A teacher librarian plays a very important role in a school. It is the role that allows her to foster a love of reading while helping to integrate technology and promote information skills at the school. In a school, the library and teacher librarian are integral part of the learning and teaching community that makes up the school. Teaching students to develop information skills is done by teacher librarians in the library and this is integrated with classroom teaching.

According to Australian School Library Association (ALIA), a qualified teacher librarian is defined as a person who holds recognised teaching qualifications and qualifications in librarianship, defined as eligibility for professional membership for the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA). ALIA has identified the three major roles of a teacher librarian. The three major roles are Teacher librarians as curriculum leaders, teacher librarians as information specialists, teacher librarians as information service managers.

In terms of teacher librarians being excellent practitioners, the standards state that teacher librarians will ‘engage and challenge learners’, work collaboratively with teachers in developing information literacy, ‘provide exemplary library and information services’ and evaluate their own role and the services they provide. The standards state that excellent teacher librarians are committed professionals who are leaders in their school in developing learning and are active within the teacher librarian profession (ASLA 2004b, pp.3-4). The Standards clearly state that the librarians can no longer be simply information providers.

A teacher librarian works collaboratively with all the stakeholders in a school. When I joined as a teacher librarian in a primary school five years back, I was responsible for planning, setting up and establishment of library from a bare room and a few boxes of books. I co-ordinated with teachers, administration and technology support to troubleshoot ongoing problems and was able to foster a highly productive and efficient learning environment. However, the role of teacher librarians has significantly changed in this digital age.

According to me, a fundamental goal of teaching is to foster strong relationships within a positive learning environment. A positive relationship can help students’ achieve a goal with confidence and build healthy self-esteem. It is my desire as a teacher librarian to help students. My role as a teacher librarian is to develop in students’ positive attitude towards the use of library and making it a hub of learning and not a warehouse of books. Effective use of library will make students independent workers and will develop their skills in cooperation, compromise and concentration.

In a school, the library and the teacher librarian are an integral part of the learning and teaching community that makes up the school. It would be really encouraging to see that our future libraries should be seen as a centre of learning first and a centre of resource second ( Herring, 2007, p. 30)

It is very vital for the teacher librarians to keep them updated with various professional development courses as he/ she wears so many different hats. According to AASL (2009), school libraries are essential to the development of learning skills.

References

Lamb, A. (2011). Bursting with Potential: Mixing a media Specialist’s Palette. Techtrends: Linking Research & Practice to Improve Learning, 55 (4), 31.

Herring,J. (2007). Teacher Librarians and the School Library. In S. Ferguson (Ed.) Libraries in the twenty –first century: Charting new directions in information (pp.27-42). Wagga Wagga, NSW: Centre for information Studies, Charles Sturt University.

School Library Association of South Australia (SLASA) , (2007). SLASA teacher librarian role statement. Retrieved from

http://www.asla.org.au/advocacy/what-is-a-teacher-librarian.aspx