Engagement with the School Library Collection
When reading the key findings from the 2021 Softlink Australian School Library Report (Softlink, 2022), one emerging theme that stood out for me was the difference between teacher and student engagement with the school library collection. The key finding that focused on teacher engagement stated the following:
“When asked about the level of teacher engagement with the library, 32% of respondents reported a high to very high level of engagement, 47% reported a moderate level of engagement, and 21% reported a low to very low level of support” (Softlink, 2022, p.4).
Compare this with the data collated on student engagement:
“When asked about the level of student engagement with the library, 59% of respondents reported a high to very high level of engagement, 32% reported a moderate level of engagement, and 9% reported a low to very low level of support” (Softlink, 2022, p.4).
A clear disparity exists between these two groups of school library users. The below graph visually shows this disparity clearly:
It is intriguing that students are finding more value and are subsequently engaging with the school library more than their teachers, the very people guiding them on their learning journey. While this emerging theme leaves me questioning why this is happening, I also recognise that these findings mirror my own personal experiences engaging with my previous school library as a classroom teacher.
When I was a Year 1/2 teacher, I always promoted the library collection to my students. I would use the space to cultivate a love of reading and teach beginner information skills. But when it came to my own planning, the library was never my first port of call. The room with teacher resources was un-inviting; it was cluttered, outdated and always locked. Time is of the essence as a teacher, so I would always opt for the most efficient ways to collate ideas and resources which, evidently, did not involve the library.
At the beginning of Module 1 in ETL503, we were introduced to Ranganathan’s Five Laws of Library Science (as cited in Opara, 2017, p.5). Applying these laws to my own experience, it is clear that the teacher resource collection at my previous school had a lot of room for improvement in order to become more engaging to the teachers for which it served. Being solutions focused, I have briefly listed ideas in which engagement with the teacher collection could be improved:
| My previous library | A simple way the teacher collection could be improved to enhance engagement | |
| 1. Books are for use | The teacher resource room being locked meant that it was not serving the needs of the teaching staff. | Implement a system which gives teachers more flexibility in accessing the teacher collection. |
| 2. Every reader their book | The cluttered nature of the teacher resource room means it was not designed with the user in mind. | Organise the space according to how the teachers would find it more useful (curriculum area, year level, etc.) |
| 3. Every book its reader | The limited and unskilled staffing of the school library meant that classroom teacher needs were unable to be met. | Employ a qualified teacher librarian who can work alongside teachers to curate the collection. |
| 4. Save the time of the reader | Time being a scarce resource as a classroom teacher, the way that the teacher resource room was set up was not easy to access and hence was more time consuming to find resources than other methods, such as online resource sites. | Creating subject resource guides for teachers to refer to when planning units of work. |
| 5. A library is a growing organism | The resources contained within the teacher resource room were quite dated and needed weeding and updating. | Perform regular stock takes on the teacher resource collection to ensure resources are being used and meeting the needs of the teaching staff. |
Underutilisation of the school library by teachers appears to be a commonplace among many Australian school libraries, according to the key findings within the 2021 Softlink Australian School Library Report (Softlink, 2022). My own personal experiences seem to align with this sentiment as well. As a future teacher librarian, I hope to utilise Ranganathan’s Five Laws of Library Science to help curate a space in which both students and teachers value and subsequently engage with in a meaningful and impactful way.
References:
Opara, U. N. (2017). Empowering Library Users through the Five Laws of Library Science. Library Philosophy & Practice, 1–14.
Softlink. (2022). Australian School Library Survey Report 2021. https://www.softlinkint.com/downloads/2021_Softlink_School_Library_Survey_-_Australian_Report.pdf