The last few subjects I have not needed to blog so I have been quiet on this front but exceptionally busy elsewhere. I am so delighted to be in the middle of my final subject and then I will have a Master degree in teacher librarianship! The past six months have been very exciting and busy working in the library, studying, attending virtual conferences and doing other library and literacy community outreach.
A few highlights are:
- Having an article published about reading in the digital age in the Dulwich College publication, The Alleynian Review. This is a topic I could talk endlessly about and have enjoyed listening to a number of professionals speak about this topic at conferences and webinars.
- Speaking in episode 4 of Professor Chin Ee Loh’s How we Read podcast about the importance of comics as a valid reading choice.
- Working with Professor Chin Ee Loh on a mixed methods research project in my school library- this is an ongoing project and we are currently analysing questionnaires, focus group interviews and library borrowing data. We will have an article published about our findings in the second half of the year.
- Moderating at AFCC– I have been involved in the Asian Festival of Children’s Content (AFCC) for 10 years now. I have launched my own books there, been a speaker, served on the organising committee and I often moderate sessions. This is a wonderful festival and a big part of my Singapore story. This year I am moderating a session about Reading for Pleasure and speaking in a panel about digital reading resources.
- Working with the communications team at school to create a video about our libraries. We are unable to have parents on site at the moment so we created this instead. I must say I am a better script writer than I am a presenter- when the camera rolls I am not a natural and I look rather serious in this one!
Socially distant in the recording studio
Studying by distance can be an isolating experience. However, ETL504 has provided opportunities to build teamwork and collaboration skills through group case studies. Admittedly, when I realised that some of the work would be done as groups I felt frustrated and resonated with the reading by Aguilar (2012) because I believed that I could get the work done faster on my own. However, like she suggests, strong teams can build ideas from shared knowledge and challenge and inspire each other. This happened in group one as we built our understandings in each task. This is an important aspect of distributed leadership which moves authority away from one individual and relies on strategic groups (Harris, 2014).
The AITSL standards for teacher library practice include “to engage with professional teaching networks and broader communities” (Australian School Library Association, 2014). Since becoming a teacher librarian (TL), I have benefitted from networking opportunities within library groups and this subject has added an extra layer to this experience. Making connections with the people in group one has also resulted in us forming a Facebook group to continue to communicate, expanding the network of TLs that I can communicate with.
The case study content provided opportunities to think about some realistic problems TLs can experience and I could identify with some of these issues. In the past, I have felt some of these problems were insurmountable, such as having to manage a very busy diary and library and dealing with conflict and communication problems. I reflected on this in my blog post Courageous conversations. The nature of the case studies forced us to come up with solutions and supported us to think deeper about leadership and when aspects of servant and instructional leadership could be used.
Future learning in school libraries discusses how a TL needs to be an instructional leader (Australian School Library Association Inc, 2013) and this was reflected here and here in the case studies. The importance of leading the library into the future by planning and thinking strategically and using advocacy and marketing were also discussed. In my first post in this subject, Leaders Who Lead, I reflected on my leadership journey and my thoughts on how I had moved out of school leadership when I decided to become a TL. This subject provided me with tools to advocate in a more strategic way than I had before and I posted about this in Advocacy Using Mind Mapping where I explained how I had created another mind map which summed up all of the work I was doing as a TL. I shared this with the leadership team at school when I proposed the idea of having a head of libraries. I had raised this idea previously with no success, but this time using my tools on advocacy, being more strategic in my approach and using data from my annual report I have experienced success. This new role is being created and my leadership journey continues…
References
Aguilar, E. (2012, November 28). Effective teams: the key to transforming schools? [Blog post]. Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/blog/teacher-teams-transform-schools-elena-aguilar
Australian School Library Association. (2014). AITSL Standards for teacher librarian practice. Retrieved from http://www.alia.org.au/sites/default/files/AITSL%20Standards%20for%20teacher%20librarian%20practice%202014.pdf
Australian School Library Association Inc. (2013, April). Future Learning and school libraries. Retrieved from https://asla.org.au/resources/Documents/Website%20Documents/Resources/2013-ASLA-futures-paper.pdf
Harris, A. (2014, September 29). Distributed leadership. Teacher Magazine, ACER. Retrieved from https://www.teachermagazine.com.au/article/distributed-leadership
The first few weeks of ETL504 have provided me with more food for thought on how the libraries are viewed in our school and in other schools I have worked in or observed. One aspect that I really want to reflect on is the importance of a library being an information service and not just an information source. Many schools have barriers to ensuring that this happens. These barriers include budgets and lack of trained staff, including not having a teacher librarian (TL) working in the library.
An information source includes a collection of data including books, ebooks and weblinks, all of which should be, and usually are, housed in a library. This can certainly be useful to some patrons, however, if service is added to these resources, then there are huge benefits to patrons. 21st century libraries should provide information services that add value by creating access, packaging and interpreting information sources and provide twenty-four hour access to all of their services (“Organisation Theory,” 2019).
There is a danger in all libraries that the library staff are so focused on doing the day to day work of cataloguing new books and managing the circulation of resources but they are not adding service. As soon as a patron has a request that should be the number one priority, regardless of how many other tasks need to be done. Excellent libraries also have staff that manage and maintain information, not just the information on the shelves but also the electronic information they are providing with Ebooks and links to websites and databases. This includes preserving and ensuring the accuracy and currency of all resources and educating patrons on how to find information and use it effectively. It would usually include creating and maintaining libguides, blogs and/or pathfinders so that patrons can access information 24/7. Library services also need to be innovative and responsive to new developments in IT and curriculum. TLs need to model, lead and support 21st century teaching and learning (“Organisation Theory,” 2019). After discussing this article with my colleague she shared with me a great blog, Library Grits, by Dianne McKenzie, who I know after attending a workshop she ran a few years ago. In her post, Airlines V’s 5 Star hotels (in Asia) she uses an analogy of comparing service in a library to the service provided in a hotel or by an airline.
In my library, I have also discovered the importance of advocacy. If there is not a TL leading training for staff on how to use the resources then they will not be effectively used in a school. In my school, many of our subscriptions, like our online Encyclopaedias or subscription to Press Reader, as a news source, are forgotten by teachers and students unless I highlight them and plan lessons involving them. A TL should also be very involved in teaching and planning lessons that involve 21st century and information literacy skills. In schools parent sessions by the library staff are hugely beneficial and in my experience a great tool for sharing knowledge with parents. Communication with all patrons is also a service that needs to occur regularly, including newsletters to highlight library services are important.
This subject is looking at the teacher librarian (TL) as a leader and it also made me reflect, if a TL is not working as a leader in a school then there is the danger that the library will be treated as just a resource and that service is not being provided. It also made me consider schools that do not have libraries, like some I worked at in London, and also those schools who have libraries but no TLs. In Australia, when budgets are tight libraries are often the first to lose staff or money for resources (“Organisation Theory,” 2019). With regards to my local context here in Singapore, the government has excellent public libraries and all schools have libraries on premises. However, different use of funding allocated by the Ministry of Education in Singapore means that libraries are designed and managed differently in each school. School libraries are not staffed by teacher librarians and only some school libraries are well designed, well-resourced and well used (Loh, 2019). In most cases, they are just operating as a resource, merely because there is not enough money put towards staffing. A teacher who usually has a very full workload is put in charge of overseeing the library but they are too time stretched to be able to do this effectively. Alternatively, a library assistant is the only person who works in the library and they just manage circulations, without having the time or expertise to provide added services. Colvin (2000) argues that many employees in organisations are treated like robots by management and they are unmotivated or lack opportunities to become knowledge workers who can use infotech effectively and have the capability to organise and deliver projects. When schools don’t employ library staff with the time to dedicate to the library and the required knowledge and skills then the library is unable to become an information source.
In comparison, many of the international schools in Singapore have multiple libraries that are well resourced and are almost always staffed by a qualified TL. However, Singapore seems to be at a tipping point when looking at its education system and there has been a recent study (Loh, 2019) and conversations are starting about the importance of school libraries with TLs. In a culture and education system that is very academically focused, people are interested to hear that students who read for pleasure get better grades in school. There is starting to be an understanding that there is a correlation between high academic results and schools that have a well-staffed and well-resourced library. Part of Loh’s study created the following framework for a 21st century library.
(Loh, 2019, p. 4)
This figure resonates well with me and I think it is a good summary of some of the multitude of roles a library has if it is to be an information source and not just a service.
References
Colvin, G. (2000). Managing in the info era. Fortune, 141(5). Retrieved from http://archive.fortune.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2000/03/06/275231/index.htm?iid=sr-link1.
Loh, C. E. (2019). Envisioning the school library of the future: A 21st century framework. National Institute of Education (NIE), Singapore. doi:10.13140/RG.2.2.32524.36489
McKenzie, D. (2019, February 13). Airlines vs 5 star hotels (in Asia) [Blog post]. Retrieved from http://librarygrits.blogspot.com/2019/02/airlines-vs-5-star-hotels-in-asia.html
Organisation theory. (2019). In Teacher librarian as leader [ETL504 module]. Retrieved from Charles Sturt University website: https://interact2.csu.edu.au/webapps/blackboard/content/listContent.jsp?course_id=_42384_1&content_id=_2733066_1
After four months of learning in ETL401, and three months in the role of a TL, I feel like my brain is full to capacity! It does not look exactly like Jennifer La Garde’s (2013) image at the end of this post, but it is certainly very similar. It is an image that really spoke to me about the multifaceted role of a TL and one that I had to share. My view of the role of the TL has changed through this subject and there has been a huge shift in my thinking.
I had not given a great deal of thought to the word ‘teacher’ when I had informed people that I would become the junior school librarian. This is not to say that I did not think I would be teaching much; I knew that I was walking into a very busy teaching timetable. However, I had not thought about how important it was to explain my new role as a TL, not just a librarian. Arguably, being a teacher is the most important part of being a TL. I referred to the misconceptions about the role of a TL in my first blog post and I realise that it is partly up to me to demonstrate and educate what a TL can do in a school. O’berg (2006) discusses the importance of principal support and reminds TLs what they should be doing to gain it. Remaining visible to the whole school community, promoting the library and collaborating with all staff are all important aspects of the role.
In my blog post about the multifaceted role of the TL I reflected on many of the roles in La Garde’s image and backed them up with lots of readings. There are two roles that I want to highlight, which are student learning and professional learning. So much learning has taken place for me in this subject, and I blogged about this in Teacher librarians are lifelong learners and Feelings of uncertainty in my personal information search process. The biggest learning curve for me in this subject has been about guided inquiry and Information Literacy (IL) models. My school does not have an IL policy, nor a model that is used, and guided inquiry is not embedded into the curriculum. The school is new and therefore many things need to be ‘rolled out’, which brings with it both enormous challenges and huge opportunities. It has been so useful for me to learn about the different models and think about how I would like to lead the introduction of purposeful information literacy practice. In order to do this, I will need to collaborate with the teaching staff and having been a class teacher so recently gives me credibility to achieve this.
In the coming months, and before I commence the next subject, I will have time to reflect and implement many of the ideas that have stemmed from the learning in ETL401. This blog has barely scratched the surface on some of these ideas, but this image certainly demonstrates many of them well.
References
La Garde’s (2013) Penny For Your Thoughts: What’s Really On The Mind of Today’s Teacher Librarian. In The Adventures of Library Girl Retrieved http://www.librarygirl.net/2013/09/penny-for-your-thoughts-whats-really-on.html
Oberg, D. (2006). Developing the respect and support of school administrators. Teacher Librarian, 33(3), 13-18.
