I believe that the mission of the school media center, thus my responsibility as a media specialist, is to

ensure that all individuals in the school district are provided access to literacy skills, up-to-date
technology, books (all formats), and electronic resources that enable them to be critical thinkers,
enthusiastic readers, skillful researchers, and effective users of technology.

As a media specialist, I strive to know my learners so that I can provide quality instruction and materials
for them, as well as build a healthy rapport with them. I also work to utilize my teaching experience and
skills to collaborate with teachers and other faculty to integrate twenty-first century skills and learning
standards into all areas of the school’s curriculum, tailoring instructional collaboration and support to
teachers’ and learners’ needs.

I endeavor to promote reading and literacy at all available opportunities, as I see it as one of the most
important responsibilities of a media specialist. I employ literacy strategies as I attempt to get students
excited and engaged about reading. I look to respect and represent diversity as I connect each student’s
interests and aptitudes to reading material the student will find interesting and informative. My goal is
to create life-long readers and learners.

I view another responsibility of being a media specialist as being curators of information and knowledge.
I strive to teach students how to access information in an ethical and efficient manner and work to
ensure equitable access to information and information technology. I teach students how to do research
and how to take information and knowledge and use it to become creators, rather than just consumers,
of content.

Another important aspect of being an increasingly effective media specialist is constantly looking to stay
abreast of the latest information and trends in the field. By networking with other media specialists,
taking advantage of professional development opportunities, and always looking to advocate for
learners’ needs, I seek to provide leadership in the school and community at large.

My responsibility as a media specialist is also to be an effective administrator of the school media center
program. In addition to managing the collection, along with personnel, budgeting, and facilities, I also
look to provide ethical and effective leadership as a steward of the school’s and community’s media
center resources.

Lastly, I hold dear my commitment to advocating for and upholding principles of intellectual freedom.
This means that I believe that it is every student’s right to be able to have free access to a full range of
ideas and opinions, regardless of my own personal beliefs. Students need to be able to access multiple
perspectives at a time when many of them are only beginning to develop their own unique perspectives,
both of ideas and of their own identities. To withhold information from students that can benefit in the
broadening of their own minds is tantamount to stifling their personal growth. Thus, I work to provide
learners with intellectual freedom so that they can become independent thinkers comfortable with their
own unique identities.