Diffusion of Information and Knowledge: How Information Becomes Meaningful - Evolving Global Information Infrastructure and Information Transfer - page 110

• Formal and informal instruction in information skills, the production of ma-

terials, and the use of information and instructional technologies

• Recommendations for instructional planning to individual teachers as well

as assistance in school-wide planning in curricular and instructional activit-
ies

These national standards, adopted jointly by the American Association of
School Librarians (AASL) and the Association for Educational Communication and
Technology, vaulted the school librarian into the teaching process as a partner with
the classroom teacher.
The vital role of the school librarian as an educator is continued and enhanced
in the most recent professional guidelines of AASL, Empowering Learners:
Guidelines for School Library Programs (2009). This document recognizes the ex-
panding role of technology in our lives and identifies the mission of the school lib-
rarian in helping students develop knowledge and skills for the 21st century:

The mission of the school library program is to ensure that students and
staff are effective users of ideas and information. The school librarian em-
powers students to be critical thinkers, enthusiastic readers, skillful re-
searchers, and ethical users of information by:

• collaborating with educators and students to design and teach engaging

learning experiences that meet individual needs

• instructing students and assisting educators in using, evaluating, and pro-

ducing information and ideas through active use of a broad range of appro-
priate tools, resources, and information technologies

• providing access to materials in all formats, including up-to-date, high-qual-

ity, varied literature to develop and strengthen a love of reading

• providing students and staff with instruction and resources that reflect cur-

rent information needs and anticipate changes in technology and education

• providing leadership in the total education program and advocating for

strong school library programs as essential to meeting local, state, and na-
tional education goals (8).

This emboldened role of the school librarian was accompanied by research and
the development of models that facilitated this role of the school librarian as teach-
er and instructional consultant. Kuhlthau's (2003) research resulted in a six-stage