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by Brett Buckner Beyond These Four Walls


As technology weaves its way into the daily lives of children, school libraries are forced to keep up.


F


or the record, they are media specialists — not librarians. Rarely, in the realm of educa- tion, has there ever been more apt a title or job description. Not that there’s anything


wrong with being called a librarian, explains Erica Screws, who has served as media spe- cialist at Fort Middle School for eight years. “It’s still who we are,” Screws says. “But it


doesn’t really explain all of what we do. Being called a media specialist makes more sense because we really do cover more than just the books on the shelves. Technology has become part of our job description, and we’re always playing catch-up to the kids.” And it’s something of a contradiction in


terms. The term librarian conjures up images of stuffy women, wearing


thick glasses,


their hair tied up in a tight bun, patrolling the stacks and issuing a stern, “Shhhh!” to anyone speaking above a whisper. A media specialist on the other hand,


is anything but stuffy and tightly wound. Rather she or he has adapted to an ever- evolving role that technology plays in the lives of their students. The Internet is reshaping our lives.


Nowhere is this more evident than in the library.


In his book, The Shallows: What


the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains, author Nicholas Carr argues that, although we don’t traditionally think of libraries as being a bas- tion for technology, it has become one of the most important and influential sources for


JULY 2012 | Valley Parent 9

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