by Joy Esiemokhai
In today’s digital world, it is of the utmost importance that academics meets technology in order to properly prepare students for that world. As custodians of knowledge, library media specialists are in charge of ensuring that the traditional idea of a library of a haven of information matches the technology-defined reality.
That was the purpose of the symposium of Georgia school library media specialists, which was hosted by the University of West Georgia. The meeting was attended by a state-wide contingent of library media coordinators, representatives from library media specialist training institutions and instructional technology leaders, as well as leaders from the Georgia Library Media Association, the state organization for school library media.
The main topic at the event was the current state and future plan of the field of school library media and how to better identify and promote the need for information literacy in Georgia. Attendees discussed the development of an official consortium to work directly with the Georgia Department of Education and alignment of university program requirements with changes in the schools.
UWG’s library media program faculty were instrumental in launching the consortium, which will work directly with Georgia’s Department of Education to identify needs and events of school library media centers in the state. The program will work to disseminate information and ensure the effectiveness of school library media programs on the performance of students in Georgia schools. A statewide assessment and evaluation instrument for all school library media specialists is one of the main goals of the consortium.
“I think we accomplished most of what we wanted to, which was mainly to review where we are today with an eye to the future and to begin developing a path for the Georgia Department of Education,” said Beth Miller, the president of GLMA.
“I feel that we can make great strides in defining our positions with the various assessments we were reviewing,” she added.
For more information on the school library media program at UWG, contact the College of Education at 678-839-5259 or Dr. Phyllis Snipes at psnipes@westga.edu.
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