What's in a name?

What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet.
Romeo and Juliet (II, ii, 1-2)

Thanks to AASL making a declaration that "school librarian" is now the official job title of our profession, the debate over what we call ourselves is raging once again.

I addressed this "non issue" back in 2005 in the column "Names Can Never Hurt Me." Excerpts:

However, job titles like “librarian” are really more symbolic than descriptive, and symbols work as much on an emotional level as a rational one. That’s why the topic is hotly and endlessly debated. Symbols have different cultural meanings that are legitimate. (Think of how Christians and Muslim may view a cross.)

The reaction to “librarian” says a good deal more about the person with the reaction than about the title itself. As I was growing up, librarians were the wonderful people who helped me find interesting things to read, helped me answer questions, and were in charge of an environment in which I felt comfortable. Our high school had a well-respected male librarian. So I have always felt quite proud to be considered a librarian.

Yet other poor souls have had very different experiences. Librarians to them were unreasonable authority figures who demanded quiet, had anal-retentive attitudes toward “their” materials, and may have been mean or even scary. Ardelia Lortz in Stephen King’s short story “The Library Policeman” iconifies this view. In other words, many people react to “librarian” like I react to “lawyer” or “proctologist.”

...

The only actual "research" that goes beyond opinion was a focus group study (A Report of Findings from Six Focus Groups with K-12 Parents, Teachers and Principals, as well as Middle and High School Students, KRC Research, January 2003) commissioned by AASL. It reported:

In terms of professional titles, “library media specialist” is a more positive and professional label than “school librarian” – especially looking to the future. “Library media specialist” brings to mind a younger, more professional computer literate person who can consult with students and teachers alike on their modern day information needs. This title also tends to make students of both genders more interested in the possibilities of the profession.

Let's move on or undertake a real study on job title perception by our constituent groups. Or better yet, spend our time improving our services.

Before we have to accept the job description "Unemployed."

Transitional technologies

What did the snail say riding on the turtle's back? Wheeeeeeeeee!

This morning we did inservices for about 150 elementary teachers on GoogleDocs. Taught by our computer coordinator, our library media specialists and myself (those who got the short straw), we spent about an hour and a half:

• Explaining why one would want to use GoogleDocs (ease of use, ubiquitous access, ability to share, co-editing, cost savings etc.)
• Demonstrating 10 GoogleDoc basics.
• Playing "guide on the side" for about 45 minutes while teachers completed a task requiring the use of GoogleDocs.

The vibes were very positive. I was pleased. You could just see the little light bulbs popping on over lots of teachers' heads. A very fun morning.

Oh, the certificate for Continuing Education Units (needed for recertification in MN) was available ONLY as a GoogleDoc template. I think this is called competency-based assessment.

There are certain technologies that hit sort of a "sweet spot" for teachers. GoogleDocs seems to be one. Interactive whiteboards, another.*

I think of these as transitional technologies. Ways of doing stuff with computers and such that move teachers toward a different reality without totally changing their reality all at once. The new stuff looks enough like the old stuff to not make people too nervous. But the new stuff really does change things whether teachers realize it or not.

We can talk about Vygotsky's Proximal Development Theory but let's not, other than to say it holds as true for adults as it does for kids. The expression "You can't leap a chasm in two bounds" seems to be sort of a mantra of our radical change gurus. I would say that you can't get a lot people to "leap" the chasm at all, and that our job as librarians and tech specialists should be to build bridges across that chasm.

Not to push teachers and just hope they can fly.

I feel our district moves at a snail's pace in changing how we do business using technology, especially when it comes to making the classroom a more engaging environment that meets the needs of all kids. But I do take small consolation knowing that at least we are moving.

* Yes, I know the critics of IWB are out there. Now that we have installed over 300 of them throughout the district, I get these little anonymous photocopies of an opinion piece in Teacher magazine. Come'on people - have the cojones to talk to me!