The School Media Specialist as Activist

Concern for the quality and future of our environment has brought together representatives from a number of disciplines and interests and has prompted many people and organizations to foster an awareness of the crucial status of Spaceship Earth, to identify emerging patterns that are threatening, and to suggest some of the options yet available. The proliferation of information about the environmental crisis and the promulgation of diverse points of view have resulted in a plethora of materials, if not another form of pollution. The program of this Institute was launched with a lecture defining the scope of the environmental problem, progressed to the work and publications of various agencies, institutions, and organizations, and proceeded to descriptions of facilities and the services of information centers. Our focus now shifts to creating guidelines for the developing of environmental collections in different kinds of libraries. Our charge is to devise means to cope on the local scene with the resources available and to suggest ways that responsible evaluation and selection of materials can lead to the development of collections which hold promise of being utilized by the community served.published or submitted for publicatio