Every day I encounter staff who don’t understand the potential that lies in the library. They see libraries as a physical resource that is separate from the classroom environment, rather than an integral part of the teaching community where learning is at the centre (Herring, 2007). They need to be shown that libraries are spaces for integrated learning, where inquiry is at the heart of our practice (Todd, 2007). This is where an awareness of the role of teacher librarians is needed.

Image by Free-Photos from Pixabay

These same staff complain about students who are unable to conduct effective research and simply ‘copy and paste’ their work from the Internet. They know what they want students to be able to do, but they do not know how to help them to develop the skills to get there. It does not occur to them that a quality teacher librarian, doing their job, will be able to bridge this gap and help teachers to teach and students to learn (Purcell, 2010). This is where an understanding of Information Literacy is needed.

“I’d like to thank Google, Wikipedia and copy & paste” by patrickdevries2003 is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

And then they sit in the staffroom at lunch whinging to anyone who will listen about students who do not complete homework and sit staring at their computer screen achieving little despite having more than enough work to do. There is a lack of understanding that, just because young people today have grown up surrounded by technology and look as though they know how to use it, they don’t necessarily know how to use it effectively (Combes, 2009). I reflected on this in a discussion thread about information societies that can be accessed here (Kempinger, 2019a). This is where the impact of collaborative teaching using an inquiry learning design is needed.

Image by Free-Photos from Pixabay

So, what is my course of action moving forward? To start with, there will be an emphasis on promotion and the way that, as a teacher-librarian, I am in the unique role of being able to look at the school both vertically and horizontally (Purcell, 2010), meaning that it is easier to see the continuum of skills and how these can be supported. While I understand that I will become overwhelmed if I take on too much at once, on my to-do list for 2020 is to look at the humanities curriculum maps from years 7-12 to begin mapping the topics covered and skills required so that I can begin looking for opportunities to work collaboratively with classroom teachers to better prepare students for a life beyond high school that expects them to problem-solve and behave ethically (Lamb, 2011).

Image by mohamed Hassan from Pixabay

When it comes to deciding who to approach for collaboration, I will need to be careful to select a teacher with whom I already have a trusting relationship built on open communication (Haycock, 2007) because, even though effective collaborative cultures need diversity in order to look at situations from a range of perspectives (Fullan, 1999), it will be trust and communication that drive the collaboration.

Thanks to documents like the Alexandria Proclamation on Information Literacy and Lifelong Learning (2005), highlighting global dedication to the empowerment of all people by teaching the skills to find, evaluate and create information is easy. While there are many models for teaching information literacy, it is important that each setting finds a model that suits them. This is where I see a conundrum for my immediate future- I personally prefer a sociocultural approach to learning where students work in communities on topics that interest them (Farrell & Badke, 2015), but many teachers at my school favour a behaviourist approach as they can fit it into their current practice. For this reason, I will need to remember that different people within the school community will see information literacy from different perspectives and this means that I cannot do what I prefer, but need to factor in these differences if I want to have a positive impact (Bruce, Edwards & Lupton, 2006).

“Think positive – illustrations” by simona bonafini is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

So, if I revisit my first blog post (Kempinger, 2019b) I can see that I still have the same desire to be a driver for positive change, but I am now in a much better position to actually do something about it as I am armed with information that I have been able to experiment with in context, turning it into knowledge, which has power.

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

References:

Bruce, C., Edwards, S., & Lupton, M. (2006). Six frames for information literacy education: A conceptual framework for interpreting the relationships between theory and practice. Italics, 5(1). Retrieved from https://www-tandfonline-com.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/doi/full/10.11120/ital.2006.05010002

Combes, B. (2009). Generation Y: Are they really digital natives or more like digital refugees? Synergy, 7(1), 31-40. Retrieved from https://search-informit-com-au.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/fullText;dn=178236;res=AEIPT

Farrell ,R. & Badke, W. (2015). Situating information literacy in the disciplines: A practical and systematic approach for academic librarians. Reference Services Review, 43(2). Retrieved from https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/docview/1725782993?OpenUrlRefId=info:xri/sid:primo&accountid=10344

Fullan, M. (1999). Chapter 3: The deep meaning of inside collaboration. In Change forces – the sequel: The sequel, (pp.31-41). Retrieved from https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/csuau/reader.action?docID=237391&ppg=43

Haycock, K. (2007). Collaboration: Critical success factors for student learning. School Libraries Worldwide, 13(1), 25-35. Retrieved from https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/docview/57538522/195463D1D10D40CBPQ/1?accountid=10344

Herring, J. (2007). Teacher librarians and the school library. In S. Ferguson (Ed.) Libraries in the twenty-first century : charting new directions in information (pp. 27-42). Wagga Wagga , NSW : Centre for Information Studies, Charles Sturt University. Retrieved from  https://www-sciencedirect-com.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/science/article/pii/B9781876938437500028

International Federation of Library Associations. (2005). Beacons of the information society: The Alexandria Proclamation on information literacy and lifelong learning. Retrieved from https://www.ifla.org/publications/beacons-of-the-information-society-the-alexandria-proclamation-on-information-literacy

Kempinger, N. (2019a). Online access. Forum 2.2 . ETL401 Response in Discussion Forums. CSU. Retrieved from https://interact2.csu.edu.au/webapps/discussionboard/do/message?action=list_messages&course_id=_38048_1&conf_id=_74551_1&forum_id=_177141_1&message_id=_2632529_1&nav=discussion_board_entry

Kempinger, N. (2019b, November 28). Teacher or TL [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/kempinger/2019/11/28/teacher-or-tl-assessment-1/

Lamb, A. (2011). Bursting with potential: Mixing a media specialist’s palette. Techtrends : Linking research & practice to improve learning, 55(4), 27-36. Retrieved from http://web.b.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/ehost/detail/detail?vid=0&sid=0a84a319-9bd9-44be-9dc5-d7f547be53c1%40sessionmgr102&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#AN=60840783&db=a9h

Purcell, M. (2010). All librarians do is check out books right? A look at the roles of the school library media specialist. Library Media Connection 29(3), 30-33. Retrieved from http://web.b.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/ehost/detail/detail?vid=0&sid=60171d13-40cb-4fcd-9884-3a2bb1ac5710%40sessionmgr103&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#AN=EJ907292&db=eric

Todd, R. J. (2007). Evidence-based practice and school libraries. In S. Hughes-Hassell & V. H. Harada (Eds.), School reform and the school library media specialist (pp. 57-78). Retrieved from https://doms.csu.edu.au/csu/file/b84e4d87-0e09-4bd5-9dcb-023fe550270a/1/todd-r.pdf