FSU Opens I-CELTIC Research Center for School Librarians

There’s a new research center in town—and its goal is to help media specialists perform better in their jobs. Florida State University’s (FSU) College of Information got the go-ahead last week to launch I-CELTIC (Interdisciplinary Center for Leadership, Technology Integration, and Critical Literacies). 

The center will bring together the university’s Learning System’s Institute and its colleges of information studies and education. One of its main purposes will be to analyze how the leadership role of media specialists affects technology integration throughout schools. "The idea is to model and encourage innovative leadership practices for educators and students," says Eliza Dresang, a professor at FSU’s College of Information and director of I-CELTIC. "We want to bring school libraries to the table with all other disciplines that have similar interests."

The first order of business will be a follow-up to Project LEAD, a two-pronged FSU program aimed at attracting more school librarians. Aided with $1.3 million in grants from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, LEAD (Leaders Educated to Make a Difference) has developed a completely online curriculum for media specialists, which includes tenets of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards to help candidates qualify for National Board Certification in library media.

Librarians can earn a leadership certificate that can be taken within the master’s degree, a post-master’s leadership certificate, or a 30-credit specialist degree focusing on leadership.

The other component of LEAD is a fellowship program aimed at attracting 30 Florida teachers to fill the state’s media specialist shortage. Participants in the two-and-a-half-year program, which began in January, complete FSU’s online master’s degree program and obtain Florida certification as school library media specialists and a leadership certificate.

"We’re going to follow [them] in their first year as school library media specialists to see if they are leaders and how our program is reflected in their practice," Dresang says.

The center, which will operate on a five-year $670,000 grant, will be housed in the College of Information.