Together … Let’s Become Better Libraries
and Librarians!!
Don’t you find that when you go into your favorite store
they are always changing the stock around or moving shelves to make room for
new products. Why should we think that
libraries should be any different? The
business of libraries has changed dramatically over the years. The old days of just gathering and organizing
books is over. Libraries are the keepers
of knowledge and it must be accessible to everyone online or in print. It’s as if, we are continually re-inventing
our collections and ourselves as librarians.
This is a huge and
constant mountain to climb. Even the
smallest one room library must have books for every age and interest,
technology access, research for every need in print or online, creative
learning tools, current periodicals and newspapers and so much more. According to the American Library Association
there are an estimated 116,867 libraries of all types including school, public,
academic, and other special libraries (How many libraries are in the
united states?, 2018) . Therefore, to keep everyone on the same page,
libraries and librarians need to have standards.
The two main national standards were
created by the National School Library Standards by the American Association of
School Librarians (AASL) and the ISTE Standards by the International Society
for Technology in Education (ISTE). Both
of these standards are designed to help develop student and educators to become
creators, learners, and leaders in the education industry. As “school librarians straddle two
professional fields: education and library science” there must be standards to
cover all needs of the libraries (Cromartie & Burnes, 2019. 47(5)) . Both sets of standards have been widely
incorporated across the country and together they work to the library and
technology industries to grow. They both focus on developing educators,
administrators and students. The images
shown are reflecting to focus of ISTE and AASL infographics.
These images display the similarities that are being
taught by the standards. Those
similarities are encouraging creativity, exploration, collaboration, research
and inquiry. So many of these aspects
are instrumental in the growth of our students and educators. The libraries have the flexibility to make
these things happen. The biggest
difference that I have surmised the ISTE Standards are designed to impact only
technology according to the New Jersey Association of School Library comparison
chart. The chart shows that the only
areas that ISTE impacted in the reading and writing standard areas were
collaboration and creative thinking. The
areas of citation, comparison for debate or arguments, research and revision,
reflection, and reading comprehension were not supported by the ISTE
standards (Committee, 2010).
The AASL standards impacted
all areas and grade levels on a consistent basis
Does that mean that one is better than another? Absolutely not. Together, these standards impact all of the
library’s needs as a whole. The benefit
is that both organizations take great efforts to update their standards and
train the educator, students and administrators to make libraries better. It’s always a good thing to add new items and
programs to your library, just like your favorite store adds new products and
services.
“Knowledge emerges only through invention and
re-invention, through the restless, impatient, continuing, hopeful inquiry
human beings pursue in the world, with the world, and with each other” (Friere, 1993) .
Resources:
AASL Slideshare. (2019, January 25). Retrieved from Linked-in Website: https://www.slideshare.net/kvlibrary/aasl-standards-framework
AASL Slideshare. (2019, January 25). Retrieved from Linked-in Website: https://www.slideshare.net/kvlibrary/aasl-standards-framework
Committee, N. (2010). NJASL Standards Comparison
Chart. Retrieved from http://belsnj.org/docsdl/NJStandardsComparison6-8.pdf
Cromartie, K., & Burnes, E. (2019. 47(5)).
Navigating the library slopes: Dispositional shifts in the national school
library standards. Knowledge Quest, 78-83.
Friere, P. (1993). Pedagogy of the Oppressed.
London: Penguin.
How many libraries are in the united states? (2018, April). Retrieved from American Library
Association: https://libguides.ala.org/numberoflibraries
ISTE Standards Logo. (2019, January 25). Retrieved from ISTE Website: https://www.iste.org/explore/solutions/ISTE-standards-refresh
Blog by Jennifer Gibson
