Announcing...Free Freedom to Read Foundation Membership!

I view intellectual freedom as the most important role of librarians today. Take a look at this great offer from FTRF!

Freedom to Read Foundation offers free memberships to new library school graduates

CHICAGO - The Freedom to Read Foundation (FTRF) is offering free one-year memberships to students graduating from ALA-accredited MLS and MLIS programs and from school library media programs recognized by the American Association of School Librarians (AASL), an educational unit accredited by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE).

Students whose graduation date was Aug. 1, 2009 or later can, upon their graduation, download a membership form at www.ftrf.org/graduates and mail, fax or e-mail it to the Freedom to Read Foundation.

See original Press Release for full details: http://www.ala.org/ala/newspresscenter/news/pressreleases2009/october2009/freememberships_ftrf.cfm

Question? Contact Jonathan Kelley at jokelley@ala.org or (800) 545-2433 x4226.

Discounts for ALA NMRT Members!

I received this notification a few months ago. Thought I would share.

NMRT members receive a 50% discount to Library Journal, the oldest
independent journal covering the library field. Or School Library
Journal the most widely read magazine for librarians serving youth -
whether in schools or public libraries.

Here are the links to order:

Library Journal -
https://w1.buysub.com/servlet/OrdersGateway?cds_mag_code=LJL&cds_page_id=65542&cds_response_key=I97ALNMRT

School Library Journal -
https://w1.buysub.com/servlet/OrdersGateway?cds_mag_code=SLJ&cds_page_id=65548&cds_response_key=I97ALNMRT

School Media Specialists?

http://www.sosspotlight.com/site_creator/view/425

Dr. Renee E. Franklin did a small study on what School Librarians like to be called. I was unhappy to see that School Media Specialist received high scores. What's with this title? Why do people like it so much?

Are school librarians trained in media? Nope. I have an undergraduate degree in New Media Publishing, and there is a lot about media that the MLS program does not even begin to cover. Now, there are exceptions, but why give this profession the name of something it's not. I agree that we work with various media and its important for us to know about various media, but it's not our focus, information is our focus.

We are librarians who work in a school, why not call us that?

Although, I am open to debate...