Introduction: A Time of Flux for Teacher Librarians

This is a most interesting time to be in my profession. I'm in my ninth year as a School Library Media Specialist in an intellectually vibrant community that understands the importance of strong school libraries. I prefer the title Teacher Librarian, as it more accurately reflects the nature of our work, but titles are just that.

Fortunately there are two professionals and a wonderful clerical staff at my school, which allows us to try different things and nurture rich collaborations with teachers and students. We have over 100 computers that are currently being managed by our library staff. There are two Mac Labs (60 eMacs running OS X), 20 Dells running Windows NT, and a 20-iBook wireless mobile lab. With all of these computers in constant demand, you can easily imagine that the nature of our jobs has been radically transformed in recent years.

In this blog, I will dwell on my interactions with students and staff, and in particular, describe my extensive interactions with my good friend and constant collaborator Shade Gomez, an exemplary English teacher who is teaching an 11th grade English/Technology course called English Media. We are both big believers of media literacy integration—integrating media literacy education into the curriculum. I belive that the most effective means of teaching media analysis and criticism is through teaching media production. Once you're an active media producer, your relationship to media changes fundamentally.

I'll attempt to keep this blog current by writing about my personal independent media explorations, as well as our students' work. This should be loads of fun...stay tuned!