Are You Taken Seriously?

In addition to these efforts, we know we have to help you better articulate your instructional role and provide you with the resources to convince education's various stakeholders—administrators, teachers, parents, and students—of your integral value to student learning. SLJ recently conducted the most comprehensive survey to date on information literacy and the school librarian's instructional role, having sent out questionnaires to 3,000 school librarians nationwide in April. Nearly 800 responded, telling us that although information literacy standards are often in place at local or even state levels, neither teachers (70 percent) nor students (85 percent) recognize the importance of skills tied to information literacy. For more on the survey, see our cover story, 'Why Isn't Information Literacy Catching On? ' on page 50.

However, we're not alone in reporting the dour assessment that students, parents, and faculty still don't 'get it' when it comes to an awareness of the essential skills of discernment and critical thinking that comprise information literacy methods. The American Association of School Librarians (AASL) ran its own focus groups with faculty, parents, and students in the fall of 2002, querying them on all issues related to their perception of the library media specialist's standing in the school. (See a full copy of AASL's report.) AASL's research demonstrates the ambivalence many teachers, students, and parents have about the school librarian's clear-cut instructional role.

In order to be taken more seriously by administrators, school librarians need to bone up on the latest federal literacy initiatives and research. A good place to start is with a report released in May and commissioned by the Partnership for Reading (www.nifl.gov/partnershipforreading) under the auspices of the National Institute for Literacy. Authored by Paula and Keith Stanovich of the University of Toronto, the report details how teachers can use scientifically based research to make curricular and instructional decisions. With the educational climate tilted toward the requirements of No Child Left Behind, I recommend that all school librarians read this important document, 'Using Research and Reason in Education,' which posits that testing is only one of three ways to gather evidence about the effectiveness of instructional methods, with the other two being published findings of research-based evidence and proof of reason-based practice.

Our 'Reading and Literacy ' issue of Learning Quarterly (which begins following page 40 in the print edition of SLJ), authored by Barbara Stripling and Sharon Coatney, dovetails perfectly with the Partnership for Reading's document. Stripling dispels several myths enabling school libraries to become full partners in addressing the literacy crisis. She also writes about how to embed literacy and information literacy skills into the curriculum. Coatney complements Stripling's work with a proactive, hands-on piece on how to transform your school into a vital reading community.

By heeding Stripling's and Coatney's advice and ideas, and with a keener awareness of educational realities through emerging federal literacy initiatives and research, librarians who consider themselves teachers can reverse the troubling survey data and perceptions that marginalize their roles.

Evan St. Lifer, Editor
estlifer@reedbusiness.com