Prior to working as a teacher librarian (TL), I had never really put much thought into my understanding of the role and what TLs do. I have been in my current TL role for several years now so to reflect on my previous experiences I need to cast my mind back. Before I became interested in becoming a TL I taught in both primary and high school settings all over Australia. The idea of becoming a TL crept into my mind several years ago when I was approached to cover the school TL while she was on long-service leave. I was working at the school as the Japanese teacher and had never contemplated stepping into the TL role before. My idea of the role at the time included reading a story to each class every week, helping students with borrowing, putting books back on the shelves, and organising and handing out BookClub orders. It seems that I was on the right track to understanding a fraction of the role as this aligns with the School Library Association of South Australia (2015) which describes one of the roles of a TL is Literature Promotion, specifically guiding ‘students in their reading choices’.

Several years ago, while teaching in a school in Sydney, the TL would take my Year 3 class for a 1-hour session each week. At the beginning of the term we would discuss what I would like her to cover during these lessons. Unbeknownst to me at the time, this TL was fulfilling a vital role by working collaboratively with me to plan and teach units of work in order to assist the students to develop information literacy” (School Library Association of SA, 2015) and was ‘involved in curriculum planning’(What is a Teacher Librarian?, 2021). My view of her role was to cover a unit of work that I wasn’t covering in class, such as a geography unit. The TL was also very good at locating resources that I needed for my class, so I didn’t have to dig through and find them.

I also viewed part of her role as being the caretaker of the operation of the library which required tasks such as returning of books to shelves, managing the borrowing system, looking after book ordering, ensuring books are in a satisfactory condition to remain within circulation, and entering of new books into the catalogue. How hard could it be?

The other role that I have always felt the TL fulfilled is that of ‘silence-enforcer’ within the library space, but at the same time, promoting it as a space to have literary conversations. It has always seemed a bit of a contradiction, but a role that the TL needs to fulfil none-the-less. The TL must be able to find the appropriate balance between these requirements of different library users.

On reflection I can see that the role of the teacher librarian is multi-faceted and complex and involves being able to make appropriate judgements in managing the library space and services. Since working as a TL I know there is more to the role and I still have a lot of learn.

References

School Library Association of SA. Slasa.asn.au. (2015). Retrieved 3 March 2021, from http://slasa.asn.au/Advocacy/rolestatement.html.

What is a Teacher Librarian?. Asla.org.au. (2021). Retrieved 6 March 2021, from https://asla.org.au/what-is-a-teacher-librarian.