Chapter 2: Woolls

Upon reading this chapter I was honestly very surprised at all the responsibilities of a Library Media Specialist. I've always known the basics, but have never really sat down to think of the specifics. Believe me, this gives me a whole new respect for our wonderful librarian at our school!
The one main thing that I kept seeing throughout this chapter was collaboration. I think this is crucial for not only a school system, but a successful classroom. However, I can understand the line on page 22 that refers to the teachers not wanting to have anyone help with instruction because of their beliefs on what prepares students for a standardized test. In this case, though, if I were the librarian, I think I could make a pretty compelling argument about the education that I'd received in order to maintain a degree to operate a library....
What probably surprised me the most in this chapter was the fact that the library plan and technology plan are so closely linked to each other. I need to do further research in our school to check this out, so what I'm getting ready to say is strictly from my observations. At our school we have 4 buildings, they're all ran by a technology office with a 'head' person of that and a few others beneath her that do the actual fixing, connecting, etc. This person also maintains all the filtering from our firewalls, which brings me to my next point. I love the line that says "so to meet the challenge, perhaps if you can't beat them, join them' under the Communication Links heading that refers to the use of all the Social Networks. I understand that these things can be abused and taken out of context, but I also see a great learning opportunity sitting there waiting for us to figure out how to use them correctly. As a teacher I cannot tell you how many times I've had students request me as a friend on FB, every single time my answer has been 'ignore', but what if there was a way to use this technology to benefit educationally?