Posted in ETL401

Are school librarians an endangered species?

After watching (2011) and reading (2015) Bonanno I think the take home message is that it is up to us to ensure the survival of the ‘school librarian’. It is up to us to make the profession not just ‘visible’ but stand out! To do so we need to provide evidence that demonstrates our impact on student outcomes. How is the teacher librarian unique and how do we provide the school with bang for buck? We need to take responsibility for continually upskilling ourselves with ICT capabilities as this is the answer. Our niche lies within the general capabilities section of the Australian Curriculum.

Use

  1. Strength of Character (pre-eminence)
  2. FOCUS (Follow Once Course Until Successful)
  3. Brand (Who are you? What do you stand for?)
  4. Relationships (Circle of influence/Circle of concern)
  5. Little things that count (What do you do that others can not? Elevator pitch, what can you offer the school?)

to ensure the teacher librarian not only survives but thrives!

References

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

Bonanno, K. (2015). A profession at the tipping point (revisited). ACCESS, 14 – 21. Retrieved from http://kb.com.au/content/uploads/2015/03/profession-at-tipping-point2.pdf