school library

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A Reflection on Literary Learning

 

Literary learning

There is so much more to literature than literacy. In literary learning, the use of literature linked to the curriculum enables students to gain multiple competencies, starting with a deeper understanding of the topic content, through multi-literacies, to the building of character through empathy, emotional engagement and ‘moral imagination’, the term Rundell (2019) uses to describe the kind of imagination that allows us to experience the world from the perspectives of others.

 

Resources

I have realised how important the quality of resources is; resources that not only support the curriculum, but do so in sophisticated, artistic and innovative ways. Being able to guide students and teachers to the right resource can make a considerate difference to their learning: a difference between shallow, literal learning and lasting, profound understanding through engagement with texts that stimulate inquiry, deep thinking and empathy. Whilst there might be a place in school libraries for books about underpants, farts or glittery unicorns, children also deserve exposure to literature that is interactive, varied in formats and genres, that cultivates their appreciation of literary and visual arts, to stories that challenge the stereotypes and raise deep questions, and to characters that represent their diverse personalities. To increase engagement in curriculum topics, texts should not be boring – they are more likely to impact students’ learning if they stimulate an emotional response.

 

Strategies

Having the most amazing books just sitting on library shelves will definitely not do the trick. These resources need to be displayed well, promoted, and most importantly presented to students and teachers through meaningful reading response strategies. To create valuable experiences for students and keep them motivated and involved in their learning, we have to be looking for more creative and interactive ways of integrating literature into the curriculum (Kopka, 2014). As technology continuously changes, effective reading strategies must include the use of innovative formats and digital technology platforms. Whilst I was familiar with some of the strategies presented in the module readings and discussions of ETL402, many of them were new to me and I cannot wait to implement them in my own practice.

 

Time and free choice

Krashen (2011) hypothesises that language and literacy development happens when the reader is directed at a message they find interesting, not at the language itself (p.85) and stresses the importance of having access to a wide range of books and time to read, as opposed to the idea of compulsion and comprehension checking, both of which he finds counterproductive. Indeed, students’ free choice in the selection of their reading materials plays a crucial role in sustaining their motivation and their development as independent and life-long readers.

 

TL’s role and the power of collaboration

Teacher Librarians are experts in finding learning opportunities within resources, thus having a significant influence on teaching and learning within their school communities (AITSL, 2017 and Magdolenova, 2022). However, successful literary programs can only be delivered to students in collaboration with other educators, from class teachers, specialist teachers, and IT professionals, to leadership teams.

 

A recurrent theme throughout many subjects has been the importance of instilling the love of reading in students. In ETL402, through the exposure to high quality literature of all genres and through the understanding of its value, the love for children’s literature has been reawakened in myself as well. Its richness, its art and its impact on our growth as learners, as individuals, and empathetic human beings, and the discovery of new exciting possibilities of its delivery to students leave me with a renewed passion for the profession, a perfect culmination of my studies at CSU.

 

References:

Krashen, S. D. (2011). Free voluntary reading. ABC-CLIO, LLC.

Kopka. S. (2014, May 7). Transmedia and education: Using transmedia in the classroom with a focus on interactive literature. Sekopa. https://sekopka.wordpress.com/2014/05/07/transmedia-education-using-transmedia-in-the-classroom-with-a-focus-on-interactive-literature/

Magdolenova, M. [mmagdolen] (2022, May 23). Sophisticated Picturebooks in Upper Primary Classrooms. Panta Rhei. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/michaela/2022/05/23/sophisticated-picturebooks-in-upper-primary-classrooms/

 Rundell, K. (2019). Why you should read children’s books, even though you are so old and wise. Bloomsbury Publishing.

The Australian Institute of Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL). (2017). Australian Professional Standards for Teachers. https://www.aitsl.edu.au/standards/highly-accomplished

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Study Visit Report – A Reflection

The 2021 CSU Virtual Study Visit has provided many opportunities for an insight into the possibilities the profession of an information specialist presents.

The two main areas of my personal enrichment that this visit has provided me with were:

  • learning about the specialisations which I knew very little of before; and
  • looking at what other school librarians, working in a library comparable to my own, include in their work and their way of dealing with some common issues in our field.

Due to my own background as a primary school librarian, I had previously not given much thought to other opportunities within the field and it was certainly an eye-opening experience to discover the world beyond school and public libraries. Special libraries, like health, law and orchestra libraries were completely new to me, while an archive/museum library presentation offered a window into a very complex world of resource preservation. The key learning point was that the special librarians are experts in search retrieval, they understand the context of a subject, not its content (Griffith, personal communication, August 31, 2021). It is therefore our transferrable skills as information specialists that can make it possible to move between different information agencies.

As a librarian dealing with staffing issues, it was particularly important for me to learn that although the Teacher Librarian services encompass many aspects, we will never be able to “do it all” and therefore personalization and customization is necessary (Godfree, personal communication, September 3, 2021). A realization significant to my own practice came from the words of Di Ruffles, who stressed the importance of being pro-active and getting parents and students on our side, as they are the best advocates for school libraries (Ruffles, personal communication, September 7, 2021).

I am grateful for the option of a virtual study visit – it was an invaluable experience for me as an international student, bringing a wealth of information, new experiences and sense of real connection to the world of information professionals.

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Resourcing the Curriculum

 The school library is like a treasure chest. The librarian holds the key that unlocks it, but without great resources in it, the chest itself is of no value. It is the resources that may or may not have the potential to transform the library users into lifelong readers and learners. The quality of these resources – their relevance to users, their needs and their interests is what makes the library essential in supporting and enhancing the curriculum.

Collection development – these words initially evoke a picture of a librarian, indulging in the world’s finest literature, using their flawless intuition to select the best ones for their students. This almost lyrical imagery, described well in Montgomery’s initial thoughts on collection development (2021), is not how it really works and deals with just a fraction of what the development of a school collection entails. Many aspects I was not fully aware of prior to starting this subject are a part of the collection development process. The ones of the highest priority for my own practice as a primary school librarian are discussed in this reflection.

The starting point is establishing the purpose of the school library collection, as this should provide the base for all further decisions (Braxton, 2016). Each library has a unique mission, serves different users, who have a unique set of needs and the school itself has a unique ethos, vision and mission. Therefore, the purpose of the library will also be unique and it is for this reason that collection development process cannot be uniform, which I found one of the most challenging aspects of this subject. The framework for collection development cannot be simply replicated from one library to another; it has to be exclusively designed to match the library and its context.

Being one of those who inherited a library with no formal policies and procedures, I have taken the collection development as something embedded into my daily routines. For example, when a damaged book was removed from the collection, I would automatically add the title to the list of books to be acquired. However, in order to build a balanced, most current collection, a deeper analysis has to be performed regularly and a set of principles applied to every resource considered for purchase. The collection development and management process has to be systematic and guided by principles that reflect the library users’ needs.

While some collection evaluation processes do happen informally, there is a need for a documented framework of principles that can be shared with others and provide support for collection development decisions (Hart, 2003 and Magdolenova, 2021, April 30). In my own practice this also means moving from passive acceptance of the current state of the collection to active and continuous modification and improvement. This requires critical approach where the purpose of each resource is ascertained, but also regular collaboration with other staff and students to find out what their current needs are. The same principle applies to weeding of unwanted items. As discussed in an earlier blog (Magdolenova, 2021, May 10), we often do not realize that keeping resources which do not fulfill the selection criteria in the collection is in fact detrimental to the rest of it and has a big impact on whether the resources are used effectively (Beilharz, 2007).

In my blog Time for a Policy! (Magdolenova, 2021, May 19), I conclude that many issues can be solved simply by having a well-formulated collection development policy. It is a tool that helps understand and promote the library’s purpose, the short and long-term goals and secure the school leaders’ support. Not only does a policy promote awareness of the collection development and management issues, it also demonstrates the effective use of finances and puts the librarian’s decisions into context (Johnson, 2018).

As I progressed through the topic of the collection development policies, I realized what a great opportunity this subject offers to apply the knowledge acquired into my own practice. While working on the annotation of a policy provided by the university, I started working simultaneously on constructing my own library policy. Contrasting the two different school contexts enriched the learning experience and deepened my understanding of the topic. The experience confirmed my initial understanding that no two policies are the same or even similar. The most valuable bonus is having a fresh first draft of my own library collection development policy in hand.

The topic of ethics in collection development has been one of the more challenging ones. Morrisey (2008) poses numerous questions as a starting point for discussions on ethics and bias. One example is “Do you buy materials that don’t represent your own personal point of view?”. Yet again, a good policy covering issues of ethics and bias is of a greater value here than the good old librarian’s instinct, for it is often necessary to act against our instincts in order to develop a balanced collection. In this example, it might mean including materials that do not represent our own point of view. When it comes to ethics and bias, it can only help to re-evaluate our own collection development practices from time-to-time (ibid, p.170).

With regards to copyright, we have a duty, as librarians, to keep ourselves and others informed (Curtis, 2021) and although it is not in our capacity to control the whole school’s compliance to copyright, we should teach our school communities about its importance.

In Collections vs. Covid (Magdolenova, 2021, May 5) I examine the future of the school collections and the impact of the global pandemic on my own practice.

One of the negatively impacted areas has been my library budget. Grigg (2012) mentions that the decline in library collection budgets makes evaluation and assessment of purchasing decisions increasingly important. The unexpected challenges of teaching in both on-site and online environments, as well as in a variety of hybrid scenarios, necessitate the re-evaluation of our collections (Magdolenova, 2021, May 5). I too reconsidered the balance between the print and digital resources under these new conditions and it came as a complete surprise to me that the digital resources turned out to be real gems inside my treasure chest, offering new teaching possibilities, many of which are yet to be explored.

 

References:

Beilharz, R. (2007). Secret library business – part 2. SCIS Connections 63.

Braxton, B. (2016). Sample collection policy. http://500hats.edublogs.org/policies/sample-collection-policy/

 Curtis, J. [John Curtis] (2021, April 24). The mythical beast of copyright. The Rabbit Hole.

Grigg, K. (2012). Assessment and evaluation of e-book collections. In R. Kaplan (Ed.), Building and managing e-book collections (pp. 127-137). American Library Association.

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. (2009).  Fundamentals of collection development and management. (2nd ed). American Library Association.

Montgomery, A. [ARJM] (2021, March 9). Resourcing the curriculum – initial thoughts. Learn, Lead, Library.

Morrisey, L. J. (2008). Ethical issues in collection development.  Journal of Library Administration, 47(3-4), 163-171.

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Gardening

Good gardening involves a fair amount of weeding. As straightforward as this might be to many a good gardener, I have never quite realized what this really means for the library. Weeding has often been a task pushed aside for two reasons: one of them is the painful feeling one gets when decreasing the size of a collection built up so carefully. But the main reason for me has been that I considered the weeds as just an extra that does not add much value to the collection anymore, but equally does no harm. However, that is not quite how it works. Just like in a garden, every single weed takes up space and attention from the beauty of the flowers, i.e. our useful and quality resources in the collection. And it is not just about making the garden look nice; the way resources are presented has a big impact on whether they are used effectively (Beilharz, 2007).

It appears to me that are two types of weeding. There is the one that I perform almost daily, whenever a book is damaged beyond repair. Similarly, as I come across material that is outdated or irrelevant, I weed straight away. That might be the reason I never really gave weeding any more thought than that. Then there is another kind: proper, focused weeding, whereby one goes through each section and evaluates each item carefully, against a set of criteria.

Some years ago, our school library used to close down for business three weeks before the school holidays in order to complete the inventory process. That was a very generous time-frame and it included tasks like collection evaluation and weeding. Those three weeks then became two, then one and now I am requested that the library is fully operational till the very end of school year. Inventory is now conducted throughout the year with circulation ongoing and a thorough weeding has not taken place for a few years now.

As I got to fully understand the importance of the weeding process, it is now the matter of finding the time for it. It all goes comes down to how important it is to have a collection development policy. That is the tool that is missing in my library – a tool that would validate my request for having time (and staff) allocated for a regular weeding practice. A weeding policy and procedure, as a part of the collection development policy, would guide and justify the weeding of items from the collection, based on a set of relevant criteria.

References:

Beilharz, R. (2007). Secret library business – part 2. SCIS Connections 63.

National Library of New Zealand Services to Schools. (n.d.). Weeding your school library collection.