Teacher of the Year (a Librarian) Fights Truthiness

Kudos go to Mark Ray, Teacher and Librarian/Media Specialist at Skyview High School in Vancouver, WA who was recently named Washington's Teacher of the Year. The award was announced by the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, during a ceremony in Seattle, Oct. 3, 2011. An article in the Vancouver Columbian is filled with encomiums of well-deserved praise for librarian Ray. Then, what should appear in the Seattle Times today? Nothing less than a guest column by Ray, in which he attacks the evils of "truthiness" in American society, explaining and defending the role of libraries and librarians in 21st century schools. "Truthiness," according to Ray, quoting Wikipedia, is a term coined by comedian Stephen Colbert, and is defined as "truth" that a person feels intuitively "from the gut" or that "feels right" without regard to evidence, logic, intellectual examination, let alone the facts! "Librarians fight truthiness," asserts Ray, "And truthiness is bad for America." Further,

That makes libraries and librarians good for America. As a teacher librarian, my job is to ensure that students are effective users and producers of information and ideas.

And,

Truthiness is a pox on our society. Trading conjecture for the confirmed and sound bites for the hard work of research, scholarship and attribution, truthiness is a laziness of the mind. And like childhood obesity, it will cost our country far more than we realize.

He concludes, "Truthiness is bad for America. And I have the facts to back that up." Hooray for teacher librarians like Mark Ray! Kudos to you on being named Teacher of the Year! And thank you for using your well-deserved fame to highlight the important role that you, and all of the other teacher librarians still serving our schools, play in the lives of students and teachers every day. Mark Ray, we salute you! Here are the links:

• Vancouver Columbian article
• Seattle Times guest column