Part B

At the beginning of my Resourcing the Curriculum journey I created the following flow chart of the Library Resource Decision Making Process, at the time I believed this very simplistic chart was effective in ensuring that a school library collection would be well resourced and met the needs of the school community.

Dunn (2019a)

Forum 1.1 began the development of my understanding of providing greater access to resources through a variety of different formats. The Shatzkin (2016) article allowed me to consider the importance of providing choice, through a variety of avenues including print and digital, for the patrons of the school library in order to eliminate geographical and access constraints when students require resources (Dunn, 2019b).

Throughout my journey, I have now developed a greater understanding of the importance of being an informational professional within the school community and advocating the role of the Teacher Librarian and the library as an essential learning common within the school. As stated by Giovenco (2019) “Teacher Librarians must prove their value in the school – it’s life and death as we see school libraries being shut down because of poor Teacher Librarian practice and the library not being seen as a valuable asset of the school”. Engaging with other participants discussion forums and blog posts has allowed me to gain a greater understanding of becoming an informational professional and to consider readings from a completely different view point and understanding – this is much the same as the discussions and ultimately decisions I may be faced with in managing a school library and having the insight to collaborate with others and to consider all possible alternatives and people’s ideas and criticisms and especially remembering that teachers – being subject experts, have valuable knowledge of their curriculum & students’ needs – when selecting and acquiring resources.

One of the most effective ways to ensure that Teacher Librarians are advocating their role as informational professionals within the school is to create, with collaboration of the patrons of the library, a Collection Development Policy. A working Collection Development Policy is a significant library document that is essential to a school library as it explains why the library exists, it reflects the library’s mission and the intentions for building its collections collaboratively. I use the word working as I see a working document as something that is constantly consulted, revised and updated to ensure that it is current and meeting the present needs and future challenges of the school community. A Collection Development Policy is a strong advocacy tool for the Teacher Librarian and proves the value of not only the library collection but also the value of the Teacher Librarian as the informational professional of the school. A Collection Development Policy, when written to a professionally high standard, highlights the importance of the Teacher Librarian in the school and how the Teacher Librarian can embrace and implement change. “The school can take the lead from the Teacher Librarian’s leadership, risk taking and capacity to think beyond the current practice”. (Giovenco 2019). This will move, as Wade (2005) stated, the library from a dodo bird to the phoenix it rightly deserves to be.

To stay current and to ensure that the library is future focused it is imperative, that I, as the informational professional of the school stay up to date and ahead of curriculum, technology and educational changes to ensure that the learning, curriculum and recreational needs of the patrons of my library are met now and in to the future. This was reiterated and really hit home to me when Giovenco (2019) stated that “as the information professional and informational practitioner of the school it is your job to keep up with what’s happening and to progress the learning practices in your school”. Through my continued studies and professional practice, I am looking forward to the challenge of being the informational professional and change agent in the role of Teacher Librarian – dragging my library from the dust, through the flames of change, to create and successfully manage the phoenix which will be our school library.

References

Dunn, B. (2019a, March 14). Library selection flowchart [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/bellid/2019/03/14/library-selection-flowchart/

Dunn, B (2019b, February 27). My views on Shatzkin’s writings. [Online discussion comment]. Retrieved from Charles Sturt University website: https://interact2.csu.edu.au/webapps/discussionboard/do/message?action=list_messages&course_id=_42383_1&nav=discussion_board_entry&conf_id=_78886_1&forum_id=_147529_1&message_id=_2128798_1

Giovenco, G. (2019, April 30). Meeting 3 – assessment 2. [Online meeting]. Retreived from Charles Sturt University website: ETL 503 Online meeting room (FOAE – SIS)_6-Adobe Connect.

Shatzkin, M. (2016).  Book publishing lives in an environment shaped by larger forces and always has. The Shatzkin Files. Retrieved from http://www.idealog.com/blog/book-publishing-lives-in-an-environment-shaped-by-larger-forces-and-always-has

Wade, C. (2005). The school library: phoenix or dodo bird? Educational Horizons, 8(5), 12-14.