Reading Time Online is a book recommendation blog site, with reviewers from a range of backgrounds with a true love of reading and a commitment to literature. The blog space is affiliated with the Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA) in the promotion of books and reading. The role of Reading Time is provide more insight into books for the general public who are searching for books appropriate for family members, as well as advising teachers with a selection of books that would contribute to their library collections or support the curriculum. Trish Buckley, editor of Reading Time and a TL herself, has been searching for ways to lift the profile of the blog for users. Her mission is to promote books and reading through recommendations.
Through her efforts Reading Time has built a community of readers-reviewers who provide well rounded recommendations for the users of the blog. By providing these reviews users are able to have a more comprehensive understanding of the book and their themes. This assists in finding the right book for the right time. Teacher librarians (TLs) are often called upon to have ‘in time’ resources to support the curriculum, Reading Time provides a scope worthy of explorations of literature to support teaching and learning. It also provides for the general public in finding the next great book for the child in their lives, it is an invaluable resource.
Reading Time wanted to boost their Search Engine Optimization (SEO) ratings, which means they wanted to be more accessible when users searched for books. This required a little more work to make their blog visible in Google. They also wanted to curate their collection of reviews into themes through tagging. This feature would potentially provide ease of use in a couple of ways. Firstly, through tagging itself. Each post has a number of interactive tags at the bottom of the review which allows the user to access a list of other recommendations of the same theme.
Reading Time (2020) tagging example.
Secondly, teachers can access the tag group for ‘Curriculum’ and select a specific theme relating to a topic they may be teaching. Similarly, those seeking a book to purchase for a loved one can access the ‘Themes’ group. They are not mutually exclusive, meaning both users can access each other’s’ intended tag group.
Reading Time (2020) Tag Group Clouds
The primary role of Reading Time is promote books promote books to the community. By being affiliated with CBCA Reading Time has a credibility in the Australian context for book recommendations. Also, by using an ‘affiliate programme’ with Booktopia they are able to make access to books that little bit easier for their user, while also receiving revenue to be able to post the books to their reviewers. This all in all is a humble, yet powerful Information Agency in the reading and literature world.
In ETL503, Resourcing the Curriculum, the value of deep knowledge of the curriculum became evident, early on. Understanding the curriculum, as well as their staff’s teaching and learning, the TL has “a holistic, ‘bird’s view’ of the school and the particular resource needs of staff, students and parents” (ACT Government, 2019, p 3). The knowledge and experience the TL strengthens professional collaborative relationships allowing for best practice in teaching and a richer learning experience for students. Reading Time’s editor, Trish Buckley, is a TL and her expertise along with the collaborative efforts with reviewers allows users access to recommendations from valued readers. This gives Reading Time users the opportunity to better understand of the literature based on the reviews, further better informing the TL to improve their services (Mathson, 2011). Through recent improvements on the Reading Time website, where reviews are now being curated by their themes and identified by relevant tag groups, users are able to locate a collection of books of like themes with a click of a button. This blog is an invaluable resource for those seeking the right book/theme for their curriculum, collection, personal reading or even a gift.
By having specific curriculum tag groups appealing to the users, teachers and TLs, are able to easily find a list of books that can support particular themes, units for richer teaching and learning experiences. As an Information Agency Reading Time provides TLs with detailed responses to literature, that supports the collaborative and resourcing work of the TL, The ‘Reader Response Theory’ (Mathson, 2011) and provides insight from Wolfgang Iser about the ‘Reading Process’(In Mathson 2011). This is where a reader responds to a text giving a perspective on the book that gives a richness add meaning beyond the title. This provides more knowledge of the book for promotion or inclusion. To users outside the school setting, Reading Time also caters to the general public of readers, through their search of recommendations of current books. Reading Time is an information platform that provides the users to locate books based on themes of interest. Through the tagging options they can find a whole list to complement their query – and even purchase the book through the website.
As discussed throughout ETL401, Introduction to Teacher Librarianship, the change to the role of the TL in 21st Century is dynamic and varied. In using Reading Time TLs can make more informed decisions about supportive literature to expand their knowledge of resources to in turn support the curriculum themes. Furthermore, throughout ETL504 in the context of Reading Time, as an Information Agency, supports the role of the TL as a leader. Lee and Twomey (2011) conducted a survey in Brisbane schools outlining the areas of Leadership of TLs. Outlining four key areas in their paper, three of these can be supported through the use of Reading Time in the collaborative leading nature of TLs, namely “Curriculum Leadership; Resource Development and Management; and Leading and Developing Collaborative Partnership” (Lee & Twomey, 2011, p11). Leadership comes through collaborative practice with classroom teachers in the planning process to ensure the resources address the needs of the teaching and learning (Hughes-Hassell & Mancall 2005, p66-67). Through Reading Time TL’s can further expand upon a wealth of knowledge of books relevant to collaborative planning of the curriculum, finding the right book at the right time and collection development with their community in mind.
Through tagging and theme grouping, on the Reading Time, website users can identify resources that align with Australian Curriculum concepts. With their affiliation with the CBCA and tags akin to subject headings found in School’s Catalogue Information Service (SCIS), Reading Time is a valuable resource for TLs. It is worthy to note that and there is a growth of digital resource being reviewed on Reading Time, which further supports resourcing in the digital age.
Promoting a love of reading will always be a key role of the TL, finding quality literature to read for pleasure, support curriculum and enhance teaching and learning experiences. Through leadership in collaboration, resourcing and curriculum Reading Time is tool to boost the TL’s expertise. This information agency will continue to assist TLs to promote resources to their school community and further to the wider community seeking advice in what to read next, supporting the idea the Hughes-Hassell & Mancall describe in their decision making process (2005, p 34). With their continued improvements Reading Time will connect their users to great literature to assist in collaborative planning and collection development.
As a teacher librarian I find meaning in all that I do – every book that pops up in my Good Reads feed has potential in my collection or supporting the curriculum. Early on in my degree I learnt the TL is a ‘Book Wizard’, hence the name of my blog, a finder of the right book at the right time, among other magic. This means we understand literature and its place in all aspects of the teaching life. So to work on the Reading Time website and assist in developing their collection of book reviews was quite exciting, in a very ‘book nerd’ way (and I’m not ashamed to admit it).
Through my placement, I found myself reflecting on my own learning as I progressed through the 10 day placement. While my task seemed fairly menial, it quickly became clear there was a lot more involved than even I anticipated. I drew on my collaborative skills and initiative to seek out more information about the how WordPress worked, and how best to select meaningful tags and tag groups for their website.
My task was to tag and group their titles in to themes so that users, both teachers and community, could locate like themed books with one phrase. At first I was a little concerned that I would knock it all over in the first week and would be searching for other tasks to fulfil. This was not the case, I realised very quickly there were aspects of WordPress, the Reading Time host that I was not familiar with. This required me to research tips and tricks, tutorials and so on – like any good researcher would – to upskill my knowledge of the website. Once I had a good handle on what I needed to do, I set out to further familiarise myself with the K-10 Australian Curriculum, which called me to reflect on what I had learnt in ETL503 about understanding planning and resourcing teaching and learning. I was also reminded of my skills I developed in ETL505, and furthered my familiarisation of the reviewed books by accessing subject headings through SCIS. I drew inspiration from my ETL504 to take some initiative to research and then advise on best practice for future proofing the website. In fact, the familiarity I felt around all my learning was touched on throughout my Professional Placement experience.
As a practicing TL I pride myself on my enthusiasm for collaboration. This led me to reach out to some experts in my Canberra community. I knew there had been some changes to the accepted language used with Frist Nation’s people and their culture so I had meaningful conversations with by educational department’s Indigenous Liaison officer about what language would be best practice. I then reached out the Belle Alderman, at the National Centre for Australian Children’s Literature, who assisted by sharing her database of books to aid in themes of books.
I have always been a kinaesthetic learner, meaning I learn best by doing, including learning from my mistakes. While I had admin access I was able to test a function in WordPress and undo it if needed. In the climate of Covid-19, my interpersonal/collaborative skills were challenged. While I work well as an individual, working from home, was a much less dynamic environment than I was used too and immediate collaboration with my supervisors. There was some unease around figuring out how I could be accountable for the work I was doing. Like life in a library, tasks can take a long time yet look simple on paper, I was worried I wouldn’t be able to articulate my progress. I sent daily emails outlining my success each day, and kept Trish and Anne in the loop – I knew they would reply if I were heading off on the wrong track.
Everything I learnt in my placement is transferable to my own TL and classroom practice. I can now provide professional support and advice to staff regarding class websites, encourage blogging, and develop my own teaching and learning experiences. Not only did I create my own shopping list for the school’s library collection, I have introduced staff to new titles to support and invigorate their curriculum, and promoted the use of Reading Time Online as part of sour selection process. In particular I have learnt more about Search Engine Optimization (SEO) rankings and how to improve them. Furthermore, I was able to interpret analytics of each post in Reading Time through Yoast (WordPress plug in) feedback, which I shared with Trish and Anne for their future development of the site. Overall, it was a great experience where I was able to learn new skills, develop existing ones, and consolidate more of my course learning than I anticipated. Reading Time while not traditional, is nonetheless an Information Agency to support school and reading community.
References
ACT Government Education. (2019). School libraries: The heart of 21st Century Learning.
Hughes-Hassell, S. & Mancall, J. C. (2005). Collection management for youth: Responding to the needs of learners. ALA Edition
Lee, M. & Twomey, M. (2011). The role of teacher librarians in networked school communities. In Access, 25(1), p 10-145). https://search.informit.com.au/fullText;dn=873905966129197;res=IELHSS
Mathson, S. M. (2011). Engaging readers, engaging texts: An exploration of how librarians can use reader response theory to better serve our patrons. Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal). 12 pages.
Talbot, K. (2020). The book wizard: One teacher librarian’s journey [blog]. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/kathytalbot/