TL Role

ETL512 Assessment 6: Professional Reflective Portfolio

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Part A: Statement of Personal Philosophy

Effective 21st century teacher-librarians require strong interpersonal skills alongside the pedagogical knowledge to teach a multitude of competencies and literacies across different curriculum areas. Through proficient leadership, strategic planning, resource management, and innovative program design, modern teacher-librarians inspire passion for reading for pleasure and information while supporting learning and wellbeing in our communities.

Modern libraries are about people, not just resources. Our ability to form effective relationships with students, staff, parents, and professional networks allows teacher-librarians to meet the diverse educational, wellbeing, and recreational needs of our learning communities and to advocate for our value in an ever-changing information landscape.

Part B: Critical Evaluation

My very first assessment for this degree required me to reflect on my understanding of the role of teacher-librarians in schools (Lysaught, 2021a). For this task, I discussed the roles I focused on as part of my then-recent job application:

Little did I know, but this visual would serve as a prescient highlight to many of the issues explored throughout this course.

The early work completed in ETL401 introduced me to several roles expected of modern teacher-librarians, and as a result of my continued learnings in this degree I have consolidated these varied elements into three key themes.

Theme 1: Resourcing and Inspiring Reading for Pleasure

The first theme, resourcing and inspiring reading for pleasure, in many ways reinforces pre-existing stereotypes about the work of teacher-librarians as predominantly dealing with books. I discussed this misconception in my early blog posts, noting that these perceptions were largely based on community experiences (Lysaught, 2021a; Lysaught, 2021b). As a result of the readings and learning tasks in this degree, I have concluded that teacher-librarians must therefore ensure that we provide a multitude of different experiences to our communities to shape their perceptions of our roles as varied and valuable in an ever-changing modern information landscape.

However, Herring (2007, p.31) noted that fulfilling all the possible roles expected of teacher-librarians at one time is impossible. Anecdotal evidence suggests many teachers still don’t know what information literacy is, let alone a teacher-librarian’s role in developing student proficiency; those few who do often lack the time for collaborative planning and teaching. Rather than stress myself out by fighting an uphill battle and overhauling community perceptions completely, at the start of my teacher-librarian journey I’ve chosen to draw on my strengths as an English teacher and my pre-existing relationships with this faculty to lean into community expectations and show my value to our school by establishing a culture of pleasure reading. Once trust in my abilities as a teacher-librarian and strong relationships are formed through this Trojan horse, the plan is to leverage my success and branch out into other facets of my role, such as information specialist, to further entrench my value to our school community.

Step one in my plan to channel then subvert community expectations was to create a Wide Reading Program for the Stage 4 English classes. To show the value of this program to our school leaders, I aligned it with our Strategic Improvement Plan, foreshadowing the learnings of ETL504 Teacher Librarian as Leader. This program, inspired by the ETL402 Literature Across the Curriculum readings, aims to create a school-wide culture of pleasure reading. Reading for pleasure has repeatedly been shown to improve student literacies and socio-emotional development (Combes & Valli, 2007; Howard, 2011; Allington & Gabriel, 2012; Kid & Castano, 2013; Gaiman, 2013; Wu et al., 2013; Whitten et al., 2016; Ipri & Newman, 2017; Stower & Waring, 2018; Smith, 2019; Merga, 2021; Merga, 2022). Student reading drops off during adolescence for several reasons, including lack of access to quality texts, lack of positive reading role-models, lack of time, and lack of confidence in their reading ability:

This program aims to address these issues by providing students access to appropriate, self-selected texts and by setting aside a 60-minute period each fortnight to allow students time to explore, share, and value their reading in a socially supported positive learning environment (Gibson-Langford & Laycock, 2008; Krashen, 2011; Fisher & Frey, 2018; Merga & Mason, 2019; Allington & McGill-Franzen, 2021). Through this program I aim to create independent, lifelong readers who are set up for personal and academic success.

This initiative was first trialed in 2022, our first year without a school-wide DEAR program. It initially ran with 4 Year 7 classes which dropped back to 2 due to staffing issues and frequent interruptions. Data revealed that overall, the students who participated enjoyed the experience and found it beneficial, and I reported these findings to our Senior Executive via my Annual Library Report (Lysaught, 2023a):

In 2023 the Wide Reading Program was expanded from one teacher to six and now includes our Support Unit and two Year 8 classes, largely due to word of mouth and positive feedback from participating teachers – proving Bonanno’s (2011) argument that we should build relationships with the staff willing to work with us, since others will choose to follow once trust is developed (Crippen & Willows, 2019, p.173).

A crucial element of successfully inspiring reading for pleasure, especially amongst teens asserting their independence and exploring their identity, is the provision of relevant resources which support self-selection of reading materials (Beach et al., 2011; Allington & Gabriel, 2012; Fisher & Frey, 2018). To ensure a robust collection which meets the needs and interests of my patrons, I drew heavily upon the learnings gained in ETL503 Resourcing the Curriculum. Library hygiene is an important element of ensuring an enticing, relevant collection (Fieldhouse & Marshall, 2011), and thus at the end of 2022 I completed a stocktake and significant weed of our Fiction and Quick Reads collections (Lysaught, 2023a). This was the first stocktake since 2018 and the median age of deselected resources was 1999, necessitating a serious update of our collection to ensure continued relevance. This was followed by subsequent stocktakes of our Picture Book and Graphic Novel collections at the start of 2023. Once these stocktakes were completed I introduced dynamic shelving to make the shelves more enticing and facilitate browsing (Bogan, 2022).

I also implemented patron-led acquisitions to increase circulation and user connection to the library’s resources (Hughes-Hassell & Mancall, 2005, p.9; Kimmel, 2014; Johnson, 2018; Aaron Cohen Associates, 2020, para.6; Crawford et. al, 2020, p.2), with 49% of newly acquired fiction resources specifically requested by staff and students in 2022 (Lysaught, 2023a). Drawing upon my experiences during my practicum, this year I bought 131 Hi-Lo books for our Quick Reads collection, and plan to use them for future Book Club activities during the Wide Reading lessons (Lysaught, 2023b). I am also in the process of genrefying our Quick Reads collection for easier browsing and selection, trialing the learnings gained in ETL505 Describing and Analysing Educational Resources (Lysaught, 2022a) in one of our popular, manageable collections.

Fisher & Frey (2018) argued that interventions designed to increase reading volume should rely on four factors: access, choice, classroom discussion of texts and book talks. The initiatives described above aimed to incorporate these four factors alongside efficient collection development and management. Loans statistics indicate that circulation has increased on the days when the Wide Reading lessons run, and as a result Oliver data shows we are on track to meet or beat our previous loans records since I became the teacher-librarian in 2020, despite our removal of a whole-school DEAR program in 2022.

Theme 2: Resourcing and Developing Reading for Information

As mentioned above, despite the importance of reading for pleasure in developing literacy, the role of a modern teacher-librarian should expand beyond the realm of books and into the crucial realm of information literacy to avoid the misunderstanding that our roles are limited and unnecessary in modern schools. I personally was guilty of this misconception prior to starting this degree, so I can hardly blame time-poor classroom teachers and senior leaders for not understanding our role, especially if they’ve never seen it in action! It is therefore necessary that we provide a variety of different experiences to our communities to shape their perceptions of our roles and ensure they understand our vital importance in developing our students as ethical, efficient users and creators of information. We cannot risk becoming an “invisible profession” (Valenza, 2010; Bonanno, 2011) and resourcing our libraries to develop information literacy is a path forward for teacher-librarians to show our value in a shifting infosphere increasingly filled with mis- and disinformation (Floridi, 2007, p.59; Lysaught, 2021c).

ASLA 2011. Karen Bonanno, Keynote speaker: A profession at the tipping point: Time to change the game plan from CSU-SIS Learning Centre on Vimeo.

The learnings gained in ETL401 Introduction to Teacher Librarianship were crucial in forcing me to revise my misunderstandings regarding the role of the modern teacher-librarian. For the second assessment I focused on how social media platforms affect our relationship with information, and discovered that improved internet access has changed information-seeking behaviours to favour passive information acquisition which uses the path of least resistance (often relying on social interactions), significantly impacting users’ ability to determine fact from fiction (Bates, 2010; Herbst, 2020; Liu, 2020; Kuhlthau et al., 2021). Teenagers are particularly likely to gain information from online, social sources and, far from being ‘digital natives’ equipped to navigate online information, are uniquely vulnerable to misinformation (Combes, 2009; Jacobson, 2010; O’Connell, 2012; Common Sense Media, 2019; Australian eSafety Commissioner, 2021). As a high-school teacher-librarian, I therefore have an ethical responsibility to ensure that my collections and programs equip my students with the skills and competencies they’ll need to be information literate in an increasingly digital world. Anecdotal evidence suggests that for many secondary classroom teachers, the fact that teacher-librarians don’t teach to a specific curriculum demeans our value. The recently released Information Fluency Framework (NSW Department of Education, 2023) offers an exciting way to legitimise our work moving forward, showcasing that we can be the glue which brings learning areas together, and will form the focus of my professional learning after finishing this degree. In the meantime I will continue to run one-off research skill lessons for my colleagues as requested.

Inquiry learning was another key aspect of our role explored in ETL401. While I had been familiar with concepts such as Project Based Learning from my time as a classroom teacher (Lysaught, 2021d), other methods such as Guided Inquiry Design were eye-opening and revealed a new pedagogy full of potential for my students (Lysaught, 2021e), since information literacy is foundational to inquiry learning (Fitzgerald, 2015). I greatly enjoyed reworking our existing Year 7 Shakespeare unit into a Guided Inquiry Design unit and look forward to the opportunity to co-teach it in future (Lysaught, via Guided Inquiry in Australia, 2020), alongside the digital narrative I created for ETL533.

ETL533 Assessment 4 – Digital Storytelling: A Day in Elizabethan England by Danielle Lysaught (Danielle Lysaught)

However, implementing inquiry learning and developing information literacy programs has not been without significant challenges in reality. Early on I identified that high staff workloads and minimal free time would likely hamper potential attempts to implement collaborative inquiry learning (Lysaught, 2021f). As such, there has been limited staff uptake. However, largely due to the relationships and trust developed through the Wide Reading Program, I have finally been asked to work with one of the English teachers and her Year 8 class in Term 4 on a unit exploring suspenseful narratives. The ETL512 Study Visits emphasised the importance of emotional intelligence and persistence as key traits for teacher-librarians, and my personal experience shows that we must be resilient in the face of setbacks and persist in the hope that we can eventually have the opportunity to showcase our value to our colleagues.

Effective collection management is another crucial aspect to developing information literacy in our community. ETL503 Resourcing the Curriculum and ETL505 Describing and Analysing Educational Resources reinforced the importance of efficient resource management for supporting curriculum learning. In 2021 I completed a stocktake of our non-fiction collections – the first since 2018. The shelves were overflowing, messy, and not conducive to easy selection of relevant material:

Prior to this stocktake, the median date of publication was 1981. I weeded 2468 outdated or damaged resources, almost halving the collection and bringing the median date of publication to 2000 – an improvement, but indicating that there is still significant work to be completed to ensure a current, relevant collection which meets the needs of my staff and students. Foreshadowing the learnings of ETL504, I published the findings from this stocktake in my 2021 Annual Report and shared it with the Senior Executive to highlight the complexities of my role to our school leaders (Lysaught, 2022b).

In 2022 we started accessioning English novels to support their resource management, leading to it becoming our third largest collection:

This year, due to the success of this initiative, we have also had requests from the Science Faculty to assist with the management of their Stage 6 resources. While not without challenges, this provides a way for me to showcase my value to my colleagues, support curriculum learning through effective resource management, and interact with students who would otherwise possibly not utilise the library.

Theme 3: Promotion and Advocacy through Leadership

Two of the most used tags on my blog are ‘promotion’ and ‘advocacy’, so it’s only appropriate that the final theme discussed focuses on these issues.

Early in this degree the readings revealed the importance of advocating for our positions (Lysaught, 2021g), meaning that right from the start I’ve developed an awareness of the importance of perception and relationships in our role. This was consolidated throughout this degree in every unit.

In an early blog post for ETL503 Resourcing the Curriculum I noted that, due to the teacher-librarian’s often poorly defined role and lack of clear curriculum direction, we are often utilised in different ways to support whatever the school requires (Lysaught, 2021h). It is therefore crucial for us to collaborate with our colleagues so that they understand our varied roles, ensuring our continued visibility and effectiveness to our school community. As seen through the frequent ‘promotion’ and ‘advocacy’ tags in my blog, so much of our work gives us the chance to increase our visibility; while it can be tempting to give up in the face of colleagues who view us as having the “cushy job”, we need to change our mindset and instead reframe challenges as “chopportunities” (Weisburg, 2020) and look for ways to make our work seen, valued, and understood (Valenza, 2010; Bonanno, 2011).

My final unit, ETL504 Teacher Librarian as Leader, emphasised the different leadership styles that we can leverage to maximise our effectiveness to our colleagues. Effective leadership, regardless of the approach or title, should focus on building strong relationships with others through mutual trust, respect, and effective communication (Holmes et al., 2012, p.271, 276; Moir et al., 2014, p.37; Ezard, 2015; Gleeson, 2016). My very first blog post had outlined my intent to support both staff and students (Lysaught, 2021i), and thus Servant Leadership appealed to me from the start (Lysaught, 2023c). In particular I was drawn to Servant Leadership due to its focus on empowering and developing others, humility, commitment to growth and community building, highly developed interpersonal skills, stewardship, healing, conceptualisation, and foresight  (Arar & Oplatka, 2022, p.83-87; Crippen & Willows, 2019; p.171-172), and found that its guiding questions – ‘do you want to serve or be served?’ and ‘do those served grow as persons?’ (Blanchard & Broadwell, 2018; Greenleaf, 2008, p.36) – aligned well with my personal traits and values, and could help me support and heal cynical, time-poor staff and to act as mentors for both staff and students (Branch-Mueller & Rodger, 2022, p.46-47; Reinsel Soulen, 2020, p.39-40; Uther & Pickworth, 2014, p.21-23).

As a result of the learnings in this degree, I’ve experimented with a variety of different promotions and advocacy methods. I began this degree in mid-2021 when NSW started online learning followed by cohorting, which made collaboration and promotion particularly challenging early on; this has been further compounded by the current teacher shortage and high staff turnover at our school. Some of the early initiatives I implemented to raise the library’s profile include the Student Media Team, a Babble, Books and Breakfast club working alongside the Wellbeing faculty, and a Staff and Student Book Club (Lysaught, 2021j). While the book club fell apart due to lack of interest and time after online learning finished, the other two initiatives are still going strong. My early attempts at strategic planning appear quite amateurish in hindsight, though the alignment of my initiatives to our Strategic Improvement Plan and promotion of my work through Annual Reports foreshadowed the strategies suggested in ETL504 (Lysaught, 2023d). Our school recently experimented with the idea of holding all Stage 6 exams in the library, which if enacted would necessitate its closure for over 2 months of the school year. I was able to successfully leverage leadership strategies and use visitor and loans data collected each day to show the impact library closures would have on our school community, convincing the decision makers to choose another option:

Looking to the future, I will continue to experiment and expand on the learnings gained from this degree. First I will create a library operations folio to ensure effective management and strategic planning moving forward (Braxton, n.d.; National Library of New Zealand, n.d.; Oberg & Schultz-Jones, 2015). I was particularly inspired by the idea of hooking in new and current staff via mentoring (Cox & Korodaj, 2019; Reinsel Soulen, 2020), and building community ownership through a library committee has been a long-time goal of mine (Lysaught, 2021h). Inspired by ETL505 and the ETL512 study visits, I’d also love to create a library website to increase visibility and support teaching and learning by providing easily accessible pathfinders and research lessons. This journey is a marathon, not a sprint, and this degree has shown countless potential pathways to follow in future.

 

Part C Reflection

At the beginning of this course, we were asked to consider what makes a teacher-librarian (Lysaught, 2021a). My understanding of the role has expanded significantly since those early days:

However, despite the complexity of our role, our work is still widely misunderstood. This degree has shown me that to be seen as professionals, we must act as professionals and take every opportunity to advocate for our role through the work we do in our school communities. The professional standards developed by the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) and the Australian School Library Association (ASLA) provide a useful framework for evaluating our professional practice and ensuring that we remain relevant and visible to our peers.

As a classroom teacher with experience teaching both the English and History syllabi from Year 7 through to Year 12, including the Extension courses for both subjects, I feel quite confident in my abilities as a teacher with strong professional and pedagogical knowledge who meets the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers, many of which align with the ALIA/ASLA Standards through their similar professional domains (Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership [AITSL], 2022). While I already had a strong understanding of reading practices, assessment, and ICT, this degree introduced me to the wonders of information literacy and collection management which have allowed me to be even more effective in my classroom practice and developed my understanding of how to support my colleagues more efficiently in my library role.

As a relatively new teacher-librarian, I feel that I still have a fair way to go regarding my professional practice, particularly regarding our role as information specialists. While I believe that I have created an environment where learners are encouraged to engage with our resources for understanding and enjoyment, I need to do more to ensure an information-rich learning environment which meets the needs of my community. I’ve worked hard over the last 2 years to build an environment which fosters positive wellbeing and strong reading culture, and due to these relationships and the trust I’ve developed with our teaching staff I’ve finally got the opportunity in Term 4 to collaboratively develop and teach a Guided Inquiry unit. Likewise, while I’ve previously done some strategic planning and budgeting (Lysaught, 2023d), the skills gained in this course will leave me much better equipped to plan for the future and ensure the library’s continued relevance and value to my school. In Term 4 I therefore intend to create a Library Operations Folio, including strategic and operations plans alongside policies for collection development, ICT use, and potential challenges.

I am already a member of several professional organisations, and fully intend to take advantage of their professional development. This will focus on the development and delivery of information literacy programs and wellbeing programs, broadening my understandings further and allowing me to showcase the potential in our practice to our wider school community.

Advocacy through action and alliances is my path forward in what could otherwise be an isolated, misunderstood role. While building my Wide Reading Program I have relied heavily on the action research process to ensure that my practice is evidence-based, innovative, and meets the needs of my staff and students. I have used this research to showcase my professionalism and the potential of my role to my colleagues, particularly to my school leaders. However, evaluating my work against the ALIA/ASLA standards shows that more could be done to develop my leadership capabilities. ETL504 emphasised the importance of leading from the middle by working with staff as well as students, such as through collaboratively teaching, leading professional development, or running key committees (Green, 2011; Wong; 2012; Wolf et al., 2014; Baker, 2016; Crippen & Willows, 2019; Reinsel Soulen, 2020). High staff turnover makes developing relationships with my colleagues a challenge, but also presents a ‘chopportunity’ (Weisburg, 2020) to exhibit both transformational and servant leadership, hook in new staff, and build a culture of library collaboration and appreciation from the ground up.

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Lysaught, D. (2022b). 2021 Annual Library Report. https://www.canva.com/design/DAEwsCALUsI/vyQMXh9an6lLizamxaUW_Q/view?utm_content=DAEwsCALUsI&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link&utm_source=publishsharelink

Lysaught, D. (2023a). 2022 Annual Library Report. https://bit.ly/3Jg1e7k

Lysaught, D. (2023b, July 13). ETL512 assessment 5: Professional placement report. All You Read Is Love. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/allyoureadislove/2023/07/13/etl512-assessment-5-professional-placement-report/

Lysaught, D. (2023c, March 12). ETL504 2.2 leadership theory. All You Read Is Love. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/allyoureadislove/2023/03/12/etl504-2-2-leadership-theory/

Lysaught, D. (2023d, April 27). ETL504 strategic planning and setting goals: An amateur’s journey. All You Read Is Love. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/allyoureadislove/2023/04/27/etl504-strategic-planning-and-setting-goals-an-amateurs-journey/

Merga, M., & Mason, S. (2019). Building a school reading culture: Teacher librarians’ perceptions of enabling and constraining factors. Australian Journal of Education 63(2):173-189. DOI:10.1177/0004944119844544

Merga, M. (2021). Libraries as wellbeing supportive spaces in contemporary schools. Journal of Library Administration 61(6). DOI:10.1080/01930826.2021.1947056

Merga, M. (2022). School libraries supporting literacy and wellbeing. Facet.

Moir, S., Hattie, J. & Jansen, C.  (2014). Teacher perspectives of ‘effective’ leadership in schools. Australian Educational Leader, 36(4), 36-40.

National Library of New Zealand. (n.d.). Getting started in your school library: An operations checklist. National Library: Services to schools. https://natlib.govt.nz/schools/school-libraries/library-systems-and-operations/library-operations/getting-started-in-your-school-library-an-operations-checklist

NSW Department of Education (2023). Information Fluency Framework. https://education.nsw.gov.au/teaching-and-learning/curriculum/school-libraries/teaching-and-learning

Oberg, D., & Schultz-Jones, B. (eds.). (2015). Collection management policies and procedures. In IFLA School Library Guidelines, (2nd ed.), (pp. 33-34). Den Haag, Netherlands: IFLA.

O’Connell, J. (2012). So you think they can learn? Scan 31, 5-11.

Reinsel Soulen, R. (2020). The continuum of care. Knowledge Quest, 48(4). 36-42.

Smith, A. K. (2019, October 14). Literature has the power to change the world. Here’s how. Books At Work. https://www.booksatwork.org/literature-has-the-power-to-change-the-world-heres-how/

Stower, H. & Waring, P. (2018, July 16). Read like a girl: Establishing a vibrant community of passionate readers. Alliance of Girls Schools Australia. https://www.agsa.org.au/news/read-like-a-girl-establishing-a-vibrant-community-of-passionate-readers/

Uther, J., & Pickworth, M. (2014). TLs as leaders: are you a Highly Accomplished teacher librarian? Access, 28(1), 20–25.

Valenza, J. (2010, December 3). A revised manifesto. School Library Journal. https://blogs.slj.com/neverendingsearch/2010/12/03/a-revised-manifesto/

Weisburg, H. K. (2020). Leadership: There is no other option. Synergy, 18(1). https://slav.vic.edu.au/index.php/Synergy/article/view/369/364

Whitten, C., Labby, S., & Sullivan, S. L. (2016). The impact of pleasure reading on academic success. The Journal of Multidisciplinary Graduate Research 2(4), 48-64.

Wolf, M., Jones, R. & Gilbert, D. (2014). Leading in and beyond the library. http://all4ed.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/BeyondTheLibrary.pdf

Wong, T. (2012). Strategic long-range planning. Library Media Connection, 31(2), 22-23..

Wu, Y., Mallan, K., & McGillis, R. (2013). Reimagining the world: Children’s literature’s responses to changing times. Springer.

ETL504 Assessment 2 Part B: Reflection

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This session has been incredibly difficult, with workload pressures leading to burnout. The challenges I’ve faced this session have highlighted the ways that effective leadership can support positive school culture, and this unit emphasised the importance of understanding leadership theory to advocate for our role to ensure effective practice.

One key idea is teacher-librarians should not be held back by their lack of formal leadership position, since good leaders have the vision and skills to inspire others to achieve a common goal and hold perceived influence regardless of title (Bush & Glover, 2014, p.554; Ezard, 2015; Gardner, 2013, p.18-19; Gleeson, 2016; Holmes et al., 2012, p.271, 276; Spencekao, 2013; Sutcliffe, 2013). Rather than relying on official authority, effective teacher-librarians should focus on developing a strong understanding of different leadership styles, integrating their traits to be responsive to their context’s specific needs (Bush & Glover, 2014, p.567; Smith, 2016, p.75-76). I greatly enjoyed learning about these leadership styles and recognised many aspects of Servant Leadership in my own practice (Lysaught, 2023a, 2023b, 2023c) due to its focus on service, community building, and empowering others (Arar & Oplatka, 2022, p.83-87; Blanchard & Broadwell, 2018; Crippen & Willows, 2019, p.171-172; Greenleaf, 2008, p.36). I particularly loved the ‘Continuum of Care’ concept (Reinsel Soulen, 2020), since showcasing my leadership by mentoring staff aligns well with my current position in the Teaching and Learning faculty.

   Image 1: Reinsel Soulen, 2020, p.39

However, despite my natural inclination towards Servant Leadership, this subject taught me it’s important to step outside my comfort zone to ensure effective practice and to be truly responsive to my community’s needs. Moving forward, I plan to also draw on the traits of Instructional and Transformational Leadership, with their focus on improving student outcomes through instructional quality, innovation, and reflective practice (Arar & Oplatka, 2022, p.3-5; Holmes et al., 2012, p.276; Moir et al., 2014, p.36, 39). For instance, these leadership styles can be integrated within our role as technology experts to support time-poor staff and demonstrate our value to our school community (Johnson, 2019):

Image 2: adapted from Johnson, 2019

In schools where misconceptions about our roles abound, ETL504 emphasised the importance of promoting the varied nature of our work and different ways we can leverage these leadership traits to advocate for our positions (Boyd, 2021; Jones, 2021). Reminding staff that our work extends beyond books – especially to technology and wellbeing – and that we can alleviate their workload is a key aspect of leading from the middle which I plan to integrate into my future practice (Lysaught, 2023d, 2023b, 2023e, 2023f). Module 5.3’s self-reflection was useful, identifying that I should improve my practice by leading staff professional learning and continued blogging (Lysaught, 2023f).

ETL504 revealed that ongoing strategic planning projects professionalism (Markless et al., 2016; Wong, 2012); reminding me “don’t get angry, get strategic” (Boyd, 2021).  I’ve improved my planning since my early amateur attempts (Lysaught, 2023h). Change fatigue and innovation overload are real threats in modern education (Clement, 2014; Dilkes et al., 2014; Holmes et al., 2012), and the various models summarised below were incredibly useful for understanding how to successfully manage change, allowing me to move forward in my own setting.

Image 3: Robbins et al., 2006

Image 4: adapted from Chow et al., 2019

Particularly, I found the focus on understanding stakeholder needs useful (Pratt, 2017). The two questions posed by Chow et al. (2019) and understanding resistance (Lancaster, 2019) will be at the forefront of my community consultation moving forward:

Image 5: adapted from Chow et al., 2019

Image 6: adapted from Lancaster, 2019

The importance of developing strong relationships with stakeholders, such as principals, was emphasised and helped me reframe my approach to ensure that my work was relevant to their vision. In future all library initiatives and budget submissions will align with the School Improvement Plan. Previously I’ve created an Annual Library Report, but didn’t know if my efforts were noticed (Lysaught, 2023i, 2023c). Inspired by ETL504, I created a Term 1 Library Snapshot which I published on social media, the newsletter, and library displays (Lysaught, 2023j) and received an email from the Principal thanking me.

Visibility is crucial!

Image 7: adapted from Softlink, 2017, p.3-11

 

 

Word count: 655

 

References:

Arar, K., & Oplatka, I. (2022). Advanced theories of educational leadership. Springer.

Blanchard, K., & Broadwell, R. (2018). Servant leadership in action. Berrett-Koehler.

Boyd, K. C. (2021). Advocacy: 2021 style & beyond. Knowledge Quest, 49(4), 26-31.

Bush, T. & Glover, D. (2014). School leadership models: What do we know? School Leadership and Management, 34(5), 553-571. https://doi.org/10.1080/13632434.2014.928680

Chow, A., Robinson, J., Paulus, L., Griffin, B., Smith, N. Z. & Watterman, A. (2019). From me to we: Seeing is believing. Knowledge Quest, 48(2), pp. E1-E7.

Clement, J. (2014). Managing mandated educational change. School Leadership & Management, 34(1), 39-51. https://doi:10.1080/13632434.2013.813460

Crippen, C. & Willows, J. (2019). Connecting teacher leadership and servant leadership: A synergistic partnership. Journal of Leadership Education, 18(2), pp. 171-180.

Dilkes, J., Cunningham, C. & Gray, J. (2014). The new Australian Curriculum, teachers and change fatigue. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 39(11). https://doi:10.14221/ajte.2014v39n11.4

Ezard, T. (2015). Building trust and collaboration – Tracey Ezard [Video]. Youtube. https://youtu.be/kUkseAdKyek

Gardner, J. W. (2013). The nature of leadership. In M. Grogan (Ed.). The Jossey-Bass reader on educational leadership (3rd ed., pp. 17-27). John Wiley & Sons.

Gleeson, B. (2016, November 9). 10 unique perspectives on what makes a great leader. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/brentgleeson/2016/11/09/10-unique-perspectives-on-what-makes-a-great-leader/#276777b95dd1

Greenleaf, R. K. (2008). Greenleaf on Servant-Leadership: Who Is the Servant-Leader? The International Journal of Servant-Leadership, 4(1), 31–37. https://doi.org/10.33972/ijsl.234

Holmes, K., Clement, J. & Albright, J. (2012). The complex task of leading educational change in schools. School Leadership & Management, 33(3), 270-283.  https://doi.org/10.1080/13632434.2013.800477

Johnson, D. (2019). The school librarian: Your ultimate digital resource. Educational Leadership, 76(5). https://www.ascd.org/el/articles/the-school-librarian-your-ultimate-digital-resource

Jones, A. (2021, May 6). School library advocacy: The time is now. Knowledge Quest. https://knowledgequest.aasl.org/school-library-advocacy-the-time-is-now/

Lancaster, I. (2019, January 26). 5 strategies for managing change in schools. TeachThought. http://www.teachthought.com/uncategorized/5-strategies-for-managing-change-in-schools/

Lysaught, D. (2023a, March 12). ETL504 2.2 leadership theory. All You Read Is Love. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/allyoureadislove/2023/03/12/etl504-2-2-leadership-theory/

Lysaught, D. (2023b, March 21). ETL504 2.3: Promoting the teacher-librarian’s visibility and value. All You Read Is Love. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/allyoureadislove/2023/03/21/etl504-2-3-promoting-the-teacher-librarians-visibility-and-value/

Lysaught, D. (2023c, May 7). ETL504 5.2 & 5.3: Servant leadership. All You Read Is Love. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/allyoureadislove/2023/05/07/etl504-5-2-5-3-servant-leadership/

Lysaught, D. (2023d, April 8). ETL504 2.3: Leadership concept map. All You Read Is Love. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/allyoureadislove/2023/04/08/etl504-2-3-leadership-concept-map/

Lysaught, D. (2023e, March 5). ETL504 2.1: Organisation theory introduction. All You Read Is Love. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/allyoureadislove/2023/03/05/etl504-2-1-organisation-theory-introduction/

Lysaught, D. (2023f, February 25). ETL504 1.1: How school leaders can build hope and prevent teacher burnout. All You Read Is Love. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/allyoureadislove/2023/02/25/etl504-1-1-how-school-leaders-can-build-hope-and-prevent-teacher-burnout/

Lysaught, D. (2023g, May 7). ETL504 5.3 Future ready librarian self-reflection. All You Read Is Love. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/allyoureadislove/2023/05/07/etl504-5-3-future-ready-librarian-self-reflection/

Lysaught, D. (2023h, April 27). ETL504 Strategic planning and setting goals: An amateur’s journey. All You Read Is Love. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/allyoureadislove/2023/04/27/etl504-strategic-planning-and-setting-goals-an-amateurs-journey/

Lysaught, D. (2023i, March 5). Annual library report. All You Read Is Love. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/allyoureadislove/2023/03/05/annual-library-report-2022/

Lysaught, D. (2023j, May 2). ETL504 Advocacy and visibility. All You Read Is Love. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/allyoureadislove/2023/05/02/etl504-advocacy-and-visibility/

Markless, S., Bentley, E., Pavey, S., Shaper, S., Todd, S., Webb, C., & Webb, C. (Carol). (2016). The innovative school librarian (S. Markless, Ed.; Second edition.). Facet.

Moir, S., Hattie, J. & Jansen, C.  (2014). Teacher perspectives of ‘effective’ leadership in schools. Australian Educational Leader, 36(4), 36-40.

Pratt, A. (2017). The challenge of implementing change. SCIS Connections, (103). https://www.scisdata.com/connections/issue-103/the-challenge-of-implementing-change

Reinsel Soulen, R. (2020). The continuum of care. Knowledge Quest, 48(4). 36-42.

Robbins, S.P., Bergman, R., Stagg, I. & Coulter, M. (2006). Foundations of management. Pearson Education. In ETL504 Module 4. Strategic and Operational Planning. Interact 2. https://interact2.csu.edu.au

Smith, B. (2016). The role of leadership style in creating a great school. SELU Research Review Journal, 1(1), 65-78. https://selu.usask.ca/documents/research-and-publications/srrj/SRRJ-1-1-Smith.pdf

Softlink (2017). School libraries share: Ideas for school-wide collaboration. https://www.softlinkint.com/assets/img/banners/Whitepaper_-_School_libraries_share_ideas_for_collaboration.pdf

spencekao. (2013, April 6). Instructional leadership. [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efzXDk1–4w

Sutcliffe, J. (2013, September 24). The eight qualities of successful school leaders. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/teacher-blog/2013/sep/24/eight-qualities-successful-school-leaders

Wong, T. (2012). Strategic long-range planning. Library Media Connection, 31(2), 22-23.

ETL504 5.2 & 5.3: Servant Leadership

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Scenario: You are in your third year as a teacher librarian in a school where you had to work actively to promote the value and services of the library. Classes come to the library either for relief from face-to-face teaching (primary) or supervision for research (secondary) without planned opportunities for collaborative or shared teaching. As you engage with ETL504 you have evaluated your current library role as that of a servant, rather than a servant leader. You seem to be reacting to the immediate needs and requirements of teachers and students in regard to providing resources, responding to immediate information and digital literacy needs, supporting recreational reading requirements and providing technology support.

Task: Through the lens of servant leadership, identify and share one proactive approach to lead a shift in expectations and responsibilities that will build the capacity of either teachers or students in recreational reading.

It’s scary how accurate the give scenario for this task is – it almost exactly matches my situation! I started in the library in 2021 and when I stepped into the position the big perception of the library’s role in our school was that it’s all about books and reading. Rather than dedicate my non-existent time to pick that fight and battle this misconception while in the depths of Covid disruptions and completing the Masters on top of my library responsibilities and English teaching role, I leaned into this perception to show my value to my school community.

Inspired in large part by the work I completed for ETL402 Literature Across the Curriculum, I decided to start an Action Research Project based around my implementation of a Wide Reading Program for Year 7, 2022. That year our school restructured the timetable and removed DEAR from roll call despite our declining NAPLAN and HSC results, so I aligned this project with our School Plan to give it legitimacy and worked with several English teachers since I was still teaching English classes and part of that faculty despite my relocation to the library. I started with 4 classes but due to staffing issues and constant interruptions only maintained consistent contact with 2 classes.

I sold this as a service to these teachers which would support their teaching units and develop student literacy while saving them time. The reformed English curriculum explicitly references reading for pleasure, so this is another angle I’ve used this year to promote the program and ensure unity between my work in the library and teachers’ work in their classrooms.

Word got around about this program and its benefits, and so this year it has expanded to include 5 Year 7 classes and 2 Year 8 classes, ensuring access to reading materials and positive modelling for 190 teenagers who often otherwise wouldn’t take the time to read for fun.

Knowing what I do now as a result of ETL504, if I could go back in time I would be far more proactive about advertising this program and raising its visibility in the early stages with my Senior Executive to showcase my proactive response to community needs and my leadership potential. I did include comments and data from my research in my Annual Reportwhich I shared with my Head Teachers and the Senior Executive, though it’s hard to say if they even read this document so perhaps other tactics are needed, such as personal invitations to attend lessons, social media marketing, and professional publication of the results. I plan to leverage the success of this program and the trust built with staff and students to build collaborative planning opportunities in future, especially around information fluency and inquiry learning, and thus to slowly but surely change the perception of what a library is all about.

ETL504 5.3 Future Ready Librarian Self-Reflection

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One of the tasks in this module was to browse the Future Ready Librarians website. Amongst its myriad of wonderful tools, I found the self-reflection survey and since I love a good survey I thought, why not? Here are my results:

 

From this tool I can identify that I need to work on leading through:

  • the provision of personalised professional learning
  • providing robust infrastructure,
  • teaching and promoting student data and privacy, and
  • curriculum instruction and assessment.

ETL504 Advocacy and Visibility

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Inspired by the ETL504 readings about the importance of advocating for what we do and the different stats snapshot infographics posted on the NSW School Library Matters Facebook group, I thought I’d have a crack at designing my own. Hopefully this will help increase my visibility and show the value of my work to the school. As a relatively new TL fumbling my way through each day I‘ll take whatever wins I can!

ETL504 Strategic Planning and Setting Goals: An Amateur’s Journey

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As I’m learning about effective ways to identify needs and create strategic plans, I thought it would be a good time to reflect on how far my understanding of strategic and operational planning has developed since I started in the library role at the end of 2020. In the last two weeks of 2020 I did my best to wade through the vast depths of the library space, resources and services and created a table to help me identify everything that the library did and everything that needed to be either fixed, implemented, or reassessed. This was such an overwhelming job and I felt completely unprepared, especially since the library didn’t have any policies or procedures that I could refer back to in my planning. At the time I managed to narrow it down to 5 key priority areas (I’ve deleted the other specifics since the original document went over a whopping 6 pages!):

Priority Area Purpose  Strategies Timeframe
Resource Management

Support Student Learning

Library Promotion

Literacy Improvement

Social Inclusion

In 2021 I had a bit more time and understanding of the library role, and refined this planning by setting 5 key goals which I reflected on in my 2021 Annual Library Report. It’s interesting to see how my chosen priority areas have been refined, and how my reporting of these achievement was simplified to show the value of the library to my school’s Senior Executive:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In 2022 this planning was further expanded via the brainstorm below. It’s interesting that at this stage of my understanding I’ve started to hone in on specific aspects of each goal. The achievements associated with each goal were reflected on in my 2022 Annual Library Report which was once again given to the Senior Executive.

Looking back on these now, they seem quite amateurish in comparison to the strategic plans explored as part of my studies for ETL504. However, at the time I was almost completely lacking any realistic knowledge of the library roles and responsibilities or of leadership theory, and so these initial attempts at strategic planning were the best I could accomplish with my limited knowledge. Now that I know better, I intend to do better and hopefully the library will flourish as a result!

ETL504 2.3: Promoting the Teacher-Librarian’s Visibility and Value

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How can we take the perception of the TL’s role from the keeper and stamper of books in the quiet place to something different?

I think it’s fair to say that as a profession teacher-librarians have an image problem. Way back at the start of this degree I wrote about Bonanno’s keynote speech in which she described teacher-librarians as an ‘invisible profession’ (Lysaught, August 29 2021a) and the misconception that the library is purely about books (Lysaught, August 29 2021b). A 2021 study revealed that in the US, teacher-librarian numbers declined 20% in the past decade (Ingram, July 19, 2021), and this trend of shrinking school libraries is being replicated in Australia (Tidball, February 10, 2023) alongside stagnating or declining budgets, staffing levels, and staff engagement or support (Softlink, 2022, p.6-7).

Maybe, like a good dancer, we make our work look effortless. Maybe too much of what we do is in the background of busy teachers’ days. One thing that’s for sure is that we need to work on improving our visibility and perceived value to our school community if we are to ensure the future of our profession (Weisburg, 2020).

Moir, Hattie and Jansen (2014, p.37) identified a number of key attributes that teachers perceived as important for leaders:

They also state that “Trust is often best developed in team environments, as then there is opportunity for collaboration and shared decision-making, especially when there is a common focus on improving teaching and learning” (p.39). Bush and Glover (2014, p.554) also discuss the idea of leadership as influence rather than stemming from formal authority, which suits teacher-librarians since we often lack official leadership positions in school hierarchies. Both discussions relate beautifully to the work of the teacher-librarian as literacy expert and information specialist, and they highlight a key way that teacher-librarians can both improve their visibility and their perceived value to their school community through collaborative programming, teaching, and assessment which supports the work of time-poor classroom teachers.

The work of Crippen and Willows (2019, p.174) highlights the 10 characteristics of servant-leaders, and teacher-librarians are uniquely placed to assist healing for colleagues overburdened by heavy workloads, administrivia, and poor student behaviour: “Through their actions as servant leaders they are facilitating a healing process and followers often look to them for support when times are difficult or something traumatic has occurred (Barbuto and Wheeler, 2007).” Teacher-librarians can also exhibit the persuasion trait of servant-leaders: “Supovitz (2018) also describes how teacher leaders use strategies such as leading by example, earning their colleagues trust and encouraging and collaborating with their peers.” 

Another area where teacher-librarians can shift the perception of the school community is in the space surrounding emerging or rapidly changing technologies. A 2016 article notes that “By virtue of their training, relationships, systems knowledge, and instructional roles … teacher librarians are ideally suited to lead, teach, and support students and teachers in 21st century schools” (Digital Promise, 2016). Digital literature has the potential to move students from passive consumers to active creators of content while engaging them with the process and ethics of digital content creation (Lysaught, October 4 2022), and Artificial Intelligence is another emerging space where teacher-librarians can position themselves as experts to increase their visibility and perceived value (Lysaught, March 5 2023). It is imperative that we stay current with new and developing technologies to best position ourselves as experts in this field. Our expertise in copyright and the ethics of digital tools alongside our ability to connect the General Capabilities to specific learning programs is invaluable – however, we need to ensure that we’re promoting our abilities in this area and marketing collaborative teaching and planning as a benefit to time-poor teachers rather than just another thing to add to their plates. 

Weisburg (2020) argues that while there are numerous barriers to showcasing our value, as a profession we have no other option. We must make it a priority to develop our visibility and promote our value to our school community or we run the risk of becoming obsolete. Weisburg suggests that teacher-librarians should start by looking for ways to showcase what we’re already doing; social media posts, visible displays, and staff emails can promote this work among the school community, while annual library reports can increase the perception of our professionalism and showcase for senior leaders much of the behind the scenes work that goes into running a library (Lysaught, March 5 2023). Weisburg’s suggestion about speaking at P&C meetings is another interesting one which links well to our aforementioned technology expertise. The most crucial aspect of Weisburg’s article for me was the concept of “chopportunities” – “challenges that can be turned into an opportunity.” So much of what affects the library is decided without our input and while it can be tempting to fall into the “why bother?” disheartened state of mind, for our own protection (and sanity!) reframing these issues as “chopportunities” can be a way to reclaim some sense of agency and showcase the benefits we provide to our school communities. 

 

References:

Bush, T. & Glover, D. (2014). School leadership models: What do we know? School Leadership and Management, 34(5), 553-571. https://doi.org/10.1080/13632434.2014.928680

Crippen, C. & Willows, J. (2019). Connecting teacher leadership and servant leadership: A synergistic partnership. Journal of Leadership Education, 18(2), pp. 171-180. https://journalofleadershiped.org/jole_articles/connecting-teacher-leadership-and-servant-leadership-a-synergistic-partnership/

Digital Promise (2016). The new librarian: Leaders in the digital age. In SCIS Connections, (96). https://www.scisdata.com/connections/issue-96/the-new-librarian-leaders-in-the-digital-age/

Moir, S., Hattie, J. & Jansen, C. (2014). Teacher perspectives of ‘effective’ leadership in schools. Australian Educational Leader, 36(4), 36-40.

Softlink (2022). 2022 Australian and New Zealand school library survey report. https://www.softlinkint.com/resources/reports-and-whitepapers/

Weisburg, H. K. (2020). Leadership: There is no other option. Synergy, 18(1). https://slav.vic.edu.au/index.php/Synergy/article/view/369/364

ETL504 2.2 Leadership Theory

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This week I’ve been reading up on different leadership styles and the ways that they can impact school culture and student outcomes. As with all worthwhile things in life, I’ve tried to wrap my head around these new concepts by comparing them to The Lord of the Rings. One does not simply understand these things straight away, so here’s my attempt at analysing the different leadership styles of the LotR characters.

Autocratic leadership: Autocratic leadership is characterised by decisions made from the top with very little input by followers, negatively impacting relationships and job satisfaction. I highly doubt Sauron was consulting with his orc generals, and neither Saruman nor Denethor seem particularly happy in their middle management roles. F for fail in 21st century educational leadership theory.

Transactional leadership: This style is based heavily on following processes and policies, and rewarding or punishing followers based on their performance. Saruman lures Wormtongue with the promise of Eowyn as a reward yet belittles him constantly once he fails at his task. Saruman gets a knife in the back as a result. Don’t lead like Saruman.

Instructional leadership: Instructional leaders lead from a place of official authority and have long range plans for their organisation. However, if you’re not particularly charismatic (or you’re corrupted by the One Ring) you might not be able to inspire the required action from your followers. Poor Boromir. He tried.

Distributed leadership: One of my favourite quotes from this week’s readings was from Harris, who said “empower others to bring things to you.” Elrond absolutely embodies this since he empowers the hobbits to bring the One Ring to Rivendell, and later inspires the Fellowship to volunteer for their mission … quest … thing. Ted Lasso is another pop culture distributed leader that springs to mind.

Laissez-faire (delegative) leadership: I love Gandalf, I really do. But we can’t deny that he has a habit of disappearing at key moments (“Look to my coming on the first light of the fifth day; at dawn, look to the East” – really, dude?). Lucky for Gandalf (and the rest of Middle Earth), he’s got a cracker of a team behind him whom he trusts and empowers to do the right thing when he takes a step back.

Situational leadership: This style requires flexibility and adaptability dependent on the situation, and is often contingent on the followers’ abilities. Frodo goes through a lot and relies heavily on the people around him as he adapts to the needs of his current situation. Lucky for him his Fellowship care for him (though let’s be honest, Aragorn could have totally gone after him if he’d really wanted). However, if the situational leader’s team aren’t top-notch (I’m looking at you, Gollum!) then they might not be as effective and their goals may remain unachieved.

Transformational leadership: Transformational leaders are people who see the big picture and work towards creating a sense of unity and shared vision amongst their team. They lead by example and have to make tough decisions. Aragon, son of Arathorn, Isildur’s Heir is no mere ranger, but even when without his official title manages to instill trust amongst the hobbits, and later puts himself on the line multiple times to serve the greater good.

Servant leadership: This is my personal favourite and one which I aspire to achieve in my own personal practice. Servant leaders put the needs of others first, make ethical decisions and are loyal, people-driven all-round good guys. They genuinely care about the people in their team and as a result engender an environment of high trust and inspire others to work with them. Samwise typifies this style of leadership – he’s not a powerful king or wizard, just a gardener with a heart of gold. When Frodo stumbles he picks him up and gets the job done. His line, “I can’t carry it for you, but I can carry you!” seems so pertinent to the teacher-librarian’s role as leader within a school context. Everyone needs a Sam!

 

 

ETL504 2.1: Organisation Theory Introduction

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Informed by Robinson’s presentation, think about the influences upon a school – structural, cultural and societal and identify a key driver for change in each area that the teacher librarian could respond to through school library programs.

A lot has changed in the 13 years since Robinson’s video was first published to Youtube. When this video was published, Youtube was still a fairly new and groundbreaking platform, Facebook was still a relative baby, Instagram had only just been launched, and TikTok wasn’t even a twinkle in its creators’ eyes. Early in my studies I was introduced to the concept of the changing infosphere (Lysaught, 2021, August 30) and my understanding of these issues and their relationship to the role of the teacher librarian has continued to develop as I’ve moved through this degree.

Since 2010, a multitude of new apps, sites, and other assorted technologies have emerged. The big one causing much consternation in the education community at the moment is the rise of AI tools such as ChatGPT. While there’s a lot of fear and uncertainty about the role artificial intelligence will play in the future of education, I strongly feel that this emerging technology is one area where effective teacher librarians can position themselves as leaders and drivers of innovation in their school communities. While some concerns are not without merit (especially around potential student plagiarism and the ethics of AI), at the moment my experiences have led me to view AI tools such as ChatGPT as a sort of “Google on steroids” and a valuable time-saver for overworked, time-poor teachers. As such, for this reflection I used it to get my head around the idea of what could be meant by structural, cultural and societal influences upon schools. I was rather pleased with the results:

Let’s address some of these influences more directly.

Structural influences upon a school:

  • School funding: obviously a teacher librarian in a school setting (especially one without formal leadership credentials) will have limited impact on the way schools are funded. However, through advocating for our role, our value to our school community and our professionalism I believe that teacher librarians can in some cases successfully apply for a greater slice of the funding pie. I used our 2021 Annual Library Report as evidence to request more funding and was granted additional support for my 2022 Wide Reading Program trial.
  • Curriculum: again, teacher librarians have an extremely limited ability to determine the curriculum set by National and State educational bodies (beyond participation in focus groups and curriculum groups when these documents are reviewed). However, our role within schools has the potential to act as the “glue” which draws together different curriculum areas (Lysaught, 2021, October 5) and the general capabilities (Lysaught, 2021, November 22), and can unite otherwise isolated subject ‘silos’ to ensure cross-curricular learning.
  • School policies: through participation in school-wide teams and committees, teacher librarians can help guide and implement these policies and procedures. For instance in the past I have been a member of our school’s Gifted and Talented Education committee, and when that was dissolved I moved into the Technology in Education committee.
  • Physical facilities: often the physical layout of the school is beyond the teacher librarian’s control; however, we can absolutely make a difference in the design and layout of the library space, and can develop and manage efficient collections which meet the learning and recreational needs of our school community. As noted in my 2022 Annual Library Report (Lysaught, 2023, March 5), 49% of library purchases were patron-led acquisitions to build student and staff ownership over the collection.

Cultural influences upon a school:

  • School culture: building respectful relationships and trust is crucial with both staff and students. Bonanno (2011, via Lysaught, 2021, August 29) emphasises the importance of building relationships with the 10-30% of staff who are likely to work with us to ensure that we are maximising our potential and adding value to our school community efficiently and meaningfully. My own experience has revealed that this takes time, but once I made progress with one teacher and the word spread about how I could help time-poor staff with their work, soon I was inundated with requests. 
  • Diversity: representation matters. Decolonising collections and ensuring inclusivity and diversity in resources and their promotion is one area where teacher librarians can positively affect school culture.
  • Parental involvement: communication to parents and caregivers via channels such as social media and parent bulletins is important for promoting the library as a useful resource centre for their children.

Societal influences upon a school:

  • Community resources: effective promotion of library educational and recreational resources can build a positive school culture where students and staff feel supported, valued and can take ownership of the space. Student-created social media posts is one of my favourite ways of helping promote library resources while encouraging students to take ownership of the space.
  • Economic factors: teacher librarians can’t change the socio-economic demographics of their school community, but they can provide access to tools and resources which can ameliorate the effects of potential disadvantage (Krashen, 2011). The ISCEA value of my school has gone down in the last few years; my implementation of the Wide Reading Program aims in part to mitigate some of the disadvantages our students face by drawing on research into pleasure reading and by providing time and access to reading materials.
  • Political climate: well, ain’t this one a tough nut to crack. It seems that everywhere we look teachers are easy pickings for politicians wanting to stoke the fires of the culture wars for their own gain. However, advocacy and professionalism can go some way towards easing public and political misconceptions about the role of teachers in society. Would it be cheeky of me to add media and digital literacy teaching programs here?

Annual Library Report 2022

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One key tool I use to advocate for my school’s library is our Annual Library Report. I give this to all members of the Senior Executive at my school to remind them of the value our library provides to our school learning community. While time-consuming to create, I strongly believe that this is an important promotional tool which projects my image as a professional, a team player and a leader. The full report can be accessed here: https://bit.ly/3Jg1e7k 

          

ETL504 1.1: How School Leaders Can Build Hope and Prevent Teacher Burnout

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Beachboard, Cathleen (Feb 25, 2022). How school leaders can build hope and prevent teacher burnout. Edutopia.  https://www.edutopia.org/article/how-school-leaders-can-build-hope-and-prevent-teacher-burnout

Some of the key points I took from this article are:

  • There’s three key components which lead to burnout – exhaustion, cynicism, and inefficacy (these three factors are sadly very common at the moment!)
  • Hope is crucial to safeguarding identity, which can be built by discovering and developing goals, having autonomy over one’s purpose, and finding opportunities to exercise this potential and purpose
  • If people feel needed, respected, and valued, they have a higher perception of their own agency (this is true of students and staff alike!)
  • Recognising and acknowledging competence, granting autonomy, and fostering relatedness among staff are three ways school leaders can build hope and protect against burnout
  • “One of the ways leadership can aid teachers is to give staff an abundance of resources to assist with mounting workloads.” I’ve noted a few times in my blog ways in which an effective TL can assist time-poor, overworked classroom teachers (January 10, 2022; February 27, 2022; August 7, 2022; October 4, 2022) and thus potentially act as leaders in schools.

ETL533 Assessment 4: Part D – Critical Reflection

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My understanding of digital literature has grown significantly over the last few months. From my early definitions to the creation of my own narrative, I’ve gained a solid understanding of what digital literature is, why it’s beneficial and how it can be implemented to support my school.

My preliminary definitions of digital literature focused on the distinction between the digital and the digitised (Lysaught, 2022, July 19; Lysaught, 2022, July 25). As my research progressed I consolidated these distinctions by combining Unsworth’s (2006, p.2-3) and Allan’s (2017, p.22-23) categories (Lysaught, 2022, August 7). Like my peers (Curtis, 2022, July 19), I believe digital literature should be quality and meet community needs, which led me to consider what makes quality digital literature (Lysaught, 2022, August 14) and to design my own evaluation criteria where I determined three key aspects: multimodality, interactivity, and connectivity (Lysaught, 2022, August 28). Self-evaluations and peer feedback reveals – despite the amateur multimodal features – mine’s an effective, quality text suitable for its intended purpose and audience:

Evaluation of The Shakespeare Chronicles

However, defining digital literature is arguably less important to teacher-librarians than understanding how to incorporate it effectively. Digital literature provides exciting opportunities to move students from passive consumers to active creators of content  (Morra, 2013, para.2; Kitson, 2017, p.66), and as new technologies and communication tools emerge, students require new literacies to ensure they’re critically consuming and ethically creating texts (Walker et al., 2010, p.214-216; Kearney, 2011, p.169; Leu, 2011, p.6-8; Mills & Levido, 2011, p.80-81, 89; Leu et al., 2015, p.139-140; Serafini et al., 2015, p.23; Combes, 2016, p.4). In 2009 students spent an average four hours a day online (Weigel, 2009, p.38); by 2015 US teens consumed between 6-9 hours of media a day (Common Sense Media, 2015, para.6), while Australian teens now spend an average of 14.4 hours a week online (eSafety Commissioner, 2021, p.4). Digital literature therefore harnesses our students’ preferences and familiarity with technological platforms (Figueiredo & Bidarra, 2015, p.323; Skaines, 2010, p.100-104; Stepanic, 2022, p.2; Weigel, 2009, P.38). Digital literature incorporating interactivity, multimodality, and connectivity can develop ‘nöogenic narratives’ wherein personal growth is achieved by viewing our lives as a story (Hall, 2012, p.97), a key element of the English syllabus (NSW Standards Authority, 2019, p.10). Research shows that educators can exploit digital narratives to create meaningful and authentic learning opportunities for students to create personal and academic growth (Bjørgen, 2010, p.171-172; Dockter et al., 2010, p.419; Hall, 2012, p.99; Reid, 2013, p.38-41; Smeda et al., 2014, p.19; Sukovic, 2014, p.222-226).

However, educators must carefully consider the purpose of integrating digital narratives into their programmes. While research reveals digital texts’ benefits supporting young, emerging, or struggling readers and developing transliteracy (Tackvic, 2012, p.428; Cahill & McGill-Franzen, 2013, p.32-33; Matthews, 2014, p.29; McGeehan et al., 2018, p.58), others raise issues regarding reading comprehension, retention, and attention (Cull, 2011, para.35-38; Goodwin, 2013, p.79; Jabr, 2013, p.5-30; McGuire, 2015, para.30-35). Technology should be used as a meaningful tool, not just as a gimmick. Monsen (2016) explored the idea that we are “quintessentially cyborgs” due to the symbiotic relationship between humanity and technology. My research into digital learning frameworks such as the SAMR model (Lysaught, 2022, August 6) revealed that effective implementation of technology should not replace, but co-exist with and supplement existing print literacies. Printed choose-your-own-adventure narratives arguably improve literacy (Chooseco & Hofmann, 2016, para. 8-9) and can be updated using digital features to form powerful digital texts (Farber, 2015, para.1-2). Thus, my own digital narrative was designed as an immersive, interactive, multimodal resource to develop students’ understanding of life in Shakespearean England while supplementing traditional print resources and online information sources.

Throughout ETL533 I have examined how I currently incorporate digital literature into our school and considered ways to increase this in future (Lysaught, 2022, July 31; Lysaught, 2022, August 7; Lysaught, 2022, August 13). As discussed with my peers (Macey, 2022, September 24; Barnett, 2022, September 27; Facey, 2022, September 29) difficulties arise surrounding cost-effectiveness, storage, access, and user preferences that often impede digital literature’s success in schools. Despite these challenges, after creating my own digital narrative I strongly believe that student-created digital texts can enhance their own learning and connections to content, and integrate well with Guided Inquiry units and literary learning (Lysaught, 2022, January 27; Lysaught, 2022, August 14; Lysaught, 2022, September 3; Lysaught, 2022, September 16). Peer feedback also supports this (Lysaught, 2022, September 3). Due to this unit I am more aware of my students’ discussions around digital literature (Lysaught, 2022, July 25; Lysaught, 2022, August 28), revealing these are powerful texts with which students are already engaging. Literature in digital environments allows teacher-librarians to show our value to our school community, as we can support time-poor staff as they include more captivating, rich resources and utilise digital narratives to support our students with various interests and literacy needs.

 

 

Word count: 806

Reference list: https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/allyoureadislove/2022/10/04/etl533-assessment-4-reference-list/

ETL533 Assessment 2 Part B: Critical Reflection of Digital Literature Experiences

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In the light of your readings and your experience of different digital literatures write a critical reflection which considers the following issues:
• What makes a good digital text, what counts as one, and what purpose do digital texts serve?
• Compare your experience of reading digital texts with reading print.
• Choose the digital text you most enjoyed and discuss how you might incorporate it into a program at your institution.

As my research into digital literature has progressed, my understandings have simultaneously narrowed and blurred regarding this nebulous topic. I have encountered numerous definitions, categories, and subcategories in my research, including the commonly repeated broad distinction between the digital and the digitised (Strickland, n.d., para. 3; Hayles, 2007, para.10; Bourchardon & Heckman, 2012, p.1; Heckman & O’Sullivan, 2018, para.4). 

Many attempts to define digital literature have focused on what it is not. For instance, electronic literature is not something that can be printed (Strickland, n.d., para.3; Sargeant, 2015, p.455; Wright, 2019, para.2), thereby excluding e-books which digitise existing print texts (Writerful Books, n.d., para.10) as ‘paper-under-glass’ texts (Allan, 2017, p.22) which, while popular with publishers, do not take advantage of many potential features offered by emerging digital platforms (McGeehan et al., 2018, p.62-63). However, excluding these texts from discussions about digital literature arguably ignores their popularity and potential as learning and engagement tools, especially in schools; after all, this unit is called ‘Literature in Digital Environments’ and not ‘Digital Literature’ for a reason, and it would be unwise to eliminate digitised texts from discussion altogether. I personally prefer to read digitised e-books due to the ability to increase font size and define unknown words, yet my favoured features were missing from many of the digital texts I’ve explored so far (Lysaught, 2022a).

Other definitions focus on common features of digital texts, such as their exploitation of digital characteristics (Bourchardon & Heckman, 2012, p.1), their inherent multimodality (Walker et al., 2010, p.219; Mills & Levido, 2011, p.80; Heckman & O’Sullivan, 2018, para.11) or the way they use interactivity and connectivity to position the audience in the process of either constructing meaning or constructing the text itself (Serafini, 2013, p.403; Walsh, 2013, p.181; Bell, 2016, p.295-296; Wall, 2016, p.35; Allan, 2017, p.23-24). These multidimensional features allow readers a different experience to that of reading a traditional unidimensional printed text, with some research suggesting that changes to reading speed and navigation in digital environments can affect comprehension and memory (Jabr, 2013, para.10, 20). Lending data and anecdotal discussions in my school suggest printed texts have maintained their top position as preferred reading materials amongst both staff and students, though this may have more to do with digital poverty, lack of exposure and competing distractions on devices than the potential offered by digital texts.

Another useful categorical framework I used to structured my reviews resulted from my early combination (Lysaught, 2022b, para.2-3) of Allan (2017, p.22-23) and Unsworth’s (2006, p.2-3) distinctions between recontextualised or digitised literary texts, enhanced app or electronically augmented texts, and ‘born digital’ texts. However, my increased exposure to digital literature revealed that often digital narratives defy simplistics attempts at categorisation, with all three reviewed texts blurring boundaries depending on whose definition one applied (Lysaught, 2022c, 2022d, 2022e).

Inspired by my reviewed texts, I decided to play with the multimodal potential offered by this blog to create a word-cloud of my notes so far. Several key ideas emerge, including: a focus on the relationship between readers, authors, teachers and the act of reading; the relationship between technology and meaning-making processes; and new literacies focused on mixed media and formats such as digital devices and internet platforms.

As a result of this research, I conclude that quality digital literature involves the interplay of three core elements: multimodality, interactivity, and connectivity (whether to the world or content of the text and/or to other users and platforms). Early attempts to construct an evaluative criteria (Lysaught, 2022f) have solidified into the criteria below:

😍 = yes, love it!

🤔 = hmm … somewhat?

👎 = not really/not evident

Arguably, defining digital literature is less important in school contexts than how it can be used to support the needs, interests and abilities of the school community. I discussed in each review how these texts could effectively support teaching and learning in my school community (Lysaught, 2022c, 2022d, 2022e). Early in my journey I posited that teacher-librarians could be invaluable in aligning new pedagogies with innovative digital narratives to support time-poor staff (Lysaught, 2022g, 2022b). Anecdotal evidence suggests that digital literature is a powerful tool for engaging students as readers (Lysaught, 2022h). Moving forward, I am interested in harnessing digital literature and its associated social networking to motivate reluctant students (Lysaught, 2022a) as part of my Year 7 Wide Reading Program.

 

 

747 words.

Reference list:

Allan, C. (2017). Digital fiction: ‘Unruly object’ or literary artefact? English in Australia, 52(2), 21-27.

Bell, A. (2016). Interactional metalepsis and unnatural narratology. Narrative, 24(3), 294-310.

Bourchardon, S., & Heckman, D. (2012). Digital manipulability and digital literature. Electronic Book Review.

Hayles, K. (2007). Electronic literature: What is it? https://www.eliterature.org/pad/elp.html

Heckman, D., O’Sullivan, J. (2018). Electronic literature: contexts and poetics. Literary Studies in the Digital Age: An Evolving Anthology.

Jabr, F. (2013, April 11). The reading brain in the digital age: The science of paper versus screens. Scientific American.

Lysaught, D. (2022a, August 13). ETL533 3.2 Exploring digital forms. All you read is love. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/allyoureadislove/2022/08/13/etl533-3-2-exploring-digital-forms/

Lysaught, D. (2022b, August 7). ETL533 2.3: Challenges of using digital literature in the classroom. All you read is love. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/allyoureadislove/2022/08/07/etl533-2-3-challenges-of-using-digital-literature-in-the-classroom/

Lysaught, D. (2022c, August 28). ETL533 Assessment 2 Part A: Review 1 – Over the Top by The Canadian War Museum (n.d.). All you read is love. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/allyoureadislove/2022/08/28/etl533-assessment-2-part-a-review-1-over-the-top-by-the-canadian-war-museum-n-d/

Lysaught, D. (2022d, August 28). ETL533 Assessment 2 Part A: Review 2 – iPoe by iClassics Collection (2012-2015). All you read is love. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/allyoureadislove/2022/08/28/etl533-assessment-2-part-a-review-2-ipoe-by-iclassics-collection-2012-2015/

Lysaught, D. (2022e, August 28). ETL533 Assessment 2 Part A: Review 3 – Dracula Daily by Matt Kirkland (2021). All you read is love. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/allyoureadislove/2022/08/28/etl533-assessment-2-part-a-review-3-dracula-daily-by-matt-kirkland-2021/

Lysaught, D. (2022f, August 14). ETL533 Evaluating digital literature: Deeper considerations. All you read is love. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/allyoureadislove/2022/08/14/etl533-evaluating-digital-literature-deeper-considerations/

Lysaught, D. (2022g, July 19). ETL533 Evaluating digitally reproduced stories. All you read is love. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/allyoureadislove/2022/07/19/etl533-1-2-evaluating-digitally-reproduced-stories/

Lysaught, D. (2022h, July 25). ETL533 Assessment 1: Online reflective journal blog task. All you read is love. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/allyoureadislove/2022/07/25/etl533-assessment-1-online-reflective-journal-blog-task/

McGeehan, C., Chambers, S., & Nowakowski, J. (2018). Just because it’s digital, doesn’t mean it’s good: Evaluating digital picture books. Journal of Digital Learning in Teacher Education, 34(2), 58-70. https://doi.org/10.1080/21532974.2017.1399488

Mills, K.A., & Levido, A. (2011). iPed: pedagogy for digital text production. The Reading Teacher, 65(1), 80-91.

Sargeant, B. (2015). What is an ebook? What is a book app? And why should we care? An analysis of contemporary digital picture books. Children’s Literature in Education, 46(4), 454-466.

Serafini, F., Kachorsky, D. & Aguilera, E. (2015). Picture books 2.0: Transmedial features across narrative platforms. Journal of Children’s Literature, 41(2), 16-24.

Strickland, S. (n.d.). Born digital. Poetry Foundation. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/articles/69224/born-digital

Unsworth, L. (2006). E-literature for children: Enhancing digital literacy learning. Routledge.

Walker, S., Jameson, J., & Ryan, M. (2010). Skills and strategies for e-learning in a participatory culture (Ch. 15). In R. Sharpe, H. Beetham, & S. Freitas (Eds.), Rethinking learning for a digital age: How learners are shaping their own experiences (pp. 212-224). New York, NY: Routledge

Wall, J. (2016). Children’s literature in the digital world: how does multimodality support affective, aesthetic and critical response to narrative? by Alyson Simpson and Maureen Walsh. An extended abstract by June Wall. SCAN 35(3), 34-36.

Walsh, M. (2013). Literature in a digital environment (Ch. 13). In L. McDonald (Ed.), A literature companion for teachers. Marrickville, NSW: Primary English Teaching Association Australia (PETAA).

Wright, D. T. H. (2019, July 10). From Twitterbots to VR: 10 of the best examples of digital literature. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/from-twitterbots-to-vr-10-of-the-best-examples-of-digital-literature-110099

Writerful Books (n.d.). New $10,000 digital literature award. https://writerfulbooks.com/digital-literature-award/

ETL533 2.3: Challenges of using digital literature in the classroom

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There is an enormous difference between facility with technology and being able to engage with the content of digital literature as a consumer or a creator. What are some ways (small or large) you could alter your pedagogy to ensure technology and digital literature is embedded in your educational practices?

In this week’s readings I liked the distinction made by Allan (2017) between the different types of digital fiction:

1. eBooks or “paper-under-glass” texts;

2. Narrative or enhanced apps; and

3. “Born digital” multimodal narratives.

This distinction fit nicely with Unsworth’s classifications (via Walsh, 2013) from the Module 1 readings, where he identified three main categories of e-literature:

1. Recontextualised literary texts;

2. Electronically augmented literary texts; and

3. Digitally originated texts.

This also links with previous discussions I’ve read about what counts as digital literature, which emphasise the difference between “the digitised and digital literature” (for more on this, please feel free to check out my blog post).

In our school we have a virtual library with eBooks and audiobooks that our students, staff and parents can engage with, but it’s an expensive subscription (last year’s invoice was over $3000 – more than a third of our yearly budget!) with logistical issues around promotion and access. It also falls into the digitised, ‘paper-under-glass’ or ‘recontextualised literary texts’ category where technology facilitates access rather than exists as an innovative and inherent aspect of the texts. While it was a useful resource during last year’s lockdowns, data suggests that average use each month is down on last year’s figures. This year our school removed the DEAR (Drop Everything and Read) program, so I’ve been trialing a Wide Reading Program with a few Year 7 classes (initially 4, now dropped back to 2). Given Foley’s (2012) findings about student engagement with ebooks, it might be worthwhile creating activities for the Wide Reading Program which target and promote our virtual library.

One of the texts I’ve been investigating for the second assessment is the iPoe app by iClassics Collection. From my engagement with this app so far, it appears to fall under the ‘enhanced app’ or ‘electronically augmented literary text’ categories outlined above. I chose this because a) Poe is awesome fun and b) we have a Year 8 unit on suspenseful stories that this would work well with. I had a great time exploring this app and playing with its features, designed to immerse the reader with the texts’ Gothic emotions, settings, and atmosphere. I think this is a resource that could work really well with our Year 8 unit, though it cost $8.99 for all three volumes/apps, therefore presenting a financial and logistical issue for faculties with tight budgets.

This week I also had a little play with Microsoft Sway, in an attempt to create my own ‘born digital’ narrative in preparation for the final assessment. One of my projects this year has been to build up the Student Media Team I introduced to the school last year, and Microsoft Sway was one of the tools we were investigating for our student-designed newsletter. While it has many useful features and is (mostly) user-friendly, one issue I found while playing with it is that this tool lacks the ability to link to content within the Sway, and thus might not work for my intended ‘choose your own adventure’ style narrative. However, this investigation did remind me that for larger projects teachers might have, it takes time to find the right tools with the right features for their vision. While wonderful guides exist (such as http://www.schrockguide.net/bloomin-apps.html and https://instructionaldesignbykelly.wordpress.com/2016/03/01/the-evolution-of-blooms-taxonomy-and-how-it-applies-to-teachers-today/ from this week’s readings) these take time to investigate and, given the current educational climate, this is time that many teachers simply cannot spare. This is where an innovative, technologically current teacher-librarian could be an invaluable resource for time-poor teachers!

 

 

Allan, C. (2017). Digital fiction: ‘Unruly object’ or literary artefact? English in Australia, 52(2), 21-27.

Foley, C. (2012). Ebooks for leisure and learning. Scan, 31, pp. 6-14.

Walsh, M. (2013). Literature in a digital environment (Ch. 13). In L. McDonald (Ed.), A literature companion for teachers. Marrickville, NSW: Primary English Teaching Association Australia (PETAA).

ETL533 1.2: Evaluating Digitally Reproduced Stories

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After completing the readings from Module 1.2, consider your understanding of ways of evaluating digital narratives in this forum. What are some similarities and differences you identify in the readings? What are the key elements involved in evaluating digital narratives? 

Digital narratives are, simply put, narratives that are told and/or originate in digital forms. Lamb (2011) identified 5 different types of electronic reading environments:

  • ebooks,
  • interactive storybooks,
  • reference databases,
  • hypertext and interactive fiction, and
  • transmedia storytelling.

This contrasts with Unsworth’s three main categories of electronic literature (cited in Walsh, 2013):

  • electronically augmented texts,
  • recontextualised literary texts, and
  • digitally originated texts (including eStories for early readers, linear enarratives, enarratives and interactive story contexts, hyptertext narratives, hypermedia narratives and electronic game narratives).

Clearly, the landscape for digital storytelling is quite complex!

However, Jabr (2013) identified several issues around the different ways we process and remember information on the screen versus on a page, noting that screens drain more of our mental resources and can be more difficult to navigate. Leu et. al. (2015) likewise noted that students’ online reading skills are often limited. McGeehan et. al. (2018) noted that despite the availability of varied, innovative digital features, many publishers fail to use them effectively or use them in ways which deepen conceptual knowledge. I would argue that effective incorporation of digital narratives therefore needs a two-pronged approach, relying on the production of quality, effective digital narratives (an aspect that is often in the hands of publishers) alongside the best-practice utilisation of these resources by teachers. As such, this could be a key area where qualified teacher-librarians could step in to serve their school community by aligning new pedagogies with innovative digital narratives to serve the needs of their students and staff.

When it comes to evaluating what counts as a quality digital narrative, I would argue that many of the criteria for selecting print resources still apply to digital texts: does this resource serve the learning and leisure needs and interests of our school community? However, there are added layers of logistical complexity when considering the incorporation of digital narratives into our school library collections, and teacher-librarians should also consider how they can store, access, and utilise these resources alongside budgetary concerns.

ETL505 Assessment 3 Part C: Genrefication Essay

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The literature provides good arguments for arranging primary school library collections by genres. Is this also the case for high school library collections? Choose two of the advantages and disadvantages mentioned in the literature and critically discuss these in relation to arranging a high school library collection by genres.

When deciding to genrefy a high-school library’s collection, teacher-librarians should consider the multiple roles a library performs within a school community, the specific needs of their adolescent users, and which aspects of genrefication (if any) best suit these purposes and user needs. While genrefication has gained popularity amongst practitioners for its ability to increase circulation and promote lifelong reading habits, issues around logistics and lack of standardised organisation remain.

Genrefication is a relatively new topic in information sciences (Outhouse, 2017, p.43). Broadly speaking, genrefication constitutes organising resources by a system other than the traditional Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) (Outhouse, 2017, p.44). Organisation can be based on resources’ formats, literacy levels, subject headings (such as those assigned by SCIS), or literary genres (Wall, 2019, p.11). Genrefication exists on a spectrum, from labelling books in their original DDC location, to separating ‘mini-collections’ in distinct displays, to completely reorganising the layout and position of resources (National Library of New Zealand, n.d., para.33-36; Gray, 2019, p.25; Wall, 2019, p.11). There is also an imbalance in the treatment of fiction and non-fiction collections in genrefication discussions, with greater emphasis on its benefits to fiction collections (Wall, 2019, p.11).

School librarians espouse numerous benefits to genrefying their collections. Increased circulation statistics are cited as one crucial benefit (Gray, 2019, p.18-22). Many practitioners claim that genrefication has made their collections more accessible and more appealing (Davenport, 2017, p.7; Dawson, 2019, p.23; Mathur, 2019, p.6; Wall, 2019, p.14; Davenport, 2021, p.12). Hider (2018, p.24) argues that effective information resource description should help users obtain information, and librarians should therefore understand their users’ specific needs. In high-schools, when student pleasure-reading declines (Dickenson, 2014, p.10), genrefying fiction can be a game-changer. Many teenagers prefer to browse to find interesting and relevant resources (Bessman Taylor et. al., 2019, p.862); therefore, organising fiction according to similar subjects or themes is a useful way to promote positive reading habits in adolescents. Pleasure-reading has numerous academic and social benefits which overcome socio-economic disadvantage (Krashen, 2011, p.1-9), and research shows that access to reading materials increases adolescents’ reading motivation (Manuel and Carter, 2015, p.126). Therefore, genrefication supports adolescent information behaviours, encouraging browsing and selection of resources relevant to their needs, interests, and abilities.

While reading promotion is one aspect of high-school librarianship, promoting information literacy is also crucial. Forsaking standardised methods of organisation like the DDC is a frequent objection to genrefication (Gray, 2019, p.23; Wall, 2019, p.13) since students require the skills to navigate standardised systems utilised by most libraries worldwide. Greater emphasis is placed on genrefication’s benefits to fiction than on non-fiction collections, possibly because the DDC already groups similar resources by discipline to facilitate browsing (Hider, 2017, p.193). However, Outhouse (2017, p.36) argues the DDC is not a browsable system for today’s students due to its technical nature. The DDC has been described as a ‘secret code’ that students today do not understand (LaGarde, 2018, para.10). Outhouse (2017, p.41-42) argues that one of the DDC’s faults is that it is difficult for young children to search effectively due to its reliance on mathematical knowledge and seemingly unrelated subject order; high-school students with poor numeracy or pre-existing negative perceptions about the library would likewise be frustrated by its complicated numerical classification system. Some high-school teacher-librarians have therefore partially genrefied their non-fiction resources to support specific subject areas such as English, or to support specific groups of students, such as senior students (Dawson, 2019, p.23).

One frequently cited disadvantage of genrefication relates to the logistics of such reorganisation. Rearranging sections of a collection, let alone the entire library, takes time, effort, money, and training to ensure effective organisation and cataloguing of the changes (Gray, 2019, p.24; Mathur, 2019, p.6; Wall, 2019, p.14). However, LaGarde argues that if we value improving our users’ reading experiences and volume, then genrefication is worth prioritising (2018, para.26). Yet it must be stated that by replacing the ‘secret code’ of the DDC with genre classifications such as those assigned by SCIS, teacher-librarians might just be replacing one code with another, and replacing the standardised DDC subject groupings with another, non-standardised genre grouping (such as SCIS categories) might not suit all texts and users (Hamm, 2019, para.1; Wall, 2019, p.14), especially considering recent trends towards genre-blending (Barone, 2010, p.15-17). The ongoing flexibility needed to maintain a genrefied collection and keep it up-to-date with teen reading needs and expectations might be more than some teacher-librarians are willing or capable of providing.

Teacher-librarians considering genrefying their own collections should thus weigh the benefits to their specific clientele against the logistical realities of such an undertaking. They may choose to genrefy ‘mini-collections’ or to label resources in their current DDC position, using SCIS categories and user input as a guide. Ultimately teacher-librarians must use their technical expertise alongside their knowledge of their specific users’ needs, abilities, and interests to make the right decision for their context.

 

Reference List

Barone, D. M. (2010). Children’s literature in the classroom: Engaging lifelong readers. Guildford Publications.

Bessman Taylor, J., Hora, A., Steege Krueger, K. (2019). Self-selecting books in a children’s fiction collection arranged by genre. Journal of Librarianship and Information Science, 51(3), 852-865. https://doi.org/10.1177/0961000617743088

Davenport, S. (2017). Genrefying the fiction collection. Connections, 102(3), 6-7. https://www.scisdata.com/media/1511/connections102.pdf

Davenport, S. (2021). Genrefication 3.5 years later: Reflections. Connections, 117(2), 12-13. https://www.scisdata.com/media/2283/scis_connections_117_web.pdf

Dawson, T. (2019). Genrefying nonfiction at Parkes High School. Scan, 38(2). https://education.nsw.gov.au/teaching-and-learning/professional-learning/scan/past-issues/vol-38–2019/make-a-difference-mad-spotlight-on-teacher-librarians#tabs1

Dickenson, D. (2014). Children and reading: literature review. University of Western Sydney, Australian Government, and Australia Council for the Arts.

Gray, M. (2019). Genre fiction collections in Australian school libraries. Scan, 38(10). https://education.nsw.gov.au/teaching-and-learning/professional-learning/scan/past-issues/vol-38–2019/genre-fiction-collections-in-australian-school-libraries

Hamm, S. (August 5, 2019). Why I chose not to genrify the fiction section. Teen Services Underground [blog]. https://www.teenservicesunderground.com/why-i-chose-not-to-genrify-the-fiction-section/

Hider, P. (2018). Information resource description: Creating and managing metadata (2nd ed.). London: Facet.

Krashen, S. D. (2011). Free voluntary reading. ABC-CLIO, LLC.

LaGarde, J. (October 24, 2018). Genrefying your collection without changing call numbers. The Adventures of Library Girl [blog]. https://www.librarygirl.net/post/genrefying-your-collection-without-changing-call-numbers

Manuel, J., & Carter, D. (2015). Current and historical perspectives on Australian teenagers’ reading practices and preferences. Australian Journal of Language and Literacy 38(2), 115-128.

Mathur, P. (2019). Genrefication @ The Kings’ School Senior Library. Scan, 38(9). https://education.nsw.gov.au/teaching-and-learning/professional-learning/scan/past-issues/vol-38–2019/genrefication—the-kings-school-senior-library

National Library of New Zealand (n.d.). Arranging library fiction by genre. https://natlib.govt.nz/schools/reading-engagement/libraries-supporting-readers/arranging-library-fiction-by-genre

Outhouse, A. R. K. (2017). Genrefication: Introducing and explaining the exponential trend in public and school libraries. https://cdr.lib.unc.edu/concern/masters_papers/kk91fq479

Wall, J. (2019). Genrefication in NSW public school libraries: A discussion paper. Scan, 38(10). https://education.nsw.gov.au/teaching-and-learning/professional-learning/scan/past-issues/vol-38–2019/genrefication-in-nsw-public-school-libraries

ETL505 1.4: Who Organises Information?

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If teacher librarians don’t normally create metadata, such as catalogue records, why do you need to have an understanding of information resource description?

I found it interesting that the module noted that if the most noticeable feature about the catalogue is the number of users who bypass it, then something has gone wrong. It seems like hardly any of our users utilise the catalogue and instead either ask the front desk for resources or browse the shelves hoping for the best. While I’d like to attribute this to either laziness or a preference for personal interaction, clearly this is something I’ll have to rectify! It was good that the module reinforced that the one of the roles of the TL is to teach users how to effectively use the catalogue independently. It’s also an important skill for them to transfer this knowledge to other catalogues, such as public or university libraries.

As a NSW DoE school, we use SCIS as our supplier of catalogue records. I’m very fortunate to have a full-time library assistant who handles most of the cataloguing when we accession new resources but her position is not guaranteed and it’s important for me to know how the system works so that I can maintain our collection and ensure efficient access to our available resources.

I’ve noticed that while the records from SCIS certainly do save time, they aren’t necessarily describing or classifying our resources in a way which suits our students’ needs. For instance, many of our manga series are catalogued under their individual titles rather than the series title + number, which makes it difficult for people like me who are unfamiliar with the series to find whether we’ve got a requested book on our shelves. Series which have multiple authors also face this issue, as SCIS classifies them under each individual author instead of together which means that the books are scattered amongst our fiction shelves. The Australia’s Great War and the Twisted Tales series are the best examples I can think of with this issue. Last year I also undertook a stocktake and discovered a pile of never-borrowed verse novels which had been classified as non-fiction, the land that our students forgot. I’m in the process of reclassifying them as fiction texts, which will hopefully allow them to be found and used more regularly. If I have an understanding of information resource description I can hopefully combine this with knowledge of my users’ needs and preferences to create a more efficient collection.

 

ETL503 Assessment 2 Part B: Reflective Practice

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A school library without an effective collection is like a body without a working heart. Just as our hearts pump vital blood to our organs, the school library collection – developed and maintained by a qualified, perceptive, and vigilant teacher-librarian – ensures our learning communities get what they need to function and thrive.

The collection is so crucial to the library that the concept of a library is almost synonymous with its resources (Fieldhouse & Marshall, 2011, p.3). As information specialists, it is essential for teacher-librarians to provide balanced collections which serve the educational, socio-emotional, and recreational needs of our communities through the provision of relevant, accessible physical and digital resources. By providing equitable access to our collections, school libraries safeguard the right of users to seek, receive, and impart information (United Nations 1948, Article 19; South Australia Department of Education, 2020, p.2). Like many of my peers, I was shocked at the different types of censorship affecting libraries (Hilzinger, 2022, January 10; Abed Ali, 2022, January 12). We must be acutely aware of our own biases when managing our resources and resist attempts by others to censor our collections (Morrisey, 2008, p.165; Evans & Saponaro, 2012, p.306).

ETL503 exposed the complex paradigms underpinning the various approaches to collection management. The teacher-librarian in the Collection-Centred Model amasses resources “just in case” (Hughes-Hassell & Mancall, 2005, p.6). Conversely, the Learner-Centred Model and Collaborative Access Model create “just in time collections and position teacher-librarians as guides ensuring equitable, user-friendly access to materials serving user needs (Hughes-Hassell & Mancall, 2005, p.9, Crawford et. al, 2020, p.2). Yet patron-driven models, while increasing user connection to library resources, potentially lead to unbalanced collections where popular titles are prioritised over quality or curriculum resources (Fleishhacker, 2017, p.26, 31).

Therefore, in a rapidly changing information landscape and with increasing budget pressures, it is important for teacher-librarians to future-proof our collections through continual evaluation, ensuring a balance between “just in case” and “just in time” as well as popular and quality resources, and to extend our collections through the provision of curated digital resources and interlibrary loans (Evans & Saponaro, 2012, p.83; Albitz et. al., 2014, p.267; Gregory, 2019, p.9, 37). We must think carefully about the ongoing selection, acquisition, and promotion of our collections (Keeling, 2019, p.4) to ensure we combat overt and covert censorship and meet the ever-changing educational, cultural, recreational, and professional needs of our students (NSW Department of Education, 2017, p.8). Clearly, being an effective teacher-librarian is about so much more than just buying the books we love!

If a library without an effective collection is like a body without a heart, then a collection without a development or management policy is like a body without a brain. Just as the brain co-ordinates the body’s actions, so too does a collection development policy guide the library’s effective operation. A well-written manual with clear policies and procedures is essential for ensuring best practice and effective delivery of relevant, accessible resources and services for the library community (Australian Library an Information Association [ALIA], 2017, p.4).

Early in this course I learned that while collection management and collection development are often used synonymously, they can also refer to separate concepts (Lysaught, 2021a, para.3-4):

(Johnson, 2018, p.1; Gregory, 2019, p.xiv).

Gregory argues that effective collection development policies have three main purposes: to inform, direct, and protect (2011, p.31). Fieldhouse & Marshall extend on this, stating that effective collection development policies function as a ‘contract’ between the library and its community, and are powerful advocacy tools which inform users, guide administration, and justify funding decisions (2011, p.165-166). While Newsum argues that collection development is the teacher-librarians’ exclusive responsibility (2016, p.101), others argue that collection policies are most effective when planned and implemented democratically (Oberg & Schultz-Jones, 2015, p.34; Johnson, 2018, p.83). I believe that while the final responsibility lies with the teacher-librarian as qualified expert, libraries should be as democratic as possible (Lysaught, 2021b, para.14). A collaboratively designed collection policy is an important public relations tool which encourages ownership, understanding, and support from the school community regarding the library’s role, resources, and processes (Kimmel, 2014, p.70). It is crucial that school libraries have strong policies supported by their local community and colleagues (Lysaught, 2022a, January 17). Without them, a library and its resources are vulnerable to misuse and misunderstanding, exposed to challenges, and overall likely to be less effective at meeting users’ needs and interests.

When I inherited the library, the collection was damaged, outdated, and irrelevant (Lysaught, 2022b, para.4). Like many of my peers, there was no Collection Development Policy (Gemell, 2021, December 27; Losanno, 2022, January 1) and as a result the collection was not effectively meeting user needs (Lysaught, 2022b, para.3). The understandings developed during this unit assisted me in conducting my first ever Stocktake (Lysaught, 2022c, para.4), and helped me weed many resources that no longer met the needs and interests of our users (Lysaught, 2021b, para.10).

This is what happens when library hygiene is neglected – we have a collection in desperate need of a weed!

Moving forward, I intend to engage in the Continuous Review, Evaluation and Weeding cycle outlined by Larson (2012, p.13). Library hygiene is a key element of our role as information specialists (Fieldhouse & Marshall, 2011, p.36; Newsum, 2016, p.201). Just as we need to keep our hearts in shape, so too must we ensure that our collections are in shape via continuous needs assessment, evaluation, selection, acquisition, and promotion (Kimmel, 2014, p.17; Johnson, 2018, p.122). I’ve already created a draft selection criteria to help with ETL503 Assessment 1 (Lysaught, 2022b). One of my first priorities in 2022 will be to create a Library Committee where students and staff come together to collaboratively plan, implement, and promote our policy and resources (Lysaught, 2021b, para.12). Once our collection development and management policies are ratified, I intend to present the information to the whole staff body – though making it accessible and entertaining will likely prove to be a challenge (Lysaught, 2022d, January 14; Oddone, 2022, January 23)! By creating a collection development and management policy in partnership with my community, I hope to protect our collection against changes to user interests and needs, to the information landscape, and to the curriculum by planning for continual evaluation and improvement. To quote the well-known adage, if we fail to plan, then we plan to fail!

 

Word count: 1043

 

Bibliography:

Abed Ali, K. (2022, January 12). RE: Key takeaway from your readings on censorship [Online discussion comment]. Interact 2. https://interact2.csu.edu.au/webapps/discussionboard/do/message?action=list_messages&course_id=_58478_1&conf_id=_115077_1&forum_id=_260201_1&message_id=_3899339_1&nav=discussion_board_entry

 

Albitz, B., Avery, C., & Zabel, D. (Eds.). (2014). Rethinking collection development and management. ABC-CLIO, LLC.

 

Australian Library and Information Association [ALIA]. (2017). A manual for developing policies and procedures in Australian school library resource centres (2nd edition). Australian Library and Information Association.

 

Crawford, L. S., Condrey, C., Avery, E. F., & Enoch, T. (2020). Implementing a just-in-time collection development model in an academic library. The Journal of Academic Librarianship 46(2), p.102101.

 

Evans, G. E., & Saponaro, M. Z. (2012). Library and information science text : Collection management basics. ABC-CLIO, LLC.

 

Fieldhouse, M., Marshall, A. (2011). Collection development in the digital age.

 

Fleishhacker, J. (2017). Collection development. Knowledge Quest, 45(4), 24–31.

 

Gemell, L. (2021, December 27). RE: Editing a collection development policy [Online discussion comment]. Interact 2. https://interact2.csu.edu.au/webapps/discussionboard/do/message?action=list_messages&course_id=_58478_1&nav=discussion_board_entry&conf_id=_115077_1&forum_id=_260200_1&message_id=_3853862_1

 

Gregory, V. L. (2011). Collection development and management for 21st century library collections : An introduction. American Library Association.

 

Hilzinger, C. (2022 January 10). RE: Key takeaway from your readings on censorship [Online discussion comment]. Interact 2. https://interact2.csu.edu.au/webapps/discussionboard/do/message?action=list_messages&course_id=_58478_1&conf_id=_115077_1&forum_id=_260201_1&message_id=_3899339_1&nav=discussion_board_entry

 

Hughes-Hassell, & S., Mancall, J. C. (2005). Collection management for youth: responding to the needs of learners. American Library Association.

 

Johnson, Peggy (2018). Fundamentals of collection development and management. ALA Editions.

 

Keeling, M. (2019). What’s new in collection development? Knowledge Quest 48(2), 4-5.

 

Kimmel, S. C. (2014). Developing collections to empower learners. American Library Association.

 

Larson, J. (2012). CREWing children’s materials. In CREW: a weeding manual for modern libraries, (pp. 33-36), Austin, TX: Texas State Library and Archives Commission.

 

Losanno, J. (2022, January 1). RE: Editing a collection development policy [Online discussion comment]. Interact 2. https://interact2.csu.edu.au/webapps/discussionboard/do/message?action=list_messages&course_id=_58478_1&nav=discussion_board_entry&conf_id=_115077_1&forum_id=_260200_1&message_id=_3853862_1

 

Lysaught, D. (2021a, November 15). ETL503 1.1 definition of collection management and collection development. All You Read Is Love. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/allyoureadislove/2021/11/15/etl503-1-1-definition-of-collection-management-and-collection-development/

 

Lysaught, D. (2021b, November 22). ETL503 2.1 developing collections. All You Read Is Love. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/allyoureadislove/2021/11/22/etl503-2-1-developing-collections/

 

Lysaught, D. (2022a, January 17). RE: Editing a collection development policy [Online discussion comment]. Interact 2. https://interact2.csu.edu.au/webapps/discussionboard/do/message?action=list_messages&course_id=_58478_1&conf_id=_115077_1&forum_id=_260200_1&message_id=_3900966_1&nav=discussion_board_entry

 

Lysaught, D. (2022b, January 14). ETL503 6.1 editing a collection development policy. All You Read Is Love. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/allyoureadislove/2022/01/14/etl503-6-1-editing-a-collection-development-policy/

 

Lysaught, D. (2022c, January 6). ETL503 5.1 methods of collection analysis. All You Read Is Love. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/allyoureadislove/2022/01/06/etl503-5-1-methods-of-collection-analysis/

 

Lysaught, D. (2022a, January 14). RE: Editing a collection development policy [Online discussion comment]. Interact 2. https://interact2.csu.edu.au/webapps/discussionboard/do/message?action=list_messages&course_id=_58478_1&conf_id=_115077_1&forum_id=_260200_1&message_id=_3900966_1&nav=discussion_board_entry

 

Morrisey, L. J. (2008). Ethical issues in collection development.Journal of Library Administration, 47(3-4), 163-171.

 

Newsum, J. M. (2016). School collection development and resource management in digitally rich environments: An Initial Literature Review. School Libraries Worldwide, 22(1), 97–109.

 

Oberg, D., & Schultz-Jones, B. (eds.). (2015). 4.3.1 Collection management policies and procedures. In IFLA School Library Guidelines, (2nd ed.),  (pp. 33-34). Den Haag, Netherlands: IFLA.

 

NSW Department of Education [NSW DoE] (2017). “Handbook for School Libraries. https://education.nsw.gov.au/teaching-and-learning/curriculum/learning-across-the-curriculum/school-libraries/your-library

 

Oddone, K. (2022, January 23). RE: Editing a collection development policy [Online discussion comment]. Interact 2. https://interact2.csu.edu.au/webapps/discussionboard/do/message?action=list_messages&course_id=_58478_1&conf_id=_115077_1&forum_id=_260200_1&message_id=_3899262_1&nav=discussion_board_entry

 

South Australia Department of Education. (2020). Selecting and using resources for educational purposes guideline. https://www.education.sa.gov.au/doc/selecting-and-using-resources-educational-purposes-guideline

 

United Nations (1948). Universal Declaration of Human Rights. https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights

ETL402 Assessment 2 Part B: Reflective Blog Post

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ETL402 has greatly expanded my understanding of how children’s literature is more than a literacy tool only useful in the English classroom. This unit has built on the knowledge I’ve developed over the last 10 years as an English/History teacher and expanded my understanding of new literacies and text types that have evolved (largely due to new technologies) since I finished my Master of Teaching in 2011.

Literary learning – teaching curriculum content through literature – is a powerful tool to develop students’ multiliteracies. In a changing information landscape, it is crucial that we develop multiliterate students who are flexible, have the skills to reformulate knowledge and practice, and can make meaning via multiple modes and formats (Anstey & Bull, 2006, p.19-21; Gorgon & Marcus, 2013, p.42). Sometimes as classroom teachers we can get stuck in a rut and it’s hard to find the time to explore new developments. ETL402 exposed me to new, exciting text types such as digital narratives (Lysaught, 2022a, para.4-6) and emphasised that teacher-librarians, acting as a mediators for time-poor classroom teachers, should seek out, explore, and curate useful resources to ensure that our colleagues have the best tools possible to teach our students (Braun, 2010, p.47; Lysaught, 2022b, para.6).

While many ETL401 readings emphasised that libraries were about more than just books (Lysaught, 2021a, para.8-9; Lysaught, 2021b, para.7-8, 15), ETL402 reminded me about reading’s importance and the value of literature across the curriculum (Lysaught, 2021c, para.1, 5). Like my peers (Poyitt, 2021, para.1), it troubles me that so many teens I work with simply don’t read. ETL402 made me question my own practices, preferences, and habits (Lysaught, 2021e, para.1-2). Many readings and discussions explored the reasons why people read or don’t, leading me to create these infographics:

These readings gave me valuable insights and inspiring strategies to inform my future practice as I work towards building a whole-school reading culture (Fulton, 2021, para.1; Shaw, 2021, para.2-9; Lysaught, 2022b, para.5; Lysaught, 2022c, para.2-3; Lysaught, 2022d, para.4-6). Literary learning is a particularly exciting way to build whole-school reading culture which I plan to implement to benefit my school community, as summarised in my infographics which I plan to share with my colleagues:

Moving forward, I understand that as information specialist, curriculum leader, and literacy expert, I should:

  • Offer professional development opportunities for staff wishing to engage their students with literary learning;
  • Collaboratively plan for the implementation of literary learning with classroom teachers;
  • Implement literary response strategies with my own classes and support colleagues’ implementation e.g. Book Bento Boxes, Literature Circles;
  • Curate appropriate resources to support staff and student needs and interests;
  • Encourage further investigation and continued pleasure reading with a diverse, relevant, accessible collection;
  • Effectively display and promote relevant materials as well as successful literary learning units via parent bulletins, social media, staff meetings, and school reports;
  • Work with other stakeholders (e.g. Head Teacher Teaching and Learning, Literacy Committee Co-ordinator) to collect and analyse data determining the efficacy of literary learning;
  • Draw upon the expertise and strengths of numerous staff to build a more effective whole-school reading culture which supports students’ personal and academic needs;
  • Be responsive to the changing information landscape, time-pressures, and other issues (e.g. Covid restrictions) which may hinder implementation of collaborative practice

 

Bibliography:

Allington, R. L., & Gabriel, R. E. (2012). Every child every day. Educational Leadership, 69(6), 10-15.

Anstey, M., & Bull, G. (2006). Chapter 2: Defining multiliteracies. In M. Anstey & G. Bull (Eds.) Teaching and learning multiliteracies: Changing times, changing literacies. International Reading Association.

Barone, D. M. (2010). Children’s literature in the classroom: Engaging lifelong readers. Guildford Publications.

Braun, P. (2010). Taking the time to read aloud. Science Scope, 34(2), 45-49.

Brugar, K. A., & McMahon Whitlock, A. (2019). “I like […] different time periods:” elementary teachers’ uses of historical fiction. Social Studies Research and Practice 14(1), 78-97.

Carrillo, S. (2013, June 14). The power of a single story. Facing History & Ourselves. https://lanetwork.facinghistory.org/the-power-of-a-single-story/

Combes, B., & Valli, R. (2007). Fiction and the twenty-first century: A new paradigm? Paper submitted to Cyberspace, D-world, e-learning. Giving schools and libraries the cutting edge, 2007 IASL Conference, Taipei, Taiwan.

Daley, P. (2014, November 6). Anzac and Gallipoli are the novelist’s terrain as much as the historians. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/books/australia-books-blog/2014/nov/06/-sp-anzac-gallipolli-novelists-terrain-as-much-as-historians

Dickenson, D. (2014). Children and reading: literature review. University of Western Sydney, Australian Government, and Australia Council for the Arts.

Donnelly, D. (2017). Multi-platformed historical fiction: Literacy, engagement and historical understanding. SCAN 36(3), 43-47.

Earp, J. (2015, March 3). The power of a good book. Teacher. https://www.teachermagazine.com/au_en/articles/the-power-of-a-good-book

Fulton, A. (2021, November 17). Re: 1.2: Affirmative action – examples of practice [Online discussion comment]. Interact 2. https://interact2.csu.edu.au/webapps/discussionboard/do/message?action=list_messages&course_id=_58477_1&conf_id=_115076_1&forum_id=_259135_1&message_id=_3855912_1&nav=discussion_board_entry

Gaiman, N. (2013, October 16). Why our future depends on libraries, reading and daydreaming. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/oct/15/neil-gaiman-future-libraries-reading-daydreaming

Gorgon, B. & Marcus, A. (2013). Lost in transliteracy: How to expand student learning across a variety of platforms. Knowledge Quest, 41(5), 40-45.

Howard, V. (2011) the importance of pleasure reading in the lives of young teens: Self-identification, self-construction and self-awareness. Journal of Librarianship and Information Science, 43(1), 46-55. https://doi.org/10.1177/0961000610390992

Ipri, T., & Newman, B. (2017). Beginner’s guide to transliteracy: Where did the term transliteracy come from? Libraries and Transliteracy. https://librariesandtransliteracy.wordpress.com/beginners-guide-to-transliteracy/

Jorm, M. & Robey, L. (2020, December 7). Libraries as literacy leaders. National Education Summit. https://nationaleducationsummit.com.au/new-blog/librariesasliteracyleaders

Kidd, D. C., & Castano, E. (2013). Reading literary fiction improves theory of mind. Science 342(6156), 377-380.

Krashen, S. D. (2011). Free voluntary reading. ABC-CLIO, LLC.

Lysaught, D. (2021a, July 19) ETL401 assessment 1: What is the role of the teacher librarian? All You Read Is Love. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/allyoureadislove/2021/07/19/etl401assessment1/

Lysaught, D. (2021b, August 29) ETL401 3.2 the role of the teacher librarian: LIBERating our perceptions.  All You Read Is Love.

https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/allyoureadislove/2021/08/29/3-2-the-role-of-the-teacher-librarian-liberating-our-perceptions/

Lysaught, D. (2021c, July 19) ETL402 half-session reflections: The function of historical fiction in secondary schools. All You Read Is Love.

https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/allyoureadislove/category/etl402/

Lysaught, D. (2021d, December 26) ETL402 3.1 strategies to leverage a love of reading. All You Read Is Love.

https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/allyoureadislove/2021/12/26/etl402-3-1-strategies-to-leverage-a-love-of-reading/

Lysaught, D. (2021e, December 31) Top reads 2021. All You Read Is Love.

https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/allyoureadislove/2021/12/31/top-reads-2021/

Lysaught, D. (2022a, January 3) ETL402 5.1 practical idea and digital text to support literary learning. All You Read Is Love.

https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/allyoureadislove/2022/01/03/etl402-5-1-practical-idea-and-digital-text-to-support-literary-learning/

Lysaught, D. (2022b, January 10) ETL402 6.1-2 teaching and promotion strategies for using literature. All You Read Is Love.

https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/allyoureadislove/2022/01/10/etl402-6-1-2-teaching-and-promotion-strategies-for-using-literature/

Lysaught, D. (2022c, January 17) ETL402 6.3 responding to literature: The read aloud. All You Read Is Love.

https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/allyoureadislove/2022/01/17/etl402-6-3-responding-to-literature-the-read-aloud/

Lysaught, D. (2022d, January 17) ETL402 6.2 curriculum-based literary learning: Year 9 English power and freedom. All You Read Is Love.

https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/allyoureadislove/2022/01/17/etl402-6-2-curriculum-based-literary-learning-power-and-freedom/

Manuel, J., & Carter, D. (2015). Current and historical perspectives on australian teenagers’ reading practices and preferences. Australian Journal of Language and Literacy 38(2), 115-128.

Poyitt, B. (2021, November 29). Re: 1.2: Affirmative action – examples of practice [Online discussion comment]. Interact 2.

https://interact2.csu.edu.au/webapps/discussionboard/do/message?action=list_messages&course_id=_58477_1&conf_id=_115076_1&forum_id=_259135_1&message_id=_3855912_1&nav=discussion_board_entry

Rodwell, G. (2019). Using fiction to develop higher-order historical understanding. In T. Allender, A. Clark & R. Parkes (Eds.), Historical thinking for history teachers: A new approach to engaging students and developing historical consciousness (p.194-207). Allen & Unwin.

Shaw, B. (2021, December 22). Re: 3.1: Strategy to leverage a love of reading [Online discussion comment]. Interact 2. https://interact2.csu.edu.au/webapps/discussionboard/do/message?action=list_messages&course_id=_58477_1&nav=discussion_board_entry&conf_id=_115076_1&forum_id=_259138_1&message_id=_3855937_1

Smith, A. K. (2019, October 14). Literature has the power to change the world. Here’s how. Books At Work. https://www.booksatwork.org/literature-has-the-power-to-change-the-world-heres-how/

Stower, H. & Waring, P. (2018, July 16). Read like a girl: Establishing a vibrant community of passionate readers. Alliance of Girls Schools Australia. https://www.agsa.org.au/news/read-like-a-girl-establishing-a-vibrant-community-of-passionate-readers/

Taylor, T., and Young, C. (2003). Making history: a guide for the teaching and learning of history in Australian schools. Curriculum Corporation.

Wadham, R. L., Garrett, A. P., Garrett, E. N. (2019). Historical fiction picture books: the tensions between genre and format. The Journal of Culture and Values in Education 2(2), 57-72.

Whitten, C., Labby, S., & Sullivan, S. L. (2016). The impact of pleasure reading on academic success. The Journal of Multidisciplinary Graduate Research 2(4), 48-64.

Wu, Y., Mallan, K., & McGillis, R. (2013). Reimagining the world: Children’s literature’s responses to changing times. Springer.

Young, S. (2012). Understanding history through the visual. Language Arts 89(6), 379-395.

 

 

Creative Commons License The infographics in this post are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

ETL503 5.1 Methods of Collection Analysis

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From your readings of module 5.1,  discuss which collection methods are suitable and practical in school libraries, and which ones you will use. 

As teacher-librarians, one of our core responsibilities is to identify the needs of our learning community and then figure out what we have and what we require to ensure those needs are served effectively and efficiently. The readings for this module reveal that a balance of qualitative and quantitative methods can help teacher-librarians discover and meet these needs with our existing collections and future purchases. Some of the methods outlined in Johnson’s (2018) chapter fit the ‘just in case’ collection development paradigm, while others exemplify the ‘just in time’ approach.

In my secondary library, I already use circulation statistics from our library management system, Oliver, as well as from Wheelers ePlatform which hosts our online library collection. For these eresources I will also conduct cost-per-use analysis to determine whether to renew all of our subscriptions later this year (we currently subscribe to 3 packages through Wheelers: ebooks, audiobooks, and the Wellness collection). 

I have just completed a stocktake of our non-fiction, biography, and senior fiction collections since circulation data indicated that they were our least used resources. During this process I was able to conduct a direct collection analysis/shelf scanning, though I didn’t realise that this was what it was called at the time! During this process I was able to not only become familiar with our collection, but also to determine whether these resources were still relevant and in good condition. Our shelves have gone from an overpacked, outdated, uninviting mess to a more streamlined collection which will hopefully allow students to identify relevant materials more effectively. One thing I realised was that sometimes poorly performing resources might still be valuable, but need to be displayed or promoted in a more effective manner. However, this was definitely a time-consuming process and not one which could be conducted easily every year!

 

I’d also love to begin more qualitative methods of collection analysis this year. One of my 2022 goals is to establish a student-led library committee, and we could incorporate other methods such as focus groups and more regular user opinion surveys (for my last one, only 11 staff out of 95 responded). I have also tried to get staff to share their assessments with me so that I can conduct curriculum mapping, but this task often gets put aside and forgotten amidst the rush of term so I’ll try to find new ways to get my hands on their tasks. List checking, for example against lists such as the Suggested Texts for the English K-10 Syllabus (2012) or the NSW Premier’s Reading Challenge, is another useful qualitative way to analyse the relevance and quality of our library collection. 

I think it would be interesting to see whether the gaps in our collection could be filled by resources available at other local libraries; however, while this might be a cost effective way to ensure the needs of our learning community are met, it is hard to quantify using data and when we pass these ‘sales’ (so to speak!) to other libraries they don’t appear on our statistics which makes it difficult to prove the value of the school library’s work to the powers that be. The importance of advocating our value is a recurring theme in this course, and I’d love to be able to include some of these qualitative and quantitative collection analysis methods in our annual School Report to show students, staff, and parents the complicated nature of our work and how we are supporting their learning and recreational needs.

ETL402 Half-Session Reflections: The Function of Historical Fiction in Secondary Schools

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Throughout history, humankind has been drawn to create and engage with fictional worlds to explore powerful, complex ideas which force us to question our assumptions, to connect with others, and to uncover deeper truths about ourselves and our world. Neil Gaiman (2013) identifies two key functions of fiction: first, fiction acts as “a gateway drug to reading” (para.9) by opening new worlds and possibilities while developing our literacy skills; secondly, fiction builds empathy, a necessary skill for citizens in our global world (para.9-10). Fiction helps expand our knowledge of the lives, thoughts, and feelings of others, and inhabiting the mind of another person helps us recognise our similarities, thus affecting what we think and how we respond to the world (Giles, n.d. para.3; Kidd & Castano, 2013, p.377; Whitten et. al., 2016, p.49; Short, 2018, p.291).

Some popular themes and trends influencing young adult literature include innovation and playfulness with content and form, multiple narrators, verse novels, and series fiction (Barone, 2010, p.15-17; Short, 2018, p.288). New technologies and the rise of social networking have also impacted children’s literature, increasing the accessibility of texts and authors while leading to a push for greater inclusivity and diverse representations by consumers (Barone, 2010, p.15-17). In recent years this intersection of technology and social awareness has seen the development of hashtags such as #WeNeedDiverseBooks and #LoveOzYA which connect readers with relevant content and build communities of like-minded consumers (We Need Diverse Books, 2021; #LoveOzYA, 2021).

Historical fiction is a powerful tool which can transform students’ understanding of the past while vicariously broadening their understanding of themselves, of others, and of the world around them. Recent Australian young adult historical fiction, such as Nanberry: Black Brother White (French, 2011), Crow Country (Constable, 2011), Sister Heart (Morgan, 2015), Freedom Ride (Lawson, 2015), Our Race for Reconciliation (Heiss, 2017), and Benevolence (Janson, 2020), focus on the experiences of Australia’s First Nations peoples. Through their portrayals of past injustices, texts such as these can play a crucial role in undoing prevailing misconceptions while promoting diversity and reconciliation.

Historical fiction novels, despite their focus on real events, ultimately fictionalise these events, and it can be a fine line between constructing an accurate, sensitive representation of the past and oversimplifying or trivialising peoples’ experiences (Wadham et. al., 2019, p.60, 62). Although historical acceptance is a key aspect of Reconciliation (Reconciliation Australia, 2021, 21-23), there is also the potential for First Nations students to be exposed to confronting material detailing their historical trauma. Historical fiction novels attempting to portray Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history, cultures, and experiences also run the risk of being didactic and tokenistic. Barone (2010, p.16) notes that didacticism has made a comeback in young adult literature, while McDonald (2013) observes that novels with cross-cultural friendships encouraging non-Indigenous characters to reject racism and embrace tolerance have recently become popular (p.120). Garrison (2019) rightly argues that any representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander characters should be genuine and sensitive to the realities of these cultures (p.21), while Heiss argues that many readers are turned off by tokenism in literature (as cited in Case, 2014, para.5). For this reason, many non-Indigenous authors now consult with Indigenous groups to ensure accurate, meaningful representation (McDonald, 2013, p.120). Author’s notes are another strategy employed by composers to add credibility and authenticity to their work and are increasingly popular because they provide much-needed contextualisation for readers keen to see how the fictional fits with the historical (Short, 2018, p.295; Wadham et. al., 2019, p.65). Historical fiction therefore provides educators with a rich stimulus for developing students’ skills in critical thinking and information literacy in addition to acting as a powerful tool to increase their interest, cultural literacy, and empathy.

Research repeatedly emphasises the social, personal, and academic value of reading for pleasure (Herbert, 2012, p.86; Earp, 2015, para. 2; Whitten et. al., 2016, p.48, 51). Yet secondary school teacher-librarians wishing to support their school community in this endeavour are faced with a number of challenges leading to a decline in students reading for pleasure in adolescence, such as lack of time allocated to pleasure reading, competing interests vying for student attention, and negative attitudes towards reading due to its perceived lack of value (Barone, 2010, p.2; Dickenson 2014, para.4; Manuel & Carter, 2015, p.116; Whitten et. al, 2016, p.57). Additionally, due to overcrowded curricula, novels are often used to teach literacy skills instead of as a means of understanding the human experience or for fun (Barone, 2010, p.2-3; Short, 2018, p.291). In secondary schools the so-called ‘educational silo’ mentality often impedes efforts at collaborative, cross-curricular planning (Sheninger, 2016, para.2-4), but teacher-librarians, who engage with a range of students, are uniquely placed to draw together the various syllabus strands into meaningful learning activities. Educators should utilise this expertise if they wish to create effective, authentic learning experiences for their students. Teacher-librarians should select quality resources for their collections which serve the interests and needs of our community (NSW DoE, 2017, p.8; Short, 2018, p.296), preferably from diverse publishers like Magabala Books, and build a culture of reading for pleasure which ideally includes staff, students, and parents by collaboratively teaching, promoting books via read-alouds and displays (both physical and digital), and encouraging activities prioritising student choice such as book clubs and literature circles (Clarke & Nolan, 2014, p.11; Manuel & Carter, 2015, p.124; Earp, 2015, para.15-20; Brugar & McMahon Whitlock, 2019, p.85; Victoria Department of Education and Training, 2020).

 

Bibliography:

Barone, D. M. (2010). Engaging teachers and their use of children’s literature. From: Children’s literature in the classroom: Engaging lifelong readers. Guildford Publications.

Brugar, K. A., & McMahon Whitlock, A. (2019). “I like […] different time periods:” elementary teachers’ uses of historical fiction. Social Studies Research and Practice 14(1), 78-97.

Case, J. (2014, November 5). ‘Getting it right’: Anita heiss on indigenous characters. Wheeler Centre: Books Writing Ideas. https://www.wheelercentre.com/notes/221927959a6b

Clarke, R., & Nolan, M. (2014). Book clubs and reconciliation: a pilot study on book clubs reading the ‘fictions of reconciliation’. Australian Humanities Review 56.

Dickenson, D. (2014). Children and reading: literature review. University of Western Sydney, Australian Government, and Australia Council for the Arts.

Earp, J. (2015, March 3). The power of a good book. Teacher Magazine. https://www.teachermagazine.com/au_en/articles/the-power-of-a-good-book

Gaiman, N. (2013, October 16). Why our future depends on libraries, reading and daydreaming. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/oct/15/neil-gaiman-future-libraries-reading-daydreaming

Garrison, K. (2019). What’s going on down under? Part 2: portrayals of culture in award-winning australian young adult literature. The Journal of Research on Libraries and Young Adults 10(2), 1- 34.

Giles, E. (n.d.). Navigating the common module. Literary Worlds Blog. https://englishliteraryworlds.weebly.com/literary-worlds.html

Herbert, B. (2012). When english meets history: exploring the faction genre through action learning. Literacy Learning: the Middle Years 20(3), 85-95.

Kidd, D. C., & Castano, E. (2013). Reading literary fiction improves theory of mind. Science 342, 377-380.

Lawson, S. (2015). Freedom ride. Walker Books.

LoveOzYA (2021). About #loveozya. https://loveozya.com.au/about/

Manuel, J., & Carter, D. (2015). Current and historical perspectives on australian teenagers’ reading practices and preferences. Australian Journal of Language and Literacy 38(2), 115-128.

McDonald, L. (2013). A literature companion for teachers. Primary English Teaching Association.

NSW Department of Education [NSW DoE] (2017). Handbook for School Libraries. https://education.nsw.gov.au/teaching-and-learning/curriculum/learning-across-the-curriculum/school-libraries/your-library

Reconciliation Australia. (2021). What is reconciliation? https://www.reconciliation.org.au/reconciliation/what-is-reconciliation/

Sheninger, E. (2016, December 4). The silo effect. A Principal’s Reflections: Reflections on Teaching, Learning, and Leadership. http://esheninger.blogspot.com/2016/12/the-silo-effect.html

Short, K. G. (2018). What’s trending in children’s literature and why it matters. Language Arts 95(5), 287-298.

Victoria Department of Education and Training. (2020, December 24). Literacy teaching kit: literacy circles. https://www.education.vic.gov.au/school/teachers/teachingresources/discipline/english/literacy/readingviewing/Pages/teachingpraccircles.aspx

Wadham, R. L., Garrett, A. P., & Garrett, E. N. (2019). Historical fiction picture books: the tensions between genre and format. The Journal of Culture and Values in Education 2(2), 57-72.

We Need Diverse Books (2021). Programs. https://diversebooks.org/programs/

Whitten, C., Labby, S., & Sullivan, S. L. (2016). The impact of pleasure reading on academic success. The Journal of Multidisciplinary Graduate Research 2(4), 48-64.

 

*This post has drawn on extracts from my ETL402 Assessment 1 response.

 

ETL503 1.1: Definition of Collection Management and Collection Development

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So here we are again, ready for another session of study! This week in ETL503 we’ve been looking at the idea of ‘collection management’ and ‘collection development’. What’s the difference?

ALIA (2017) notes that the terminology surrounding collection development and management have changed since 2007 due to changing technologies and the impact this has had on library services. Gregory (2019, p.1-2) emphasises the increased complexity of collection development and management in a rapidly changing information landscape.

Johnson (2018) states that when librarians use the terms ‘collection development’ and ‘collection management’ that they are referring to all the activities involved in building and managing library collections, including physical and electronic resources. She distinguishes that ‘collection development’ refers specifically to “the thoughtful process of developing or building a library collection” (p.1) to meet the specific needs of the library community, while ‘collection management’ refers to the treatment and handling of the collection once it has been developed, though these terms are often used interchangeably.

Gregory (2019) defines collection management as “the process of information-gathering, communication, coordination, policy formulation, evaluation, and planning that results in decisions about the acquisition, retention, and provision of access to information sources in support of the intellectual needs of a given library community” (p.xiii). Collection development, on the other hand, “is the subpart of collection management that has primarily to do with decisions that will result in the acquisition of materials” (p.xiv).

I work in a NSW DoE school. I haven’t found a specific definition of ‘collection development and management’ for this context, but the Handbook for School Libraries (NSW Department of Education, 2017) features a section on the provision and management of resources. This handbook outlines that one of the teacher librarian’s key roles is to manage the school’s collection of resources by “selecting, developing, organising and managing information sources, services and appropriate technology to meet the educational, cultural, recreational and professional needs of the school community” (p.8).

 

Sources:

Australian Library and Information Association [ALIA] (2017). “Manual for developing policies and procedures in Australian school library resource centres (2nd edition)”.

Gregory, V. L. (2019). Collection development and management for 21st century library collections: an introduction.

Johnson, Peggy (2018). Fundamentals of collection development and management.

NSW Department of Education (2017). “Handbook for School Libraries.”

ETL401 Assessment 3 Part C: Reflections

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Starting out, I had a narrow understanding of the various roles and responsibilities of teacher-librarians. Comparing my blog posts reveals my developed understanding (Lysaught, 2021a cf. 2021b). I had never heard the terms information literacy or fluency, and although I am working in a TL position in a school with inquiry units, they’re mainly PBL units concentrating on the product rather than directed by an information literacy model focusing on the process.

This unit emphasised that students need multiple strategies to help them find, evaluate, and apply information in their lives so they can actively and ethically participate as lifelong learners in the workforce and global community. While nominally “digital natives”, our students aren’t inherently equipped to navigate information, often taking easy solutions, giving up, or believing misinformation (Coombes, 2009; O’Connell, 2012). This unit illustrated schools must explicitly teach information literacy to develop independent, responsible, and respectful information users (Berg et. al., 2018; Kulkarni, 2021). Students must understand their rights and responsibilities as global citizens and cannot do this effectively without the necessary preparation (Lysaught, 2021c).

Information Literacy, embedded in the Australian Curriculum as the oft-forgotten and poorly implemented General Capabilities, develops the 21st century learning skills our students need to navigate increasingly popular internet and social media platforms (Jacobson, 2010; Common Sense Media, 2019; Australian eSafety Commissioner, 2021). Our Generation Z/Alpha students look to their parents as trusted news sources (Notley et. al., 2020), a problematic approach given Generation Y’s ineptitude (Coombes, 2009, p.38). Government legislation has failed to keep up with the evolving information landscape and unethical behaviours (Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, 2020, para.70). Schools must step in to fill this void.

This subject proved “information literacy is at the heart of inquiry learning” (Fitzgerald, 2015a, p.17). I now know inquiry units framed by an IL model support Generation Alpha’s preferred learning styles (McCrindle, 2019), accelerating social/emotional learning and learner autonomy (Consortium for School Networking, 2021). Inquiry learning framed by IL models benefits students, teachers, librarians, educational leaders, and parents (Maniotes et. al., 2015 p.212-215). Teacher-librarians should be familiar with multiple models to flexibly serve the learning needs of their students and so I expanded my awareness of inquiry learning models by exploring Big 6 (Big6.org, 2015), PLUS (Herring et. al. 2002, 2007, 2011), the NSW (2020) ISP and Information Fluency Framework (Wall, 2018, 2019, 2021; Cook, 2021; Grimmett, 2021). This gave me a deeper grasp of research processes, my own research methods, and an appreciation for the confused frustration that our students feel!

The ISP/GID model struck me as most useful for my context due to its emotional stages and collaborative practice (Lysaught, 2021d). My research expanded my comprehension of the way GI moves away from unenjoyable imposed questions (Gross, 2006, p.31) to promote the Third Space Merger (Maniotes et. al., 2015, p.22-23) and authentic learning for an authentic audience (Sorensen, 2019, p.30). Crucially, GI encourages transfer of skills across learning areas (Garrison & Fitzgerald, 2017). I envisage GI being successful at my school, though I need to ensure adequate time, planning, resourcing, and staff buy-in: “If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go slow” (Leung et. al., 2021).

One prevailing misconception is teacher-librarians primarily focus on books and reading (Lysaught, 2021a). While improving literacy is important, it isn’t the teacher-librarian’s sole responsibility (Herring, 2007, p.29). Bonanno (2011a) states we should promote our specialist services, look for ways to be relevant, and “claim our space” to avoid becoming an “invisible profession”. I’ve learned teacher-librarians, as information and curriculum specialists, are uniquely positioned to teach information literacy explicitly and develop transliterate communities in ways other teachers are not (Lysaught, 2021e). Research repeatedly shows the positive impacts trained teacher-librarians have on student achievement (Bonanno, 2011b). Active teacher-librarians – supported by and collaborating with their colleagues – act as the glue connecting otherwise disparate learning areas (Lysaught, 2021e, 2021f).

As a result of my work in ETL401, I can now see many ways to positively contribute to my school’s Strategic Improvement Plan goals to enhance learning culture and wellbeing to improve student engagement, results, and belonging. In addition to improving student achievement, collaborative teaching of information literacy through inquiry learning draws together both aspects of our position – our teacher hat and librarian hat – and allows us to increase our visibility, advocate our value, and change public perceptions about our roles. What has struck me throughout this unit is the power of social media/networking as a promotional tool for teacher-librarians; as I move forward in this role I intend to continue learning from colleagues and triumphantly claim my space.

To conclude, I leave you with one final wordcloud of my ETL401 posts:

Word Count: 746

 

Bibliography:

Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. (2020, August 5). The ACCC’s Digital Platforms Inquiry and the need for competition, consumer protection and regulatory responses. https://www.accc.gov.au/speech/the-acccs-digital-platforms-inquiry-and-the-need-for-competition-consumer-protection-and-regulatory-responses

Australian eSafety Commissioner (2021). eSafety research: the digital lives of Aussie teens. https://www.esafety.gov.au/sites/default/files/2021-02/The%20digital%20lives%20of%20Aussie%20teens.pdf

Berg, C., Malvey, D., Donohue, M. (2018, April 7). Without foundations, we can’t build: information literacy and the need for strong school library programs. In the Library with the Lead Pipe. http://www.inthelibrarywiththeleadpipe.org/2018/strong-school-library-programs/

Big6.org (2015). Welcome to the Big6! Inquire every day and every way with the Big6! The Big6. https://thebig6.org/

Bonanno, K. (2011a). ASLA Keynote Speaker: A profession at the tipping point: time to change the game plan. [Video]. Vimeo. https://vimeo.com/31003940

Bonnano, K. (2011b). Opinion: do school libraries really make a difference? Incite 32(5), 5.

Common Sense Media (2019). The Common Sense census: media use by tweens and teens. https://www.commonsensemedia.org/sites/default/files/uploads/research/2019-census-8-to-18-key-findings-updated.pdf

Consortium for School Networking. (2021). Driving K-12 innovation: 2021 hurdles and accelerators. https://cosn.org/k12innovation/hurdles-accelerators

Cook, A. (2021). Shaping a framework for information fluency. Scan, 40(1), 4-10.

Coombes, B. (2009). Generation Y: are they really digital natives or more like digital refugees? Synergy 7(1), 31-40.

Fitzgerald, L. (2015a). Guided inquiry in practice. Scan 34(4), 16-27.

Garrison, K., & Fitzgerald, L. (2017) ‘It Trains Your Brain’: Student reflections on using the Guided Inquiry Design process. Synergy, 15(2), 1-6.

Grimmett, C. (2021). Trialling the Information Fluency Framework: a report from the pilot schools. Scan 40(9), 10-14. https://education.nsw.gov.au/content/dam/main-education/teaching-and-learning/professional-learning/scan/media/documents/vol-40/Scan_40-9_Oct2021_AEM.pdf

Gross, M. (2006). Studying Children’s Questions: Imposed and Self-Generated Information Seeking at School. Scarecrow Press.

Herring, J., Tarter, A. M., & Naylor, S. (2002). An evaluation of the use of the PLUS model to develop pupils’ information skills in a secondary school. School Libraries Worldwide 8(1), 1-24.

Herring, J. (2007). Chapter 2: Teacher librarians and the school library. In S. Ferguson (Ed.) Libraries in the twenty-first century: charting new directions in information (pp.27-42). Wagga Wagga, NSW: Centre for Information Studies, Charles Sturt University.

Herring, J., & Bush, S. (2011). Information literacy and transfer in schools: implications for teacher librarians. The Australian Library Journal, 60(2), 123-132. https://doi.org/10.1080/00049670.2011.10722584

Jacobson, H. F. (2010). Found it on the internet: Coming of age online. American Library Association.

Kulkarni, M. (2021, January 27). Young people like me need to be taught how to navigate the news. ABC Education. https://education.abc.net.au/newsandarticles/blog/-/b/3926480/young-people-like-me-need-to-be-taught-how-to-navigate-the-news?sf242496742=1

Leung, N., Radziminski, F., & Tortevski, C. (2021, August). Leading literacy change in schools [webinar]. Edutech Conference 2021, Australia.

Lysaught, D. (2021a, July 19). ETL401 assessment 1: what is the role of the teacher librarian? All You Read Is Love. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/allyoureadislove/2021/07/19/etl401assessment1/

Lysaught, D. (2021b, August 29). 3.2 the role of the teacher librarian: LIBERating our perceptions. All You Read Is Love. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/allyoureadislove/2021/08/29/3-2-the-role-of-the-teacher-librarian-liberating-our-perceptions/

Lysaught, D. (2021c, July 31). 2.5 TL in the information landscape [Online discussion comment]. Interact 2. https://interact2.csu.edu.au/webapps/discussionboard/do/message?action=list_messages&course_id=_57504_1&conf_id=_114040_1&forum_id=_244142_1&message_id=_3722025_1&nav=discussion_board_entry

Lysaught, D. (2021d, September 14). 5.4a information literacy. All You Read Is Love. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/allyoureadislove/2021/09/14/5-4a-information-literacy/

Lysaught, D. (2021e, September 14). 5.4b convergence. All You Read Is Love. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/allyoureadislove/2021/09/14/5-4b-convergence/

Lysaught, D. (2021f, September 7). 4.3 the TL and the curriculum. All You Read Is Love. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/allyoureadislove/2021/09/07/4-3-the-tl-and-the-curriculum/

Maniotes, L., Harrington, L., & Lambusta, P. (2015). Guided Inquiry Design® in Action: Middle School. Libraries Unlimited.

McCrindle Research (2019). GenZGenAlpha [Information card]. https://2qean3b1jjd1s87812ool5ji-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/GenZGenAlpha.pdf

New South Wales Department of Education (2020). The information process. Learning across the curriculum. https://education.nsw.gov.au/teaching-and-learning/curriculum/learning-across-the-curriculum/school-libraries/teaching-and-learning

Notley, T., Dezuanni, M., Zhong, H. F., & Chambers, S. (2020).  News and Young Australians in 2020: How young people access, perceive and are affected by news media. [Research Report]. Western Sydney University and Queensland University of Technology. https://www.westernsydney.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0009/1717875/News_and_Young_Australians_in_2020_web.pdf

O’Connell, J. (2012). So you think they can learn? Scan 31, 5-11.

Sorensen, A. (2019). Guided inquiry in Stage 4 history: Collaboration between teacher-librarians and classroom teachers. Teaching History, 53(4), 30-32.

Wall, J. (2018). Information + competency + literacy = fluency. A thought piece. Scan 37(6). https://education.nsw.gov.au/teaching-and-learning/professional-learning/scan/past-issues/vol-37-2018/information-competency-literacy-fluency–a-thought-piece

Wall, J. (2019). Information fluency – a path to explore and innovate? Scan 38(9). https://education.nsw.gov.au/teaching-and-learning/professional-learning/scan/past-issues/vol-38–2019/information-fluency-a-path-to-explore-and-innovate

Wall, J. (2021). Information fluency – a NSW journey. Scan 40(9), 4-9. https://education.nsw.gov.au/content/dam/main-education/teaching-and-learning/professional-learning/scan/media/documents/vol-40/Scan_40-9_Oct2021_AEM.pdf

ETL401 5.4b Convergence

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Has the school in which you work (or know best) developed an information literacy policy?

How is information literacy approached in your school or experience?

How is digital citizenship approached in your school or experience?

How can a transliteracy approach expand the teaching role of the TL beyond the traditional information literacy paradigm?

Unfortunately if the school in which I work has developed an information literacy policy, it isn’t widely publicised (and I would assume is therefore making less impact than it otherwise could). Before starting this course I had heard about Inquiry Based Learning; for instance, PBL (Project Based Learning) is a popular phrase and process on the various English and History Teachers Facebook groups I follow and many staff at my school (myself included) have created units based around student inquiry. However, Information Literacy is a completely new term! Oh brave new world, that has such programmes in it!

In my school, we do have a STEM course for our Year 8 students called Project Innovate (PI) which is focused on Inquiry Based Learning. However, lack of time, training, and resources have led to poor student achievement and lack of engagement; there have never been enough students who choose to continue it as a Year 9 elective for it to run. The overall negative experience with PI has resulted in staff reluctance to take this course. It feels more like a punishment than a privilege to be given a PI class! This is a shame because student-led learning should be encouraged and not seen as a chore. Apart from this school-wide Stage 4 initiative, information literacy and digital citizenship are largely left up to individual faculties and teachers to plan for and implement.

Transliteracy is another term I hadn’t heard before starting this course. As a practising English and History teacher I can see great value in a transliteracy approach, since the way students are engaging with information is no longer limited to the printed page but expanded to included a variety of different multimodal texts that they need to navigate, understand and evaluate; the transfer of these skills across KLAs is also something that we should be encouraging! If our students are to succeed in an ever-changing employment market and to become responsible citizens, they need the skills encouraged by a transliteracy approach. As the glue which seeps into the cracks and holds all the other KLAs together, adding elements of transliteracy to an information literacy programme will give teacher librarians even more value within the school community.

On that point, I’ll leave you with a meme (since that’s how so many of our students now communicate!).

ETL401 5.4a Information Literacy

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Read:   Fitzgerald, L. & Garrison, K. (2017) ‘It Trains Your Brain’: Student Reflections on Using the Guided Inquiry Design Process. Synergy,    15/2

How might the TL help the school move towards integrated information literacy instruction?

What challenges lie in the way of such instruction?

How teacher librarians and teachers might encourage students to transfer information literacy skills and practices from one subject to another?

The teacher librarian can absolutely help the school move towards integrated information literacy instruction. As shown through the above article, effective collaboration between teacher librarians and classroom teachers in planning and implementing Guided Inquiry units can result in students having a greater understanding of the research process. The article also revealed that GI can increase students’ abilities to transfer knowledge and skills from one KLA to another and increase their confidence and capabilities as lifelong learners. In order to achieve this the teacher librarian must first have a deep understanding of the Guided Inquiry Design Process and be able to apply that understanding to different subject areas. It is important for the teacher librarian to ‘sell’ their skills in this area to ensure that staff are aware of the opportunity to work collaboratively on curriculum design, and for the teacher librarian to identify key staff who might be interested in working collaboratively in this way. The teacher librarian can also deliver professional development to relevant staff, leading their colleagues through the process of programming of a GI unit to ensure that staff are competent in developing and delivering their own GI units in future.

However, the article noted some challenges that can impede the implementation of such instruction. These challenges largely deal with the need for time to effectively collaborate, implement, assess and evaluate these types of programmes. The article revealed that it is important for staff collaborating on GI programmes to understand the philosophy behind Guided Inquiry as well as its processes and scaffolding. Time is also needed for staff to read and apply GI to their own learning and to consider how to best implement it for the students in their class; it is indeed true that what works for one class doesn’t necessarily work for another, and thus teachers are constantly required to rework existing units and resources. Time is a core requirement of collaborative practice and matching conflicting schedules can be a Herculean task. We haven’t even discussed the time it takes to plan and assess student learning and already I’m exhausted! The lack of time coupled with high workloads might also make people reluctant to take risks or leave them feeling uninspired to plan something new.

Another element that was not referenced in the article is the fact that it also takes time to change the public perception around the role of the teacher librarian and to promote our role as information specialists. In my school I have tried to start small by getting staff to share their assessment tasks with me so that I can help support our students and provide relevant resources to help them complete these tasks. Despite my fortnightly reminders, I often end up getting only one or two tasks each term. This is not because my colleagues do not see the value in what I do or the assistance that I can provide, but simply because this task (simple as it might be) is one of hundreds that might populate their weekly to-do lists and often doesn’t register as a priority. It often merits an “I meant to send something!” response. It is an uphill battle to break through the “survival” mode teaching that seems to have taken hold in recent years. However, just like Sisyphus, I’ll keep rolling that boulder up that hill and hope that one day I’ll reach the top. Maybe one day someone will find the energy and meet me there.

 

ETL401 3.3 The Role of the Principal and the TL

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Share your ideas about the ways in which Principals can enable the role of the TL, and how  TLs might enable the role of the Principal. 

I have seen what is possible when Principals and Senior Executive support a TL, and I have seen the detrimental impacts when this key relationship is damaged or toxic.

In so many ways Principals and Senior Executive staff determine the culture of the school. Fairness, trust, and respect are crucial in developing a positive school culture and ensuring teacher buy-in. However, this relationship is a two-way street.

I have witnessed the consequences of a lack of fairness, trust, and respect on the library. The previous TL had many initiatives rejected and perceived that this was because of personality clashes rather than sound policy decisions (as an outside observer I am not confident to make a judgment either way!). However, the damage caused by years of increasingly negative interactions affected not only the library staff but ultimately the entire school community, since the previous TL was often absent, meaning that library services and resources were largely inaccessible and in many ways neglected, and that her contributions were generally dismissed or went unnoticed.

I personally have been very fortunate to have the support of my Principal. She encouraged me to apply for the temporary position and again when it became permanent. She has always made me feel that she is approachable and open to new initiatives, and has been a key supporter in helping me increase the visibility of the TL position in the school community by starting/continuing conversations on Facebook promotion posts and going out of her way to send content for these initiatives. She has also helped me establish a Student Media Team. I have yet to have any initiatives rejected and genuinely appreciate her support. Having said that though, I’m careful to “play the game” and align all of my proposals to our school’s Strategic Directions, backed up with evidence and data.

It is a shame that the previous TL did not (for whatever reason) have the same experience, but our contrasting encounters emphasise how important it is to develop strong relationships with all staff, but particularly with the decision makers. To quote Hamilton: “When you got skin in the game, you stay in the game/But you don’t get a win unless you play in the game […] I’ve gotta be in the room where it happens!”

ETL401 3.2 The Role of the Teacher Librarian: LIBERating Our Perceptions

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It has been an absolutely INSANE time over the last few weeks. Teaching online, HSC assessment marking and reporting, and my own preparation for the second ETL401 assessment have left me feeling a little brain-dead. I’m therefore going to start this post by channeling my inner high-school debater and turning to the good book – i.e. the Dictionary – for guidance:

English: library (derived from Latin liber meaning “book”)

German: bücherei (roughly translates to “bookery”)

Spanish and Italian: biblioteca (from Ancient Greek bibliothekē meaning library; derived from biblio “book” + theke “place, box, receptacle”)

French: bibliotheque (as above).

Mandarin: 图书馆 [Túshū guǎn] (meaning “picture or image” + “book” + “gallery”)

I could go on, but I feel that my point is becoming clear. In many languages around the world, libraries are etymologically associated with the idea of “books” and this public perception persists regarding the role of the Teacher Librarian in schools. However, when we examine the day to day functions of TLs, the complexity of the position becomes apparent and books, wonderful as they are, are often not at the centre of academic or practitioner descriptions of our role.

In his comprehensive (if older) review, Herring (2007) argues that libraries should be seen as “a centre of learning first and a centre of resources second” (p.27). Books, fundamentally useful resources for learning though they are, therefore should not necessarily be the priority of TLs in the current information landscape. He states that many school library mission statements give “unnecessary prominence” (p.27) to the idea of reading as central to the school library’s purpose. Although I would argue that libraries certainly do have the capacity to support the development of reading for pleasure (especially given that many classroom teachers are dealing with overcrowded curricula and often feel they lack the necessary skills, particularly in the secondary setting), Herring emphasises the importance of TLs primarily as specialist teachers of information literacy who lead the collaborative development of learning programs and resource collections to meet the needs of their students and staff, with the end goal of allowing them to become independent, life-long learners. In Figure 2.1 (p.30), Herring lists the following roles as integral: teacher; librarian; information services manager; information literacy leader; information specialist; curriculum leader; instructional partner; website developer; budget manager; staff manager; fiction and non-fiction advocate. Based on my experience, I feel that he leaves out: PR and marketing manager; ICT support; technology resource manager; casual cover supervision; counselling service; diplomats; inclusivity advocate; and interior designer. Nonetheless, his list is quite comprehensive and useful for understanding the vast array of roles we are expected to fill. Teacher librarians function as the glue that holds everything together; it seems we have to fit into all the nooks and crannies to do our jobs!

Within his analysis, Herring referenced a number of different professional documents from around the world. ASLA (2003) focused on three key roles of the TL: 1) curriculum leader; 2) information specialist; 3) information service manager. A 1998 publication from the United States listed our roles as: 1) teacher; 2) instructional partner; 3) information specialist; 4) program administrator. A Canadian document published in 2005 emphasised TLs leadership in: 1) information literacy and inquiry processes; 2) ICT; 3) teaching and curriculum planning; 4) collection management. A UK publication (2004) emphasised the proactive role TLs must play in innovations for education, which supports the positions held by Bonanno (2011) and Valenza (2010). Ultimately, TLs must be flexible and ready to adapt to the changing needs of the information landscape, and our function as information specialists is primarily an “educational as opposed to an administrative role” (Herring, 2007, p.32). Drawing from Herring’s analysis, I conclude that our role in collection management and as information service providers should be framed by our role as information specialists, and determined by the interests and needs of our school community – staff, students, and parents alike. Teacher Librarians are no longer limited to books but must expand into the digital world to ensure that we are relevant to our community, effectively promoting our skills, services, and resources, and engaging our students with meaningful opportunities to participate in their own learning.

Purcell (2010) boils our function down to five key roles: leader, instructional partner, information specialist, teacher, and program administrator. Information clearly plays a role in many of these areas, supporting Sheerman’s argument that “A TL’s primary role is that of an information specialist, trained in the teaching and integration of information literacy skills and inquiry skills across the curriculum, as well as being a library collection manager” (2013, p.4). Although books certainly do play a part as tools of teaching and learning, they are not explicitly mentioned in either Purcell’s or Sheerman’s analysis.

I thought Purcell’s idea to keep a diary of each day’s required tasks was a great way to understand how these roles function in my school context and to help me understand how better to serve the specific needs of my community. I’d actually read Purcell’s article as preparation for my first ETL401 assessment, so it was interesting to revisit her arguments now that wider reading has granted me a (hopefully) deeper understanding of the TLs position in schools. In particular, her emphasis on the need for TLs to effectively promote themselves and their library was instrumental in developing my line of inquiry for the second ETL401 assessment task, where I explored the way that social media platforms influence our relationship with information and each other, and the implications that this has for TLs.

In her 2011 deconstruction of the TL’s varied roles, Lamb used the acronym PALETTE to examine the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and dispositions we will need moving into the future. Her concept of the Media Specialist’s PALETTE included a focus on: People; Administration; Learning; Electronic information; Technology; Teaching; and Environments. Interestingly, Lamb also identified the importance of promotion and advocacy in this changing environment: “If the school media specialist is to survive … [they] must demonstrate their value” (p.35). While they don’t state it explicitly, both Purcell and Lamb emphasise that modern TLs play vital roles as Social Media Manager, Customer Engagement Analyst, and Chief Marketing and Promotions Director.

I thought that it was interesting that Valenza’s 2010 “Revised Manifesto” was published around the same time as Bonanno’s 2011 ASLA speech, since both emphasised that attitude is a key element to the TL’s success: “not moving forward is not an option” (Valenza, 2010, para. 3). There was clearly a significant amount of ennui and existential angst amongst TLs at the start of this decade! Valenza was one of the few authors who explored the idea of reading in the context of the TL’s role, yet interestingly the focus was still not on traditional books, but instead shifted to encompass new technologies and formats: “You expand your notion of collection” (para. 40). Valenza’s manifesto, similar to so many discussed previously, discussed how TLs must be flexible, innovative and relevant regarding the changing information landscape, our collection development, our commitment to providing equitable access for all students, the importance of collaborating with our audience at all levels, teaching and modelling ethical information behaviours, implementing new technologies in meaningful ways, providing opportunities to professionally develop our staff (this was in line with Sheerman’s 2013 Guided Inquiry approach), and to provide opportunites for our students to become lifelong learners. While I fundamentally disagreed with the premise that we should be actively available 24/7, there were nonetheless a variety of useful, practical suggestions in this manifesto which I can see myself testing or adapting in future.

As Herring so astutely noted, “it is clear that no teacher librarian could fulfill all of these roles at the same time” (2007, p.31). I wholeheartedly agree as I sit here fighting down the rising tide of panic at the thought of being everything, to everyone, at all times. Have I bitten off more than I can chew? Just between you and me, I found it interesting that (in addition to limited references to books) none of these examinations referenced one of the most common functions I personally have been called upon to perform in my new capacity as TL: armchair psychologist, ersatz counsellor, and life-coach. The centrality of the TL to the school community (coupled perhaps with the misconception of abundant time) has led many students (and staff!) to seek out my advice for all manner of issues. While I am grateful to be trusted in this way and to have the potential to positively impact my school community through these meaningful connections, it does highlight one of the issues consistently raised in the above readings: that TLs MUST promote their services, skills, and resources effectively to dispel misunderstandings and misconceptions about our role. This promotion, in my school context at least, seems to be the biggest area of need and one from which all other aspects of the role spring. After all, I could have amazing, collaborative programmes and resources which will ultimately fail to make an impact if no one knows about them or engages with them. In order to facilitate this priority, I am working very closely with the lovely support and administration staff, the Communications Committee, and a newly minted Student Media Team. It is difficult considering the misconceptions around our position, but I am also trying to follow Herring’s advice and focus on my educational, not administrative role for the time being.

I will leave you with one final thought: a word cloud of this blog post. Hopefully this will visually illustrate the complex, varied, multifaceted roles expected of a modern teacher librarian. We aren’t just about the books; let’s liber-ate ourselves!

ETL401 3.2 The Role of the Teacher Librarian: An Invisible Profession?

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ASLA 2011. Karen Bonanno, Keynote speaker: A profession at the tipping point: Time to change the game plan from CSU-SIS Learning Centre on Vimeo.

In her speech, Bonanno raised several cogent points about the roles of Teacher Librarians and the risk we face of becoming an “invisible profession” if we fail to promote our skills, resources, and services effectively to our school community. By adapting the Five Finger Plan to Success to the TL’s context, Bonanno emphasised that we need to understand our strength of character, FOCUS (know the outcome and follow it until achieved), understand and develop our brand (with special consideration of the values we stand for), build relationships with the 10-30% of staff who are likely to work with us(particularly with key figures such as Principals), and consider the little things we can do each day to add value to our school community.

I found Bonanno’s perspective refreshing in many ways. The key message that we should reframe the difficulties we experience as opportunities to promote our continuing relevance was something that I personally found quite relevant given the overall (and largely understandable!) negativity among the wider teaching profession in our current climate. I loved the idea of “claim your space” and have been working over the last few weeks to build a social media presence for our school library in an attempt to promote our online library resources and recent reading initiatives, such as the staff and student Book Club. Bonanno’s message, along with Vanessa Trower’s Edutech presentation “The Learning Brand: What Marketing Has Taught Us Learning Professionals to Drive Engagement and a Learning Culture”, revealed a variety of strategies that I can utilise moving forward as I “claim” this virtual space on social media. This is especially important considering that while we are learning from home we cannot access our physical library spaces!

One final thought: it is interesting that in many discussions about the TLs role in academic and practitioner content that there is limited reference to the importance of marketing and promotions. So many people have identified that the key roles of TLs include our capacity as information specialists, instructional partners, ICT experts, and resource managers. Yet it seems that if we do not effectively promote these skills and services, we do in fact risk becoming an “invisible profession.” It up to us to ensure that this does not happen.

ETL401 Assessment 1: What is the role of the Teacher Librarian?

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ETL401 Assessment 1: Online Reflective Journal

Part B: Blog Post

Reflecting on your experience as a teacher before you became interested in working in a school library, write a 500 word piece about your understandings of the role of the Teacher Librarian in schools.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that Teacher Librarians are white, female, middle-aged, bespectacled, and obsessed with books. This is certainly the impression left after a brief Google Images search:

Indeed, even the title of this blog reinforces the long-held, pervasive stereotype that Teacher Librarians primarily work with books. How is it that, despite the increasingly diverse Teacher Librarian population and the ever-evolving complexity of their role, these widespread assumptions still propagate? Public perceptions of teachers’ roles are informed by personal experiences; the same is true for the role of the Teacher Librarian. 

My own experiences of Teacher Librarians run the gamut from kind and enthusiastic lovers of literature to unwelcoming and intimidating guardians of knowledge. My first introduction to the world of Teacher Librarians was during my Kindergarten year in 1993. Her friendly approach encouraged me to browse to my heart’s content, leading me to borrow a book every single day that year and starting a love of reading that would last a lifetime.

By the time I reached High School in the year 2000 technology had evolved and the information landscape alongside it. Yet my main impression of our Teacher Librarian was of an imposing and unfriendly woman who saw our presence as a nuisance. To us she was what Osler called “the fiery dragon interposed between the people and the books” (Osler, as cited in Purcell, 2010, p.31). Our library was stocked with minimal technological resources and it seemed there was no one willing or capable to help us navigate the new online world.

In 2020 when I decided to take up the mantle of temporary Teacher Librarian, I was largely unaware of the complexity of the role brought about by the evolution of the “infosphere” (Floridi, 2007, p.59). The general perception among staff at my school was that the Teacher Librarian’s role was something vaguely to do with books and could be fulfilled just as easily by one of our office ladies. It has been a challenge as I stepped into the role firstly to understand the varying aspects of the Teacher Librarian’s role and secondly to promote this understanding amongst the school community. 

A few months ago the position opened up to permanent applications, so I decided to apply. As a result of my experiences as a student and classroom teacher, in my job application I focused on the role of the Teacher Librarian as professionals who:

This understanding has been further expanded by my studies so far. The Australian School Library Association states that Teacher Librarians have three primary roles: first as curriculum leaders; second as information specialists; third as information services managers (ASLA, 2021). Purcell expands this list to five key roles: as leader, instructional partner, information specialist, teacher, and program administrator (Purcell, 2010, p.30). A word cloud of the Australian Library and Information Association ‘Standards of Professional Excellence’ (ALIA, 2004) emphasises concepts such as ‘information’ and ‘learning’ as crucial to our role:

It is interesting to note that in these professional publications there are limited references to books. Clearly there is a disparity between public perceptions of the role and professional descriptions which focus on a broader understanding of our role navigating the changing information landscape. Overcoming this discrepancy continues to pose a challenge for the modern Teacher Librarian. 

Word Count: 547

References:

Australian Library and Information Association (2004). Standards of professional excellence for teacher librarians. https://www.alia.org.au/about-alia/policies-standards-and-guidelines/standards-professional-excellence-teacher-librarians 

Australian School Library Association (2021). What Is A Teacher Librarian? https://asla.org.au/what-is-a-teacher-librarian

Floridi, L. (2007). A Look into the Future Impact of ICT on Our Lives. The Information Society 23(1), 59-64. https://doi.org/10.1080/019722406010599094

Google Images Search, accessed 24/7/2021

Purcell, M. (2010). All Librarians Do Is Check Out Books, Right? A Look at the Roles of a School Library Media Specialist. Library Media Connection 29(1), 30-33.