My knowledge and understanding of the role of a school librarian has been reinforced and extended. The information gained from module 2 sparked much understanding and ideas for the future. I have been very interested in patron-driven acquisition but am concerned about creating a balanced collection. I am very conscious of the students being able to see themselves reflected in books they read and also looking into other worlds (Gaston, 2021;Cook, 2024, March 24). My school community has many students of Muslim faith and some of Middle Eastern background, yet the library collection does not reflect this. I have started researching through selection aids to find more texts about Muslim students. I know my students will be excited to see someone like themselves or their families in the books we read. They can borrow those books and share them with their families and know that our school community is valued. This subject has helped me to evaluate and select texts to improve our library collection for its users.

ETL503 Assignment 1 inspired me to make annotated resource lists for special days on our school calendar. I have mad one for Anzac Day, Reconciliation Week and Sorry Day. I have started to make ones for NAIDOC Week and Book Week. I feel like this will be an ongoing task I will be able to create and share for school. Staff feedback so far is that the links were very useful for the staff to use the books on the interactive whiteboards. I plan to house them all on a Google site for others to use also. I have already implemented the learning from this subject into my Teaching Librarian practise.

One priority that I have at the forefront of my practise is diversity and inclusion. In particular, celebrating our rich indigenous culture. I have been evaluating, selecting and deselecting from the first week I have stepped into my library in April 2023. I have deselected non-fiction texts titled “Aboriginies” and destroyed them. I researched texts using Magabala books as a a selection aid, to find written by First Nations Authors and selected many for purchasing (Cook, 2024, 24 May). Fast forward to now, I have so much more knowledge about the evaluation and selection of First Nations literature through the this subjects learnings and readings, especially since reading and using the AIATSIS guide (Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, 2022). I have evaluated First nations texts with students covering textual concept of authority. Students were explicitly taught about authority in texts and we analysed who the authors were. We decided if the author was “by mob, with mob, for mob, about mob, against mob” (Cook, 2024, March 24). This subject reinforced my understanding and made me think about my own perspective and gives excellent resources to support include First Nations understandings.

This subject helped me understand and gain knowledge of a Collect Development Policy and made me think about what I should include in the library. In the year I have been at the school, I have had 3 different office staff. I wish I had procedures in place that could guide their work. When these procedures are implemented, it would improve communication and transparency and consistency between staff members.

Through researching about collections in Assignment 2 I have learnt so much about library collections and how important policy and procedure are to drive a library’s vision. I will promote collection development issues through the writing of the Policy and ask for input on the policy from school leaders. I will make this a goal for professional development plan ensuring it is addressed with school leaders. I know they will appreciate my planning and goal setting around the needs of the library users.

 

 

References:

Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies. (2022). AIATSIS Guide to evaluating and selecting education resources. AIATSIS. https://aiatsis.gov.au/sites/default/files/research_pub/AIATSIS%20Guide%20to%20evaluating%20and%20selecting%20education%20resources.pdf

 

Gaston, N. (2021). Diverse schools need diverse collections. https://natlib.govt.nz/blog/posts/diverse-schools-need-diverse-collections