Preparation of School Library Media Specialists in the United States
Recruiting and preparing the next generation of school library media specialists (SLMSs) is a growing concern nationwide. School library media preparation programs are critical to meeting the current shortage of SLMSs in the United States. To determine the status of professional preparation programs for SLMSs, surveys were sent to forty-eight American Library Association (ALA)-accredited library education programs and 155 programs that prepare SLMSs but are not accredited by the ALA. Specifics related to the percentages of students and faculty in this specialization, the fulland part-time status of students, and the numbers of students enrolled were addressed in this survey. The survey further sought to determine the status of distance education opportunities, the internship as part of the school-media curriculum, and recruitment efforts of school library media preparation programs, school districts, state departments of education, and professional organizations.
Education of School Librarians
This chapter discusses education of school librarians. The influence of education for librarianship on the growth and development of school libraries was undeniable. As long as the growth of school libraries was confined to secondary schools, the formal education provided for librarians had a degree of appropriateness for school librarians. School libraries were instituted with personnel often limited by these conditions. Recent advances in education for school librarianship must be judged against a backdrop of insufficiency and inadequacy, and the United States is perhaps the only country to have made remarkable advancements. The efforts in those countries to which constant reference has been made, namely, Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom, have been less spectacular in this area than in the growth and development of their school libraries or in their contributions to the advancement of school librarianship in general. Education for librarianship in a formal manner began in the United States a little over one hundred years ago; the English moved from correspondence courses to full-time courses in library schools in the same hundred years.
From student to therapist: exploring the first year of practice.
OBJECTIVES
The transition from classroom to clinical practice challenges many health professional students. This study used a phenomenological approach to explore the lived experience of rehabilitation students during their final placement and first year of practice.


METHOD
Students (n = 6) in occupational therapy and physical therapy wrote reflective journals every 2 weeks during their final fieldwork placement and first year of practice. The researchers independently analyzed the journals for common themes. An independent peer completed a blind analysis of two journals. Data were also compared with published first-person accounts of novice practitioners.


RESULTS
The lived experience of the first year of practice included four consecutive stages: Transition, Euphoria and Angst, Reality of Practice, and Adaptation. Themes from the journals included great expectations, competence, politics, shock, education, and strategies.


CONCLUSION
Recognizing the stages in the process of transition from student to therapist may assist in educational curriculum development and clinical support and supervision for new graduates. Educators need to continue to make education practice relevant while maintaining a theoretical perspective.