Author Archives

Alicia Whisson

ELT503 Assessment 2, Part B: Reflective practice

Consultation is the theme which has continually emerged for me as I have worked through the course material for ETL503, and an early takeaway was how essential the role of advocate is for the teacher librarian (TL) to undertake (Whisson, 2025a, para. 5). The library needs to be useful and used, and if it is not, and its value is not communicated and understood, getting the support and funds it needs is tough. During the 21st century so far, the way we consume information has shifted overwhelmingly online, but I was amazed to read in the 2024 Australian School Library Report that 60% of school libraries surveyed overall do not include eBooks or e-audiobooks, or subscription databases in their collections. It is difficult to imagine how these libraries can remain relevant without a significant shift. The top reasons given by respondents were budget, followed by a lack of interest from students and school leadership, then a lack of understanding about how these resources work.

In considering how a TL might build a case for investing in developing the collection, I planned for consultation:

Whisson, 2025b

This process includes early consultation with both staff and students (including input measures such as feedback, collection mapping, and gap analysis), and adds patron driven acquisition to the selection process. Output measures such as circulation data to measure collection use only give one side of the collection story. Combining these with input measures provides a more complete picture. The process ends with promotion of the collection to the school community so they understand how to use it and how it will benefit them. I believe this allows for the possibility of truly transformative collection development where teachers and students experience ownership of it (Whisson, 2025c; Charles Sturt University, 2025).

Consultation also came into play for the process of responding to challenges I referenced in Assessment 2. A real-life challenge by a parent led to a primary school library in Brisbane undertaking a review of its collection to remove harmful material relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples (Klimm & Robertson, 2007). The review involved a lengthy collaborative process between the TL and parent. I was able to find the list of titles removed and questioned one of them.  This provided me the opportunity to apply the AITSIS Guide to evaluating and selecting education resources (2022) to a resource,  along with my own selection criteria. This led to wider reading around the issue of censorship and the decolonisation of collections as I completed my review, which can be read here: https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/arew/2025/05/25/to-deselect-or-not-to-deselect-removing-harmful-material-from-the-collection/ (Whisson, 2025d).

I believe I am now in a much better position to undertake a review of this nature and seek appropriate guidance to do so.

The use of data, such as output measures combined with consultative input measures interests me greatly and I see this as a potential topic for ETL567 Research in Practice. Effectively combined with research demonstrating the correlation between a well-funded library and student outcomes (Hughes, 2014) a powerful case can be built for adequately funding a school library collection. Wider reading also highlighted collaboration as a strategy for combining budgets to achieve shared collection and curriculum ends (Lamb, 2012, para. 18, 19)

With consultation, outreach and promotion of the collection becoming areas of increasing interest for me, I am looking for ways to engage with these concepts. I currently work in a council library and am I about to start work in an outreach programme bringing teens into the library one night a month after closing to socialise, play games and explore the collection. My next bit of reading, before study starts again next period will be research by Pandora and Hayman (2013) on school and public library collaborations, and I am excited to explore this in practice. I hadn’t really considered it, having been out of the classroom for more than 15 years, but I may end up back in a school once again!

Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies. (2022). AIATSIS Guide to evaluating and selecting education resources. https://aiatsis.gov.au/sites/default/files/research_pub/AIATSIS%20Guide%20to%20evaluating%20and%20selecting%20education%20resources.pdf

Charles Sturt University. (2025). Policy and procedures [Topic 6.1]. ETL503, Brightspace.

Hughes, H., Bozorgian, H., & Allen, C. (2014). School Libraries, Teacher-Librarians and Student Outcomes: Presenting and Using the Evidence. School Libraries Worldwide, 20(1), 29–50. https://doi.org/10.29173/slw6869

Klimm, K., & Roberston, D. (2007). How an old book created a commitment to better represent First Nations Australians. Scis Connections(117), 4-5. https://www.scisdata.com/connections/issue-117/how-an-old-book-created-a-commitment-to-better-represent-first-nations-australians/

Lamb, A. & Johnson, H.L. (2012). Program administration: Budget management. The School Library Media Specialist. http://eduscapes.com/sms/administration/budget.html.

Pandora, C., & Hayman, S. (2013). Better serving teens through school library-public library collaborations (1st ed.). Libraries Unlimited. https://doi.org/10.5040/9798400617751

Softlink Education. (2024). 2024 Australian School Library Report. https://www.softlinkint.com/resources/reports-and-whitepapers/

Whisson, A. (2025a, March 8). The evolving information landscape and school library collections. Learner Librarian at Large. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/arew/2025/03/08/the-evolving-information-landscape-and-school-library-collections/

Whisson, A. (2025b, March 22). Engaging learners in school library resource selection ETL 503 Module 2.1 Reflection. Learner Librarian at Large. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/arew/2025/03/22/engaging-learners-in-school-library-resource-selection-etl-503-module-2-1-reflection/

Whisson, A. (2025c, June 13). I completely agree, and as a bit of a data nerd, [Comment on “Output measures”. Forum: Module 5.1 Discussions: Using output measures as tools for purchasing. https://learn.csu.edu.au/d2l/le/50305/discussions/threads/128364/View

Whisson, A. (2025d, May 25). To deselect, or not to deselect – removing harmful material from the collection. Learner Librarian at Large. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/arew/2025/05/25/to-deselect-or-not-to-deselect-removing-harmful-material-from-the-collection/

To deselect, or not to deselect – removing harmful material from the collection

In learning about Resourcing the Curriculum as part of my Teacher Librarianship studies I read about the case of a Brisbane primary school inspired to review their collection after a book containing offensive, ignorant, and incorrect statements about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people was discovered by a student in year three (Klimm and Robertson, 2007, p. 4). I read further and tracked down the list of books highlighted for deselection, and among them found one which I questioned the need to remove1 (WASLA, 2024). This led me to consider how criteria are used for the deselection of problematic or unsuitable material, as well as the tensions which lie between Right of Access and Duty of Care. In selecting and deselecting content, librarians and educators are faced with the choice protecting students from difficult or offensive ideas versus providing them the opportunity to examine them through a critical lens.

(1 Please note – the list is publicly available, and the site it appears on notes that it has been updated since the original list was created, so it is unclear who marked the book I am discussing here for deselection.)

Librarians have a duty to protect the rights of their readers to “free reading” by “ensuring that censorship does not take place in their collections” while simultaneously protecting their students’ wellbeing. (School of Information and Communication Studies, 2025, para. 1).  However, Rumberger (2019, para. 9) argues “Content management implicitly assumes that young children should be sheltered from critical conversations about the world around them” and points out that children are capable of recognising injustice, are aware of systemic poverty, and can use “writing to convey their thoughts about the surrounding world.”

Even if a resource demonstrates offensive, dated attitudes, there may sometimes be an argument for keeping it. It may serve as evidence of historical attitudes now challenged, discredited and outdated, but which still tell the story of the past. Certain offensive terms need to be understood as “historical terms not descriptive terms for their classmates” (Barnes, 2023, para. 5). In the case of more recent material, removing it may result in a lost opportunity to demonstrate how incorrect or offensive material can be challenged, and its veracity interrogated.  Teachers have a duty to equip students with the skill of applying a critical lens to false and offensive content, which is an ever-increasing problem in the changing media landscape.  “We must educate for critical thinking, fostering the spirit and the critical sense. Not a domesticating education, but one that forms citizens capable of reading between the lines, of detecting fallacies, of arguing without vociferating. One that trains for methodical doubt and not for slavish obedience.” (Requiem for critical thinking, 2025)

In the case of the collection review undertaken at the Brisbane primary school described above, the book which sparked the review was an obvious choice for deselection, but when I saw a book by Henry Reynolds, it seemed a less obvious contender.  I did not know what criteria were used by the librarian undertaking the review, so decided to consider both books against the criteria I developed as part of my studies as well as the AIATSIS Guide to evaluating and selecting education resources (AITISIS, 2022).

My own selection criteria are:

  • RELEVANT (Supports curriculum , Will be well-used)
  • SUITABLE (Ease of use, Suits reading age and ability of audience, High quality – content and format)
  • ACCURATE and AUTHORITATIVE (Content accurate and author reputable, Content clearly identifiable as factual or fictional, Content current, Australian focus or context)
  • INCLUSIVE (Positive images of gender, disability, cultural and ethnic groups where applicable, Developed by or with, and accurate representation of, Australian First Nations People, and otherwise meets criteria outlined by Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (2022))

The sections from the AITISIS Guide relevant for the two books in questions are:

  • PARTCIPATION (of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the content development)
  • POSITIONING (of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the resource)

The title which sparked the collection review was The Australian Aborigines: Peoples Under Threat, by Helen L Edmunds – published by Wayland Press in 1995. It has a suggested intended audience of primary and intermediate students. All I could discover about the author was from a description on Amazon (n.d.) “Helen L. Edmunds trained as an anthropologist and biologist, and now works with young people in Brighton.” An article in the Daily Mail picked over some of the specific offensive and incorrect statements made in the book, which I won’t go into but which you can access from the reference list below. The reason given for its deselection by the librarian is: “This is a very disturbing book. Framing of Aboriginal people as ‘many’ reinforces stereotypical views. Talks of ‘Aborigines’ and no language groups.” (WASLA, 2024)

This matches up with all I have been able to learn about this book, and when assessed against my criteria and that of the AITISIS Guide, it fails across the board:

(RED = does not meet criteria,  ORANGE = Partially meets criteria, GREEN = Meets criteria)

  • AITISIS:
    • There is no evidence of participation by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the content creation
    • Claims made in the book are offensive and inaccurate
    • False, racist stereotypes are present and reinforced
    • Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander nations and language groups are not acknowledged, but all peoples are lumped together as “Aborigines”
    • Despite being a book written by an author with some evident sympathy for her subject, the impacts of colonisation are minimised and discussed in a cursory way, and the tone is patronising
  • My criteria:
    • It does not support the curriculum
    • It may be of an appropriate reading level for its audience, but its many offensive inaccuracies presented as statements of fact make it unsuitable
    • It is not accurate, and its author is not an authority
    • It has not been created in consultation with First Nations people

The title which jumped out at me as deserving of greater consideration before deselection was North of Capricorn: The untold story of Australia’s North by Henry Reynolds, published by Allen & Unwin in 2003.

The reason given for the book’s removal was: “Often refers to the Indigenous people as ‘aliens’ or ‘coloured aliens’. Photographs of mixed-race children referred to as ‘piebald’ children, or ‘mongrels’. Depicted as loafers and a concern for racial mixture in schools.” (WASLA, 2024)

Henry Reynolds is a well-known and respected Australian historian who has devoted his professional life to examining Australian history with an emphasis on reconciliation and truth-telling. He is widely regarded as the first Australian historian to attempt to understand and examine Australian colonial history from a First Nations perspective, the frontier wars, and Aboriginal resistance (Ryan, 2008, p. 2). He had a long friendship with Eddie Mabo and was instrumental in Mabo’s decision to make the native title claim with led to Mabo vs Queensland in 1992 (Ritter, 2008, p. 394). The reason given for its deselection did not make sense to me, so I looked more closely at the book. It examines race relations in the tropical north of Queenland at the time of Federation. It indeed contains some offensive and derogatory descriptions of mixed-race, South-East Asian, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people when quoting primary sources, because it is making an academic historical examination of race relations, racism, representation, and discrimination during a particular time and place in history. On the face of it, it appears that this title was judged without any consideration of the context in which the descriptions occurred, or a broader consideration of the content of the book, and the history it is examines.

Considered against the AISIS Guide, and my own criteria, the decision to deselect is not so obvious as the first example:

  • AITISIS:
    • I was only able to examine excerpts and reviews of the content, so it was difficult to assess whether there was consultation with First Nations people, however the references indicate that First nations voices are present in the text. As it is an historical treatise, I am not sure a lack of direct consultation is a reason to remove the book entirely.
    • False, racist stereotypes are present, but quoted in primary sources and situated within a historical context, rather than presented as facts – this may warrant a cultural sensitivity warning, not removal.
    • Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are depicted in photographs with nations and language groups are not always acknowledged – there is context and reason for the images to be included, and as they are historical artefacts, may not have had acceptable descriptions attached to them.
    • The book has been rigorously researched, and the author is an acknowledged authority.
  • My criteria:
    • Depending on the school library context (primary or secondary) it may support the curriculum.
    • It is an academic level text so would not be suitable for inclusion in a primary school library but may be appropriate for senior secondary history students.
    • It is well researched, and the author is an acknowledged authority
    • It was difficult to assess whether there was consultation with First Nations people, but the references indicate that First nations voices are present in the text.

I think this is a suitable title to be included in a secondary school library collection with cultural sensitivity warnings attached, but not a primary school collection, and I believe this example highlights the need for careful, mindful consideration when selecting and deselecting, as opposed to the blanket removal of a resource based on the presence of a derogatory term. With regards to how the book should be included, I think the example of AITSIS itself is relevant. North Of Capricorn: The Untold Story Of Australia’s North is part of AITSIS own Rare Book and Research Collection. Resources included there rather than in the general collection may be “restricted due to their cultural content, rarity, value or physical condition.”

 

Amazon. (n.d.). Peoples Under Threat Hb Hardcover – 31 December 1995. Retrieved May 5, 2025 from https://www.amazon.com.au/Peoples-Under-Threat-Helen-Edmunds/dp/075021421X

Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS). (2022). AIATSIS Guide to evaluating and selecting education resources. AITSIS. https://aiatsis.gov.au/education/guide-evaluating-and-selecting-education-resources

Barnes, C. (2023, February 22). School library culling is not ‘book burning’, but there are dangers – and I should know. Sydney Morning Herald. https://www.smh.com.au/education/school-library-culling-is-not-book-burning-but-there-are-dangers-and-i-should-know-20230222-p5cmn1.html

Edmunds, H.L. (1995). Australian Aborigines: Peoples under threat. Wayland.

Klimm, K., & Roberston, D. (2007). How an old book created a commitment to better represent First Nations Australians. Scis Connections(117), 4-5. https://www.scisdata.com/connections/issue-117/how-an-old-book-created-a-commitment-to-better-represent-first-nations-australians/

School of Information and Communication Studies. (2025). 4. Other Considerations of Selection [Course materials]. ETL503, Brightspace. https://learn.csu.edu.au/d2l/le/sequenceLauncher/50305/View

Requiem for critical thinking. (2025). In CE Noticias Financieras (English ed.). ContentEngine LLC, a Florida limited liability company.

Reynolds, H. (2003). North of Capricorn : the untold story of Australia’s north. Allen & Unwin.

Ritter, D. (2008). Tilting at doctrine in a changing world: the three editions of Henry Reynolds’ The Law of the Land. Journal of Australian Studies, 32(3), 393–403. https://doi.org/10.1080/14443050802294133

Rumberger, A. (2019). The elementary school library: Tensions between access and censorship. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 20(4), 409–421. https://doi.org/10.1177/1463949119888491

Ryan, L. (2008). Race, Nation, History: A Conference in Honour of Henry Reynolds, Canberra, 29-30 August 2008. Labour History (Canberra), 95(95), 247–249. https://www-jstor-org.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/stable/27516321

Stevens, K. (2020, October 1). REVEALED: The shocking comments about indigenous Australians found in outdated children’s books still stocked in school libraries. Daily Mail Australia. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8792737/Shocking-comments-Aboriginals-childrens-books-stocked-school-libraries.html

West Australian School Library Association (WASLA). (2024). Decolonising Your Library.  Retrieved May 5, 2025 from https://www.wasla.asn.au/decolonising-your-library/

Engaging learners in school library resource selection ETL 503 Module 2.1 Reflection

SR Ranganthan (1931) teaches us that “a library is a growing organism” (p.382). To keep a school library living and growing, school librarians need to keep students engaged, and in a rapidly changing information environment, gaining and holding kids’ attention is becoming even harder.

I want to focus here on two strategies librarians could use to increase student engagement:

  1. Feedback and consultation, and
  2. Patron-driven acquisition

After reviewing Oddone’s (2019) collection development process diagram, I came up with own, emphasising consultation as a stage in the process:

One form this consultation could start with is an annual survey of the school community, conducted as the year ends to learn how they used the library, test out awareness and engagement with what is available, gather general feedback, and find out what is missing from students’ experience. The survey could lead to further consultation, then the development of an annual program of changes and improvements.

Once the librarian has ideas for changes to events, activities, spaces, clubs, and, most importantly, resources, students might have the opportunity to vote on these. Finally, the librarian could close the process by conducting a presentation in the new year to announce to the school community the changes and initiatives in the collection resulting from the consultation process.

By empowering students to be actively engaged in the review and development of the library collection, they would gain a sense of ownership of it.

Ongoing patron-driven acquisition is another strategy shown to increase engagement. A secondary school in Canberra (Jorm, 2022) made student-led collection development the primary method of resource acquisition after a trial period saw borrowing rates increase by 342%. Students had a sense of pride and ownership when a book they recommended entered the collection, with a “This book was recommended by [name]” bookplate inside. Students were more likely to borrow books selected by their peers, and students who were not regular users were invited to nominate topics they were interested in to enable librarians search out resources to tempt them.

Teacher librarians supported the program by “scaffolding students to help them figure out what they might want to read”, (Jorm, 2022, para. 12) by showcasing authors, and helping students use tools such as Goodreads, and online bookstores.

A librarian at the school described this new initiative of student-led collection development as “game changing”, making the collection more dynamic, and resulting in “phenomenal” borrowing statistics (Jorm, 2022, para. 13).

 

Jorm, M. (2022). Student-led library collection development. Teacher. https://www.teachermagazine.com/au_en/articles/photo-story-student-led-library-collection-development

Oddone, K. (2019). School library collection development: it’s not as simple as you might think. Linking Learning. https://www.linkinglearning.com.au/school-library-collection-development-its-not-as-simple-as-you-might-think/

Ranganathan, S. R. (1931). The Five Laws of Library Science. Madras library association.

The evolving information landscape and school library collections

The Softlink 2024 Australian School Library Survey Report (2024) provides a snapshot of the state of schools libraries in Australia, and offers some insights into the challenges faced by Teacher Librarians and how these might impact their collections.  We are living in a rapidly changing information landscape – which brings challenges in technology, teaching approaches, resources, and new ways the publishing industry is providing and charging for the resources they supply (Charles Sturt University, 2025). In reflecting on the report, I was amazed by the high percentage of school library professionals surveyed who stated that their libraries do not hold any eBooks, e-audiobooks, or electronic database subscriptions in their collections.

Students need the opportunity to experience a range of resources in a variety of formats, not only to prepare them for the complexity of the information landscape they will find outside of school, but to also support a range of different learning modes.  The TLs role has evolved to support and enable this learning and preparation (Charles Sturt University, 2025).

Library collections increasingly include digital resources and electronic database subscriptions alongside physical resources to support this need and reflect this new information landscape. However, the 2024 Softlink Report indicates that 60% of school libraries surveyed overall do not include eBooks or e-audiobooks in their collections, and 61% do not include subscription databases. Split into school sectors, a slightly different picture emerges. For Catholic schools, 38% indicated their collections held no eBooks/e-audiobooks, and 46% no subscription databases. For Independent schools the rate was 39% with no e-Books/e-audiobooks, and 28% with no subscription databases. It is worth noting here that survey feedback around budget correlated with these numbers – a lower percentage of government school respondents indicated that they felt their school library was adequately funded (43%) than Catholic schools (63%) and Independent schools (59%).

For all school libraries surveyed, the reason most given for a lack of both eBooks and database subscriptions was budget, followed by a lack of interest from students and school leadership, then a lack of clarity about how these resources work.

The function of TL as advocate is critical here – as without understanding and awareness from school leadership about the importance of a technologically diverse and evolving collection, budget is less likely to be allocated for it. Increased demand from students may also support the case for incorporating more diverse resource formats, however if students have no awareness or experience of such resources they are unlikely to ask for them.

This is a challenge – how to create demand for resources not yet in place, and how to demonstrate this need to leadership and the holders of the purse strings, when there is no demand. Students can’t ask for what they don’t know they need, nor can teachers! Even when faced with the challenge of inadequate budgets and staffing, it is up to TLs to stay ahead of the evolving resource landscape, advocate for a hybrid collection, and help teachers and students get the most out of it.

The report also highlighted possible need for greater support to help TLs become more effective advocates. When asked how the library and its resources were promoted in their schools the overwhelming top response was “school library displays”. More active and direct promotion avenues such as “staff meetings” and “visiting classrooms” came much lower, which may indicate a need for greater support for school librarians in how to actively and effectively advocate for their library.

 

Charles Sturt University. (2025). Introducing the school library collection [Topic 1.1]. ETL503, Brightspace. https://learn.csu.edu.au/d2l/le/sequenceLauncher/50305/View

 

Softlink Education. (2024). 2024 Australian School Library Report. https://www.softlinkint.com/resources/reports-and-whitepapers/

ELT401 Assessment 3, Part C: Reflective practice

I’ve been away from the classroom for more than 15 years and was apprehensive about writing a unit of work, let alone framing it within an information literacy model, something I’ve not heard of. It’s been a surprise how quickly I slipped back into the mindset of an educator, and I’ve had a sense of growing excitement as I explored the changing role of the teacher librarian (TL).

My first exploration of the TL role was reflecting on my own experience with TLs (Whisson, 2021a) of which I had almost none. Conversations with teaching friends and family followed and I heard of teacher aides shoehorned into the library to keep it tidy and manage loans, through to actively engaged and excited TLs. None however described the TL as a leader, or co-teacher working alongside them to enhance their work in class. Instead they experienced the TL as a source of information for the students and someone who could teach the students specific isolated skills e.g. how to search a database.

 

From here I explored the sheer breadth (Whisson, 2021b) of the modern information landscape that TLs support students to navigate, and also reflected on the nature of information (Whisson, 2021c). The concept of TL as a school leader (Marshall, 2017) was not one I have considered before, but as my perspective developed I saw that they are specialists positioned to work with school leadership to formulate and enact strategic plans, and support their colleagues’ professional development. (Whisson, 2021d&e).

 

I’ve also discovered that, thanks to government funding structures in some states, TLs need to work to continually defend their place in schools. At the same time, their role is so multi-faceted (Whisson, 2021f) they must compromise in order to be effective and operate at a high level. In QLD, the prevalence of qualified TLs in state schools is diminishing, with budgets allocated but spending at the discretion of school leadership. A petition (Robins, 2020) was launched last year calling for mandatory “access to a well-maintained school library under the stewardship of a professional library team” for all schools. You can read the minister’s evasive response here.

 

I then examined the AITSL standards with some initial defensiveness (Whisson, 2021g) but found clarity and inspiration as I explored the AITSL resources specifically for TLs (AITSL, 2017) which helped inform my unit of work. Here was a TL collaborating with a senior teacher to introduce information literacy skills into the classroom and coach the teacher to raise the level of their own teaching in this area.

 

Finally we come to information literacy (Bundy, 2004) and its relationship to inquiry-based learning (IBL). The information landscape is overwhelming, and with little experience of IBL, I had my doubts: how would it look in practice? Won’t the students be swamped with information?  What about explicit instruction? How can the students possibly cover the necessary curriculum when they are choosing what to learn? My anxiety grew as I explored the various information literacy models, until I reached Guided Inquiry Design (GID) based on the Information Search Process (ISP) (Kuhlthau et al., 2012). The difference I saw between GID and the other models I examined was the acknowledgement of the feelings, thoughts and actions of the students as they progressed through each stage of the model and that active scaffolding is needed to support them throughout. At that point in my readings, the potential value of IBL emerged. By now I had identified a key stage, subject and topic for my unit of work, and as I read though the GID stages, the strategies I could employ to deliver my unit according to inquiry-based learning began to form. There could be no other choice of model for me. My path forward became clearer, my confidence grew, and I took ownership of the task. It dawned in me that I was progressing through the feelings, thoughts and actions described in the Information Search Process…!

 

I will continue to treat inquiry learning with some caution. I agree with John Hattie (2015), who maintains there is a danger of implementing inquiry-based too early and without care. Inquiry on its own does not equal engagement, and for students without the knowledge and skills to execute it effectively, it can be a waste of time. Children still need to be explicitly taught, however the process of designing this unit of work has led me to understand that inquiry learning, introduced at the right time, for the right purpose and, importantly, within a carefully implemented information literacy framework, can be highly engaging and effective. As the information literacy experts, teacher librarians can work with teachers to implement effective information literacy frameworks and therefore quality, worthwhile inquiry-based learning.

 

References

Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL). (2017). Information Literacy. https://www.aitsl.edu.au/tools-resources/resource/information-literacy-illustration-of-practice

Bundy, A. (2004). Australian and New Zealand Information Literacy Framework. Australian and New Zealand Institute for Information Literacy. https://www.utas.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/79068/anz-info-lit-policy.pdf

Hattie, J. (2015, November 10). John Hattie on inquiry-based learning [Video]. Corwin. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUooOYbgSUg

Marshall, S. (2017). Librarians in the digital age: experts in e-health. connections, Term 2 2017(101). https://www.scisdata.com/media/1484/connections101.pdf

Robins, D. (2020). Minimum National School Library Standards across Queensland. Queensland Parliament. [Petition]. https://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/work-of-assembly/petitions/petition-details?id=3448

Whisson, A. (2021a, March 8). Reflecting on the Role of Teacher Librarian: When I was a Teacher. Learner Librarian at Large. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/arew/2021/03/08/reflecting-on-the-role-of-teacher-librarian-when-i-was-a-teacher/

Whisson, A. (2021b, March 8). Forum: Module 2 Discussions: The information environment, Thread: 2.5 Teacher Librarian in the information landscape. [Online forum post]. School of Information Studies, Charles Sturt University.

Whisson, A. (2021c, March 6). Thinking About Information – Discussion Forum 2.1. Learner Librarian at Large. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/arew/2021/03/06/thinking-about-information-discussion-forum-2-1/

Whisson, A. (2021d, April 28). Forum: Module 3 Discussions: The role of the teacher librarian Thread: 3.3: The role of the Principal and the TL. [Online forum post]. School of Information Studies, Charles Sturt University.

Whisson, A. (2021e, March 8, April 27). Forum: Module 2 Discussions: The information environment Thread: 2.3 Information Society. [Online forum post]. School of Information Studies, Charles Sturt University.

Whisson, A. (2021f, April 28). Forum: Module 3 Discussions: The role of the teacher librarian Thread: 3.2: The role of the teacher librarian. [Online forum post]. School of Information Studies, Charles Sturt University.

Whisson, A. (2021g, April 27). Reflecting on the AITSL Standards – Discussion Forum 3.1. Learner Librarian at Large. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/arew/2021/04/27/reflecting-on-the-aitsl-standards-discussion-forum-3-1/

Reflecting on the AITSL Standards – Discussion Forum 3.1

My first reaction to learning that the AITSL Standards form the criteria TLs are measured against was a little indignant. ‘A Teacher Librarian is far from the same as a teacher,’ I thought, ‘and should be judged instead according to their particular expertise’. After I dived into the standards though, I became excited. Here was a window into the classrooms and actual practice of many different proficient and expert teachers which I felt I had little opportunity to see examples of before I entered a classroom myself as a fully qualified teacher in 1999. The importance of TLs working towards the higher end of these standards became quickly obvious.

After a one year diploma and a couple of short practicums, I recall feeling ill-prepared for the work I was doing when I took up my first teaching post, having had limited opportunity to really look into the classrooms of different highly competent teachers. Within the standards, I found a wealth of real examples of what the standards look like in practice at different stages.  The first example I selected to view was of a young ICT teacher using peer coaching – a perfect example of an area where a TL could lead. The library is a place of exploration and creativity. Where better for students to develop their confidence than with a TL to guide and facilitate opportunities for them to take turns sharing their own expert knowledge: Minecraft or coding, crafts or design, strategy games such as chess. Students could take turns selecting a book and leading book club sessions. Teachers wanting to explore this strategy could see it in practice in the library and look for ways to implement into their own classroom.

I am developing a growing awareness of the idea of TL as leader, and someone who can set an example, and work with school leadership to plan to meet long-term outcomes, as well as work as collaborator alongside their classroom colleagues. By framing their own work as librarian within the standards, and working to move from proficient, to highly accomplished, to lead teacher, they can lead by example when stepping into the role of teacher – which I increasingly see they must do. To collaborate as equals, and work alongside teachers, they themselves must be positioned as professionals against these standards.

With the development of the AITSL Standards for teacher librarian practice, ALIA explicitly maps the standards to practice and evidence for teacher librarians specifically – answering my question about the work and expertise of librarians. A teacher librarian must be many things, but a teacher first. By demonstrating their practice against the upper levels of these standards, they are better positioned to be a leader in the school and collaborate with greatest effectiveness with their teacher colleagues.

I’ve been out of the classroom for almost 15 years, and though my career has always been situated within education, the idea of stepping back into the school and classroom is intimidating. I don’t know where my librarian path will take me, ultimately it may not be back into the classroom, but my first look at the AITSL  standards has excited my interest, and whether it is into schools I go, or universities, or council libraries, I’m looking forward to exploring the standards and considering them against the work of the teacher librarian, and testing whether this might be a possible path for me.

Planning for SUCCESS!

A video embedded in my module notes has lit a little fuse in me (Bonanno, 2011, 8:43-18:45). Addressing teacher librarians in 2011 on the rhetoric that TL’s are a dying breed, having to fight for their space, Karen Bonanno delivered a simple recipe for success. It is so simple, resonates so clearly, and is so immediately and obviously applicable, I want to adopt it across various aspects of my life straight away. But, we’re here to talk about teacher librarians, so I’ll try to focus my reflection there rather than on my health and well-being goals…

The five-finger plan to success: Strength, Focus, Brand, Relationships, and Little Things which Count. I was eating up her words as she unpacked these, so imagine my astonishment when she brandished a copy of a book co-written by Donald Trump as the source! (Trump and Kiyosaki, 2011). Well… I thought, he IS successful… And it makes sense. Bonanno formulates this plan as a “sell” because when those holding the purse strings don’t understand their teacher librarian’s worth, it is up to the librarian to convince them of their value. Regardless – to ever truly make a difference and be of service, we have to know our value, have clear goals, and be successful.

Let’s put my misapprehensions about looking to wealth creation and individualistic success gurus for inspiration to one side though as we unpack the plan and how it might relate to teacher librarians striving to remain relevant in a changing education and information landscape.

1. Strength (thumb) – strength of character. Cultivate this by establishing your reputation. Blogging is a great tool for this! It is an online presence that give you and your ideas visibility

2. FOCUS (follow one course until successful) (pointer) – not always practical, but have some specific goals with measurable outcomes, and see them through. When you jump from one thing to the next, you won’t be able to effect change, or truly make a difference.

3. Brand (middle finger) – Bonanno also links this to standards: Teacher Standards, the General Capabilities, even just asking yourself and knowing “what do I stand for?”

4. Relationships (ring finger) – cultivate your relationships with those you are working for and with: teachers, students, school leaders. Adjust your language so you can link conversations back to the curriculum and capabilities (ACARA), the standards (AITSL), and the services and resources (ESA) and how you are supporting the students, teachers and the school to achieve these.

5. Little Things (little finger) – what are the little things you do at your school which no-one else does? It is here that Bonanno highlights the creative critical thinking capability. This is where a teacher librarian can shine by taking the lead in bringing in and supporting inquiry based learning structures, digital literacy etc.
(KB Enterprises, 2011)

The link to the five fingers is memorable for all learners – look at and hold each finger as you recite the plan. I’m not going to forget this, and I see myself designing plans around my health goals and personal projects, and over time using it to create a plan and mission for my future career as a librarian.

Please just don’t use the five-finger plan to try and take over the world!

KB Enterprises. (2011). A Framework to plan your future. https://www.kb.com.au/framework-plan-future/
Bonanno, K. (2011). A profession at the tipping point: Time to change the game plan [Video]. ASLA 2011. https://vimeo.com/31003940
Trump, D., & Kiyosaki, R. (2011). The Midas Touch: why some entrepreneurs get rich and why most don’t. Plata Publishing.

Reflecting on the role of teacher librarian: when I was a teacher

Scanning my memories of my brief teaching career for my understanding of the role of teacher librarian at that time has been… difficult. I’ve basically drawn a blank, and spent the last few weeks pondering.

As a prac teacher in a state secondary school in Brisbane, I recall my year 10 music class had a research assignment, and I ran a library lesson under my supervising teacher’s direction where they had an opportunity to explore resources the librarian had collected on the topic. This is my only memory of meaningful contact with the librarian at that school.

During my first year out in a state secondary school on the Gold Coast, I recall being physically present in the library for child protection training, and for a couple of lessons timetabled in the library. These memories are of the library as nothing more than a physical space, where non-library related activities were sometimes timetabled. It’s possible there was no librarian. If there was, I must have had some contact with them, however I spent that first year barely keeping my head above water. I never proactively sought out the library as a teaching resource. I don’t recall being given tips or encouragement to use the library, though my memory may be failing me.

After that, London, where, as a day-to-day supply teacher, I didn’t even know where the library was. Then three years in a school for teenagers with severe learning difficulties. No library there. I was the teacher on staff who took the lead with the new interactive whiteboards and then supported my colleagues to use them. I spent an inordinate number of happy hours researching, writing, collecting props, and making playlists for my outlandish and original sensory stories for my students with PMLD (profound and multiple learning disabilities). Both of these are activities I can now see may have been supported by a teacher librarian if I had had access to one.

Age and experience make me want to shake first-year teacher me. In those pre-Australian Curriculum days (which I like to call “choose your own adventure teaching”) I could have drawn on the librarian as a resource, and created inquiry-based library lessons early in my English and SOSE units (though as a green, one year-trained teacher in the late 90’s, I barely knew what inquiry learning was). With my developing ideas of what a teacher librarian can contribute, I find myself imagining what I would do as a teacher librarian to support a new teacher.

It has been since my time as a teacher that I have become more aware of the role of teacher librarian in schools, partly as a result of there being a visible and proactive TL working at my daughter’s school. I’m planning volunteer days working with her as I navigate my studies, as I want to get a sense of a variety of environments. The academic library is the setting which seems obvious for me based on my career to this point, but the more I learn about the specific work of the teacher librarian, the more curious and excited I become.

Thinking about information – Discussion Forum 2.1

Two things struck me as I considered the definition of information as part of my course readings this week:

  1. The nature of information as a saleable commodity, and
  2. The attributes of information – specifically that information is indivisible

Information as a saleable commodity

The first point interests me as my current job has me dealing in the sale of teaching and learning resources, and therefore information. I work for a major academic publisher, promoting texts and educational technology platforms to academics as tools to support the delivery of their courses, and training them in their use.

On telling acquaintances at social functions what I do, I have occasionally been openly criticised, with people complaining about the expense of textbooks for their child or partner who is studying. After explaining the lengthy and labour-intensive process of developing a textbook, carried out by a large team of highly qualified professionals and subject matter experts, I ask what my acquaintance paid the last time they bought a designer dress or handbag, and how they perceive the inherent value of that compared to the textbook which likely cost less. I see a contradiction in the value we place in certain resources and goods, with complex teaching and learning resources having become devalued.

Not all disciplines rely on resources such as I describe above, nor do students working at a postgraduate level, but for a first year nursing or medical student learning Anatomy and Physiology for the first time, or an accounting or economics student in their very first unit of study, a carefully organised resource presenting the fundamentals of that discipline, supported by quality revision tools, is essential. And costly. All of the information contained within such a textbook or course is freely available somewhere, but to source, select, curate and present it so that it aligns with specific learning outcomes is a major and costly undertaking – and someone has to pay. I am under no illusions about the profit motives of most academic publishers, however I do see a contradiction in the relative value ascribed by some to quality teaching and learning resources.

What do you think?

 Information as indivisible

One of the attributes of information described in the ETL401 module resources is Indivisible: ”Goods used as materials like electricity and water can be divided and used, but information can only be used when it constitutes a complete set.” (School of Information Studies, 2021)

descriptive

Photo by Jose M. on Unsplash

I would argue that it can be divided and used in discrete parts, and it often is. The question is whether it should be, and of critical importance is the danger of doing so, and of being duped by this practice. The definition does go on to say that when this happens, the information is transformed and becomes new information or misinformation. Helping to educate young people about the prevalence and danger of the division of information for the purpose of wilfully misinforming is one of the things which most interests me about the potential impact a thoughtful teacher librarian can have.

For some further reading on this topic, Andrew J. Hoffman in The Conversation discusses the prevalence of politicians practicing the division of information and the challenge it poses for academics: https://theconversation.com/when-politicians-cherry-pick-data-and-disregard-facts-what-should-we-academics-do-79101

This module has shown me how much more there is to learn about information and has highlighted important questions about how we communicate, learn, and use information. I am daily dealing directly with information as a saleable commodity, and there are many points of contention around this. As well as being a resource which can be costly, information is also enormously powerful, with much potential for dangerous misuse. Libraries play a critical role in relation to both these characteristics of information.  They bring what can be costly and valuable resources to the public at no cost (in a society where this is valued and facilitated – a topic for another blog post) and librarians in their capacity as educators can help people learn how to consume information critically.

School of Information Studies (2021). Module 2: The Information Environment [Subject Resources]. ETL401, https://interact2.csu.edu.au/webapps/blackboard/content/listContentEditable.jsp?content_id=_4194235_1&course_id=_55148_1