Position Statements

• Student Internet Access
• Staffing: Professional Responsibilities in Pennsylvania School Libraries
• Instructional Classification

Position Statement on Student Internet Access

The Pennsylvania School Librarians Association asserts that:

• School librarians are partners with students, teachers, administrators, and community members as we assist school students as they access and evaluate all information, including that found on the Internet.
• The Internet is a valuable depository of historical as well as current events. Students are able to access vast amounts of information in a very quick manner.
• School districts throughout the Commonwealth have adopted Internet Acceptable Use Policies, which govern the use of the tool within their districts. Formulating and applying such policies must remain the responsibility of school boards across the Commonwealth.

Adopted by the Pennsylvania School Librarians Association Board of Directors, June 23, 2001

Position Statement on Staffing
PSLA’s Position Statement on Professional Responsibilities in Pennsylvania School Libraries

The effectiveness of the school library as an integral part of the teaching and learning process of the school depends on the quality of the professional personnel responsible for the program. A professional in each school building who is well-educated and highly motivated is critical to the success of the program.

The school librarian's specific responsibilities espoused by the American Association of School Librarians in Information Power; Building Partnerships for Learning are listed in the following:

• Teacher: is knowledgeable about current research on teaching and learning and skilled in applying its findings to a variety of situations
• Instructional Partner: identifies links across student information needs, curricular content, learning outcomes, and a wide variety of print, nonprint, and electronic information resources
• Information Specialist: provides leadership and expertise in acquiring and evaluating information resources in all formats; in bringing an awareness of information issues into collaborative relationships with teachers, administrators, students, and others; and in modeling for students and others strategies for locating, accessing, and evaluating information within and beyond the school library
• Program Administrator: works collaboratively with members of the learning community to define the policies of the program to guide and direct all activities related to it. 


  
  Orchestrating all of these responsibilities in a living and dynamic school library program becomes complex for the practitioner. Evidence of competency exceeds that which can be determined from teaching in another subject area or a content-area test. 


  
  The need by school districts for Highly Qualified Teachers as defined in the No Child Left Behind Act is understood and appreciated. To ensure that school library professionals go beyond meeting minimum Pennsylvania certification needs and are adequately prepared, the Pennsylvania School Librarians Association recommends the Praxis test be coupled with the companion document to PDE 428, "Employee Evaluation Form; School Librarian - Companion" designed to more adequately measure the competencies of practicing school librarians and give the best possible outcomes.

Board Approval 9/17/2005

Position Statement on Instructional Classification

AASL supports the inclusion of certified school library media specialists as part of the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) "Instruction" classification.

School library media centers are classrooms in which school library media specialists teach and students and teachers learn. In school library media centers, students read, utilize print, non-print, and technology resources, and learn to evaluate and use information for projects and reports efficiently, effectively, and ethically, with the goal of developing lifelong learning and literacy skills and strategies. In school library media programs, classroom teachers and school library media specialists collaborate for instruction and support the development of each other's teaching skills. Multiple research studies, more than 60 since 1965, have affirmed that there is a clear link between school library media programs staffed by state-certified school library media specialists and increased student achievement (Library Research Services Web site at http://www.lrs.org/impact.asp).

School library media specialists are recognized by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) as teachers whose teaching can be measured to meet standards for professional teaching excellence and by the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science (NCLIS) as teachers who are critically important for student achievement. School library media specialists are teachers who serve as crucial partners in ensuring that states and school districts meet the reading requirements that are part of No Child Left Behind (P.L. 107-110). In Part B, Subpart 1, Section 1208 of No Child Left Behind (P.L. 107-110), Instructional Staff is defined as "principals, teachers, supervisors of instruction, librarians, and school library media specialists".

Despite the vital role school library media specialists play as teachers and collaborators with classroom teachers, NCES classifies school library media specialists as "Support Staff-- Instruction" rather than "Instruction" along with classroom teachers. School library media specialists were placed in the instructional support category by NCES in the 1950s and, despite the evolution of school library media specialists' work from book warehouse managers to instructional leaders and partners, school library media specialists remain in this support staff classification. The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 and NCES conflict in their classification of school library media specialists.

Failure to classify school library media specialists as instructional staff and to recognize the impact of state-certified school library media specialists on student achievement, especially in reading, may result in a critical loss of funding for library positions and resources and a dangerous deterioration of library services for our nation's children. AASL will take a lead role over the next several years to communicate with state and national government leaders as well as the leadership of educational organizations about the importance of, and the role played by, school library media specialists in student achievement.

Approved by the PSLA February 4, 2006