Assessing Pre-service Teachers' Beliefs About the Role of the Library Media Specialist

The revision of Information Power (1998) focuses on building partnerships for greater student learning. While not a radical departure from the previous edition (1988), the recent document emphasizes both greater collaboration and leadership and increased involvement with the technologies of information and learning. This study set out to determine whether teacher education programs were preparing tomorrow's teachers to expect and accept the redefined role of the school library media specialist. It involved the development and the administration of a scale to assess pre-service teachers' beliefs about the role of the school library media specialist. The results of the pilot study reported here are preliminary but suggest that while pre-service teachers distinguish three distinct sets of functions they place more emphasis on those functions associated with information access and delivery than on those related to learning and teaching. Further, pre-service teachers do not appear to understand the role areas of learning/teaching and program administration.

Dig into Information Literacy with Tools of Collaboration

One achieves more success at one’s job when using proper tools. The more the tools are applied to tasks, the more they become second nature to the user. There are tools of collaboration that will help the school library media specialist and the teacher produce an environment of learning conducive to student achievement. By using these tools for the teaching of information literacy skills, the teacher and the school library media specialist can guide students through dynamic, rewarding, and successful inquiry-based, researchbased units of study. Four essential ingredients in the collaboration are partnership, planning, process, and product.