I came into these study visits with trepidation – how much can I gain from listening to someone online? Turns out, quite a lot was to be gained from these experts in their respective fields. So many Libraries are doing so many inspirational things that it has given me something to consider in the development of my own library space. I have very recently taken over a particularly old, musty, and mismanaged library – one of the oldest in NSW and have gained so many tips and tricks from these study visits that I cannot wait to implement them into my professional repertoire. Building from the ground up has been a struggle but knowing how others have gone about this gives me hope that I can make my space something “that kids want to be in.” It was incredibly valuable to hear about the experiences, triumphs and tribulations shared by so many information professionals out there in the trenches Some of the key points I took away were

• Advocacy! Advocate for your role, and your space and commit to evidence-based practice.

• You are more than just your books

• The library space is so important for wellbeing

• You are a curator, collaborator, and trendsetter

The main thing I will take away from these visits is advocacy – every single one of these professionals felt that advocacy for their space and role was one of the most crucial factors of success. Libraries no longer must be a dying breed, but I must use evidence to back my value up! Immersing myself into leadership roles and groups will keep me visible, and relevant, and building staff capacity through training and collaborative practice means that that I will be able to achieve my goals.

“Don’t they just put crap teachers in the library?”

That was the question I was asked when I told my colleagues that I was going to be my school’s new librarian – A position that had not been filled for three whole terms. Did I take offence? Not really. Schools have tended to underutilize and underfund high school libraries ( Korodai, 2019) there was a real risk that school libraries would cease to exist – and changed to common learning areas or IHubs ( Baker 2020) luckily, working in the NSW context, the policy states that all NSW public schools must have a school library and a Teacher librarian staffing allocation (Joep 2021) meaning that my role is safe for now.

The road to a career in the information industry came naturally to me. In my previous life, I was a Design and Technology teacher – inquiry-based learning and 21st-century pedagogy were not new concepts to me and it was a fairly painless transition – what I was not expecting was the attitudes that my work colleagues would change. My pathway was simple – in order to gain codes as a TL, I had to complete a Master’s in Teacher Librarianship – opting to complete this entirely online. However, when working within the information sector – this is not the only path.

All of the professionals I encountered during my study visits came to their profession one way or another. Tehani Croft from West Moreton Anglican College fell into the career the same way as i did – through teaching and a love of information, however, people like Daniel Wee from the Rare Books Collection and Anna Griffith from the Albury Wodonga Health Library had different paths. Tehani advises that “quite often, you don’t have to be a TL to work as a teacher librarian ( her context is a private school – different rules for them) In NSW public schools, a teaching degree is a must – she does mention that without the qualification a bit of exploitation can become an issue (Croft 2024). David Wee fell into his position at the Rare Books Collection through a “ love of History” (Wee 2024) and considers himself lucky to be where he is. He believes that everyone has the skills to be a curator but states that he has a deep understanding of history and provenance to properly understand his collection and how it can be accessed. David had some previous experience working in special collections which gave him some experience working in the field but also mentions that unfortunately “there is no clear path to becoming a rare book librarian – you’re a rare book librarian so you look for rare books – and the rare book world can be pretty rough” (Wee 2024)

Anna De Chesne of the Charles Sturt University Library focuses heavily on the research components of her role. I was impressed with her focus on artificial intelligence and open education resources (OER) and how she is implementing these to bypass the big publishers were very impressive ( De Chesne 2024). She states that a challenge in her career is looking at the digital components of her collection as the library is not just a storehouse for books (Chesne 2024). and it needs to resource both the physical and digital worlds accordingly. Anna Also came from an education background (like so many of us do) and originally gained an entry-level position while studying teaching at the University of Technology Sydney – in which she eventually completed her information studies degree – She also states that she “ Just fell into these things” but continues to ensure her study is up to date but completed other degrees.

The NSW Department of Education still governs TLs through the Teaching Standards – there isn’t much separating us from our other teaching peers regarding Professional learning. However, I do think it is more important for TLs to become leaders in 21st-century learning. This is where they can create transformation in curriculum and become leaders in the school environment which has been particularly pertinent in the past few years with the development of AI and the acceleration of misinforming in the digital sphere. This is a real opportunity to use teaching standards 3 and 7 for planning for effective teaching and learning and engaging professionally with colleagues. I want to make my colleague’s lives easier, but I want to ensure they are at the forefront of technology and pedagogy. So far, as advised by all of the studies visit presenters, I have joined both ALIA and ASLA to ensure that I have access to PD (Professional Development) that is relevant to my area and by listening to how others in the information sphere have curated their online collections I may also be able to replicate this successfully in my own library space – something my library sorely needs to bring it into the 21st century. Another professional development plan, besides joining professional organizations, will be looking for PL in AI. According to Softlink’s “Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Schools” Survey (2023) librarians are overall positive as this tool could be used to free up time and enhance resource accessibility. I would love to focus on this too through PD to try and future-proof my library space.

Baker, J. (2020, January 31). Sydney’s new $225 million school has 17 floors, but no library. The Sydney Morning Herald. https://www.smh.com.au/national/sydney-s-new-225-million-school-has-17-floors-but-no-library-20200131-p53wiy.html\

Croft, T. (2024) West Moreton Anglican College Library Video link

Joep. (2021, November 24). The new chapter for SIG recognises a vital role. NSW Teachers Federation. https://www.nswtf.org.au/news/2020/03/06/new-chapter-for-sig-recognises-vital-role/#:~:text=Crucially%2C%20in%20correspondence%20to%20Federation,library%20allocation%20cannot%20be%20deleted.%E2%80%9D

Korodaj, L. (2019). The library as ‘third space’ in your school: Supporting academic and emotional wellbeing in the school community. Scan, 38(10)

NESA (2023, September 27). The Standards | NSW Government. Www.nsw.gov.au. https://www.nsw.gov.au/education-and-training/nesa/teacher-accreditation/resources/standards

Wee, D. (2024) Rare Books Collection, State Library of Victoria   Video link

Librarians in different contexts provide many services and resources to the local, school, and professional community (Library Council of New South Wales 2008). In my virtual study visits, I was lucky enough to encounter libraries operating in vastly different contexts, illustrating how they effectively provide services to their end users. For this this blog post, I will be focusing on three vastly, yet successful institutions

Bundaberg Community Library – Steven Harris

Albury Wodonga Health Library – Anne Griffith

West Moreton Anglican College Library – Tehani Croft

Each of these libraries serves different purposes and these study visits were an interesting way to gain an insight into how they effectively serve their clientele. Public libraries contribute to the social, cultural, and environmental aspects of community life (Library Council of New South Wales 2008) and continue to be positive influences in the local economy.

One area I first noticed was some key themes from each presentation. These themes included promoting a culture of learning, creating safe spaces for wellbeing and support for introducing new and emerging technologies. Bundaberg Library, located in regional Queensland, is a community library with a strong focus on creating spaces for well-being, Steve Harris, a proactive and passionate librarian, believes that providing spaces – both digital and physical- that focus on accessibility is one of his key factors of success (Harris 2024). They have developed many community and cultural programs that build well-being in the community (something I would love to implement in my own space) as well as identified future trends and their impact on the community they serve – especially concerning the coming digital divide ( Harris 2024) It is more important than ever for librarians to show their trend finding prowess, less we find ourselves in an information wasteland (Gordon 2021). To illustrate the well-being nature of his space, Steven even shared an unfortunate story about a client whose end of life happened in the library space – libraries are such important resources for people who have nowhere else to go (Harris 2024).

Anna Griffith at Albury Wodonga Health Library had quite a different story to tell. With a focus on research work – her collection and mission differed vastly from that of a public community library. Anna stated (2024) that special librarians managed a vast range of resource types – and it was important for her to initially create a space that was going to be used (the previous library being very underutilized and not current). It was interesting to hear Anna’s process of creating a “one-stop shop” for all her clients – almost forcing them to have no other choice but to use the library space. Being a trusted source of information allowed Anna to advocate for better resources – “When you create a somewhere where people want to go, then they will go (Griffith 2024). Librarians are expert information specialists but also need to communicate the services and resources they provide effectively (ACT Government). For Anna, this ability to design and create the one-stop shop for all of the online databases and health resources in her collection on the discovery frontpage allowed her to advocate for the importance of her positions ( I’ve learnt that I need to implement evidence-based practice more often) Using her information expertise, she could activate information for her users as she “wants people to use the services she has (Griffith 2024). Professional libraries differ from community and school libraries as the resources they provide are far more streamlined to their specific context (Special Library: Characteristics and Functions, n.d.) because of this, complex searching as a service must be trained to be able to be used effectively. This training for clients further provides evidence for Anna of her importance in accessing information services.

Finally, school libraries – the ones I am most familiar with. I loved hearing from Tehani and how she has built such an amazing collection and library space in which two classrooms are stuck together (Croft 2024) I could relate much more to Tehani’s vision as it was so much like my own. School librarians play such a key role in a school community (Godfree & Neilson, 2018) so much more than just the “keepers of books” School libraries provide users with information expertise in their ability to work horizontally across an organization (Softlink 2017) and a strong ability to command 21st-century pedagogies (ACT Government). It was lovely to see Tehani’s ability to work with issues that arose – showing her creativity and flexibility. Creating a sense of community within her library, Tehani was able to use evidence-based practice to enhance and advocate for her services and resources – providing spaces for students to read, managing resources according to year level and now looking at a whole library redesign for a new school (Croft 2024). Research shows that having a full-time qualified Teacher librarian within a school library has a positive impact on student literacy levels, well-being creates opportunities for future skills ( Godfree and Nielson 2018) and we can see this play out in Tehani’s library space – especially during lunchtimes (Croft 2024). the evidence provided by Tehani Croft effectively shows the increased quality of the usage of the library’s resources – although they did mention the cost of digital resources being exceptionally high for use (Croft 2024) This is something that I have noticed – students still prefer hard copy books! As she said, however, they can take ClickView from “my cold dead hands!”

References

Griffith, A (2024) Albury Wodonga Health Library Video Link

Croft, T (2024) West Moreton Anglican College Library Video link

Godfree, H., & Neilson, O. (2018). School Libraries Matter!* The missing piece in the education puzzle. https://studentsneedschoollibraries.org.au/wp-content/uploads/Holly-Godfree-and-Olivia-Neilson-ACCESS-March-2018-editors-note.pdf

Gordon. C.A (2021) The Essential School Library: A prototype for the reform of 21st century education. Synergy, 19(1). https://slav.vic.edu.au/index.php/Synergy/article/view/497

Library Council of New South Wales. (2008). Enriching Communities: The value of public libraries in New South Wales. In State Library of New South Wales. Retrieved May 13, 2024, from https://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/sites/default/files/Enriching%20Communities%20-the%20value%20of%20public%20libraries%20in%20New%20South%20Wales%20Summary%20Report.pdf

School Libraries: The Heart of 21st Century Learning. (2019). In https://www.education.act.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/1435435/School-Libraries-The-Heart-of-21st-Century-Learning.pdf (ACT Government). Australian Capital Territory 2019. Retrieved May 13, 2024, from https://www.education.act.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/1435435/School-Libraries-The-Heart-of-21st-Century-Learning.pdf

Special Library: Characteristics and Functions. (n.d.). https://epgp.inflibnet.ac.in/epgpdata/uploads/epgp_content/S000021LI/P000102/M004257/ET/1498804480ModuleIDSRL-1-etext-SpecialLibraryCharacteristicsandFunctions.pdf

Softlink. (2017). The ongoing importance of school libraries. Retrieved from https://www.softlinkint.com/downloads/The_Ongoing_Importance_of_School_Libraries.pdf

Wee, D. (2024) Rare Books Collection, State Library of Victoria   Video link