I have been in my current school for 17 years this year and I have seen 4 Teacher librarians come through our school. I often walked into the library, which was in various states of organisation ( depending on the person), to see the teacher librarian scanning some books, chatting with kids and  reading stories. They were always so welcoming and would stop what they were doing to accommodate my teaching, learning, academic and personal needs.  Every person who took on the role was relaxed, friendly, comfortable and accommodating, They always had so much time off class, away from the kids according to the timetable. What did they do with all that time? I thought that they tidied a few shelves, read a few stories and everyone was happy. They showed the students a few websites and made a few pictures for displays.  What a wonderful place to be. The students loved going to the library, there were no reports, no parent teacher interviews and just time to read and hang out with kids. Oh how lovely. Even though the library space seemed wonderful it had to have some things that weren’t so great.  I knew timetabling was always an issue and it seemed that the classroom teachers would really dictate what extra subjects they would teach. Even though I truly believed that being the teacher librarian consisted of being in an amazing. positive, happy and relaxing space, would I really want to do it? probably not. I was happy with classroom teaching.  I was/ am a great classroom teacher and i loved connecting with kids for a whole year. I never thought being a teacher librarian was an option.

Over time, our school library was developing into a space that the students didn’t want to go, the school community didn’t want to use for forums and meetings and teachers could not find resources. This is the space I now wanted to go into, change and develop and make a space that was friendly, inviting, happy and a positive work space again.  As my life changed ( positively) so did  my work needs and the school staff changed. The library was now a space I wanted to be.

Stepping into the role, with very little handover I quickly realised the this new found role was going to be amazing. It was going to challenge me as a teacher, learner and person and i could truly make a difference in this role, teaching students to read, write, image, love, laugh, question, inform and  research. It’s not all rainbows and picture books. I never saw the collection management and sourcing, accessioning, sorting, locating, developing, whole school collaboration and individual attention for all the staff, students and community. It is though ( once again) a wonderful, safe, happy and friendly space that students, staff and community members  like being in.

My understanding s of the role of TL in schools was not a misconception, I feel it was correct but i just wasn’t seeing the whole picture.