“When fulfilling all aspects of the role, the qualified teacher librarian is operating at a leadership level” (SLASA, 2008).

 Teacher librarians hold a unique position in a school, as they work with and have the opportunity to influence all teachers and students.  This allows them to lead from the middle. However, in order to establish the leadership position, many conditions need to be satisfied. Firstly, the TL needs to take a proactive role and be ready to apply their expertise in the fields of pedagogy, librarianship, information-seeking, literacy and leadership.  Apart from the technical skills, the TL needs to demonstrate sound inter-personal skills: being able to establish trusting relationships, communicate clearly and effectively and work collaboratively with others.

 The vital component of leadership is a vision that blends what happens in the library with the whole school learning.  Vision needs to be clear, well formulated and simple enough to be shared and remembered. Finally, a pre-condition to establishing the leadership position of the TL is “a mandate to implement or produce change” (Green, 2011, p. 22).  The trust of the principal, his support and vision for the role of the TL is the gateway that can open up many leadership opportunities for the TL.  Helping the principal understand the benefits of TL involvement in school decision-making groups is, according to Dohnam (2005, p. 301), “the first step toward exerting influence and leading from the middle”.

I have personally observed the work of three different teacher librarians. The first two did not demonstrate the right balance between their technical and inter-personal skills, one of them being very skilled and knowledgeable, but not easily approachable by staff and students, the other one lacking somewhat in her technical expertise.  Their leadership styles were very different, reflecting their personality and skills.   The TL I currently work with is a visionary who strives to constantly improve the quality of learning that happens in library. She displays the attributes of several different leadership styles, including ethical, transformational, instructional and servant leadership. 

As a library administrator, I have not yet considered myself to be a leader.  In my initial thinking, the leadership was linked to management and the differences between the two were fairly vague.  Half way through the subject my understanding is clearer, I now view leadership as an ability to influence others and I understand there are many different ways one can exhibit leadership qualities.

I aspire to become a transformational leader with strong aspects of servant leadership, which I believe should be a part of any leadership style, as it positions the leader into the centre, not the top of the organisation, where he/she helps others instead of controlling them (Marzano et al., 2005, p.17).  The complexity of the role the TL allows certain flexibility in the way they work, which is why we often find that every TL has their own special focus/vision for the library. It is this vision that reveals their potential to become leaders.

References:

 Donham, J. (2005). Leadership. In Enhancing teaching and learning : a leadership guide for school library media specialists (2nd ed.) (pp. 295-305).

Green, G. (2011). Learning leadership through the school library. Access, Vol. 25, (pp. 22-26). Retrieved from CSU database.

Marzano, R. J., Waters, T., & McNulty, B. A. (2005). Some theories and theorists on leadership. School leadership that works: From research to results (pp. 13-27). Retrieved from www.csuau.eblib.com.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/patron/Read.aspx.

School Library Association of South Australia (2008): SLASA Teacher Librarian Role Statement. Retrieved from http://www.slasa.asn.au/Advocacy/rolestatement.html