Raising the Bar

From now on, Texans who want to be school librarians will need at least some background in the field. On October 6, the agency that certifies Texas educators adopted a detailed outline of the knowledge and skills that new librarians will have to possess. The new standards require them to attend a formal library-training program, to get field experience in library service, to have teaching experience, and to hold a master's degree. In the end, would-be librarians will still take a test, but this one will be revamped specifically to assess whether they've mastered the beefed-up standards.

"We believe it's a really important change," says Maureen White, who was part of a committee of librarians that drafted the new standards. "Because in the past, teachers without any library education could become school librarians by passing a [subject] test." That method, says White, associate professor in the library program at the University of Houston, Clear Lake, let too many people in "under the bar."

In raising that bar, Texas joins the majority of other states, which impose a variety of educational requirements on would-be school librarians. Though the standards vary, it's highly unusual for a state to certify librarians solely on the basis of a written test, according to Patsy Perritt, professor at Louisiana State University's School of Library and Information Science and author of School Library Journal's biannual certification survey ("Getting Certified in 50 States," June 2000, pp. 50-72).

But there are some unusual items in the Texas standards. For instance, though prospective media specialists must get library training, they do not have to get it at a library school. And instead of requiring a certain number of hours of instruction, as many states do, Texas simply outlines what school librarians should know. Also, though the new rules require a master's degree, it can be in any subject, not specifically in library science.

The unusual rules are the result of both pragmatic and political concerns on the part of the committee of librarians that drafted the standards for the Texas State Board of Educator Certification. According to committee member Barry Bishop, the board wanted flexibility in its certification requirements to help stem a growing shortage of librarians and other educators. For that reason, "We felt the state would not approve requiring a specific master's in library science," explains Bishop, director of library information services for Houston's Spring Branch district. Still, he adds, requiring a master's at all is an advance. And though committee members jokingly wondered whether the lack of a library school requirement meant students could attend the "Wal-Mart School of Library Science," they say it's really very difficult for some people in their gigantic state to get to a library school and that other organizations, such as the state's regional education centers, can provide good training.

Others disagree. Carol Simpson, for instance, at the University of North Texas, thinks prospective librarians should attend library school. "I'm concerned about the quality-control issue," says Simpson, an assistant professor at the School of Library and Information Sciences. "We have enough of an image problem as it is, without putting people in there who are marginally trained."

It remains to be seen where school librarians will go for training. But White, at the University of Houston, says she's already fielding more calls from prospective students. "I suspect," she says, "we'll now see a great influx of students if districts know they have to have certified people."--Andrea Glick