Reflecting on the role of Teacher Librarians in Schools

During my time at the first school in which I worked permanently, I thoroughly enjoyed visits to the library and conversing with the library staff. I saw the role of the teacher librarian as a guide and mentor for students and teachers, especially when accessing resources of books, DVDs and other resources.

The role of the teacher librarian was and continues to be one in which the means of accessing information for learning is wide and varied in mediums. The teacher librarian I worked with helped provide access to DVD that were informative as well as introducing the staff to streaming recorded videos from Clickview (a now somewhat outdated program) and saw the change to Clickview Online (https://www.clickview.com.au/ requires subscription)which gave us greater access to videos that enhanced and supported student learning on many different subjects. Books remain a key source of information which we can utilise in the classroom and it was the role of the Teacher Librarian to collect, catalogue and monitor these resources. If you required a text, the library is the first place I would ask as they could check to see if they had the book available, they could also advise you if there were alternative books on the same subject. The Teacher Librarian was also the connection to the outside world of Libraries as they were able to borrow books from the public library or online libraries such as Trove (https://trove.nla.gov.au/ – which was temporarily unavailable at the time of posting this), in order for you to access the material/books you were seeking.

The role of the Teacher Librarian is not limited to working with books and information hubs. Teacher Librarians work with students to improve reading and literacy skills through the programs run by the library or alternatively workshops which focus on specific skills. I had the pleasure of working with the Teacher Librarian during one classes Accelerated Reader program which focused on providing all students the opportunity to engage with books of different levels and create an understanding. Students who did not enjoy reading had the opportunity to seek books on topics they had an interest in, they were not confined by subject matter. The energy and encouragement bought by the Teacher Librarian was outstanding and the encouragement and support offered to the teachers who were (like me) new to the program was inspiring. There was always an appropriate book found for a student. Being able to read a fictional book to students is a rare and unique opportunity for many high school teachers who are so often constrained by the curriculum and time limits imposed.

The Teacher Librarian also had the role of reviewing and storing assessment tasks. The Teacher Librarian reviewing assessment tasks prior to the students receiving them, was to ensure that the language used was accessible to all students in the year group the assessment was being given to. The review and storing of the task ensured that the Teacher Librarian would know what books and information the students would likely want and need access to in order to complete the task. The Teacher Librarian could advise the teacher as to the benefits of bringing the students to the library to view all the resources rather than the students relying solely on google searches. I thoroughly enjoyed talking and searching for resources within the library with the Teacher Librarian.