TL Role – Portable Magic

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Module 5.1 Discussion: digital trends

On April 27, 2023

Working in a senior secondary public college, there is limited scope for embracing the latest trend in digital literacy or interactive media. A public school simply doesn’t have the funds, not is there space in the curriculum for much experimentation. With 30 weeks to teach 40 weeks worth of material and prepare students for exams, my experience has been not to get too clever. Working Padlet into my classes is about as inventive as I get.

What I do see is an increasing dependency on the mobile phone – not for learning but for distraction. Avoidance. There’s just so much going on in their lives, from relationship drama to sorting out a lift home to organising shifts at work. It’s hard to cut across that noise, so I’m not averse to integrating some form of digital learning – in the past I’ve tried student blogs, and creating memes, but these don’t have the same benefits of gamification, as described by Briggs (2016).

Their reference to the benefits of Minecraft in the classroom really highlighted for me the difference between what you can do in a primary school (or high school) setting, compared to a college. My son is in grade 6 and his teacher is using Minecraft almost every Friday morning to teach numeracy – but not just numeracy. Teams are given tasks, or challenges, to complete; doing so requires collaboration, maths skills and problem-solving, and then design and implementation followed by a reflection. Not only is my son super excited about being able to ‘play’ Minecraft with his friends in class, but he gets a chance to apply the learning in an engaging way.

Too often ‘engaging’ seems to mean ‘bells and whistles’, in digital device design. (There’s a nice bit of alliteration!) All those custom-made tablet-style devices for children, or the apps designed for them, seem to do little more than keep kids quiet. Some, like the ABC’s Reading Eggs (there’s also a maths version), are quite good at supplementing and consolidating more traditional classroom learning. The digital media mentioned by Springen (2011) are a lot more gimmicky than the publishers would like to admit. Which is why they haven’t ‘taken off’. There’s no substance to them. They’re not satisfying. You don’t get to sit with your thoughts, which we really need – our brains really need.

Photo by zhenzhong liu on Unsplash

Springen quotes several publishers as saying they don’t intend for digital media to replace print books; what’s not acknowledged is that young people are so distracted by shiny shiny, and getting so many dopamine hits from digital media/devices, that they’re not learning how to be present for a traditional book. It’s something that needs to be taught. My son’s primary school newsletter frequently includes messages about the importance of parents reading to their children from a young age, every. single. day. Digital media aims to free parents from this ‘chore’ and create a shortcut. But there isn’t one.

I’m generalising, of course. But that’s how we make a point. And my point is, it can’t be ‘digital media for the sake of digital media’. They’re not all equal. And just plopping a device in front of a kid doesn’t absolve adults from their responsibility to teach. There’s plenty of research on the benefits of print-based reading as opposed to digital, for learning comprehension especially (Delgado et al., 2018), as well as the potential harm caused by devices on children’s creativity (Ruder, 2019). Digital devices have a lot in common with TV shows like Cocomelon, which employs the same techniques to hook toddlers as poker machines do (Kosmas, 2022).

It must surely be about balance, and choosing digital media wisely and carefully. In terms of resourcing the library collection, I can see this being more difficult. Unlike books, Teacher Librarians can’t browse devices and apps with the same ease. And it’s not always obvious how a child will interact with it, or what exactly they will (really) learn. It will take a lot more work to research different digital media – and for teachers, more work to figure out how to integrate it in such a way that students actually learn something. They’re here to stay and so much has already changed; we do have a responsibility to teach children how to safely engage with and navigate digital and online spaces.

References

Briggs, S. (2016, Jan. 16). Using gaming principles to engage students. InformED. https://www.opencolleges.edu.au/informed/features/using-gaming-principles-to-engage-students/.

Delgado, P., Vargas, C., Ackerman, R. & Salmeron, L. (2018). Don’t throw away your printed books: A meta-analysis on the effects of reading media on reading comprehension. Educational Research Review, 25 (pp. 23-38). https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1747938X18300101.

Kosmas, S. (2022, Mar. 17). Cocainemelon: Why toddlers can get addicted to watching Cocomelon. Evie. https://www.eviemagazine.com/post/cocainemelon-why-toddlers-can-get-addicted-to-watching-cocomelon.

Ruder, D.B. (2019, Jun. 19). Screen time and the brain. Harvard Medical School News & Research. https://hms.harvard.edu/news/screen-time-brain.

Springen, K. (2010, Jul. 19). The digital revolution in children’s publishing. Publisher’s Weekly. https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/childrens/childrens-industry-news/article/43879-the-digital-revolution-in-children-s-publishing.html.

Censorship in the school library

By Shannon Badcock

On May 11, 2022

In Discussion forum, ETL503

Jacobson’s article on the SLJ Controversial Books Survey 2016 notes that, in America, the vast majority of challenges comes from the parents of school children.

This made me remember something about the American context, which I learned at a book industry expo in Toronto. At a panel on Young Adult books, when discussing style and content between Canada and the U.S., a Canadian author explained that publishers of YA novels are very conscious of and seek the approval of the Bible Belt mothers (this was some years ago, I’m paraphrasing here).

That is, the values of the more conservative Southern states can influence the books that get published, and what’s included in them, because those mothers are more likely to read the YA novels themselves before deciding if they’re ‘suitable’ for their children to read.

I found that very interesting and insightful, and while not all publishers (and not all books) are catering to this demographic, it still speaks to the power of the book-buying public (in this case, predominantly white Christian mothers).

I don’t think we have this ‘issue’ in Australia, and I think things are changing in America, too. But I have found that Australian YA is a lot grittier and more realistic than American YA (having read a fair bit). Jacobson mentions that John Green’s Looking for Alaska is frequently challenged; while I don’t like the book myself (I just think it’s not well written and is overly dramatic), it has the ‘gritty’ content lacking in so many other books. The Color Purple is also frequently challenged in American schools, I remember – especially as it’s so often taught there.

Here, now, I think there’s a new issue emerging: mental health. Social media posts often come with a “content note” or “content warning” or “trigger warning” – people want to talk about serious issues but they’re also more aware of potentially making readers’ mental health issues worse in the process. This could be a new area that prompts self-censorship, perhaps.

Last year I read (and loved) Grabriel Tallent’s novel My Absolute Darling. I gushed about it to my TL and we talked at length about the difficult subject matter that forms a key part of the protagonist’s coming-of-age journey. And it really is awful stuff. But our library – which serves Years 11 & 12 – also caters to the staff, and has no real age limits. Resource selection is carried out carefully but staff recommendations are readily catered for. We wouldn’t put, say, Fifty Shades of Grey on the shelves, but a novel dealing with rape/sexual abuse and coercive control is different.

And yet, I’ll admit I was nervous about this. Particularly when one of our school psychologists emailed me to alert me of the tricky content of this particular book – she knows better than me just what awful situations our students might be experiencing. The rates of anxiety are high at our school – partly due to it being a senior secondary college with many high achievers, and partly due to the high levels of support and openness that are being fostered in Australia now. ‘Wellbeing’ and ‘wellness’ are the new buzz words in education departments.

I’m interested in how much this awareness factors into self-censorship, or whether it’s simply absorbed into the idea of a ‘balanced’ collection: that there are many resources to guide and help etc (for instance, we have a whole section called “Life Guides” for books on sexual identity, mental health, stress and anxiety, wellbeing etc.).

References

Jacobson, L. (2016). Unnatural selection: More librarians are self-censoring. School Library Journal, 62(10), 20-24

Weeding: Benefits & Challenges

By Shannon Badcock

On May 9, 2022

In ETL503, Module activity

[Module 5: Evaluating Collections]

Why weed? The benefits:

A key purpose of the library collection is to provide relevant and useful information and ideas in accessible formats to the staff and students of the school.

Yet, information becomes out-of-date, resources become old and unappealing, interests change and so do the available formats. In order to keep the school library collection engaging, current (as relevant), reflective of the community and curriculum (debmille, 2011), and in good condition, it is important to undergo the process of weeding as regularly as time and staffing allows.

More specifically, weeding is beneficial for the following reasons:

What to Weed: Subjective Weeding Criteria: • Poor physical condition • Poor format • Poor content • Inappropriate for co...

(debmille, 2011, slide 6)

CREW lists the six benefits of weeding as:

space saving
time saving
improve the collection’s appeal
enhance the library’s reputation
keep up with collection needs
constant feedback on the strengths and weaknesses of the collection

(Larson, 2012, pp. 15-16)

In Rebecca Vnuk’s book The Weeding Handbook (2015), she outlines several benefits to weed the library collection:

To free up shelf space (p. 1)
To increase your knowledge of what’s in the collection (p. 1)
To purge outdated materials (p. 2)

Jennifer LaGarde’s blog post “Keeping your library collection smelling FRESH” (2013) specifies some excellent reasons for weeding the school library collection:

Old resources can include misinformation
The quality of the text and visual can be poor
Older texts can be so unappealing, students don’t want to try them
The content may be so out-of-date that it includes offensive stereotypes, outdated language and concepts – good as a teaching resource, but not reflective of the diversity of the cohort or inclusive or equitable
A dated, tatty collection makes the whole library seem dated and tatty, which is off-putting

Similarly, her “F.R.E.S.H.” poster – a guide for what to weed – can be interpreted as reasons to do so.

The collection should foster a love of reading
It should reflect the school community’s diverse population – each student should be represented
It should reflect an equitable world view, a variety of perspectives and “encourage global connections” (not be insular, inward-thinking, or foster an attitude of superiority)
It should support the courses offered at the school
The resources in the collection should be of high quality.

Weeding the collection ensures that it meets these standards. To do it in such a way as to avoid complaints or challenges, the New Zealand National Library (n.d.) stresses the importance of selecting (and sticking to) criteria for weeding. These criteria would be context-specific, and can be adapted from the benefits, above.

For instance, regarding the quality of the text, a criterion could be “the item is in poor condition”. Your library’s policy could expand on each criterion to provide specifics or examples – in this case, “the item is tatty, has poor/weak binding, is missing pages, has food or drink stains, is badly creased or dog-eared, is beginning to smell (e.g. from a breakdown of the resin/glue used in the binding).”

The challenges:

Vnuk (2015) says that while for many, ‘purging’ or weeding the library collection of unwanted, out-of-date, and worn-out books seems to go against the role of the librarian, it in fact lies at the heart of the TL’s role, as expressed by “S. R. Ranganathan’s Five Laws of Library Science: Save the time of the reader and The library is a growing organism.” (p. 2) Still, it can be hard to throw out books when so many librarians are drawn to the role partly from a love and/or appreciation of them. There are many ‘what ifs’, most especially:

What if I weed it and then someone needs it?

Another challenge might be the library’s budget: does the library have the funds to replace what is weeded?

Thirdly, there’s the challenge of deciding who is responsible for the job (Vnuk, 2015, p. 3). This needs to be spelled out in the collection development policy, along with the weeding criteria, timeframe/frequency, and what do to with the weeded books.

Which brings us to the fourth challenge: what to do with weeded books. The National Library of New Zealand (2014) has some useful suggestions in their video. Discarding books would need to be decided on a case-by-case basis. You can discuss literary books with English teachers to get their input, and any that they feel may appear on a future text list can be re-categorised and placed in the Stacks.

Duplicates could find a home in a classroom, as can books that haven’t been checked out in over 10 years. Many can be donated to the school fair’s book sale table, or similar. But those that are grungy and falling apart will need to simply be thrown out (unless the Art teachers want some for a project? Always good to ask around!).

References

debmille. (2011). Weeding not just for gardens [Slideshare]. http://www.slideshare.net/debmille/weeding-not-just-for-gardens

Larson, J. (2012). CREW: a weeding manual for modern libraries, Austin, TX: Texas State Library and Archives Commission. https://www.tsl.texas.gov/sites/default/files/public/tslac/ld/ld/pubs/crew/crewmethod12.pdf

LaGarde, J. (2013, October 1). Keeping your library collection smelling F.R.E.S.H! [blog post]. The adventures of Library Girl. https://www.librarygirl.net/post/keeping-your-library-collection-smelling-f-r-e-s-h

National Library of New Zealand, Services to Schools. (n.d.) Weeding your school library collection. https://natlib.govt.nz/schools/school-libraries/collections-and-resources/weeding-your-school-library-collection

NationalLibraryNZ. (2014, March 30). Weeding your School Library [Video]. YouTube https://youtu.be/ogUdxIfItqg

Vnuk, R. (2015). The Weeding Handbook: A shelf-by-shelf guide. Chicago, ALA Editions. https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/CSUAU/detail.action?pq-origsite=primo&docID=4531556

Budget Proposals & School Library Funding

By Shannon Badcock

On May 3, 2022

In ETL503, Reflection post

[ETL503 Module 3 – Accession and Acquisition]

Should teacher librarians have the responsibility of submitting a budget proposal to fund the library collection to the school’s senior management and/or the school community? Or should such proposals come from a wider group such as a school library committee?

Submitting budget proposals should absolutely be the responsibility of Teacher Librarians – but many schools do not have one. Sometimes another teacher is given the role of Library Manager, in which case the responsibility is best handled by them.

This is because the school library staff are in the best position to have oversight of resources and to coordinate between departments. TLs are ‘collaborators’, ‘thinkers’ and ‘stewards’ (Lamb, 2012): they are not lone operators but need to consider the needs of the whole school in managing the library budget. As Lamb et al say, the school is a community, made up of a diverse mix of stakeholders, from students to maintenance staff, and the library is there for all of them.

As collaborators, the TL or Library Manager prepares a budget proposal that considers the input from senior staff (through senior staff meetings); the whole school focus (pedagogical frameworks such as ‘retention and attainment’, or ‘wellbeing’); input from Learning Area Leaders (ASTs), who represent teaching staff in various departments; and students themselves – their needs both in terms of structured learning and recreational reading/viewing.

Being a successful ‘steward’ of the budget, the TL/s work closely with the Library Technicians to keep track of purchases and where money is being spent through Excel spreadsheets that can keep running totals. This is extremely important because the data acquired from this helps the TL in writing their budget proposal for the next year. For example, if the school library spent $3000 on eResource subscriptions, and has the data to show the resources were used well, this data can be used to ask for a budget increase in order to cover a validated expense, or if the subscription cost increased.

‘Thinking’ of the whole school is key: the TL is a service provider, not a dragon hoarding gold that it won’t share with anyone, and the library is no out-of-touch place where there are no useful resources available to meet the needs of staff and students.

Submitting a budget proposal is just one element of this whole process; without the TL’s involvement, other staff lack the control necessary to make good decisions, and have no real incentive to collaborate or acquire resources wisely (expanded on below). Being accountable for the money is evidence of a respectful, trusting relationship between the TL and senior staff.

Outsourcing it to a library committee may be necessary if there is no TL, or the teacher in charge is new and/or inexperienced – having colleagues to bounce ideas off and discuss budgeting issues is very confidence-boosting.

Is it preferable that the funding for the school library collection be distributed to teachers and departments so they have the power to determine what will be added to the library collection?

In short: no.

As mentioned above, it creates a situation where the money isn’t spent wisely; duplications occur; and inefficient and poor quality purchasing decisions are made.

The school library is ideal for centralising whole school acquisitions, via the library management system (e.g. Symphony/Workflows) or “Integrated Library System” (National Library of New Zealand, n.d.), so that the school can accurately track exactly what resources have been acquired (this is especially the case for AV and ITC equipment, and those needed for the Art and Media departments, such as cameras and lighting gear).

What is more important is for the TL to collaborate with teachers and departments so that the library is adequately resourced with current, good quality resources. Staff should always feel able to request a text, and it is the TLs role to accommodate and make it happen. This, also, is justification for the TL or library manager having control and oversight of the library budget – with an annual report covering expenses and usage.

So in a way, they do have that ‘power’, already – but it is the library staff who can check whether the school already has the resource (which happens quite often), find a good edition or version of the resource at a good price, and catalogue it so it can be tracked and accounted for.

References

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

National Library of New Zealand. (n.d.). Services to schools. Assessing your school library collection. https://natlib.govt.nz/schools/school-libraries/collections-and-resources/assessing-your-school-library-collection

The TL’s role in selecting resources

By Shannon Badcock

On March 20, 2022

In ETL503, Reflection post

Image by Nino Carè from Pixabay

As an English teacher in a Tasmanian senior secondary college, collecting resources is a task that oftentimes subsumes me. Every TV show or film I watch, or advert I come across; every song I hear and news article or book I read, part of my brain is thinking, “Oh this would be great for my lesson on X.” I am constantly collecting resources, but they’re just for me, for my style of teaching and with each comes an idea of how I’d use it. Some things, when they work, I share with colleagues, and they share with me, but it’s very subject-, module- and text-specific.

The teacher librarian’s role is quite different. The TL must think much more broadly when selecting resources, with the whole school community in mind. They can’t privilege one subject area over others, or one group of people over others.

Other things that the TL must factor in include

budget constraints
usefulness of the resource and its relevance to the curriculum
age appropriateness
current pedagogy
accessibility

Most importantly, teacher librarians must collaborate with classroom teachers. There’s no point collecting resources for a subject area without guidance from the teachers. There are some resources that a TL might discover that are a perfect fit, that they would then share with the subject teachers, but as a subject teacher I know that a resource is no good to me if I don’t know what to do with it, or it doesn’t help me teach a specific idea.

The library needs to be relevant, and to stay relevant involves open communication between TLs and subject teachers as well as staying abreast of current events. As a senior secondary government school, our library stocks a wide range of material on ‘controversial’ topics because our curriculum focuses on developing students’ critical thinking skills. These topics are not just ones in our courses but also ones that many of our students are genuinely interested in learning about. There isn’t much that our TLs feel the need to censor.

It’s not just teachers that inform the selection of resources, though, but also the students themselves. Part of the mission of TLs is to develop and/or improve literacy standards and foster a love of reading (whether that be print, electronic or audio books, fiction or non-fiction). A school library is far more than a resource collection for staff. Engaging students in the selection process is one way to make the library relevant to them. One of our students has started borrowing books after seeing Netflix adaptations; she told us that she hadn’t read a book since grade 9 but is now flying through them. We are not only ensuring we have a selection of such texts but are planning a display of them too – adaptations are a good way of hooking new readers into the original texts.

When it comes to the final say on selecting resources, the word of the teacher librarian carries some weight. This is because of their understanding of copyright laws, which might prohibit the school from acquiring or using some resources; their knowledge of current pedagogy which they are required to stay abreast of (let’s face it, we all know some classroom teachers whose practice is a bit out-of-date); and of the school as a community.

According to my school’s ‘Collection Development Policy’, “it is the job of the Head Teacher/Librarian to have the final decision on the purchase of resources.” It also says that the “head teacher-librarian has responsibility for final say in the acquisition of print and electronic resources.” The policy statement sets out that the library “is the ‘management hub’ for all teaching and learning resources in the College”, and the ‘Materials Selection Policy’ states that

“[i]t is the primary objective of the College library to support the implementation and enrichment of the educational programs of the College. Materials are selected to serve both the breadth of the curriculum and the needs and interests of the students and teaching staff. It is the duty of the College library to provide a wide range of materials on all levels of difficulty, with diversity of appeal and the presentation of different points of view.”

I know from my own experiences that teacher librarians will go above and beyond to help classroom teachers find the best resources possible.

Mindset challenges for collaboration in a school environment

By Shannon Badcock

On May 2, 2021

In Discussion forum, ETL401

Discussion forum 4.2.

I asked my husband, who teaches in a small, low-SES primary school, about collaboration and he expressed a view that is wide-spread: I don’t share because I don’t get any credit for my work (paraphrased).

To review what the barriers to successful collaboration really are, the top of the pile is this:

We don’t really understand what it means to collaborate or how it could benefit us or our students.

We think it’s just about sharing resources. We confuse it with the other, closely-related terms identified by Montiel-Overall (2005, p.25): networking, coordination, cooperation and partnership. Each is valuable and necessary but they probably don’t involve the shared thinking that she identifies as an important first step in the collaboration process.

The second key barrier is this lack of acknowledgement and recognition felt by most educators. That no one sees what we do, our successes both big and small, or appreciates the time, effort and personal expertise that we put into our work. The paradox is that, we are so caught up in the idea that no one recognises our expertise (Gibson-Langford, 2008, pp.32-3) – our ‘personal mastery’, as Senge (2007) calls it – that we can become blind to other people’s areas of expertise.

When we are time-poor and beset on all sides by more and more demands, both administrative and curriculum-based, and there’s no structural support for yet another professional development ‘requirement’ that feels and sounds like just another fad (teachers are skilled at looking and sounding compliant with the latest top-down initiative while knowing that in a couple of years it will be forgotten and the school will move on, so what’s the point in expending energy you don’t have?), we feel that ‘collaboration’ is the enemy. This perspective is based on the lack of conceptual understanding mentioned above, and a very clear understanding of the realities of teaching, at any level. At some schools, especially primary schools, teachers in a grade level are told what to teach and how in their ‘professional learning communities’ (PLCs); the school culture is a cohesive one with rigorous standards for teachers and students alike, but there’s arguably little to no creativity.

They say that real change (or revolution!) comes from below. The people have to want it, and drive it. In a school setting, senior staff need to be in touch to see what’s going on and support it, but as soon as it becomes a directive, it will be sure to fail.

Others have already mentioned it of course, but I agree that it needs to start with one receptive teacher. And because of the misunderstandings of what collaboration actually entails – the misinformed belief that it is simply sharing resources from which others can benefit while you receive no credit – it would be important that the TL does not call it ‘collaborate’ at first. Maybe after, when reflecting and assessing how it went with the colleague teacher, but not when initiating it. It needs to be disguised so that the jaded classroom teacher doesn’t shift into cynical, resistant mode. It can’t be forced, it needs to be organic, growing from an informal conversation (as described in some of the readings).

As a classroom teacher (I work one day a week in the school library, as support for the two TLs and the students, and to learn the job), I can honestly say I didn’t understand what ‘collaboration’ meant, and I know from my experiences and conversations with others, that no one really does. Spenge (2007) describes structural change, a shared vision and rethinking ‘mental models’ (p.8) as a means for empowering employees at all levels and driving up corporate successes. I can’t help but feel that the school environment is a bit different, that the types of people attracted to teaching are already the ‘lone ranger’ types. And, ironically, teachers themselves tend to have fixed mindsets and be resistant to learning new things. We’ve all observed it, even in ourselves.

So I would argue that it is really important for the Teacher Librarian to understand these mindsets (and I think they already understand it, better than anyone!), and keep this in mind when approaching teachers. As Karen Bonanno said in her speech at the 2011 ASLA conference, “A profession at the tipping point”, the idea is to find the one teacher in the school who wants to work with you and build on the success from that collaborative partnership. As a TL I plan to invite myself (via the Learning Area manager) to LA meetings in each department, not only to find out what’s going on but also to get a sense of who might be receptive to collaboration.

Because there’s no doubt that great things can happen when we want it.

References

Bonanno, K. (2011). A profession at the tipping point: Time to change the game plan. https://vimeo.com/31003940.

Gibson-Langford, L. (2008). Collaboration: Force or forced, Part 2. Scan, 27(1), 31-37

Montiel-Overall, P. (2005). A theoretical understanding of teacher and librarian collaboration, School Libraries Worldwide, 11(2), 24-48.

Senge, P. (2007). Chapter 1: Give me a lever long enough … and single-handed I can move the world. In The Jossey-Bass reader on educational leadership, 2nd ed. (pp.3-15)

The role of the Principal and the TL

By Shannon Badcock

On April 25, 2021

In Discussion forum, ETL401, Reflection post

Photo by Aleks Dahlberg on Unsplash

Module 3.3.

In most areas of employment, a need is identified, management agree that staffing for that gap is important, and someone qualified (hopefully) is employed to meet that need. Their job description is clear, they fit into an established staffing structure, they have a clear product to produce, and they understand the markers against which their job performance is evaluated. That is to say, ideally everyone in the business or department knows what that person does, the work they produce, who they answer to and the value they add.

Not so the teacher librarian (TL). The role is an old one that has carried through to the present and people are struggling to remember why it was created in the first place when the present looks so very different. It’s not even that teacher librarians have failed to make themselves relevant; rather, assumptions about librarians as “the stereotypical school marm librarian, shushing students and checking out books, oblivious to what’s happening in education and the politics that drive major educational priorities and funding” (Kachel, 2017, para.2) persist. This stereotype popped up in more than one article in Module 3 (Kachel, 2017; Kuon, 2012; Lupton, 2016), and it completely resonated. It felt familiar, because I have absorbed it too: A stern older woman wearing glasses and a “twin-set” (Lupton, 2016), who spends all her time amongst dusty books, glaring at students who start whispering to each other, and is completely unapproachable. When you think about the typical age of school principals, this may well have been the librarian they remember from their childhood: the dragon. Our biases (ingrained assumptions which influence our decisions and opinions) are often invisible to us but may result in teacher librarians being marginalised, overlooked and considered irrelevant. The good news is that TLs can do something about it.

A 2011 Australian Government inquiry found that the TL “was seen as a poor performing teacher who had been placed in the Library to remove them from the classroom” and that they were stereotyped as the “dragon in pearls who guards books” (Lupton, 2016, p.49). In a 2016 study of principals’ perceptions of teacher librarians in Queensland, it becomes clear that even principals aren’t always sure what the role of the TL is (Lupton, 2016, p.52), or their value to the school, especially in improving student achievement (Lupton, 2016, p.53).

A 2013 survey of teacher librarians’ contribution to student literacy development in Gold Coast schools reported a mostly positive perception of principals on the role of the TL (Hughes, 2013, p.41). Principals could see that ‘literacy’ had evolved into something multi-faceted and that TLs can work not only with students but other teachers as well (Hughes, 2013, p. 45). 93% of principals in the survey considered the school library to be “necessary” and a positive influence on student literacy development (Hughes, 2013, p.48) – the results were higher for non-government schools, which typically invest more in their libraries and TLs. Hughes notes that six of the government schools in the survey did not have a TL (Hughes, 2013, p.48). The principals recognised a need for more funding, in particular for support staff and technological resources.

So it seems that, while the myth of the librarian-as-dragon persists, many principals do see value in their teacher librarians – though “the contextualised nature of the role points to one of the problems with the profession, that it is that the value of the teacher-librarian as an individual seemed to outweigh the value of the role per se.” (Lupton, 2016, p.57) While this is a bit concerning it’s hardly surprising: teaching is a personalised, stylistic profession and there are no definitive ‘answers’ or ways of doing things (it’s an established understanding at my school that you can’t teach someone else’s lesson: we each have our own style of teaching and the thought-processes behind it are very individual).

Ultimately, principals value five ‘themes’ in their teacher librarians, according to Lupton’s survey:

TLs provide value-for-money, as they are teachers first, librarians second;
TLs provide a broad perspective because of their management, whole-school/holistic position;
TLs can give valuable advice and provide ideas to other staff;
TLs provide leadership in ICT; and
the qualities of teacher-librarians – their skill set and professional disposition – are valued (Lupton, 2016, p.52)

Earlier, Hughes’ (2013) survey of Gold Coast principals found that TLs were perceived as effective contributors to student literacy development (pp.43-4); managers and leaders in literacy (p.45); and flexible and collaborative (p.46).

But perception is key to the survival of the teacher librarian because so much of their work is done in the ‘wings’, rather than centre stage. Haycock (2007) believes that collaboration with other staff is vital, and this is echoed across other articles. Todd (2012) notes that for the school library to be recognised and appreciated as “a pedagogical centre” (p.30) , TLs need to see themselves as co-teachers (p.31) – echoing Lupton (2016) who found that principals valued TLs as teachers first. Because they are managers of school libraries, TLs must therefore collaborate with other teaching staff. The difficulty with this is less about time (Haycock, 2007, p.31) and more about other “teachers’ attitudes prevent[ing] instructional collaboration” (Haycock, 2007, p.31). To overcome any issues with finding the time to collaborate, the best results were found when there was flexible scheduling (Haycock, 2007, p.31). More importantly, issues with normalising collaboration – as an expected part of the profession – comes down to the support of the principal.

It feels like a cycle: to be valued by the principal, TLs need to collaborate with other staff. In order to collaborate with other staff, principal support is probably needed. However, becoming valuable to the principal starts even earlier, and because it’s just one person (as opposed to many teachers), it’s a much less daunting prospect.

Mark Ray (2013) identifies several key things that TLs can do to ensure a strong, mutually-beneficial relationship with the school principal:

Seek out win-win opportunities (use the library to help the school meet its ‘vision’).
Give before you receive (find out what your principal needs, then help them).
Bridge the gap (collaborate).
Identify successes (share the positive things you see in the classroom that teachers and other staff are doing)

This is a clear strategy involving the occasional conversation with a busy principal who may feel that the TL is unnecessary window-dressing at the start, but who will come to see you as indispensable. I’m tempted to use a Holmes-and-Watson analogy but it doesn’t quite fit.

Likewise, Debra Kachel (2017) has a similar strategy for increasing your influence with the principal, which boils down to two, very doable points:

Research what your principal cares about (this is similar to Ray’s first point), whether it’s a ‘hidden agenda’ or clearly stated on the school website. Kachel also suggests getting to know the principal’s interests and background, as a way to make a connection
Change the conversation: “instead of telling the principal what’s happening, ask the principal what he or she wants to happen” (p.51) – this is akin to Ray’s second point (above). The point of this is to make the school library an integral part of the school mission at all levels. Which makes a great deal of sense.

In 2011 Karen Bonanno presented a ‘five fingered plan’ for ensuring that Teacher Librarians are recognised and valued by the whole school community. The ‘five fingers’ consist of:

Thumb: strength of character (establish pre-eminence, an online presence, bring expertise)
Pointer finger: F.O.C.U.S. (follow one course until sucsessful: have a goal, assess outcomes – don’t take on too many goals all at once)
Middle finger: brand (what you, the TL, stand for; involves all ‘fingers’)
Ring finger: relationships (circle of influence. Focus on working with those people who want to work with you)
Little finger: the little things that count (your ‘elevator pitch’: what you do that others don’t but make it about them, not you – this makes you indispensable to other educators and the principal, rather than sounding like you only care about your own interests which may not align with the school’s).

Overall, it comes down to the teacher librarian as a professional educator with a broad set of skills whose role encompasses the school as a whole: all staff, students, community stakeholders; and multiple facets: information literacy, information management, leader, collaborator, resourceful. Ultimately, the role must fit the school: you the TL must fit the school environment, but also bring about positive change. You can help shape it in beautiful ways, precisely because you’re across the whole environment.

References

Bonanno, K. (2011). A profession at the tipping point: Time to change the game plan. Australian School Library Association conference, Vimeo, https://vimeo.com/31003940.

Haycock, K. (2007). Collaboration: Critical success factors for student learning. School Libraries Worldwide, 13(1), 25-35.

Hughes, H. (2013). Findings about Gold Coast Principal’s views of school libraries and teacher librarians. Chapter 8, School libraries, teacher librarians and their contribution to student literacy development in Gold Coast schools. Research report.

Kachel, D. (2017). The principal and the librarian: positioning the school library program. Teacher Librarian 45(1). Pages 50-52.

Kuon, T., Weimar, H. (2012, September). How does your boss see you? School Library Journal, 58(9), 36.

Lupton, M. (2016, January). Adding value: principal’s perceptions of the role of the teacher-librarian. School Libraries Worldwide, 22(1). Pages 49-61. https://doi-org.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/10.14265.22.1.005

Ray, M. (2013, January 31). Making the principal connection. School Library Journal. https://www.slj.com/?detailStory=the-same-difference-mark-ray-asserts-that-principals-and-librarians-have-a-lot-more-in-common-than-you-might-think-and-he-should-know

Todd, R. J. (2012). School libraries as pedagogical centers. SCAN, 3(3), 27-36.

Are school librarians an endangered species?

By Shannon Badcock

On April 19, 2021

In ETL401, Reflection post

They shouldn’t be, but I can’t escape the feeling that they are.

Still, hearing that the public and even the government considers TLs to be an “invisible profession”, and that even the publisher Scholastic referred to TLs as an endangered species, provokes an instant flare of indignation, rage even.

Context is everything: most government schools in Tasmania do not have a full- or even part-time teacher librarian on staff. They’re simply not funded, and are therefore low in priority when principals allocate school budgets.

Despite the fact that successive state governments claim Tasmania’s low literacy and numeracy levels are a high priority.

The ACER review of 11-12 education in Tasmania includes a submission from ALIA/ASLA Tasmania which reported that

increasing numbers of students enrolled in pre-tertiary and vocational subjects […] are not reaching adequate standards
for requirements with study and research upon entry to those subjects, such as:

• many students entering Year 11 are not confident in using traditional ICT productivity
software [eg Office 365/email/word-processing/presentation styles, image manipulation or
spread-sheeting data]; and
• many students do not have the knowledge and skills in using online libraries and their
gateways to networked database subscription services that are critical requirements for
research at this level.

Increasingly, students report that they did not have exposure to formal library programs or pathways planning in Years 9-10 to provide that scope or sequencing or transitioning of the teaching
of information skills and the acquisition of digital literacy.

It also notes that only 8 government high school libraries are staffed with a teacher librarian, and most of those have other teaching loads. The majority are staffed by library technicians or library aides, including district and remote schools connected to LINC (Libraries Tasmania) as a community hub.

This is in direct contrast to independent and Catholic sector schools, which take pride in their school libraries as “a symbol of the institution’s commitment to managing information for knowledge and learning” and are “sources of achievement of the social capital to the school community, a tangible indicator of the parent-giving, levies and they contribute to competitive edge with like-schools or colleges.” (ACER Review, 2016) The school library, and qualified teacher librarians, become focal points for class-based education and the controversial funding model employed in Australia.

In addition, research has found that school NAPLAN scores were significantly below the median in schools without a qualified teacher librarian. And yet still, there are no moves to permanently staff school libraries with TLs in Tasmania.

So it sounds like the onus in on TLs, where they do exist, to work even harder to prove a connection between student outcomes and libraries (because the research already out there doesn’t count, apparently). Karen Bonanno’s 2011 speech at the ASLA conference, as well as her 2015 article “A profession at the tipping point (revisited)” provide some encouragement. And TLs are nothing if not resourceful and up for a challenge. They may be considered invisible or endangered, and it may be hard to prove learning outcomes when low-achieving schools have no capacity for a TL (who therefore can’t help turn things around and provide this data), but they are still there, working diligently.

My take on Bonanno’s ‘Five finger plan to success‘ (adapted from Donald Trump, infamous for business failure, but the logic is valid) is the requirement of TLs to engage actively in their own PR. To promote themselves, certainly, but also the role – and the school library itself. This seems a bit intimidating, since libraries attract introverts by nature, but a quiet, firm, thoughtful response is a strong one and focussing on one goal at a time, as per Bonanno’s advice, is the key message for me. I hope by the end of this degree (which I’ve only just started) that I’ll have the confidence to take this on and represent my state. Because unlike the poor thylacine, teacher librarians are certainly not extinct.

References
ACER Review of the Years 9-12 education sector in Tasmania Submission by ALIA/ASLA Tasmania members. 30 September 2016. https://www.acer.org/files/ALIAASLAandSLACsubmissionfortheACER9-12Review.pdf

The Teacher Librarian in the Information Landscape

By Shannon Badcock

On March 18, 2021

In ETL401, Reflection post

Discussion Forum 2.5 (task: write a blog post)

Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

Had you asked me what ‘information’ meant, as a concept or a word, I would probably have said, “Um, facts and figures?” I doubt I’m alone in having no idea just how complex and multifaceted it is. It has been defined as “knowledge”, facts” or “data” (Merriam-Webster) but it is also how we communicate knowledge, and receive it.

And then there are the different types of information: from information serving as an accusation to data that has no meaning until interpreted or supplied with context.

The semantic understanding of ‘information’ is the most useful and relevant: that it is meaningful, a message, and requires context in order to be meaningful. According to the ‘data-knowledge continuum’, information is a step beyond raw data because it has meaning and purpose; it leads to knowledge and, hopefully, wisdom. Knowledge itself comes in different forms, from the individual to the collective, and on a great many different topics.

Amongst so much information, humans rely on a shared understanding of semiotics – the signs and symbols we use to communicate meaning and understand each other – in order to organise data into information, leading to knowledge and, hopefully, wisdom. Otherwise there is nothing but chaos.

In the current ‘Information Age’, when a great wealth of information on every topic conceivable is widely accessible, we seem to be walking a fine line between coherent semiotics and pure chaos. The weight of information available on the World Wide Web (WWW) is overwhelming. It’s not surprising how much we depend on search engines like Google or Bing to help us manage it all.

Photo by Jaromír Kavan on Unsplash

The ‘information landscape’ has the weight of a dam full of water, and a search engine is the concrete wall, letting a small trickle out at any one time. Contemplating just how much information is out there is like trying to comprehend the fact that the universe doesn’t end: it’s crushing, and your mind just stutters to a stop.

Teacher librarians are real-life, human search engines: organising, selecting and communicating information that would otherwise be inaccessible or overwhelming to students. I don’t mean that they replace search engines, but they function as another conduit – even for the search engines themselves. Without an understanding of the broader information landscape in all its complexities, both online and in hard copy, teacher librarians would be unable to help students. I’ll confess, this intimidates me: it seems, three weeks into this Masters degree, to be an unbelievably difficult task. So much knowledge and, yes, wisdom in a teacher librarian’s head!

The introduction of the WWW has dramatically changed the information landscape, from one that was primarily print-based and expert-driven (with knowledge being held and controlled by those who have been granted access, usually along class, wealth and gender lines) to one that is everywhere, anywhere and also nowhere. The WWW has democratised information – or rather, access to it – but this comes with its own problems.

I belong to that generation (the very start of Gen Y) which grew up without computers (and there was certainly no public internet!). There were no computers throughout my primary school years – they existed, but they were rare in my corner of the world. In grade 7, we had a class called ‘word processing’ where, using computers that even then looked hideously ancient, with their squat, toad-like shape and green text on a black screen, we were taught to touch-type and some basic coding. In grade 8 I had a class called ‘keyboarding’ where I was taught how to use Word and format documents, and improve my typing skills. All year long we laboriously typed out letters copied from spiral-bound books. Tedious but effective. In grade 9 I took a class called ‘information technology’ where we learned about the history of computing and corresponding technologies – I’m not sure I fully understood it but I enjoyed the class. When my older sister attended this same high school about 6 years earlier, there were two rooms full of typewriters for the (mostly female) students to learn basic typing skills on. No computers. By the time I was in grade 7, the school had a room of black-and-white monitors and 4 – yes, four! – colour computers. Playing Solitaire was as fun as it got.

So I grew up alongside the technology, watching it evolve and improve. When I was at university studying my undergrad in English and History, the internet was a barely functioning, mostly useless thing that we still didn’t really understand. Not only were Google’s search algorithms a pain to figure out, there wasn’t very much on the WWW to search through. Not to mention that the modem connection continues to be the butt of many jokes. Meanwhile there were news articles talking about how we were all going to let our fridges order our groceries for us, and shopping would all be ‘online’. I laughed. This iteration of the ‘information landscape’ could barely walk. Meanwhile, I was holed up in the university library, hunting down old journal articles in library binding and photocopying them so I could find what I needed. It was not just that the information in books was perceived as reliable, it was that it was there: tangible, with a physical presence and therefore trustworthy.

The current information landscape – or the ‘infosphere’ as Luciano Floridi (2007) calls it – is an ever-changing, fascinating yet potentially treacherous beast in comparison. ‘Infosphere’ isn’t exactly synonymous with ‘cyberspace’ but a term Floridi coined to capture “the whole information environment” and all its “entities” (59) as “the very distinction between online and offline […] become[s] blurred and then disappear[s].” (61) According to Floridi, it is changing the very nature of being, of what it means to be human. The separation of ‘offline’ and ‘online’ is blurring, disappearing even, so that our ‘ordinary environment’ is being ‘reontologized’ [sic] – it is “becoming our ecosystem” and “progressively absorbing any other space”. (Floridi, 2007, p.61)

The problem with this is an observable one: we are unprepared for all that these changes mean for us. We have been caught off-guard. While there are positive ramifications to being able to access information whenever and wherever we like, such as convenience and the simplification of daily tasks such as paying bills or booking hotels; and enabling those from less privileged backgrounds have access to the same information as the privileged, there are also negatives that our societies are struggling to comprehend, let alone deal with. We don’t read deeply anymore, or even finish what we start (Manjoo, 2013 and Baron, 2016). Because of this, ‘information’ is losing meaning, and can become ‘misinformation’. There’s an ongoing abuse of this ready access, with bullying, threatening behaviour, misogyny and racism proliferating behind the protective safety of anonymity – an anonymity that also protects freedom of speech for marginalised peoples. It’s all happening so fast, while humans, by nature, evolve slowly and need time to adjust to change.

Photo by Gabriel Sollmann on Unsplash

The role of the teacher librarian (TL) in this information landscape has become a vitally important one, more so than ever before. People aren’t going to stop using social media, the WWW isn’t going to go away. Nor would I want that. But humans – of all ages – need a whole new set of skills not just in how to use a computer and type up a document, but also in how to navigate the infosphere; protect themselves; and evaluate and organise information. I see this need first-hand in my own father, who lacks this kind of education and so has no ability to judge the veracity of online articles, or that he should be wary of getting his knowledge from Facebook memes.

Without a doubt, the evolving information landscape makes the TL role a challenging one, but not an impossible one. Keeping abreast of changes to copyright laws and referencing styles; constantly updating your knowledge and understanding of online sources and databases; finding ways to help students learn how to navigate the complex infosphere; and respecting others’ right to information and respectful expression – these things are all interconnected and woven through the very fabric of a school library. The scope feels intimidating but can be broken down into smaller, more manageable parts. I am learning so much about what it means to be a teacher librarian; I had no idea how complex a role it is, but it’s also a fascinating challenge. Without an understanding of the ever-changing nature of the information landscape, TLs would not only struggle to help students navigate it but also struggle to adapt, themselves.

References

Baron, Naomi S (2016). Do students lose depth in digital reading? The Conversation.

Floridi, Luciano (2007). A look into the future impact of ICT on our lives. The Information Society, 23(1), 59-64.

Manjoo, Farhad (2013). You won’t finish this article. Slate.

Thinking About Information

By Shannon Badcock

On March 14, 2021

In ETL401, Reflection post

[Discussion Forum 2.1 – Activity 1: Post an original discussion]

Like many others here, I too found the ‘attributes of information’, as an important part of world economies, very interesting.

It reminded me of how Israel’s booming economy is due to information technology – not only the collection and trading of information but the means for capturing it in the first place.

But for educators especially, the Digital Information Age brings with it many issues. Not only do we see the effects of the spreading of hurtful ‘information’ amongst children and teenagers, causing stress, anxiety and bullying, but we must endlessly go into battle on the side of ‘quality’ versus ‘ease of access’, with skirmishes against ‘distraction’ and ‘click bait’.

Wikipedia has vastly improved over the years and is no longer a joke, but most reputable online sources just don’t cater to children working on research projects. I remember in my primary school library, back in the 80s, was stocked full of non-fiction titles which the librarians had carefully selected for their accessibility as much as their quality. The downside is how quickly they would become out-of-date, but it was a curated collection and an excellent resource for the lessons the librarian would give us on how to find information. We never had to worry about the reliability of it. We trusted these books.

Has anyone seen The Capture? A British crime-mystery-thriller drama that was on the ABC a couple of years ago. In it, a group sought to challenge the use and veracity of London’s thousands of CCTV cameras, used to convict people of crimes, by manipulating what people see.

My students – 16-18 year olds – automatically think that what they see is the truth. Visual texts become more powerful than what’s written – not just because it’s more memorable but because they ‘see it with their own eyes’. People on the internet use this, consciously or otherwise, to gain a higher audience for their information, and it helps explain why social media platforms have become places where people go to get information. The more reputable the information, the more ‘boring’ it looks. I’ve noticed that on Instagram, the CSIRO uses amazing photos and also humour to attract an audience. (Anyone else a follower? They’re so funny! See, it works.)

I think where I’m going with this is the problematic connection between information as ‘entertainment’, as assumed verified fact (“Oh, people can come up with statistics to prove anything, Kent. Forty percent of all people know that.” – Homer Simpson), and how accessible it is.

It seems that, more than ever, the role of teacher librarian will be finding the ‘right’ sources of information for students, sources that will hold their interest AND be reliable, if we ever want students to gain ‘wisdom’.

Portable Magic

"Books make people quiet, yet they are so loud.” – Nnedi Okorafor

Tag: TL Role (Page 1 of 2)

Module 5.1 Discussion: digital trends

Censorship in the school library

Weeding: Benefits & Challenges

Budget Proposals & School Library Funding

The TL’s role in selecting resources

Mindset challenges for collaboration in a school environment

The role of the Principal and the TL

Are school librarians an endangered species?

The Teacher Librarian in the Information Landscape

Thinking About Information

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