This week’s reading has introduced me to a plethora of roles for the teacher librarians with various ways of categorizing, ranking and describing these different roles. With my head spinning from so many different options, it seems like a good time to reflect on what I have learned.

Firstly, I’ve realized that any attempt to catalog the myriad roles of a teacher librarian will end up with a nearly limitless list of of possibilities. This is best demonstrated by Joyce Valenza’s “A Revised Manifesto” (Valenza 2010) in which she lists 11 areas that are “non-negotiables” for teacher librarians, each followed by three to 14 different bullet points detailing examples. During my first read of this list, I was ready to give up my dream of becoming a teacher librarian. There’s no way I could master all of these things! On my second reading (and after a good night’s sleep) I noted the major sections and made notes about topics or terms that were new to me. Things to research, is how I thought of this list. As a lifelong learner and aspirational TL, I am always developing my skills and competencies. Mastering this daunting list would mean I will never be ready. There are many things I can learn from Valenza, but using her “Revised Manifesto” as a to-do list before I become a TL is not one of them.

I found Melissa Purcell’s report, “All Librarians Do Is Check Out Books, Right? A Look at the Roles of a School Library Media Specialist” (2010) more palatable, due to there being fewer categories of TL roles. Fewer categories helps to highlight the main kinds of work a TL does on a daily basis. These categories helped me to better understand the way a TL might prioritize and spend her time. From my current understanding I would condense the 5 roles into three areas, and rank them as follows:

1. Instructional Partner/ Teacher
2. Information Specialist, and
3. Leader/ Program Administrator.

A principal I once worked with said “You teach to your strengths” and this is why I order the roles in this way. So a different TL might rank these roles differently, but this ordering works to my strengths.

Even more helpful was my reading of Ross Todd’s report “School Libraries as Pedagogical Centres,” which synthesized findings from studies of the most successful school libraries in New Jersey. As the report title indicates, these exemplary school libraries’ primary function was as a center for learning (Ross, 2012, p. 30).

Key components of the school library of the future, regardless of how it might be named, centre on a pedagogical rather than an informational function.

With this in mind, I am reminded of why I am inspired to become a teacher librarian and of what value I have to add to this profession. Even though I will begin as a novice librarian, I will enter as a master teacher. If making the library a space that centers around collaboration, teaching and learning is the goal, this is something I have been successfully doing for years as a classroom teacher and colleague.

In Todd’s report, the framework for the library of the future has teacher librarians working as co-teachers and inquiry learning specialists resulting in a school library that is “an innovative centre for professional development and continuous learning” (Ross, 2012, pp. 35-36).

These are roles that I feel I can be successful in and a space that I aspire to create.