Allow School Media Specialists To Do Their Jobs

Stop using the media center for testing!

As educators, we frequently complain about students’ inappropriate and unethical use of technology when researching and completing assignments.

We sigh in frustration when students copy and paste hunks of information from online sources into their work without proper citations. We throw our hands up in exasperation when students’ idea of research is to type something into Google and accept the first result that pops up as their research findings. (Sometimes they don’t even bother to click on that first link: they merely use the preview, even if it cuts off mid-sentence!) We groan with fatigue when we have to tell students for the hundredth time that Wikipedia is NOT a reliable source as it is open to submissions and editing by the general public. If this were not messy enough, we now get to add the wonderful world of A.I. into the mix, with students using ChatGPT to write their papers and do their homework.

And, yes, these behaviors are often the due to laziness, procrastination, or deception. But it could also be argued that students are not being explicitly taught basic research skills that would eliminate some of this corner-cutting behavior. And how would we have the time to teach these skills in the classroom when the focus has been so heavily shifted to prepping for standardized testing?

This is where the media specialist/school librarian comes into play.

Most schools have a media specialist/school librarian on campus, a position that often requires a master’s degree in a field such as library and information sciences. Our media specialists are trained to teach students digital literacy and the responsible and plagiarism-free use of digital resources and source materials. They are trained to teach students how to properly conduct research, cite sources, and format work in MLA, AP, APA, etc. They hold the key to information, helping students access this information in various formats, whether it be print, digital, or audio materials. In my fifteen years in the classroom, I have experienced four media specialists: they usually love what they do and are extremely enthusiastic to do it.

Unfortunately, in my own experience, they don’t always get to do what they love, and worse still, some school districts have eliminated this position altogether at a time when we need it most to help students navigate this new world of A.I. in a way that is ethically and morally sound.

When the media center/library is shut down for weeks at a time for testing and the media specialist/ librarian is used as a test administrator, students lose out. When the media specialist also becomes the technology inventory person or the main technology trouble-shooter, students lose out more. They lose access to information, and this becomes an issue of equity.

Another common complaint of teachers is that students don’t read for pleasure outside of class, whether it be fiction or non-fiction, and this is yet another argument for not using the library/media center as a testing site for weeks on end. Keeping this facility open throughout the school year encourages students to read for fun. Most media specialists and librarians maintain amazing displays of new releases and old favorites that change from season to season and entice students to want to check out books to read for pleasure. Not to mention the fact that closing down the media center displaces those students, usually avid readers, for whom the library is a safe space to hang out during lunch and other free time.

District and school administrators, let’s allow our school librarians and media specialists to do what they are trained to do and what they love to do. Let’s keep our school libraries open year-round and find other places to hold testing sessions. Let’s free up our media specialists from extraneous duties so they can teach our students the important digital literacy lessons they desperately need. And let’s release our teachers from the stress and fear of standardized test results, so they can bring their classes to the media center for these lessons.

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For more information on the important and dynamic role of media specialists and school librarians in today’s technologically advanced world, check out this episode of the Education Today podcast: https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/Moc7tAi3Cyb