visions

dr. margaret moore
unit librarian/media director
harrisburg community unit school
district 3
harrisburg, illinois

Past

According to Robert L. Merrill, historical accounts of the progressive education movement in the United States contain few meaningful discussions of the role of libraries and librarians. Some historians may consider this omission an appropriate one reflecting the absence of any significant relationship between school and library during the progressive education period. School library service, to some, is a creation of the post-World War II period, if not the post-Sputnik period when economic conditions and educational needs made the growth and expansion of school library services feasible and even necessary.¹

Merrill therefore states: "We are still left with the question as to which parties in American Society initiated and fostered the growth of school libraries. It is not, as educational historians tell us by omission, the progressive educators."

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David Loertscher tells us that the school library media center is a new concept. If you were alive during World War II, you have lived almost all of the history of the school library media center. True, classroom book collections existed in most schools, and a few book-oriented school libraries did exist at the turn of the century, but most of these were very limited in their development. Only since 1960 has a new interest in modern education fostered the concept of the school library media center. The idea of a school library as a repository for books service as a supplement to children's education was challenged in the years that followed the Second World War. This challenge came from some great revolutionaries in the library and audiovisual fields, who had a vision of what audiovisual materials, equipment, and printed materials could do for American education. They saw that all these media could have a center stage in the education process rather than a supplementary role, and they agreed that the child would be richer educationally for this new experience.²

Who were the revolutionaries? For me, they were Dr. Paul Wendt, Dr. Gordon Butts, Roy Evans, and Dorothy Cox, faculty members of the Instructional Materials Department at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale, during the 1960s. As stated by Dorothy Cox in September 1970, the program of this department was based upon the concept of the cross-media approach in learning in which all materials are recognized as essential components of the school's instructional program. The department offered a master's degree in audiovisual education and one in school library service to provide certification by the new Standard Special Certification.³ For example, one could receive certification as a media specialist, audiovisual specialist, or school librarian.

Although visions of library media centers were being formed by library and audiovisual personnel at the university level in the late 1950s and early 1960s, according to Dr. Joseph Cronin, Illinois State Superintendent of Education, the major stimulus to adequate school library staffing and collections in Illinois schools came through federal support in 1965-72 through Title II of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. Thousands of schools developed new libraries and media centers.⁴ The school systems began to realize the value of centralized collections and the need for professional personnel at the elementary level. Also, a realization that a school library/media center could not function without adequate staff began to emerge among many school boards and school administrators.

What was the vision for the new media centers and personnel? The media center was to be centralized with all print and non-print materials cataloged. Equipment was to be available for independent study for students. Media specialists were to work with students and teachers to enhance the curriculum. Wet and dry carrels were to be provided for student use of filmstrips, slides, and 16mm films. Records and tapes were to be available for classroom and media center use. A sufficient number of newspapers, magazines, and paperback books were to be provided for browsing. Students were to beable to prepare filmstrips, films, and video tapes for classroom use. And most important of all, the media specialist was to provide direction and service for this new concept.

The media specialists were a new breed of educators. They were either teachers who had returned to school to further their education or they were new teachers who had selected the media field as a career. There was concern as to whether the media specialist should be classified as an administrator or a teacher. The media specialists were encouraged to develop a philosophy for the media program, then to list their goals and objectives. The media specialists were directed to try to meet the standards for quality programs. The American Library Association pubished Standards for School Library Programs in 1960.⁵ In 1966, the Department of Audiovisual Instruction of the National Education Association brought out its national standards for schools, elementary through college.⁶ Standards for School Media Programs was prepared in 1969 by a Joint Committee of the American Association of School Libraries and the Department of Audiovisual Instruction. These joint standards set forth a unified program of media services.⁷ However, in 1972, the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction developed Standards for Educational Media Programs in Illinois and although this was a joint effort of the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, the Illinois audiovisual Association, and the Illinois Association of School Librarians, the two media associations could not resolve the use of the term "media specialists" to identify their representatives and therefore still called them "audiovisual specialist" and "librarian."⁸

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The media specialists were encouraged to join "their" organizations such as ALA, DAVI, AASL, IAVA, ILA, and IASL. They were represented in the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction by Director of Instructional Materials, and on a regional level by district representatives. Bulletin 160, The Evaluation and Recognition of Schools included the media area as an area to be evaluated. The Encyclopaedia Britannica School Library Awards were initiated in 1962 to give recognition to exemplary school library media programs.

Although the picture looked "rosy" at this time, Lucille Wert reported that her "Illinois School Library Media Survey" (1970) did not provide a very bright picture of the status of school library media programs in Illinois. She stated that while one does not find individual media centers which partially met the 1969 Standards for School Media Programs, the statewide picture showed that a great deal of improvement was needed to bring programs up to the level of even the 1960 Standards for School Libraries.⁹

Present

How far have we come from the 1960s media program? The 1981 Survey of Illinois Public School Library Media Centers by Herbert Goldhor and Cora E. Thomassen give us some insight. They surveyed all 1,010 public school districts in Illinois and were able to use 49 percent of the responses. According to their survey, "in a vast majority of cases, these school districts had separate library rooms; dual purpose rooms were a poor second, and classroom libraries a distant third." They stated that "this is a long step forward in regard to physical quarters." In regard to professional staff, two things stand out — 61 percent of the districts had no professional media specialists at the district level; but 77 percent had such specialists at the building level and an average of 2.3 FTE per district. The average number of cataloged books was 15 per enrolled student, and even in small districts (those with fewer than 500 students) the average number of books was 6,400. On the other hand, the average numberof all non-print titles reported was less than 3 per student. Typically the school library media centers in these districts were opened 32 to 35 hours a week, or 6 to 7 hours a day. Almost half were opened to the public, and most so available were so used. Of many different types of audiovisual, e.g., 16mm film, filmstrip, slide, over-head and opaque projectors, a phonograph player, and a cassette recorder and/or playback machine, seven were available to the media centers in over 90 percent of these school districts. Only 11 percent of the districts reported availability of microcomputers. Expenditures for all purposes other than salaries averaged $14 per pupil. Books and other print and related costs accounted for 59 percent of these expenditures on the average, compared with 35 percent for audiovisual software, hardware, and related costs. Just under half of the respondents were affiliated with ILLINET — 75 percent of those in southern Illinois vs. 28 percent in the Chicago suburbs.¹⁰

One vision of a statewide library network is fast becoming a reality. The 101 southern Illinois schools that have elected to become ILLINET members are deriving many benefits from this affiliation. According to Jim Ubel, Shawnee Library System Director, cooperation between different types of libraries in southern Illinois moved into a new phase during the 1981-82 fiscal year.¹¹ For the first time, a permanent advisory council representing all types of member libraries provided school, academic, special, and public libraries with an opportunity to present ideas for system consideration. The new advisory council included six school librarians, six public librarians, and one who represents southern Illinois academic and special libraries. The school librarians receive The Bulletin Board, a newsletter of systems procedures and news. The school librarians attend the Shawnee Library System workshops and the ILA Legislative Day activities, both of which are highly publicized by the system. The school libraries participate in the cooperative purchasing program and binding program resulting in a substantial savings for the local school districts. Several schools including Benton, Christopher, Marion, Cairo, and Harrisburg have computer terminals that access the data base of five southern Illinois libraries. The system, also, has published a serials listing of all affiliate members.

The vision of the Illinois State Board of Education Media and Library Advisory Council has been to produce a video tape designed to show the importance of media in the classroom and the importance of the library media specialist as a teacher. The video tape, "Media Minded," has been released and is now available for loan to school systems. Their Recommended Standards for Educational Library Media Programs in Illinois (1983) has also been completed.¹²

Due to changes in federal legislation, staff support for library media programs from the Illinois State Board of Education has been reduced. Many of the services provided by the state staff that served as consultants and liaison for the library media associations is provided by cooperating consultants from higher education and local school districts. The funding of library media programs has changed from ESEA Title II, which designated monies for library media materials, to ECIA Chapter 2, which gives more discretion to local administrators for spending monies of programs they deem most worthy. Therefore, school media specialists are now having to prove the worth of their programs because there is more local competition for these federal funds.

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Future

What then will be the future of school library media centers? I have no "earthshaking visions" for the future. However, I do wish the future will encompass the following:

The state media organizations, IAME and IAECT, will unite, combining their capable leadership and dedicated membership so that there will not be a duplication of leadership for the media field but an enhancement.

The state library systems will continue to require a maintenance of effort of affiliate schools as was formerly required by the Illinois State Board of Education under ESEA Title II and ESEA Title IVB.

Illinois school library media centers will be linked by a local, state, and national computer network particularly for interlibrary loans and cataloging. Leadership for the network being provided by the Educational Service Regions, Library Systems, and the Illinois State Board of Education.

By using these networks, the library media specialists will have more time to interact with and be of service to the students and teachers which after all the "name of the game" whether it be in 1960, 1980, or 2000.

Footnotes

1.  Robert L. Morrill, "The School Libraries and Progress Educators: Two Points of View," School Media Quarterly 9: 145-151 (Spring 1981).

2.  David Loertscher, "School Library Media Centers: The Revolutionary Past," Wilson Library Bulletin 56: 415-416 (February 1982).

3.  Dorothy Cox, "The Professional Program of the Instructional Materials Department at Southern Illinois University," Illinois Libraries 52: 700-701 (September 1970).

4.  Joseph Cronin, "The Schools and Public Libraries the Necessary Partnership," Illinois Libraries 60: 561-62 (Septmber 1978).

5.  American Association of School Librarians. Standards School Library Programs. Chicago: American Library Assocation, 1960.

6.  Department of Audiovisual Instruction. Quantitative Standards for Audiovisual Personnel, Equipment and Materials in Elementary, Secondary, and Higher Education. Washington, DC: National Education Association, 1966.

7.  American Association of School Librarians and Department of Audiovisual Instruction. Standards for School Media Programs. Chicago: American Library Association and the National Education      Association, 1969.

8.  Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, The Illinois Audiovisual Association, and the Illinois Association of School Librarians. Standards for Educational Media Programs in Illinois.      Springfield, IL: Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, (March 1972).

9.  Lucille M. Wert. "Illinois School Library Media Survey," Illinois Libraries 54: 553-643 (September 1972).

10.  Herbert Goldhor and Cora E. Thomassen. The 1981 Survey of Illinois Public School Library Media Centers. Springfield IL: Jim Edgar, Secretary of State and State Librarian, Illinois State Library,      (January 1983).

11.  James Ubel. "Shawnee Library System," Illinois Libraries 65: 68-70 (January 1983).

12.  Marie Sivak, IAME News for You. 27-9, (Spring 1983).

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