As I reflect on my studies at Charles Sturt University (CSU) and their subsequent impact on my practice as a teacher librarian, three themes emerge: the role of a teacher librarian, resourcing the curriculum and digital citizenship. In this blog post, my final portfolio, I will explore these three themes, explaining how the things I […]
“No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.” John Donne So often when we think about digital citizenship, the focus is on online safety. The ‘a-ha’ moment for me during this subject, however, has been the discovery that digital citizenship is actually […]
I am a teacher librarian in a NSW Distance Education primary school. Our students are not on site at the school, and they have varying degrees of internet connectivity, depending on their circumstances. This presents unique challenges in terms of fulfilling the teaching part of my role. These two factors – student connectivity and the […]
Throughout this course, I have established a personal philosophy of resource description that will serve me throughout my career. It centres around three key points: users first, consistency and future thinking. Users first The introduction of the Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records (FRBR) framework is an important development in the development of user-friendly systems, as […]
One of the big ideas I have been grappling with this semester is what it looks and feels like to fulfil the leadership role of the teacher librarian. At the beginning of this year, I didn’t really have any concept of what it meant to be a leader in the library, which you can see […]
In much of the current professional dialogue about teacher librarianship, leadership is identified as one of the key roles a teacher librarian (TL) must play within the leadership structure of the school (Purcell, 2010, pp.31-32). In practice, however, the TL can be seen as an “add-on” to the school, making it difficult for him or […]
When it comes to leadership, I have a lot to learn. It isn’t that I’ve never been a leader – I definitely have, on many an occasion – it is more that I have never engaged with any of the literature on what makes an effective leader that people want to follow! One commonality between […]
Reflecting on my learning journey this semester, I realise how far I have travelled in such a short time. In particular, planning a model collection has expanded my thinking and helped me to synthesise my learning. One thing that struck me is the monetary value of the library. When the optimum number of physical resources […]
“For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.” 1 Corinthians 13:12 (Bible Hub, 2012) I have a confession to make. Before undertaking Introduction to Teacher Librarianship, I held a somewhat romantic view of the […]
Throughout my life, I have had a number of moments of clarity in which I have heard or read something that has helped me understand myself better. The most recent moment of clarity came a few weeks ago when I began reading and learning about Carol Kuhlthau’s body of work on Information Search Process (ISP) […]
