What do teacher-librarians do?
Guide Students and Teachers in the use of Technology Resources: Finding information outside the walls of the library is the future of knowledge accumulation. Teacher-librarians help students and teachers understand online databases, Google and Bing searching of the Internet and teach users how to identify trusted and accurate sources. Through technology, information becomes available to more students, is more up to date and is not limited to what is on the shelves of the school library or to one book for a class of 30 students.

 

Information Literacy instruction: teacher-librarians teach classrooms of students who visit the library during their class period how to look for and find information, determine the accuracy of the information and assess the usefulness of information. When students have difficulty forming their search strategy, teacher-librarians make suggestions for other ways to approach a search, whether this means expanding or narrowing the search in order to better define the results.

Collaborate with classroom teachers: teacher-librarians work with classroom teachers to prepare, in advance of classroom visits, research material and/or bibliographies that students will need to complete assignments. They create bibliographies for teachers to distribute to their students. They purchase materials that will support classroom teaching.

Reader's Advisory: The teacher-librarian at every school is also an expert in identifying books and proactively suggesting books for students to read for fun; this skill is nurtured by reading book reviews, talking to colleagues, attending book review groups and reading books outside of school.

Collection Development: due to a limited availability of money, teacher-librarians make careful decisions about what to buy for their collection based on materials needed for class assignments, what teens are reading for fun, which books win awards or are highly rated for quality and popularity and what areas of the collection need updating.

Maintaining the collection: finding accurate information is not only imperative when searching online databases and the Internet, but also when providing books in the collection of the school library. Teacher-librarians assess their library's collection every year in order to remove damaged, outdated and inaccurate material. By removing the “weeds”, this gives students and teachers a better chance of finding what they need when browsing or searching the shelves, not to mention having accurate information when they do find relevant material.

Inventory: going through every book in the collection annually helps preserve the collection and keep it up-to-date. It gives the teacher-librarian valuable information on the age of the collection, a picture of gaps that may exist in subject areas and a list of missing books that need to be replaced or removed from the catalog.

Book Discussion Groups: some teacher-librarians support their students by having regular book discussion group meetings. Parents, teachers and students will all be invited by the teacher-librarian to come together and talk about the same book that everyone read.

How do teacher-librarians help our children with their research assignments?
The Bellevue School District's standardized curriculum ensures that our children receive an equitable and progressive education. Embedded in the lesson plans of social studies and language arts curricula are required research projects in which teachers are directed to collaborate with their Library Media Specialist (i.e. teacher-librarian) in order to teach the information literacy portion of the lesson.  Through this direct instruction, the teacher-librarian helps our students successfully find the information they need to complete a research assignment. Because it takes time to help each individual student, it is not unusual for a teacher to take his or her students to the library during class time for big assignments so the teacher-librarian can offer guidance to the entire class. The goal is that these trips to the library will develop and model good research skills so that students will eventually be able to look for and analyze information on their own.

What is Information Literacy?
The Curriculum Web includes a standardized curriculum for Information Literacy. Information Literacy is defined as a K-12 program based on national and international standards of Information Processing Skills, Literature Engagement, Self-Directed Learning, and Social Responsibility. We want our students to graduate with those skills necessary to be successful in college and the workplace as effective users of ideas and information. In other words, students need to know how to find information and evaluate it for accuracy, they need to be encouraged to read and they need to be able to access and process information on their own.

What do students need to know in order to be considered information literate?
The Bellevue School District has defined these standards for K-12 Information Literacy:

A. Information Processing Skills
    1. Defines the information need
    2. Locates information
    3. Selects and organizes information
    4. Creates and communicates information
    5. Assesses the information process

B. Literature Engagement
    1. Reads a variety of literature
    2. Builds a repertoire

C. Self-Directed Learning
    1. Experiences literature and media for recreation
    2. Pursues information in a variety of formats related to personal interest
    3. Strives for excellence in information seeking and rigor in knowledge generation

D. Social Responsibility
    1. Recognizes the importance of information to a democratic society
    2. Demonstrates ethical behavior in regard to information and information technology
    3. Participates effectively in groups to pursue and generate information

Are teacher-librarians required to be certificated by the State of Washington?
According to the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, only a certified teacher with an endorsement in library media can be considered a Library Media Specialist.