Introduction
Prior to starting this course, my understanding of a Teacher Librarian (TL)’s role in schools was narrow, and focused primarily on the library space and maintenance of physical resources (McDonald, 2022, March 8). Since then, I have come to realise that effective TLs wear many hats and play an essential role in school learning communities through relationship-building, leadership and advocacy (McDonald, 2022, May 25).
TLs open the door to the physical library space for students and staff to read, relax, learn and inquire, but they also open doors in the digital landscape; modelling information literacy skills, supporting learning and connecting the community with quality resources. As Hill summarises, they oversee “places where the letter ‘C’ is key: create, connect, collaborate, communicate, care and change with [their] community” (2017, p. 29). Despite fear-mongering about an uncertain future for school libraries, I am excited to see that many school libraries are adapting to cater to evolving user needs and information trends (McDonald, 2022, May 28).
This semester, I completed my professional placement at Ruyton Girls’ School, which allowed me to apply my theoretical learnings so far. As I do not currently work in a school library, throughout this reflection I will refer to experiences and observations from this professional placement as evidence. Alternatively, I will outline future plans based on my developing understandings. The three themes that have captured my learning interest by inspiring and challenging me are: diverse collections, digital literature and inquiry learning.
Collection Diversity
I had never previously considered the complex process of selecting or managing appropriate collection resources in much depth. Throughout the introductory subject ETL505 Resourcing the Curriculum, I recognised the importance of developing a “learner-centred collection” which comprises resources that meet both user needs, community needs, and the broader teaching and learning context (Hughes-Hassell & Mancall, 2005, p. 35). I also learnt that TLs must strive to develop collections that are balanced, by presenting different perspectives on issues (Johnson, 2009). This is a challenging task because TLs must try to look past their own biases, as are they often the ones making decisions about which resources to purchase or provide access to (Johnson, 2018).
Many school libraries, such as Ruyton Girls’ School Library, express support for the Australian School Library Association (ASLA)’s School Library Bill of Rights. This Bill seeks to preserve the intellectual freedom of readers and ensure that school libraries offer collection resources that present different perspectives and representative of all people (ASLA, 2018, p. 1). In addition, the School Library Association of Victoria (SLAV) mandates that school libraries support learning communities by “managing and curating equitable, inclusive and diverse physical and digital collections” (2018, p.1).
In her notable essay, Rudine Sims Bishop shared the metaphor that books can be self-reflective mirrors, or they can be windows, “offering views of worlds that may be real or imagined, familiar or strange” (1990, p. 12). I have come to realise that collection materials of both kinds, windows and mirrors, are vital to library collections. Resources that are windows show readers a view of a life that is different to their own and are, arguably, more important than ever in our multicultural society, as they hold an underlying prosocial purpose.
I have also come to realise that there are certain minority voices that have, historically, not been heard, recorded, published or prioritised in library collections. In addition, there are some collection materials that cause harm by perpetuating offensive stereotypes, ideas or language. Even though some might argue that this is censorship or even ‘cancel culture’, it is an important issue as library users need to feel safe, included and represented in collection offerings (McDonald, 2022, May 20; Merga, 2022). I guess there needs to be a judgment call made as to whether controversial resources still have value for users and their needs. If not, texts that are blatantly discriminatory or pose a threat to a collection that celebrates diversity need to be weeded and removed (McDonald, 2022, March 3).
In Australia, this is particularly relevant to the inclusion of culturally safe Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander collection materials. It also means that libraries should be striving for collections that represent diverse perspectives, not just the Eurocentric viewpoint which has historically dominated library collections. During the Virtual Study Visit, Stephen Harris spoke about Bundaberg Regional Library’s ongoing efforts to decolonise their collection. In collaboration with First Nations consultants, they are currently working on decolonising the collection so that it is sensitive and respectful to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander users (S. Harris, personal communication, August 24, 2022).
I was curious to see how this would play out in reality, particularly in a school library setting. My placement at Ruyton took place in a transition phase for the Library. Due to an extensive building redevelopment project, the Library was temporarily located in a portable classroom. Most of the non-fiction collection and many other physical resources had been put in storage until the new building was ready, and a significant amount of the collection had just been weeded due to outdated content, condition or other deselection criteria outlined in their Policy Manual.
The Library team showed me that collection management is an ongoing process and spoke about the importance of continually evaluating the collection so that you can step back to get a holistic picture (McDonald, 2022, May 11). There are several quantitative and qualitative methods of collection analysis that can be used to evaluate school library collections, such as collection mapping or collection management software statistics (Johnson, 2018).
In the future, when I am hopefully working in a school library, it will be important to prioritise regular collection evaluation and deselection of resources. This has prompted me to consider questions such as: where are the gaps? Whose voices aren’t being represented? What other resources that function as either windows or mirrors, does this school learning community need It is important that minority perspectives always have a place on the shelves, both physical and virtual, and that TLs actively seek out resources that are culturally diverse and celebrate neurodivergence (Corrall, 2011). I have come to realise that collection management is a collaborative process, so it would also be worthwhile giving members of the community opportunities to raise concerns if a resource is inappropriate and recommend resources that truly celebrate diversity (McDonald, 2022, June 6).
Digital Literature
Literature is known, universally, to be the core business of Teacher Librarians, as they continually stack library shelves with high quality, physical reading material. Digital technology, however, is significantly impacting the literature landscape by expanding opportunities for multimodal texts that increase user interactivity and redefine the scope of traditional paper-bound books (Lamb, 2011; McDonald, 2022, September 5).
I had never previously given much thought to digital literature before studying ETL533 Literature in Digital Environments, and how these types of texts impact school library offerings (McDonald, 2022, August 16). To be honest, I didn’t even really know what digital literature was before completing this subject – I’d accessed some eBooks before, but did the term digital literature also refer to online comics? What about text-based films? What about video games where players made choices that changed the ending?
Throughout the subject ETL533, I learnt about and accessed many different types of digital literature, such as the eBook ‘Pop Out! The Tale of Peter Rabbit’, the enhanced eBook ‘Woonyoomboo the Night Heron’ and the landmark digital native or game-based storytelling series ‘Inanimate Alice’. I have come to realise that digital literature is complex to define due to its ambiguous, ever-changing and contested nature (Rowland, 2021).
In my opinion, digital literature is often not well understood by educators who may view it as inferior to traditional paper-based literature or are unsure of how to use it in the classroom. There are also significant debates about the benefits of digital literature (e.g. eBooks) such as if it has a place in classrooms, whether the benefits are comparable to students reading paper books, and concern about additional access requirements (such as charged devices, different file types and specific digital literacy skills) compared to picking up a physical book, just to name a few (Sadokierski, 2013).
The reality is that young people are increasingly using devices to access literature (Sargeant, 2015). During my placement at Ruyton Girls’ College, I was amazed to see how many students were using their devices to access digital texts. The Library team commented that digital literature became a priority during Melbourne’s COVID-19 lockdowns, when the physical doors of the school library closed. It has also continued to be a priority during the building redevelopment project, as the majority of the collection is in storage. Through a partnership with Mentone Girls’ Grammar School, students have access to the platform Sora where they can easily borrow eBooks, magazines and audiobooks. Teacher Librarians scaffold digital literacy skills, so that the students know how to search for relevant content, manage loan limits and make suggestions about new digital titles to acquire.
I have come to appreciate the benefits of incorporating digital literature into school libraries and classrooms. As Sadokierski (2013) states, “electronic books can do certain things that print books cannot, and therein lies their value.” Quality digital literature supports differentiation in the classroom, as students can read at their own pace, and supports multiliteracy learning (Yokota & Teale, 2014). Research suggests that learners who find reading challenging and those with specific learning requirements actually benefit from interactive texts that incorporate multimodal elements and enhanced navigation and usability options (Lamb, 2011).
This is not to say that digital literature should replace paper-based literature, but be presented to students side-by-side. It is imperative that students are exposed to a variety of different text formats, both print and digital resources, as school libraries ever-strive to equip students for the “new learning ecology of the twenty-first century” (O’Connell et al., 2015, p. 195). All students should have opportunities to participate in multimodal reading experiences.
As part of ETL533, we also used technology to create our own digital story. Inspired by Inanimate Alice’, I created an original interactive digital text titled ‘Head to the Treehouse’ using Canva, Google Slides and Google Forms. The process was so enjoyable, and I could immediately see how students would find it an engaging way of showcasing their learnings and developing their digital literacy skills. It would be fantastic to work with students in future to create their own digital storytelling texts. It would also be a great opportunity to model ethical digital technology use in the classroom, such as obeying copyright laws and how to source appropriate audio-visual content (Serafini et al., 2015).
Inquiry Learning
As a teacher, I have found a natural affinity with inquiry learning which focuses on problem solving and investigation (McDonald, 2022, May 9a). This is because my pedagogical stance is largely social constructivist, asserting that learning and knowledge are built in positive, social learning environments (Adams, 2016). Inquiry learning embodies this approach through its focus on asking questions, researching, making real-world connections, communicating understandings, and reflecting as part of an inquiry community (Lupton, 2014). This focus on questioning and seeking answers empowers learners to inquire into their own areas of interest. It also signals a departure from a traditional classroom setup where teachers are experts who verbally impart information to seated students.
Throughout ETL401 Introduction to Teacher Librarianship, I was introduced to some different inquiry learning models and information literacy plans that could be used in schools. The framework that appealed to me the most was Guided Inquiry Design (GID), as it is a practical model that facilitates both the “design and implementation of inquiry units” (FitzGerald, 2018, p. 19). Importantly, the GID process is the only inquiry model with an empirical basis (FitzGerald, 2021; McDonald, 2022, May 9b). Underpinning the GID is decades of student learning research, conducted by Professor Carol Kuhlthau, which has led to the conceptualisation of the Information Search Process (ISP) (FitzGerald, 2015). ISP, validated by numerous studies, depicts the information seeking process on a timeline of six stages, acknowledging researchers’ “thoughts, feelings and actions” (Maniotes & Kuhlthau, 2014, p. 9; Kuhlthau et al., 2012). Importantly, GID encourages a learning team approach through collaborations between classroom teachers and teacher librarians (Kuhlthau et al., 2015; McDonald, 2022, May 25).
In the two schools I have worked at, the library has not offered services to support teachers in implementing inquiry learning units. This is such a shame, because I think that the school library has so much to offer students in terms of inquiry learning and understanding the research process, and that teacher and TL collaborations are mutually beneficial. I have also come to realise that from an advocacy point of view, it is important for TLs to continually promote their services to staff and showcase the value that school libraries provide to school learning communities (McDonald, 2022, May 28).
During my placement at Ruyton Girls’ School, I saw the TLs working closely with Junior School Staff as part of their term-long Collaborative Learning Investigation (CLI) units of inquiry. For example, the Year 3 students were completing a CLI unit about personal health and wellbeing. In small groups, the students had picked different topics, were conducting research (such as interviewing parents, accessing databases and reading books), and producing podcasts to communicate their findings. I assisted the Library team in creating a LibGuides page with links to student-friendly videos, website content and collection resources. I also went with the TLs to visit the Year 3 classrooms to support students with their investigations. In particular, I saw the TLs launch a referencing and citation-creation platform called Citationsy, which the students embraced quickly. The collaboration between the Year 3 teachers and the Library Team was heartening and resulted in exciting student learning outcomes.
In the future, I would like to design and implement an inquiry learning model such as GID that is linked with subject curricula. While studying ETL401, I designed a GID unit for a Year 7 English and Humanities extension class, which was subsequently published on Lee FitzGerald’s website. As much as I enjoyed putting the learning and teaching materials together, I would love to give the unit a test run. I am curious to see how students find the process and what might need to be amended or approached in a different way for next time.
Reference List
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Image Source: Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash
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