Last Fall, NMRLS began the process of verifying that our then 228 school member libraries met the eligibility requirements for membership in a regional library system put forth by the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners. NMRLS undertakes this process every two years.
Letters went out to all public and private school principals/head masters requesting that they return a signed "Certification of Membership Eligibility" form, along with a copy of current School Library Media Specialist certificate if applicable (non-public schools are required to note the year and institution from which the librarian received their MLS).
Schools were given the option to apply for a one-time, one-year waiver of the following requirement if they could provide documentation stating that their librarian was actively pursuing certification and would be completed within the specified timeframe:
[Library must have an] on-site, paid librarian-in-charge who meets Massachusetts education and certification requirements in effect for that type of library (For public schools, each secondary school* library member must be staffed by a full time certified school library media specialist, and each non-secondary school library member must be staffed by either a full for part time certified media specialist. A certified librarian who travels between non-secondary schools can serve no more than five schools (one day a week per school). For each non-public school and each charter school, a Master's of Library Science degree shall be considered equivalent to school library media specialist certification for the purposes of meeting this requirement).
Since January 2004, the NMRLS Executive Board taken action on a number of items pertaining to this process. On April 15, 2004, the Executive Board completed the school library member recertification process and the following is a summary of Board action on this subject in 2004.
The NMRLS Executive Board has voted unanimously to:
Remove thirty-three school libraries from NMRLS membership. These libraries do not have on staff a Massachusetts state certified library media specialist (librarian) and so do not meet requirements for certification.
Accept from thirteen school libraries, one-time waiver requests, with the requirement that they fully meet certification requirements within the time frame described in their waiver applications.
Not accept one-time waiver requests from eight school libraries that do not meet requirements for certification because they do not have on staff a Massachusetts state certified library media specialist (librarian).
While we have been compelled to remove thirty-three school library members from NMRLS membership due to this process, we have also added eleven new school members in the interim period. Our current school library membership stands at 205. To verify that your school is a NMRLS member, please visit http://www.nmrls.org/membership/members.shtml.
Many thanks go to the NMRLS Staff and Executive Board for their diligent efforts in bringing the process to completion. If you have any questions about NMRLS membership, please feel free to contact me at sgrabski@nmrls.org or 978-762-4433 x 13.
