Continuing education and New Jersey school library media specialists

As of January 2000, all New Jersey educators will be required to complete 100 hours of continuing education and professional development every five years of active service. The purpose of this study was to examine the kinds of continuing education activities considered to be the most valuable to school library media specialists. A self-administered questionnaire was mailed to seventy-five randomly selected school library media specialists working in public high schools, middle schools, and elementary schools in the 8 southern counties in New Jersey. Data was compared with previous studies examined in the review of the literature. Librarians described professional development activities in which they currently participate, areas that need to be addressed, preferred formats for delivery and motivating factors and deterrents to pursuing continuing education. Attendance at the EMAnj Convention and district-level library meetings were considered to be the continuing education activities of most value. School library media specialists indicated a need to address the following topics in future continuing education activities: technology, integrating media into the curriculum, and helping teachers to plan, implement, and evaluate instructional activities