In our ever changing times with the critical requirements placed on schools, it is imperative that schools are ever improving and ever changing. Add to this the lack of funding available and large budget constraints placed on districts it is difficult to determine where to adjust funding and where our expenditures should lie. We must always keep in mind that the end result is the success of our students. This presentation will look at some advantages as well as some disadvantages of the options afforded to us. Most importantly, it will support the need for library media staff and their services in particular regarding the centralized cataloging service we currently use.

One option that is available is that of maintaining the centralized cataloging services that we currently have. We must note that a library media specialist is a very busy person. One of the concerns of our library staff is that they do not have enough time to catalog their own resources. With managing the library during all school hours as well as having extended hours this uses many of the hours available to the library media specialist. As Judith Collins mentioned in an article on school improvement, the librarian must function as an educator, a reading advisor, and a library manager (2007). The Montgomery County Public Schools (1995-2014) identified the librarian's duties similarly, into four positions: teacher, instructional partner, information specialist, and program administrator. As you can see, in addition to operating the library, librarians collaborate with teachers in meeting classroom standards, they help students to master the library and technology standards in their library "classrooms", they often play a role of assisting teachers with technology, and they administer their library programs and all the duties within. Regardless of how it is defined, a librarian's jobs are numerous. By maintaining the centralized cataloging service the site staff will still be allowed to concentrate on local school needs rather than the library cataloging and simple, yet time consuming, organizational activities.

With that being said, it is worth noting advantages of our second option, that of the site-based management. First and most obvious, is that each site will handle their materials from conception/need to use by students and staff. This in itself can be a strong advantage. We know what we need and take care of it from here. According to Lucile Morsch (1953), "The cataloging can be done without the expense, hazards, and delay of sending the books to the central agency." Again, similar to the phrase, we take care of our own. With this she also stated (1953), "The major financial burden for the participating institutions is included in their salary budgets and thus to some extent more subject to local control."

Although, there are obvious advantages to the site based management system, there are some disadvantages. For instance, if we are cataloging our own resources, that will take time out of the library media specialists day to work on this organizational activity. It may be difficult to fit other activities such as technology specialist and instructional partnerships into the day. This brings to light the question, "will additional site staff will be needed?" Will there need to be additional staff for library operation so that the library media specialist can continue with other responsibilities as well? M orsch (1953) also pointed out that, "A wholesome, critical attitude toward the end product results only from the effort of many cataloging establishments in applying the same rules and following the same policies." If this effort is not made, the cataloging systems may not be the same which could cause problems when participating in any kind of interlibrary loan.

The library media specialist holds a very unique role in the district in regards to school improvement. Most importantly is the fact that according to Judith Collins in the article, School Improvement, the School Librarian and the Process Approach (2007) they hold a position of "distributed leadership". Meaning that when initiating and sustaining school improvement, the LMS is not partial to any one department; they are conflict free. As an impartial participant in school improvement and an individual who does not have their own separate set of goals for their classroom, library media specialists are able to collaborate and cooperatively teach their standards with classroom teachers meeting their standards either in the student's classroom or in the learning resource center. This form of teaching will allow for higher order thinking skills, enhanced student outcomes, introduction of information skills at the point of need, and the forming of partnerships between colleagues. (Collins, 2007). Library media specialists are unbiased professionals who are able to participate in school improvement through initiating the needed changes to sustaining the implemented changes.

As I mentioned earlier, the library media specialists on site may act as a technology specialist or in the very least an information specialist in addition to their managerial responsibilities. This is exactly the case in our district. Our LMSs are acting in educational technology specialists capacities due to the previous cuts made by the district. According to the article, The Role of School Librarians in Promoting the Use of Educational Technologies (2009), library media specialists
"support the use of technology throughout the school by working closely with the school's technology coordinator or fill the role of the technology coordinator when a separate position does not exist.
serve as information literacy and educational technology specialists in their schools.
address educational technology and information literacy skills instruction embedded in the curriculum.
provide technology training for teachers, administrators, and parents.
work with teachers, counselors, and administrators to prepare students to succeed in higher education, the workplace, and in society.
help students develop important digital citizenry attributes to demonstrate responsible use of information and technology.
provide leadership in the development of local information and technology literacy standards" (p. 2).
All of this is crucial in our district with the cuts made to technology support staff as well as professional development staff. Our library media specialists play many roles to meet the school and district needs.

It is because of the advantages and disadvantages as well as current staff responsibilities that you will see the need for library media staff in a variety of capacities including that of the centralized cataloging service. Far too many cuts have previously been made to operate with the changes in responsibilities that would occur if we should transfer to a site based management system. We must maintain the use of the central cataloging system.