Reflecting on your experiences as a teacher before you became interested in working in a school library, write a 500 word piece about your understanding of the role of the Teacher Librarian in schools.
As a teacher, before becoming interested in working in a school library….
I don’t think there was ever such a time. As a lifelong lover of books, working in a library has always interested me. Why haven’t I followed that interest sooner? I guess I saw the employment opportunities as limited. I needed a profession I could pursue anywhere in the world, including rural or remote Australia, and teaching it was. But when the Teacher Librarian at my school, where I have been for ten years, announced she was retiring, it was too good an opportunity to pass up!
So what was it that had always drawn me to the library? First and foremost it has to be the books. I viewed the Teacher Librarian’s role as primarily creating a love for books. The stories, the illustrations, the text connections to be made, the adventures, laughs and tears to be shed. I saw the Teacher Librarian’s role as a kind of extension on the ‘toddler time’ or ‘story time’ of public libraries, taken to the next level. Merga (2019) lists ten ways Teacher Librarians can improve literacy in schools and the main ones I saw Teacher Librarians responsible for were:
• Teaching students how to choose books they like
• Promoting access to books
• Making books and reading socially acceptable
• Reading to students beyond the early years and
• Facilitating silent reading time
In order to facilitate this and spark the joy of reading the Teacher Librarian of course would have to purchase, organise and care for the collection. I grossly underestimated the amount of time this took!
Finally I also saw the Teacher Librarian as a resource for staff to use as we sought to resource our own lessons and as a source of inspiration when there was none.
I had an inclining of course that the digital age and all this talk of 21st century learners would have had an impact on the library, as it has everywhere. I am quickly learning, however, that the changing information landscape and digital information has a profound effect on the role.
As Hutchinson (2017) points out, it is now more important than ever in our ‘google everything’ society that students are armed with the skills to search a database, use keywords and research techniques, evaluate where their information comes from and be aware of plagiarism, copyright and the consequences of poor research. The library is the perfect place and the Teacher Librarian, in collaboration with classroom teachers, the perfect person for the job.
Hutchinson (2017) also says teachers are frustrated with the quality of research their students provide. Yes, I was one of those teachers. I will also own up to being unsure of how to improve this, how to teach the required skills. I see know that working in collaboration with the teacher librarian would have been a huge benefit. I can’t say that I am yet overly confident in providing this service to teachers but am looking forward to the challenge and the learning that is to come. For me and students.
“…. the information environment has become increasingly complex and challenging for all involved. It is crucial for both students and school staff to learn how to access, manage, evaluate, and use information effectively. And it is still as important as ever for students (and other people) to read widely in order to develop personal understanding, empathy, and imagination.” (Ministry of Education and National Library of New Zealand, 2002).
References
Hutchinson, E. (2017). Navigating the Information Landscape through Collaboration. Connections Issue 101. Retrieved from http://www2.curriculum.edu.au/scis/issue_101/articles/navigating_the_information_landscape.html
Merga, M. (2019). Ten ways teacher librarians improve literacy in schools. The Conversation. Retrieved from http://theconversation.com/ten-ways-teacher-librarians-improve-literacy-in-schools-110026?fbclid=IwAR1Z7r1yFLm5BEkZouNSkJ-_t1tZPFP_Ca9gg7NwHYSLIWtNQIx7eDMCu_Y.
Ministry of Education and National Library of New Zealand (2002). The School Library and Learning in the Information Landscape; Guidelines for New Zealand Schools. Learning Media Wellington. Word file of print document published 2002. Retrieved from https://natlib.govt.nz/system/resources/W1siZiIsIjIwMTcvMDMvMDcvZW9xeGtpZDZoX1RoZV9zY2hvb2xfbGlicmFyeV9hbmRfTGVhcm5pbmdfaW5fdGhlX2luZm9ybWF0aW9uX2xhbmRzY2FwZV9ndWlkZWxpbmVzLnBkZiJdXQ/The-school-library-and-Learning-in-the-information-landscape-guidelines.pdf?sha=15a87dc578f23f80
I really appreciated the links to Dr Margaret Merga’s research. She’s doing such important work. I hadn’t read any of Elizabeth Hutchinson’s material before so thanks for that.
Your post also reminded me that so many people don’t realise that being qualified as a teacher librarian is actually now an opportunity to become a global leader – literally. There are many of our graduates who work in international schools as teacher librarians and love the experience of teaching in other countries and cultures. So not just Australia is your oyster! You have shown thoughtful consideration of the TL role, provided interesting connections to readings, and all set up nicely in your blog. It’s appropriate that you chose the ‘airmail’ style …perhaps you will be an international TL one day!
I really enjoyed reading this post and I felt an affinity to your experience. I, too, am a lover of books and have spent years as a classroom teacher trying to inspire a love of literature in my students. Like you, I am also on a steep learning curve as I enter full time work in our school library. Already, I’m seeing how libraries are changing with the rise of digital technology impacting on information seeking. I, too, always yearned for my students to know how to research better. I’m excited to be in a position to learn how to do that and put that learning in practice!
All the best in your endeavours 🙂
Thank you for the comment, glad you enjoyed it! My holiday plans include catching up on some discussion and blog posts and checking in with others also so may ‘see’ you around again soon x