Purcell (2010) in her article “All Librarians Do Is Check Out Books, Right? A Look at the Roles of a School Library Media Specialist” discusses the varying roles of the teacher librarian. Included are the roles of program administrator, instructional partner, leader, information specialist, and nestled amongst them in last place is that of “teacher”. This distinction of “teacher” as a separate role entirely from the rest of the badges held by the TL is not something I would endorse. Nor would I endorse a prioritising of the role of “teacher” over the other roles Purcell identifies. To do so would offer a reductive view of the role of the TL as the myriad of positions and functions that they hold in the school means that teaching is an integral part of the role. The teacher role is not an aspect of it that can be identified as separate, and therefore as something needing classification via perceived value.
You cannot separate one from the other, and so you cannot put either “teacher” or “librarian” first.
This is first clear when we consider the official title of TLs in NSW schools: “Teacher Librarian” – not “Teacher who sometimes works in the library and loans out books”, or “Librarian who sometimes teaches students and staff Important Stuff“. The Teacher Librarian encompasses all.
If they are an instructional partner who engages in curriculum design and assessment, and works collaboratively with staff to do so – then are they not a teacher? If they select, order and process materials for circulation as program administrator, are they not also fulfilling the function of the English faculty, who do the same when they select, order and process novels for use in close study units of work? If they provide assistance in the use of ICT, are they not like the official technical support officer who solves all our Sentral and Google Forms problems? In this sense, are they not also like the students who leap to the occassion to help when the PowerPoint won’t load properly in class? Are not all teachers and teacher librarians similarly alike in that they are leaders who attend community and school events to promote the school and the profession?
Purcell’s work is helpful in identifying some of the core roles of the TL. As a checklist for all we must do, it might be a touch idealistic – can one person truly plan programs, AND collaborate to plan programs AND effectively manage a learning environment, AND lead committees, AND train the school staff, AND cater for the curriculum, AND teach classes (which often include regular classes like English and History in secondary schools) as a run of the mill teacher? Perhaps not. Perhaps some of these need to be prioritised. Perhaps library assistants – and even teachers – could share the roles of collection evaluation and management and planning for staff and curriculum needs.
But perhaps they can. Because Teacher Librarians are not all of one thing on one day and only another on the next. They don’t stop being teachers just because they’re evaluating the collection. Indeed, I would argue that every action made is done so in light of the following lenses: is it good for the students? How will it help them? Will it meet their needs?
At the end of the day, a separation or prioritising of the roles is counterproductive, and will only serve to cause confusion. It is not about placing the “teacher” before the “librarian”, or the “librarian” before the “teacher”, because they are one and the same. Attempting to do so is like trying to serve and eat a poorly deconstructed cupcake at a birthday party – it’s a dismal and desiccated experience. Having the complete package results in a much sweeter and richer outcome for all.
Reference list:
Purcell, M. (2010). All librarians do is check out books, right? A look at the roles of the school library media specialist. Library Media Collection, 29(3). p.30-34. http://web.a.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/ehost/detail/detail?vid=0&sid=5e6e4f39-5f69-4e14-9637-6ca4993253a3%40sdc-v-sessmgr01&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#AN=55822153&db=iih