May 2025 – Chasing my Tale

Be a Fearless and Ferocious Practicioner

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Librarians should be fearless stepping into the unknown.

The 21st Century Teacher Librarian (TL) has to ensure a diverse, dynamic and rich selection of material to suit the changing education environment and to inspire students to be mindful and compassionate citizens. My readings in the Resourcing the Curriculum course has shown me that I should also be a collaborative practitioner, be aware of the legal requirements of a hybrid collection, ensure compliance to copyright law, know the school context and maintain a vibrant collection to suit the learning, teaching and pleasure-reading needs of the school.

Report:

I have grown in my understanding about future proofing the library space as well as the collection (Gleeson, 2025a) and also developing personal relationships with students (Hand, 2025a) which will ultimately improve student and teacher outcomes (Loh, 2018). I also explored the importance of advocating for greater parity and consistency in library collectionsin an environment of funding cuts (Gleeson, 2025b.) and the need to liaise with the school executive (Hand, 2025b), and that drew my attention to the importance of developing a strong voice backed by clear quantitative and qualitative evidence (Hart, 2003; McKenzie, 2009). However, the Collection Development Policy (CDP) module drew my attention to the possibility that policy can be used as a powerful piece of persuasion to advocate for representation of all members of the learning community (Gleeson, 2025c).

Relate:

Up until this point in time, I had a CDP that had been constructed according to the ALIA template (2017). After doing a quick search through the other libraries in my Diocese, both high school and primary school, I found that the only difference between most policies was the name on the cover. I now understand that this group policy creation has fulfilled a requirement, but has not fulfilled the need to create a document that responds to the context of each school (Yaqin, 2022). Wose, this systematic duplication fails to provide an individualised intellectual framework and goals for each context’s collection development (Bitherman & Frempong-Kore, 2022).

Reason:

It was Mitchell (2018) and Hoffman & Wood (2007) who first drew my attention to the importance of intellectual freedom, which was further extended through course lectures and the IFLA & UNESCO (2022) manifesto that libraries are a ‘living force’ to promote culture, peace and understanding. I began to understand that the TL position was a serious vocation of advocacy for the minority voice and future change (Jones, 2022). While much of the literature that I read focused around the LGBTQIA+ community, I felt that this community had a significant representation in my context, but up to 20 per cent of my students who had a reading impairment such as dyslexia did not. This year I started reading more about dyslexia and I have discovered how imperative it is that TLs consider dyslexia as an essential issue of accessibility within the CDP (Turner, 2018).

Reconstruct:

I have already started to change my practice to ensure accessibility for dyslexic students. I have taught students about computer accessibility, ebook functions and I have started buying books with Open Dyslexia font (Dyslexic Books, n.d.). I have also liaised with key staff members and through the parent community informing them of these technological opportunities. I will also continue to search for new, and less expensive options, such as Book Tech or Benetech as recommended by Turner (2018). I also intend to personalise my CDA to reflect my specific context and to ensure that my collection is built against the policy recommendations.

I hope to be as ferocious and proactive as the many TLs I have read about who have ensured active representation for their students and have successfully built a dynamic learning environment to benefit teachers and students with an enriched curriculum. As Jones (2020) pointed out, TLs are bringing the UN’s 1959 Declaration of the Rights of the Child to life by ensuring not only that everyone has a right to a voice, but that everyone has a right to be seen.

Resources

Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA). (2017). A manual for developing policies and procedures in Australian School library resource centres (2nd ed.). https://read.alia.org.au/manual-developing -policies-and-procedures-australian-school-library-resource-centres-2nd-edition

Bauld, A. (2023). See You In Court: Fed Up And Filing Suit For Intellectual Freedom. School Library Journal, 69(8), 25.

Bitherman, B. K. A., & Frempong-Kore, A. (2022). Resource Acquisition and the Role of Collection Development Policy in the Development of Ghana Communication Technology University Library Collection. Library Philosophy and Practice

Dyslexic Books (n.d.) Dyslexia Font. https://www.dyslexicbooks.com/dyslexia-font

Fuoco, C. K. (2019). Moral Courage and the School Librarian: A Pragmatic Approach to Professional Ethics. Johnson University ProQuest Dissertations & Theses. https://www.proquest.com/docview/2393044850/9BE9E7B25F7641B5PQ/2?accountid=10344&sourcetype=Dissertations%20&%20Theses

Gleeson, L. (2025a). 21st Century Learning and Thinking Space. Chasing my Tale. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/lindagleeson/2025/05/03/a-vision-for-the-library-of-the-future-of-libraries/

Gleeson, L. (2025b). Funding – Who cares?. Chasing my Tale. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/lindagleeson/2025/05/03/resourcing-the-curriculum-post-1/

Gleeson, L. (2025c). Policy – Persuasion on paper. Chasing my Tale. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/lindagleeson/2025/05/03/resourcing-the-curriculum-post-2/

Hand, V. (2025a). Thank you for such a thoughtful post [Comment on the blog post “21st Century Learning and Thinking Space”.] Chasing my Tale. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/lindagleeson/2025/05/03/a-vision-for-the-library-of-the-future-of-libraries/

Hand, V (2025b). Hi Linda, Thank you so much for sharing your reflections! [comment on the blog post “Funding – Who cares?”.] Chasing my Tale. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/lindagleeson/2025/05/03/resourcing-the-curriculum-post-1/

Hart, A. (2003). Collection analysis: powerful ways to collect, analyze, and present your data. In C. Andronik (Ed.), School Library Management (5th ed.) (pp. 88-91) Worthington, Ohio: Linworth .

Hoffman, F. W., & Wood, R. J. (2007). Intellectual freedom. In Library collection development policies : school libraries and learning resource centers, (pp. 63-80). Lanham, Maryland : Scarecrow Press.

International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA) & UNESCO. (2022) IFLA-UNESCO Public Library Manifesto 2022. https://repository.ifla.org/server/api/core/bitstreams/d414c76e-17ef-4581-9c0f-cc6e250a2743/content

Jones, A. (2022). YOU’RE GONNA HEAR ME ROAR. Knowledge Quest, 51(2), 18–23.

Loh, C.E. (2018). Envisioning the school library of the future: A 21st century framework. Singapore: National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/330618940_Envisioning_the_School_Library_of_the_Future_A_21_st_Century_Framework [accessed Jan 15 2020].

McKenzie, D. (2009). Importance of creating an annual report. Library Grits. https://librarygrits.blogspot.com/2009/06/importance-of-creating-annual-report.html

Mitchell, P. (2018). How does your collection measure up?: Using the school collection rubric. Journal for the School Information Professional, Autumn 2018, Vol.22(2), pp.18-19,2.

Turner, B. (2018). Benetech global literacy services: Working towards a ‘born accessible’ world. Learned Publishing, 31(1), 25–29. https://doi.org/10.1002/leap.1141

Yaqin, M. A. (2022). Strategy of library development towards digital library. Khatulistiwa Jurnal Pendidikan dan Sosial Humaniora, 2(2),52-69. DOI:10.55606/khatulistiwa.v2i2.417

21st Century Learning and Thinking Space

Funding – Who cares?

Policy – Persuasion on paper

21st Century Learning and Thinking Space

The 21st Century Learning and Thinking Space

Creating 21st Century thinkers. https://www.pxfuel.com/en/desktop-wallpaper-jmfsi

A 21st school librarian needs to be able to redefine the library space to ensure best-practice access to information and knowledge in order to bring about the process where students become critical and creative thinkers.

In order to do this, the TL must backward map what it wants for students and provide the best resources for them to address the changing needs of the ‘learning’ evironment, but also the ‘thinking’ environment. For me, this is the most critical aspect of the library space and should be the philosophy under all library decisions because I, with all other TLs, am in the free learning space which is ultimately responsible for creating life-long learners who are excited about acessing, evaluating and synthesing the depth and breadth of good and bad information around them.

One of the ways the TL can do this is by creating a space where students can meet to create their own self-directed learning environment. According to Loh (2018) the 21st Century Library should be a space of ‘reading, research, collaboration, studying and doing’. This space may mean that students can access white boards, small meeting spaces, quiet areas, comfortable and functional furniture, charging ports, spare pens as well as reading and knowledge material. Alternatively, doing can be an activity that directly relates to reading, and can be reading groups, literacy circles or finding a book that builds pleasure and interest in students.

Part of the backward mapping must be to provide information to support teachers create the best learning space in the Australian Curriculum and give students access to information in order to complete set tasks and assessments. Mitchell (2020) notes that planning for curriculum changes requires the biggest time and money resource in education apart from face-to-face teaching, and librarians can help teachers through accessible access to online resources such as Scootle or any electronic subscription resources that the library manages. In the optimum situation librarians can act as a liaison between faculties to create information-rich material in a shared and collaborative environment with the by-product of reducing the work load of teachers (Chadwick, 2016).

Digital material provides librarians with additional opportunities for students to think critically about the information around them which comes from a variety of sources, both reputable and popularistic. Librarians need to be able to take the opportunity to increase students’ digital literacy and their ability to evaluate material that they can readily access, according to O’Connell et al. (2015) this could mean incorporating ebooks as a significant alternative to physical resources so that students can access material in a 21st Century environment but also create inbuilt motivation and differentiation strategies.

While many of these strategies build a critical space for students, it is also important to allow a creative space for students to build interest and connection with information and reading. Creative spaces can be through maker-spaces, a librarian directed book club with incorporated craft or writing opportunities. The library also needs to have a blended space and resources to allow this multi-use creative space and librarians need to consider furniture, storage and resources to allow this opportunity.

Resources

Chadwick, B. (2016) Curriculum-engaged school libraries and teacher librarians value curriculum-alignment of resources , International Association of School Librarianship. Selected Papers from the IASL Annual Conference, 2016, pp.1-30.

Mitchell, P. (2011). Resourcing 21st century online Australian curriculum: The role of school libraries. FYI : the Journal for the School Information Professional, 15(2), 10-15.

O’Connell, J., Bales, J., & Mitchell, P. (2015). [R]Evolution in reading cultures: 2020 vision for school libraries. The Australian Library Journal, 64(3), 194-208, https://doi.org/10.1080/00049670.2015.1048043

Policy – Persuasion on paper

Policy – Persuasion on Paper

Using policies for persuastion. https://www.pxfuel.com/en/desktop-wallpaper-ammar/download

A policy is a plan of action (Oxford Learners Dictionary). It’s a wonderful definition. A plan. For Action. It means that a policy is a plan for something good, or even better, to happen. And that means, once a policy is written and approved, it must be supported and, obviously, actioned. Thus a policy is not meant to be a ‘dry and dusty’ document to be shelved and forgotten. A policy is a key piece of ‘persuasion’ for the library and the ogoing development of the library.

A library policy needs to be current, reflect best-practice, contextual and be proactive for the future needs of the library. According to the American Library Association (2017) it needs to include ‘objectives, responsibility, criteria, procedures for selection, reconsideration of materials, and policies on controversial materials’. The policy should begin with an overarching statement in the objective and then build to more specific information to inform the library staff, executive and the wider school community including parents. Examples of specific material could be a drafted letter for collection complaints and criteria for selection of material.

The library policy needs to share the vision of how the library needs to develop into the future to keep preparing students to be 21st Century learners. The Collection Development Policy (CDP) is the most important part of a librarian’s job according to Newsum (2016), and thus requires a policy for the digital and traditional aspect of this role. While a librarian cannot know how the publishing industry will develop, it can future proof by a vision statement that ‘links the collection development policy to the values of the school’ while giving ‘equitable access to resources’ to create ‘lifelong, independent learners and responsible citizens’ (Australian Library and Information Services, 2007). The broad statement creates a cohesive progression of a comprehensive policy no matter what changes in functionality and technology. Some of the categories that need to be developed including relevance, currency, accuracy, authority, presentation, user-friendly, respectful, appropriate and contextual. It is important that the policy covers the digital collection to focus on the accuracy and currency of the collection (Newsum, 2016). While the policy should be future proofed, TLs need to routinely return to the policy to assess, position, implement and review the collecion in order to make sure the best collection delivery for the students, teachers and the wider values of the community (Mitchell, 2018).

Policies need also to include the material that will not be included in the library in order to provide current, best-practice and proactive practice. On the flip side, this may also include material that will not be included in the library. A policy that aims to develop a collection that is current, educational, age-appropriate, contextual and respectful will ultimately mean that material that comes outside of the parameters will not be included in the collection. Sometimes that may mean that material is rejected because knowledge has been superceded, material is explicit or is disrespectful; alternatively, it may mean that material is included because it shows a wide variety of voices or points of view (Hoffman & Wood, 2007). Once the collection profile has been developed in the policy it is much easier for the librarian to select or deselect material according to the parameters and not under the emotionally-charged label of censorship. Mitchell (2016) also includes that the material is legal, is value for money and also has metadata as part of a wider policy on ecollection.

When the policy is complete and approved, the librarian can use this document as part of the tool kit to have broader discussions with the wider school community. The librarian can use this to develop funding models, resource access, KLA collaboration and technology decisions. Most importantly it will be used as a persuasion tool that the librarian can use to validate requests in negotiations and difficult conversations.

Resources:

American Library Association. (2017). Workbook for selection policy writing. http://www.ala.org/Template.cfm?Section=dealing&Template-/ContenManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=11173

Australian Library and Information Association School, & Victorian Catholic Teacher Librarians. (2007). A manual for developing policies and procedures in Australian school library resource centres. https://asla.org.au/policy-development-manual

Mitchell, P. (2016). Digital collections. [slideshare]. https://www.slideshare.net/pru_mitchell/digital-collections

Mitchell, P. (2018). How does your collection measure up?: Using the school collection rubric. Journal for the School Information Professional, Autumn 2018, Vol.22(2), pp.18-19,2.

Newsum, J. M. (2016). School collection development and resource management in digitally rich environments: An Initial Literature Review. School Libraries Worldwide, 22(1), 97–109.

Oxford Learners Dictionary. (n.d.). Policy. In oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com. Retrieved May 3, 2025 from https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/policy

Funding – Who cares?

Funding – Who Pays?

Who pays for a growing library collection? https://www.pexels.com/photo/bundle-of-books-on-a-library-2553427/

The school library is under threat, but who cares?

Author, Nova Weetman is one of the few voices outside of the TL community who cares. But even though she is a passionate advocate for reading and writing she fails to fully grasp the importance of the school library. She writes, ‘Perhaps it is hard to quantify just how important a library and dedicated librarian can be to a school community’ although she links the value of vocabularly to improved NAPLAN results and increased empathy to creatng better citizens (Weetman, 2023). But she values the librarian to create a space where students can ‘stop and just be’. While Weetman’s plea is eloquent and heartfelt, it fails to adequately justify the need for a library in a user-pay system where we allocate resources to pushing stuents to achieve and grow more – and yet, they’re not.

Here lies the problem. At my school I was informed that the library budget was being slashed from $10,000 per annum to nil. That’s right – nil. The business manager has agreed to support the library – within reason. Just as Weetman could not quanitfy the importance of the library, I am also of the belief that most of my staff, including the executive, do not believe the link between student reading and access to quality information to improved school results. This is despite reading being the school’s goal this year, and teachers having had access to several staff PD sessions allocated to improving reading delivery and understanding.

My budgetary problems are part of a much bigger funding crisis and looking at the funding models, it is easy to see how the library can be overlooked. The zero-based budgeting model maps expenses to a justified result. Similarily, activity-based budgets require a justification in order to allocate staffing and financial resources in future years. alternatively, line budgets can be a blessing or curse depending if the fuding model gave a reasonable allocation with room for inflationary growth. Thus it is important that the library can qualify and quantify its usage in the digital and traditional environment. Using the Softlink (2021) annual report data it is possible to assume that most schools function on the line budgeting system where the majority of schools, 59 per cent, recieved the same funding despite inflationary factors. Of the 14 per cent of schools who did receive increased funding many indicated that the funding was due to other contingencies such as refurbishment or required online teaching resources, and had little to do with the actual library collection. Moreover, librarians reported about a 50 per cent split about whether they were adequately resourced in money and staffing.

Budgetary and cultural forces may be set against the school library and space making it imperative for teacher librarians to advocate for better resources. Librarians can do this by creating open and transparent line of communication through informal and formal means. The most formal method of communication is through an annual report that allows for reflective practice of events, data usage, spending allocations, comparitive analysis and goal setting. McKenzie (2009) implores librarians to complete the annual report and writes,’Cannot afford time to write an annual report? My feeling is that you can’t afford not to!’. The annual report should include data which can be collected through quantative means using the OPAC which can include circulation statistics, collection age, collection growth and use (Hart, 2003). These statistics tell only a small story about the contribution of the library to the school social fabric and its importance to students’ outcomes and wellbeing (Johnson, 2018). Therefore, TLs should also include a qualitive report based on survey of staff and students or a focus group feedback. This material should help TLs develop their goals, but also help executive allocate appropriate resources on the library.

With schools under budgetary stress, the school library is an easy place to cut funding given its secondary link to the students and learning teaching environment. School librarians need to find a voice within the school to ensure that students of the future can thrive in a dynamic and engaging literary and information environment.

Who cares? We all should.

Resources

Hart, A. (2003). Collection analysis: powerful ways to collect, analyze, and present your data. In C. Andronik (Ed.), School Library Management (5th ed.) (pp. 88-91) Worthington, Ohio: Linworth .

Johnson, P. (2018). Fundamentals of collection development and management. ALA Editions.

McKenzie, D. (2009). Importance of creating an annual report. [blog]. Library Grits. http://librarygrits.blogspot.com.au/2009/06/importance-of-creating-annual-report.html.

Softlink. (2021). 2021 Australian and New Zealand school library survey. https://www.softlinkint.com/downloads/2021_Softlink_School_Library_Survey_-_Australian_Report.pdf

Weetman, N. (2023, September 12). School libraries are an ally to students needing an escape. We can’t let them vanish. The Guardian: Australian Edition. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/commentisfree/2023/sep/12/school-libraries-are-an-ally-to-students-needing-an-escape-we-cant-let-them-vanish