The importance of librarians and teacher librarians and the difference they make.

In a previous post, I was musing on the perception of librarians by many of the general public. I am going to recall two conversations that I had recently with two very different people.  Just 2 nights ago, I was standing on the Nightcliff peer watching the sunset, with my friend Fran the nurse, who had started a new position at the hospital training graduate nurses in ICU. Fran needed to find some course material for her trainees and was having trouble finding what she needed. She proceeded to the RDH hospital library and though as a last resort to ask the librarian to help her. She not only found exactly what she needed for her trainees but received a lesson on research skills and using keywords for searches. Fran was so thrilled with the effectiveness of her newly found skills and what I was hearing seemed to ring so true. She even went as far as to say this librarian has made such a difference to how she will work and that she has made a new best friend.

The other person, was my 13-year-old nephew Jack, from Melbourne. I inquired about what he was reading and he went into quite a bit of detail about an author that he was really ‘into.’  I asked how he discovered this author, he said, our school librarian asked me a few questions about my interests and what I had enjoyed reading before. She returned with a book and said, ‘I think you will like this author!’ Jack said he wasn’t sure how she did it but now ‘I have to read everything that author has written.’ He said she has this uncanny talent of tapping into what students like. 

With these two accounts, I thought hard about our situation in the NT where TL or any librarian for that matter are no longer employed in schools. Many people connected to education equally value the role of the teacher-librarian but are at a loss to explain where they all went.

Where do I go next with this? Perhaps telling the good news stories or perhaps search for the quantitative evidence and data to support my arguments. Stay tuned….

Image- Photograph by author, Darwin sunset at Mindil beach.