What is a TL? That is the question on all our minds. Everyone, educator or not has a different opinion/view/experience as to what a teacher library is or does, either before or during their career. Before beginning my studies and even before my teaching career my understanding of what a teacher librarian was and what they did was very limited. Sure, I knew what a librarian was from visiting local libraries that were akin to my second home but even then, it was more of a clerical role than anything else.
My first real memory of what a teacher librarian was and what they did was during primary school. The amazing librarian introduced us to classic stories each week. I suppose this made a huge impact on my love of literature and even deep down built that love of the library. Beyond primary school librarians didn’t have any significant impact on my chosen career.
During my teaching degree I encountered my first teacher librarian whilst on a placement at the school I now work in. What an experience! I imagined the library to be a quiet place to explore the amazing world of literature. Not here. Literature was the most certainly present and story time was valued and an exciting event for all those involved. However, I had imagined the students browsing the shelves and learning about how a library functions and this was not the case.
Jump a few years and I am now a new grad stepping into my first few days of casual teaching. The library environment hasn’t changed since my first experience until I was fortunate enough to gain a temporary role as teacher librarian.
This is where my real thoughts on what a teacher librarian was really started to develop. I began to imagine myself in the role and how I wanted the students and staff to experience the library. My idea was that a teacher librarian was someone who not only introduced the students and staff to a wide variety of quality texts but also someone who taught them the values and importance of a library for researching and information, both traditional print based and through technology.
I began to set expectations for myself about not only the behaviour I expected in the library but also the experiences I wanted the children to have. I believed it was my job to teach the children how to search and locate books, how to use a library catalogue to locate what they wanted and how to effectively use books to support their learning.
Fast forward again and after several years as a classroom teacher and seeing many temporary teacher librarians come and go, I have a new appreciation and idea of what a teacher librarian should be.
A guide
An influencer
A learner
I want to be able to share library knowledge, experience, skills and most importantly a love of literature and reading during my time as a teacher librarian, while provided support and breaking down barriers between classroom teachers and teacher librarians.
That’s it for now.
Annie