Changing role of school librarians

This week in class, we are looking at the changing role of school librarians (or media specialists, if you prefer). Specifically, we're discussing a table in AASL's Empowering Learners, which shows how school librarians rank their roles now and in the future:

Now:
1. Teacher
2. Information Specialist
3. Instructional Partner
4. Program Administrator

Future:
1. Instructional Partner
2. Information Specialist
3. Teacher
4. Program Administrator

[Empowering Learners: Guidelines for School Library Media Programs, AASL, 2009, p. 16.]

And all week, (in addition to battling glitches in my eCollege connection or lack thereof) I've been struggling with the idea of ranking the various roles of school librarians.  A ranking implies that certain roles are more important than others, and I don't necessarily find that to be true.  Plus, once you elevate one function above the others, it makes it easier to magnify that role at the expense of the others.  For example, with the current cuts (which include me, btw), elementary librarians in my district will likely be covering more schools, while, presumably, maintaining the number of lessons taught per school.  This means that the vast majority of their time will be spent teaching, leaving very little time for collaboration with teachers, or even basic administration of the libraries and programs.  The perception will be that they can successfully "do more with less," but the collection, programs and facilities will invariably suffer.

In class, I proposed a pyramid model in lieu of any rank or hierarchy. Similar to Maslow's Heirarchy of Needs and Bloom's Taxonomy, I see our various roles as school librarians as building upon a foundation, and striving toward an ideal.  In this case, the foundation is our knowledge and expertise as librarians, and the pinnacle of the pyramid is the ideal of instructional partnership with teachers, and educational leadership with our profession:

First, we are information specialists.  Everything we do is based in our expertise in the access, evaluation and ethical use of information and information technologies.

Upon that base, we administer a school library program which uses and provides access to information resources and technologies in a manner that supports the curriculum, and meets the needs and interests of our students, faculty and administrators.

Next, as teachers, with knowledge of student development, instructional methods and learning theory, we instruct and empower students to use our school library program to explore, collaborate and construct meaningful knowledge within (and beyond) the curriculum and beyond school walls, and to become lifelong readers and learners.

Only after we have established ourselves as information specialists, administrators of a rich 21st century library program, and effective educators, can we expect to become instructional partners within our school buildings and districts.  Teachers need to see us as experts and educators, before they can be open to investing their time (and trusting their students' learning) to partnership/collaboration with us.

Finally, we should strive to be leaders and advocates within our buildings, our districts and our profession.  With our expertise and experience, we are uniquely qualified to take on a leadership role as our schools strive to meet evolving state and national education standards.  We need to take the lead in preparing our schools to educate students for success in an information-based society and global economy.