Leadership and the School Librarian: Essays from Leaders in the Field

by Mary Lankford

Overview

In order for school librarians to continue to play a crucial role in improving student achievement, their leadership skills must be evident to administrators, teachers, students, and to the community. This book identifies the librarians' leadership role and provides ideas that will allow school library media specialists to utilize leadership skills in advocacy, collaboration, instruction, literature guidance, curriculum development, and professional growth. As librarians take a greater leadership role in the school improvement process, administrative leaders will rise up to take the advocacy role for school libraries.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781586831912
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	04/01/2006
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	136
Product dimensions:	8.40(w) x 10.90(h) x 0.30(d)

About the Author

Mary Lankford is the Texas Education Association assistant library director at Klein Oak High School in Spring, TX.

Editorial Reviews

Librarian leadership roles are identified and readers are provided with ideas that will allow school library media specialists to use their leadership skills in advocacy, collaboration, instruction, literature, guidance, curriculum development and professional growth. Offering advice from practicing librarians, this book teaches readers how to improve instruction and to use their leadership skills to make a difference in their school library and school.” —District Administration

From the Publisher

Lankford has called upon six of her Texas colleagues, Marybeth Green, Betty Carter, Jim Hundemer, Barbara Bertoldo, Mary Frances Long, and JoAnn Moore, to assemble this review of leadership. In a conversational style, she introduces her long-standing interest in the topic and reviews the current literature and research on the qualities of a good leader. The six central chapters cover the many responsibilities and roles of an LMS: advocacy, collection development, financial support, collaboration, professional development, and learner-centered teaching. The foundation for each chapter is Information Power, and the cement is student achievement. Within that framework, each author describes the stated role from the perspective of leadership. The intended audience might seem obvious, but the chapters shift between a building level and administrative focus. The lengthy list of the must-dos and the required range of expertise outlined in each chapter will give new media specialists serious cause for anxiety. Lankford's parting words, "You may believe you are running as fast as you can, but you can not slow down," will leave experienced leaders gasping for breath. Problems with confusing sentence structure, typos, missing definitions, and mislabeled tables all detract from the book's quality. An LMS who has been keeping current with the literature and attending conferences will not find much new here. Purchase this for a concise review or brief introduction to leadership.-Carol S. Surges, McKinley Elementary School, Wauwatosa, WI Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

School Library Journal