UB Library Media Specialist Selected to Develop Standards For Teaching Profession

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Nancy P. Zimmerman, Ph.D., assistant professor in the University at Buffalo School of Information and Library Studies and coordinator of its School Library Media Program, has been named to the Library Media Standards Committee of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS).

A nonprofit, nonpartisan and nongovernmental agency created in 1987, the NBPTS establishes high and rigorous standards for accomplished teachers, develops and operates a national voluntary system to assess and certify teachers who meet these standards and advances related education reforms for the purpose of improving student learning in American schools.

NBPTS has developed standards in 20 fields that are the foundation for voluntary National Board Certification. This particular project, which includes three other standards committees in addition to Library Media, is funded in part with grants from the U.S. Department of Education and the National Science Foundation.

Zimmerman, who joined the UB faculty in 1993, was selected to serve on the library media standards committee from hundreds of distinguished nominees nationwide.

A candidate for president of the New York State Library Association, Zimmerman is an expert in the areas of children's and young-adult services and literature, as well as computer applications for libraries and the integration of information technologies into the instructional process and school library media centers.

Her research involves education for librarianship, children's services, innovation diffusion and technology integration into the K-12 curriculum, graduate library education and communication channels of school library media specialists. She conducts workshops on information technology and information policy for those in the profession.

Zimmerman serves as the treasurer and an executive board member of the American Association of School Librarians and on the national executive council of Beta Phi Mu, the national library science honor society. She was an invited participant in the "White House Online Internet Summit: Focus on Children" in 1997 and was listed in Who's Who in America from 1995-97.

She holds a bachelor's degree from Carlow College, a master's degree in computer education and cognitive systems from the University of North Texas and a master's degree in library studies from the University of Pittsburgh. Zimmerman received her doctorate in library and information studies from Texas Woman's University in 1992.

She is a resident of East Amherst.