“A good budget manager doesn’t need to be a math whiz. Instead the person must be a collaborator, steward, and thinker.” (Lamb, A. & Johnson, H.L., 2012, p.2) Lamb & Johnson reminded me of the different roles of the TL as collaborator, steward and thinker.

In terms of the TL as collaborator, he/she needs to have good relationships with students, other teachers, and the school community. When TLs collaborate with the people in their school community, they can secure and allocate budget monies securely. (Lamb, A. & Johnson, H.L., 2012, p.2)

Lamb & Johnson (2012) define that the TL as steward is “a leader seeking a wide array of input, basing purchase recommendations and choices on sound needs identification, carefully monitoring and accounting for all expenditures, implementing and assessing the results, and communicating to the learning community.” (p.2) I learnt about many different aspects of the TL’s role as steward.

In terms of the TL as thinker, they are able to make use of the budget allocated to the library. However, Lamb & Johnson (2012) point out that TLs are also to “look for additional funding from other sources and help others spend their monies for media materials and equiptment.” (p.2) When the TL is a good thinker, he/she are able to manage the library budget effectively.

In conclusion, the TL should demonstrate the roles of collaborator, steward and thinker to manage the library budget efficiently. This is another challenge for me as a future TL.

Reference

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