President's Message

W elcome back! By the time you read this, the school year will be several weeks old. In the hectic days of preparing for a new group of students to enter your

school setting, I hope that you take a little bit of time for yourself. Often, we fail to sit down and take a few minutes to evaluate what we have done in the past and what we need to improve in the future.

This past summer I contemplated changing posi- tions. It was an invigorating experience to assem- ble all the material necessary for job applications and preparing for interviews. It forced me to think about my philosophy on the operation of our li- brary media program. It also forced me to make a record of what I considered to be my accomplish- ments and what I look forward to accomplishing in the near future. It was necessary for me to focus on my leadership capabilities and how I would go about implementing services and instruction that would best serve students and faculty.

You don't need to apply for a new job to sit down and reflect for a moment as this new school year begins. Too often at the beginning of the year, we focus on smaller tasks that need to be accomplished without sitting down and taking a look at the big picture. We lose track of what our goals for the year should be as we are forced to meet the ever growing demands of students and faculty. My point is this, take some time if you haven't done so already, to sit down and think about where you have been and where you want to be. Write down two or three major goals for the coming school year and devise strategies to accomplish them. Next May, take out that piece of paper and see how you have done. I think you will be surprised, if you have established goals to focus on for the entire year.

A major project of DSMS this year is to com- plete a long-range plan for our organization. I en- courage you to complete the member survey in- cluded in the fall edition of the DSMS newsletter. The survey asks several questions about where our organization is now, and the direction you would like it to go in the future. You will also be receiving ballot information for election of our new officers. Please promote the new School Me-

dia Specialist of the Year Award being sponsored by AECT and 3M. Either apply yourself or en- courage a colleague to apply for this award. De- tails can be obtained from your state affiliate or AECT headquarters office.

Consider coming to the Orlando convention in February of 1991. Yes, the "magic is back" and DSMS is promoting a strong convention program to assist you in meeting the needs of students and faculty. I hope to see you there. Have a great school year!

Tom Peterson DSMS President

From the Field Editor's Desk

I nstructional strategies, the theme of this issue, represent an important foundational element in the teaching/learning process. Representing a wide variety of topics, the articles in this issue provide the reader

with a plethora of exciting new ideas. Coleman regards the school library media spe-

cialist as a valuable ally to combat the at-risk stu- dent problem. Moreover, he emphasizes strategies that school library media specialists can use to positively influence the current situation.

Harris and Franz stress the importance of ap- plying the major guidelines of the influential publi- cation, Information Power, to the individual school media center environment. In addition, the article highlights the crucial role of the building principal.

Wiseman reviews the major characteristics and types of style/grammar checker computer pro- grams. These useful programs detect errors in punctuation, grammar, and spelling. They also provide the user with a readability and strength index.

The ERIC bibliography includes current citations related to automating the school library media cen- ter. The recentness of the publications should prove to be a valuable resource to any member currently involved in the automation process.

I personally hope these articles provide a stimu- lant to the creative efforts of the school media specialist. Who k n o w s . . , a seed may germinate.

Bob Gray Kutztown University

Volume 35/Number 4/1990 45