My understandings of the role of the Teacher Librarian (TL) in schools have certainly developed over the years in which I have worked as a primary school teacher. I have, however, always relied upon the TL, the library space and its resources in order to do my job well. When I began my career in 2007, with limited industry experience and resources, my instinctive learner-compass led me to my school’s library and TL. This would become my first port of call at the beginning of each term, as I hunted engaging resources in order to hook my students, and considered previous and new ways of working. This was my first transformation of understanding, as I learnt that TLs support and facilitate information access for teachers, not just students.
As a beginning teacher, my perception of the TL was as a teacher in the library, who shared new books with students, encouraging and helping them to borrow. This was probably based more on my experiences as a student in a school, during a predominantly pre-digital information age, rather than as a teacher in the 21st century. My current understandings of the role are that it is a multifaceted profession. While TLs are still vital as specialists and advocates of and for reading and literacy development, they are also facilitators of learning across the curriculum. TLs are research and information experts, who assist students and teachers to access to a variety of quality resources, be they print, digital or human. I’ve often thought that TLs hold a fundamental, quietly powerful position within schools. I like the depiction of TLs as having a “bird’s eye view” across year levels and subjects, to describe the scope of the role (Lupton, as cited in Hughes 2013). This image portrays the TL is a surveyor of an education landscape, which is constantly in flux due to political, cultural and technological change.
As I’ve considered making the career shift, I’ve realised that not everyone appreciates the value of school libraries and TLs. When my own children recently started school, I was surprised and disappointed to learn that while there was a great library and a very helpful teacher-aide who worked there, there was no qualified TL. Many state primary schools across Brisbane (and Australia) are choosing not to employ library professionals. Staffing and funding cuts in Australian school libraries have been in effect for decades (Godfree & Neilson 2018; House of Representatives, 2011 as cited in Merga 2019). In this age of the internet, ICT technicians are often employed as an alternative, as some school executive teams perceive the TL role as outdated. Recent research and data, however, emphasizes the importance of the TL in supporting student learning outcomes, particularly in the changing education and information landscape (Godfree & Neilson 2018, Hughes 2013, Merga 2019). In one of the Students Need School Libraries campaign films, Needle in the Haystack, TL Keith Mullumby blends the bucolic metaphor with technology. He describes the TL as a “magnet to help students find the needle” in the haystack of online information (2018).
Despite the worrying trend, it’s a pivotal time to be a part of the dynamic TL profession. Many quietly powerful magnets, and their supporters, are working hard to reinvigorate it, as an essential component of contemporary education systems.
References
Godfree, H. & Neilson, O. (2018). School Libraries Matter!* The missing piece in the education puzzle. ACCESS, 32(1), 28-41. Retrieved from https://studentsneedschoollibraries.org.au/article-school-libraries-matter-the-missing-piece-in-the-education-puzzle/
Hughes, H. (2013). School libraries and teacher-librarians: evidence of their contribution to student literacy and learning. Curriculum and Leadership Journal, 11(12), n.p. Retrieved from http://www.curriculum.edu.au/leader/school_libraries_and_tls,36453.html?issueID=12777
Merga, M.K. (2019). How do librarians in schools support struggling readers? English in Education, 53 (2), 145-160, DOI: 10.1080/04250494.2018.1558030
Mullumby, K. (2018, October). Students need school libraries campaign: Needle in the haystack [Video File]. Retrieved from https://studentsneedschoollibraries.org.au/films/
