Leadership. One word, yet a multifaceted definition. Add ‘Teacher Librarian (TL)’ to this word and it becomes a journey! Having only recently ‘converted’ to libraryland, it has been quite a steep learning curve about what it really means to be a TL and the various roles and responsibilities that come along with the territory. Now to the next chapter… TL as leader!

Many of us would have heard the saying ‘lead by example’, at least once in our life. To me, this sums up leadership. Quite simply, if one is to be a great leader, they need to have the ability to empathise with, relate to and have a deep insight into the group which they are leading. A true leader would recognise and acknowledge various factors and challenges that their followers may experience and account for ways to overcome these challenges. Such a leader would also facilitate and find means to equip their followers with the necessary skills to push through these challenges and emerge confidently and with new knowledge. Most importantly, an effective leader is one who has experienced such challenges first-hand and is therefore able to ‘lead by example’. This saying could not be truer than of a TL.

TLs are teachers first before they are librarians. Thus, they are in a position to empathise with, relate to and have a deep insight into teachers’ needs and the various teaching and learning challenges they face on a daily basis. Moreover, TLs can recognise and acknowledge these challenges and are able to find ways to account for them. This could be through various means such as providing digital and ICT tools, in-class support, skills workshops for assessment or research tasks, curriculum resources and literacy development strategies. Additionally, they are able to facilitate and equip staff and students with essential skills necessary to navigate today’s constantly changing information landscape.

Many of us would have heard another saying, ‘true leaders create more leaders, not followers’. TLs strive to support their users within the school community in various ways. Rather than merely provide an answer to a question, they facilitate skill and knowledge development and enable users to support their own future learning. They are able to survey gaps and limitations in teaching and learning processes as they zoom out to the bigger picture, then zoom back in and fill those gaps and rectify the limitations. Having such vision is synonymous with great leadership.