Delving deep into ETL503
This semester had been one with many challenges, much learning, and over the top resilience- building! Unlike any other learning/schooling period of my life, I’ve attempted to navigate through studying, working, parenting and ISO-lating… all at the same time! It has been quite challenging, yet rewarding and enriching in so many ways.
Looking back to the start of my Teacher Librarianship journey, as I scanned through the course overview in preparation for a enthusiastic and keen start to ETL503 – Resourcing the Curriculum, I remember my exact thinking that evening “Oh my gosh… What is all this stuff about collections and acquisition? What IS acquisition? Wasn’t that some kind of violent and torturous historical take-over to combat heresy?! Oh wait.. that’s inquisition!” Luckily, my understanding of school library collections and their role in teaching and learning has significantly developed since that day!
Through the clearly and succinctly presented modules and readings within this subject, my knowledge and understanding of key aspects related to school library collections has been extended beyond my limited initial ideas regarding the role of TLs and school libraries in supporting the needs of staff and students. I reflected on these limitations of knowledge early in the semester in my blog post My journey to library land. Since then, I have developed an understanding in various crucial aspects including:
Selection of resources and selection aids
“Books, Books, Books and more Books” by Chiot’s Run is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0
In a changing information landscape, selection of resources for the school library collection must be carefully considered to ensure that are relevant and appropriate for the needs of the users. By delving into various supporting literature, I have developed a deeper understanding of how to search for and select resources through specific criteria, whilst keeping the learners in mind (Hughes-Hassell & Mancall, 2005). I’ve also broadened my knowledge in balancing the collection by selecting a wide range of resources, using newly found selection aids (such as Scootle – as mentioned in my 2.3 Searching Scootle discussion post) to engage a variety of users and keep up with 21st century learning and technological advancements (Fleishhacker, 2017; McEwen, 2018; Stephens, 2014). An important aspect that struck a chord for me was censorship and the need to move away from self-censoring (Jacobson, 2016). It’s a struggle, particularly in a religious school setting where controversial content is not permitted.
Copyright
Legal and copyright issues were quite unfamiliar territories for me. As explored in my post I can copy that, right? my knowledge of copyright was capped at “10% copying allowed”! However, my understanding of the laws surrounding copyright and the implications for TLs and the library collection were greatly extended through the Smartcopying website (National Copyright Unit, 2016).
Weeding
“Night weed” by DBduo Photography is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
Before taking up the temporary role of TL in my school, I had never come across this term, except when addressing invasive unwanted species of flora in my garden! Seeming fairly straight forward at first, I managed to, sadly, weed boxes of fiction novels form our library shelves due to “content/ themes being inappropriate or controversial”. Through this subject’s modules and literary readings such as Developing collections to empower learners by Kimmel (2014), my understanding of the purpose of deselection/weeding in managing the collection has developed as has my firm stance against censoring and deselecting resources based simply on “content deemed inappropriate”.
The collection development policy (CDP) – a strategic document
The CDP is essential for informing the audience of the guiding principles of the school library collection and management practices as well as protecting the library from being accused of inconsistency, in response to challenges (Johnson, 2009). In its framework, it reflects the unique strengths and limitations of the collection, while addressing the mission of the school as well as the focal priorities within the school context (VCTL & ALIA, 2017; Johnson, 2018). As the CDP functions in guiding TLs in the selection and management of resources to support the current and future needs of the teaching and learning community (O’Connell, Bales, & Mitchell, 2015), we are able to see its significance as a strategic document. It also provides an opportunity for evaluating the collection against identified set benchmarks in various aspects such as goals and priorities, selection and deselection as well as the nature of the collection and formats of the resources within that collection. This document is not static and requires constant assessment and evaluation in response to the constantly changing information landscape (technological advancement, curriculum outcomes, teaching and learning needs, ethical challenges, school priorities as well as maintaining a relevant collection).
Future proofing the collection
We can all see that things today are not as they were a few years ago. Everything changes… ALL THE TIME! For instance, as the world faced the COVID19 pandemic, every single person (young and not so young, alike) was forced to adapt to the changes taking place in our world. All professions and businesses, educational institutions and schools, government and authority bodies, students, parents, workers – everyone has been impacted by the change. Change happens. Technologies advance. Information that was once relevant may become obsolete. New discoveries are made. Scientific theories are modified/disputed/restated. This is the reality of our changing world. As TLs, our role is to support teaching and learning in the 21st century by providing meaningful learning opportunities, with a curriculum focus, that account for these changes and develop the learner’s information and digital literacy skills (Chadwick, 2016; Mitchel, 2011; Tait et al., 2019). Not only is the CDP a strategic document to use for maintaining and evaluating the library collection, it is also a framework that guides future developments and implementations to better support the users of the collection.
The future of school libraries is difficult to predict. However, it can have many positive implications on teaching and learning. The 2017 Horizon report showed key trends that have become increasingly apparent in K-12 education. These trends, with ranging timelines of 1-5 years for implementation include, coding as a literacy, increased STEAM learning opportunities, robotics, makerspaces, virtual reality and artificial intelligence. In order to respond and adopt change positively in our school libraries and reflect these external changes and advancements in information technologies, we need to develop our collections, services and TL processes and become a “Phoenix” rather than the extinct “Dodo” (Wade, 2005)!
References
Australian Library and Information Association School, & Victorian Catholic Teacher Librarians. (2007). A manual for developing policies and procedures in Australian school library resource centres. http://www.asla.org.au/policy/policy-development-manual.aspx
Chadwick, B. (2016) Curriculum-engaged school libraries and teacher librarians value curriculum-alignment of resources, International Association of School Librarianship. Selected Papers from the IASL Annual Conference, 2016, pp.1-30.
Education Services Australia. (2015). Scootle. https://www.esa.edu.au/solutions/our-solutions/scootle
Fleishhacker, J. (2017). Collection development. Knowledge Quest, 45(4), 24–31.
Hughes-Hassell, S. & Mancall, J. (2005). Collection management for youth: responding to the needs of learners. Chicago: ALA Editions.
Jacobson, L. (2016). Unnatural selection. School Library Journal, 62(10), 20–24.
Johnson, P. (2009). Fundamentals of collection development and management: Vol. 2nd ed. ALA Editions.
Johnson, P. (2018). Fundamentals of collection development and management: Vol. 4th ed. ALA Editions.
Kimmel, S.C. (2014). Developing collections to empower learners. American Library Association.
McEwen, I. (2018). Trending now. Teacher Librarian, 45(3), 50–52.
Mitchell, P. (2011). Resourcing 21st century online Australian Curriculum: the role of school libraries. FYI: the Journal for the School Information Professional, 15(2), 10-15. http://search.informit.com.au.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/fullText;dn=188987;res=AEIPT
National Copyright Unit. (n.d.). Smartcopying. http://www.smartcopying.edu.au/
New Media Consortium. (2016). NMC/CoSN Horizon Report:2016 K-12 edition. http://cdn.nmc.org/media/2016-nmc-cosn-horizon-report-k12-EN.pdf
O’Connell, J., Bales, J., & Mitchell, P. (2015). [R]Evolution in reading cultures: 2020 vision for school libraries. The Australian Library Journal, 64(3), 194-208, DOI:10.1080/00049670.2015.1048043
Tait, E., Vo-Tran, H., Don’t worry, a school library with fewer books and more technology is good for today’s students. April 2, The Conversation. http://theconversation.com/dont-worry-a-school-library-with-fewer-books-and-more-technology-is-good-for-todays-students-114356
Takeda, J. (2019). Evaluating school library collections at the site and district level as a tool for advocacy. Knowledge Quest, 47(3), 14–21.
Wade, C. (2005). The school library: phoenix or dodo bird? Educational Horizons, 8(5), 12-14.