certification

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=**Why (some) Fargo librarians oppose this change:**= [] -- AASL eAcademy is another possibility With certification in any specialty, there is a responsibility to stay current in that field. If a person does not want to continue their education as a library media specialist, maybe they should consider a different specialty.
 * 1) ​ VCSU is the only institution that has approved library courses, and VCSU must pre-approve the credit if it occurs at other institutions -- No, they are the only state institution. There are many other universities (Univ. of North. Iowa for one) that offer grad. level library courses. It is correct that we may take them from other universities and that the State DPI will in fact approve them, but those courses are at a much greater cost to the student.
 * 2) VCSU does not have broad enough courses to account for 21st Century literacies that librarians need to stay abreast of.
 * 1) This limits librarians in the coursework they take. Librarians need a broad range of professional development to effectively support teachers in their selection and use of an ever-expanding list of resources.
 * 2) Librarians in the state are professionals. They should be able to have more control over identifying and selecting the recertification coursework that is most beneficial to themselves and their schools.
 * 3) Library Media Specialists need to stay abreast of the LMIS information, but also need to be able to take classes in reading literacy, technology, differentiation, Instructional Coaching, etc. -- you can still take these classes. Only 3 of the 5 (soon to be 6 credits) need to be Library courses. While it is true you can take those other courses, it still limits what you take based on availablity, etc. 2 credits in LMIS does not prevent you from taking all of them in that if you want. But it does allow for the student to choose professional development that will best meet the needs of the students in that school. Currently, the requirement is 4 credits for renewal, I know there is talk of increasing that, but it has not been approved as far as I know. We just received the notification in an email from Nancy Jordheim.
 * 4) Requiring graduate level library classes for renewal is an added expense and inconvenience for all Library Media Specialists, but it poses an even greater problem for people in the state's smaller school districts. Many of those Library Media Specialists are already teaching in other content areas and working in other capacities in their schools. This could be the deciding factor in whether they choose to stay in our profession or not.

The following documents may incorporate much of what we are requesting. Ithink the points that are listed above are great too.