instruct during the class.  One obstacle to Stage 3 is lack of time because she is responsible for four grade levels, so it’s impossible to continually plan with all of the teachers and do the rest of her duties.  She also has a philosophical issue with Stage 3 because she feels librarians should not be directly involved with the assessment process because all students should be viewed as equal in the librarian’s eyes.  For Stage 2 she makes sure she communicates with all the teachers and lets them know what she and the library can offer them in terms of instruction and resources.  She offers ideas and helps the teacher to plan a fruitful lesson.

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Interview #1 - Lisa Katz/September 2009

My first interview was with a veteran middle school librarian who was a middle school librarian for over 30 years. She was fortunate enough to be in a wealthy Northern California community. The student population is about 400 students grades 5-8. This interview showed me an ideal librarian position in a California school, which is certainly not very common.  Because this librarian was not schooled in California herself, but rather back east, she had an excellent education in the sole purpose of school librarians. Her philosophy was “I’m here to help you with your responsibilities and how can I help meet them.” This librarian was easily at stage 3 of the interview module, which was very impressive given her years of being in the library. She completely grew with the times, was very hip on all the web 2.0 tools and stressed the most important key was collaboration with the teachers and principal. She took the approach that she was there for them and constantly bugged them with materials and sent them information based on curriculum standards until they went to her daily for help and information. I realize this was truly an ideal situation. She attended grade level meetings, grade level groups as well as curriculum groups. She was constantly looking for ways to educate the teachers and implement standards. Of course this didn’t go over with all the teachers, but most she said. She used pathfinders and links well before everyone else caught on. She walked me through a day with a 6^th grade class when they needed to do a research paper.

·      First select a topic

·      Focus on questions for the topic

·      Determine keywords for the search

·      First they began by looking at books

·      Working bibliography – learned how to create correct citations based on books

·      Then began the note card process

1.    Took information and made them into bullet points

2.    No full sentences

·      Searched online for more references through pathfinders only

·      Continued note card process and keeping correct citations

·      Wrote paper

·      Evaluation

 

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Tina Johnson

LIBR - 250

 

The Interviews

I interviewed three librarians at the middle school level.  I constructed my interview as more of a general conversation about the working relationship between the content teacher and librarian that exist within the school.  As a precursor to our discussion, I provided each school librarian with a list of the stages discussed in the assignment.  The questions I posed were as follows:

As you collaborate with teachers to enhance classroom activity and lesson planning, what stage do you feel that are operating in?

Do teachers understand the role of the school librarian and take advantage of the services that you can provide?  Why or why not?

What are the greatest challenges and frustrations that you encounter when working with content teachers?

Can you describe a memorable and productive experience you’ve had while working with a teacher?

Do you have any suggestions that can improve the working relationship between school librarians and teachers?

The Results

Although I interviewed three middle school librarians, employed at three different schools, located in different parts of the country, I was surprised to learn that their answers were shockingly similar.  All librarians expressed a desire to be more involved in the learning process as stage 3 described.  However, all three librarians felt that they were operating at stage 1 or 2.  When asked why they weren’t able to consistently operate at a stage 3 level, the responses where overwhelmingly clear.  School librarians found that teachers were “too independent” and “collaborating with a school librarian did not come naturally.”  Teachers, for the most part, did not understand that the library was an extension of the classroom.  They didn’t see that the librarian was there to help teachers meet classroom goals and objectives.  Upon further prodding, one of the librarians offered an explanation for this non-collaborative behavior.  She felt that teachers were not willing to take the time to work with librarians because some teachers are “too old fashioned and not willing to make changes.” This librarian pointed out that many of these teachers’ lessons have become stale and boring over time.  Other teachers struggle with time management and are not organized enough to plan collaborative time or take the time to explain classroom objectives to a second party.  This librarian had the impression that some teachers do not spend time differentiating instruction and adjusting lesson plans to be more current but, instead just “do what they always do.”    

After conducting these interviews, I felt that one or two of the librarians harbored an underlying sense of hostility regarding the teachers at their respective schools.  Librarians sensed that teachers did not recognize the benefits that they could provide and felt undervalued and underappreciated.  This was clearly evident by one librarian’s claim that she was in stage 3, but the teachers at the school were only in stage 1.  In other words, she was ready, willing and able to collaborate at a much higher level, but frustrated because she wasn’t given the opportunity to work with teachers on classroom planning.  When asked what she could do to move from stage 1 to stage 3, she expressed some feelings of hopelessness.  “I’ve tried to attend team planning meetings, involve teachers in purchase decisions and offer unsolicited ideas regarding technological use in the classroom.  I feel like my efforts go unnoticed.”  However, there were some descriptions of successful interactions.  One of the librarians that I interviewed described an instance where she had helped a very independent science teacher incorporate some technological tools into the lesson plan as an example of a 3^rd stage experience.  She went on to describe this collaborative experience as extremely motivating and rewarding.  She also noted that her relationship with this science teacher has steadily improved and the teacher has become increasingly comfortable asking her for guidance and assistance after the successful lesson.  The idea here is that teachers, when exposed to the benefits of working with a school librarian, will gradually learn the value that a school librarian can provide and avail themselves of the benefits by engaging in a collaborative relationship.  This librarian went on to talk about the role of the librarian as advocate.  In other words, the school librarian “needs to be his or her own cheerleader” and be willing to sell their services to the teachers.  The school librarian needs to be very confident and self-assured by having a strong understanding of the importance of his or her role within the school community.  This librarian also suggested that school librarians be familiar with research that shows how well run student media centers staffed with a credentialed school librarian are positively linked to student achievement regardless of demographics. The resounding issue discussed in these interviews was the dire need for teachers to understand the benefits of teamwork and the technological expertise that a school librarian can provide and the frustration that librarians are experiencing when attempting to communicate this fact.

After previewing the stages and discussing them with these librarians, I am beginning to realize how interpersonal skills are essential to be a successful librarian.  Librarians have to be able to provide assistance, often unsolicited, to individuals that aren’t always sure what they need.  A librarian needs to not only educate students, but also show fellow teachers what services and ideas they can offer.  A librarian needs to be a self advocate and demonstrate her own value.  A librarian needs to manage relationships by carefully balancing the different personalities of the library users.  If these challenges are met head on, and librarians are able to successfully collaborate with teachers and manage the demands on them, being a librarian can be an extremely rewarding position!

 

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