I’m especially pleased to see our role as a leader highlighted in the new guidelines.  The last chapter, “Empowering Learning through Leadership” is short, but is so key.  School library media specialists must be seen as leaders in their schools and districts.  This perception is a critical piece to the success of a library media program.  As leaders we help set the direction and goals and in turn paint the picture of how libraries help schools reach those goals.

The other two main areas of the new guidelines are “Teaching for Learning” and “Building the Environment”.  The titles of these chapters succiently summarize the guidelines presented under them.  How do we make the library media program part of teaching and instruction and what kind of enviroment do our student (and staff) need for that learning to be successful.

I need more time to digest what I’ve read.  I need to reread it again.  But, my first reaction is these guidelines will serve us well.  I started my first job in 1998 when Information Power 2 was released.  Here we are 11 years later with a new document.  I think it takes the best of what we know and builds on its predecessors.  These new guidelines paint a picture of possibilities.  Now the real work begins…turning those paintings into realities.