“It is difficult to imagine that today’s professional information specialists would hope to be successful if they cannot set priorities and negotiate for a fair share of resources (time, money, personnel).” (module notes)
I am starting my second year as the TL of a small public primary school in a low socio-economic area where reading is not valued and literacy levels are low. I just met with my supervisor, the deputy principal to negotiate my priorities. The results were… mixed…
Let’s consider them in light of Gilman’s “The Four Habits of Highly Effective Librarians“.
Firstly – what has changed since last year. I discovered that
- I will not have a trained library admin assistant instead I have been given more admin time or time off class.
- I am not responsible for resourcing the curriculum. Think that’s how it was put. I’m still processing that one.
- I do not have to employ every part of my masters degree straight away.
Ok I’ll be honest, those last two changes are a huge relief but there is a niggling feeling that what little expertise I have already acquired has just been undermined. I shall consider the conversation open and keep negotiating my role and my value. I am definitely one of the lucky ones – ie, at a school where libraries and librarians are valued but possibly what is driving these decisions are the school context and therefore, the school goals combined with the current era of results driven practices and accountability.
Openness – Gilman says to listen to the facts. Try not to hold onto nostalgic notions of how things were or how you think they should be. Stay away from philosophy and be lead by facts. The example given was of supply and demand. Ok but supply and demand means being led by the customer. In a primary school setting, with no other IL professionals around this may not always mean you are creating best practice. I think a better example would be to examine needs or problem areas and be open to address them. For me this means working with staff on seeing how the school library program can support school goals and how school goals can support school library goals. Specifically for me this means putting my glorious plan of using GID to collaborate with staff and develop student’s information skills on hold. Or rather, not on hold but taking baby steps to get there. At least I think this was the outcome of my meeting with my supervisor. I also think that openness means that this conversation stays open ready for change, ready for another baby step.
Responsiveness – Gilman says this is taking appropriate action based on careful listening. I think I achieved this too or rather, we achieved this – my supervior and I. I will be modifying my planning for the year to suit school goals while my supervisor is working on finding the best way for me to find a digital space for the library that offers access to students and parents.
Collaboration – Not with other librarians as Gilman was talking about but with staff, students and hopefully parents. Probably more so with students and parents this year as I will not be collaborating on IL projects with staff and I no longer have an admin assistant.
Communication – Yes I did a good job of communicating with parents and students last year but I would like to improve communication with my supervisor and with staff. I need to advocate more – share programs – ask for input – ask for feedback. Teachers are busy people so I will try not to tax their time and I will use mostly digital means to achieve this communication. Hopefully this builds the platform for better collaboration.
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