My memory of my childhood school library is somewhat vague by now. I remember the green wooden door at the top of a flight of concrete stairs. I remember an inviting-looking patio off the side that extended into the basketball court (teachers’ car park) that we had to walk past to get to the main entrance. I remember thinking I would love to sit in the sun in that area and quietly read and I remember that students were not, under any circumstances, allowed in that area. I remember sitting in the AV room off to the other side and watching TV as a ball of plasticine rolled around a sand box singing about vowels. Why? I still don’t know but, hey, it was the 80s. I remember the roll of plastic carpet covering that would be laid out in the walk ways on rainy days and the circles along its edges. I remember a rather colourful lady who worked there. She had very large glasses and even larger hair. It was the 80s after all. I have absolutely no recollection at all of what she did in there all day.
Many years later, embarking on my first day of teaching at my first school in the inner west of Sydney, I was introduced to the school’s teacher in the library. He didn’t have large glasses or larger hair. In fact, he didn’t have hair at all. He had books. And a prodigious collection of sets of headphones. I had no real idea what to do with any of it, but who does when they’re first out of Uni? In those early days I was so focused on learning the ropes and desperately hoping to have at least some positive impact in the classroom that I really did not appreciate what he was able to offer. At that point, the library was a place I took the students every week and was not supposed to stay with them. What happened in there was, due to my own inability to see past the end of my nose, a complete mystery. I had completed a prac placement in a school library during my undergraduate course, so I really should have known better.
It wasn’t until about four years later when the school scored the services of the first qualified Teacher Librarian I had ever met, that I really started to develop some understanding of the value she could add. She seemed to know exactly the question to ask to point me in the direction of resources I didn’t know I really needed. She showed me how to access the information in new ways and how to help the kids learn to access it too. She introduced team teaching within the library program and wanted to be involved in developing stage-based learning programs as well. She not only provided resources to support topics of study but showed how they might be used. She introduced technology into inquiry lessons. Suddenly the students had access to computers and the internet. They needed to know how to use it efficiently and safely. She had my back there too.
I have been a classroom teacher now for 17 years and have had thoughts of working in school libraries for most of that time. I have done some relieving work in the library over the years, especially since my own children came along and I am more convinced than ever of the vital role a good teacher librarian has in developing the students’ love of learning, appreciation of literature and ability to really think about the information they are gathering. I have come to believe it is also vitally important for TLs to make their available services and skills known and visible to their colleagues, especially their newer colleagues who might benefit most from the leadership and guidance a really good TL can provide.
