The servant leadership style focuses on active listening, supporting and prioritising the needs of the team, and creating a positive teamwork environment. This approach in the library setting is highly effective in fostering care and empathy among the staff. This positive environment can reduce stress and foster high morale among staff. Hence, everyone will be willing to support the school’s goal and vision. Librarians can adopt a servant leadership style by proactively checking in with staff members on their well-being, asking about their challenges and how they are progressing with programs, and offering support. The librarian can also host team-building events, providing an inclusive and fun environment to break down the barriers of staff. Depending on the needs of the staff and students, librarians can create tailored training courses and programs that cater to the whole school community. This way, teachers will be upskilled, and students will be able to acquire new skills. Librarians can create a work culture that not only reduces stress but also fosters a harmonious environment that aligns with the school’s ethos. This will improve engagement and satisfaction within the staff team.
Mesagan, O. F. (2024). The role of leadership in shaping librarians’ job performance in academic settings. Journal of Education and Teaching (JET), 5(2), 228-247. https://doi.org/10.51454/jet.v5i2.406
The teacher-librarian (TL) utilises the servant leadership style approach to proactively facilitate and provide ongoing information and digital literacy training to support teachers in integrating the resources into their teaching practices. This could be collaboration on building online research lessons or providing workshops for teachers to learn how to integrate the digital tools (Coetzer et al., 2017).
(PremiumVector, n.d.)
Co-teaching is another opportunity for the teacher librarian to serve as a teaching partner and guide classroom teachers in real-life situations by modelling how to teach critical digital literacy skills so teachers could facilitate the lesson in future. TL can mentor teachers by providing them with knowledge and skills on using library databases, digital tools, and resources to improve their planning and strategies in teaching information literacy (Koh et al., 2022).
TL is a digitally literate educator who can guide teachers through the complexities of the 21st-century digital world. The school community will benefit from understanding and navigating the ever-changing digital platforms.
References
Coetzer, M. F., Bussin, M., & Geldenhuys, M. (2017). The functions of a servant leader. Administrative Sciences, 7(1), 5. https://doi.org/10.3390/admsci7010005
Koh, K., Ge, X., & Petrella, J. B. (2022). Librarian-Teacher Co-Teaching and the Role of School Librarians in Facilitating Inquiry and Maker Learning. School library research, 25. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1348949.pdf
When comparing Bush’s (2015) four key elements of organisation theory (leadership, structure, culture and context) with Robinson’s (2010) video presentation (structural, cultural, and societal), I believe the key drivers for change that a teacher librarian could respond to through school library programs are:
Leading the integration of digital tools and resources into classroom teachers’ learning programs in conjunction with facilitating extra-curricular activities at school, such as coding cubes or digital literacy programs.
Preparing virtual learning spaces to allow students to access information, collaborate, and create projects online with the assistance of classroom teachers.
Support classroom teachers with student self-directed research projects.
Such programs would require support from the organisation. Considering Bush’s (2015) organisation theory, the four key elements would need to complement each other for the key drivers to be successful. The leadership of the organisation would recognise TLs as a driver for change (guided inquiry by Kuhltha et al., 2015). Consequently, the structure and culture of the organisation would be amended to reflect this, and the context also needs to align with the direction of leadership. Conversely, Robin’s (2010) theory shows that to incorporate such library programs meeting the curriculum (evidence-based by Robinson & Aronica, 2015), the organisation’s structure needs to be changed, along with cultural and societal values.
By responding to and supporting the key drivers, teacher librarians offer resources and services to meet their schools’ information needs (Edet et al., 2024). Teacher librarians are uniquely positioned to be leaders in creating a flexible, collaborative learning environment with innovation that will meet the demands of the current fast-changing educational landscape, including the emerging AI environment.
Edet, A. N., Adamu, A. A., & Jatto, E. (2024). Library Management: Current Trends, Challenges and Prospects. Library Management, 6(1). https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13168695
Kuhlthau, C. C., Maniotes, L. K., & Caspari, A. K. (2015). Guided inquiry: Learning in the 21st century. Bloomsbury Publishing USA.
This unit focuses on the practical aspects of cataloguing in a modelled environment. As I studied this unit, I began reflecting on the role I would like to pursue within a library setting. I found the unit challenging, as I have no prior experience and do not currently work in a library that has a chance for me to explore all different types of cataloguing.
(Poirier, 2017)
Many of the terms feel like a foreign language to me. The learning of indexing the collection and understanding a metadata search engine that allows users to search the collection through an online public access catalogue (OPAC) and access library catalogues outside opening hours on the web (Hider, 2024).
The Schools Catalogue and Information Service (SCIS) in Australia and New Zealand, allow records to be shared between library systems. During my practical exercises for this course, I found it confusing to use. I believe more guided lessons on how to use this resource are more valuable for students before letting them explore themselves and direct the answers to the exercises. I found that I was guessing the answer a few times. I required more guided lessons to feel confident enough to complete the exercise independently.
I believe a practical unit requires practical experience. As Milton (2010) explains in his book about the learning loop, where a person needs to understand and learn the activity by reviewing, educating and actioning. As future information professionals, it is important to have a foundational knowledge of cataloguing and collection management, even if we are not planning to pursue this role.
References
Hider, P. (2024). At a Crossroads: Cataloguing Policy and Practice in Australian Libraries. Journal of the Australian Library and Information Association, 1-20. https://doi.org/10.1080/24750158.2024.2403165
Milton, N. (2010). The lessons learned handbook: Practical approaches to learning from experience. Elsevier.
In this unit, I have realised the importance of teaching digital citizenship to students at school. The prime time is to start at the primary level, as the earlier students are exposed to how to manage online content, the better it is to equip them for later learning in life (Öztürk, 2021). Leadership support is vital for this to happen because students need to learn what information is safe to share and how to protect their information when in an unsafe situation. The evidence shows that students will learn how to interact responsibly and safely online with people that they know or know how to protect themselves when an unknown person is trying to interact with them if they have been taught digital citizenship education (Sterrett & Richardson, 2020).
In the current climate, schools are the best place to deliver knowledge, and teachers should be the experts in this area. As Pihl et al. (2017) indicated, partnering with teacher librarians, who are the information experts in this area, is crucial to fostering the delivery of teaching and learning digital technology at schools. However, there are still many schools that do not have specific policies or suitable professional development programs to cater for individual school needs, and the department is utilising generic programs to fit all (Albion et al., 2015).
After completing the gap analysis report, I have a clearer picture of how teacher librarians can play as advocates in this space. Teacher librarians can be the voice and coordinator to support schools in providing suggestions through policymaking, professional development technology programs, and attaining quality resources (Patel & Anitha, 2022). I have also noticed that without an adequate and quality digital learning environment, it will be challenging to meet the fast-paced, ever-changing technological world. The one-to-one technology program can have a positive effect on student engagement by ensuring that each student has access to the exact same curriculum and resources to break down socioeconomic barriers in schools. In addition, the program can create an equitable learning environment for students in this 21st-century digitalised world.
The challenges are vast and, to name a few, include funding resources, teachers’ beliefs, school culture, and time allocation for implementation with the support of the whole school community (Evans, 2017). On the other hand, there are also many benefits for teachers in using technology, such as the many free educational tools and materials to select to suit lesson plans (Harris & Al-Bataineh, 2015). Undeniably, teacher librarians can offer solutions and ideas, such as getting the local community involved in funding support for schools, as they play a vital role in advocating for change. I can envision that teacher librarians will be at the forefront of information technology, leading educators to frontiers beyond any technology we could imagine.
References
Albion, P. R., Tondeur, J., Forkosh-Baruch, A., & Peeraer, J. (2015). Teachers’ professional development for ICT integration: Towards a reciprocal relationship between research and practice. Education and Information Technologies, 20, 655-673. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10639-015-9401-9
Evans, M. L. (2017). Professional Development, Teacher Beliefs, and Self-Efficacy in Classroom Technology Integration (Order No. 10604601). Available from ProQuest One Academic. (1984646408). https://www.proquest.com/docview/1984646408
Harris, J., & Al-Bataineh, A. (2015). One to one technology and its effect on student academic achievement and motivation. In Global learn (pp. 579-584). Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE). https://www.learntechlib.org/primary/p/150906/
Öztürk, G. (2021). Digital citizenship and its teaching: A literature review. Journal of Educational Technology and Online Learning, 4(1), 31-45. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1286737.pdf
Patel, R., & Anitha, B. (2022). Role of School Libraries in sharpening 21st century skills of students. Library Philosophy and Practice, 1-5. https://www.proquest.com/docview/2622614396
Pihl, J., van der Kooij, K. S., & Carlsten, T. C. (2017). Why Teacher and Librarian Partnerships in Literacy Education in the 21st Century? In Teacher and Librarian Partnerships in Literacy Education in the 21st Century (Vol. 6). Springer.
Sterrett, W., & Richardson, J. W. (2020). Supporting professional development through digital principal leadership. Journal of Organizational & Educational Leadership, 5(2), 4. https://digitalcommons.gardner-webb.edu/joel/vol5/iss2/4
In this digital age, the world is running non-stop; accessing the net connects people from across the globe, with various cultural backgrounds, whether you are playing online games or communicating and collaborating with others. This connectivity necessitates respectful and responsible attitudes when interacting with others online, and inadvertently forms global relationships (Harris & Johns, 2021).
(Cornelius20, 2019)
Fostering digital citizenship at schools contributes to a healthier, more productive online global community, and is crucial to enable students to navigate the complexities of digital platforms ethically and safely. Technology will continue to evolve, and teaching digital citizenship at schools is the first step in bracing the next generation to build a healthy community (Harris & Johns, 2021).
I am looking at teaching students digital citizenship and the concept of building their professional personal brand. I will start with primary settings and help them understand the importance of their digital footprint when they access the Internet. From that discussion, I will guide students in discovering how they want the public to view them, and make sure they are well-informed that any information they upload to the web will remain there for the rest of their lives (Ribble & Park, 2022).
The balance between educational and social networking for students is challenging. It is difficult to monitor whether students are actually collaborating and communicating for educational purposes, as opposed to socialising. However, I would argue that it is better for students to use educational networking, even for informal catch-ups during or outside of school, because schools have an infrastructure in place to monitor inappropriate activities. Schools could take immediate action to bring students back on track, minimising negative effects like cyberbullying and misinformation (Giannikas, 2020).
Giannikas, C. (2020). Facebook in tertiary education: The impact of social media in e-learning. Journal of university teaching & learning practice, 17(1), 3. https://doi.org/10.53761/1.17.1.3
Harris, A., & Johns, A. (2021). Youth, social cohesion and digital life: From risk and resilience to a global digital citizenship approach. Journal of Sociology, 57(2), 394-411. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1440783320919173
I created a guide for students’ online behaviour in the digital learning environment. This guide promotes digital citizenship skills at my current school. I realised the guide required prior discussion with the teacher who is delivering the lesson, and differentiation for Stage 2. Having experienced a classroom setting, seeking students’ prior knowledge is important to know how extensive one should be in explaining the topic to the class.
(Tree, n.d.)
I have learnt that a teacher’s experience and understanding of the online environment are crucial to successfully delivering the topic (Hakim, 2015). For instance, if the teacher does not have in-depth experience of the online environment, then students will only touch the surface of the topic. In a low socio-economic area like my school, students will require more visual and hands-on activities to cater for individual learning needs. I know the key lies with building positive relationships with the students to successfully deliver the material (Martin & Collie, 2019).
When creating this guide, I found it challenging to produce a guide within the word limit for students’ online behaviour and stay on topic because digital citizenship has many parts. There are so many aspects of online behaviour that students are required to learn to be proficient as responsible and smart digital citizens. For example, students need to understand and learn the importance of online etiquette and how to contribute positively to the digital community.
To me as a practitioner, I understand students need to be made mindful that actions attract consequences. They need to learn to respect the rights and privacy of others in order to contribute positively to the digital community and become a healthy society (Lowell & Moore, 2020). I want to pose the issue that schools are increasingly monitoring students’ online activities, which sparks controversy over privacy issues.
Schools are also restricting too much content, which becomes a barrier to learning. It will be interesting to see how democracy in technology develops in future for all schools. As mobile phones are part of everyday lives, students who use devices at home need to be vigilant when communicating online. Parents do not install filters on these phones, and students can access content without any blockages. As educators cannot monitor these devices at home, the ultimate goal is to empower students to be their own guides.
References
Hakim, A. (2015). Contribution of competence teacher (pedagogical, personality, professional competence and social) on the performance of learning. The International Journal of Engineering and Science, 4(2), 1-12. https://www.theijes.com/papers/v4-i2/Version-3/A42301012.pdf
Lowell, V. L., & Moore, R. L. (2020). Developing practical knowledge and skills of online instructional design students through authentic learning and real-world activities. TechTrends, 64(4), 581-590. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11528-020-00518-z
Martin, A. J., & Collie, R. J. (2019). Teacher–student relationships and students’ engagement in high school: Does the number of negative and positive relationships with teachers matter?. Journal of Educational Psychology, 111(5), 861. https://doi.org/10.1037/edu0000317
I am a primary teacher and would use the Stage 3 lesson ‘Don’t Feed the Phish’ (Common Sense Education, n.d.). The lesson has an expected completion time of 45 minutes. I would split the lesson into two parts to allow 30 minutes to deliver the lesson and the other 15 minutes for borrowing time. I will adapt the lesson to match it with the Australian Curriculum Version 9 (n.d.) to include learning intention and success criteria. I will seek my students’ prior knowledge of the topic so that I can provide a tailored program utilising this resource (Buehl, 2023).
For example, my students enjoy discussion, so I will divide the class into groups of different abilities to complete the discussion. As an introduction to assess my students’ understanding, I will stimulate their interest in the topic by asking them to give me examples of what things are Safe and Unsafe in an environment. All the words collected will be displayed as a Word Cloud. As I usually teach in low socio-economic areas, this lesson will be simplified in dot point form for students with a lower attention span to be able to follow. The dot point format makes it simple for students to pick up the important messages of the lesson. I will also incorporate a role-play activity, as my students learn better when it is practical. The guided activity will be hands-on, using the library laptops.
Of course, I will need to ensure the Wi-Fi is working smoothly as I demonstrate how to access the material online and guide the class through the online activities. I will search for a suitable video for this lesson as my students are visual learners, and this plan does not have a video attached. At the end of the lesson, I will ask each group to present their understanding of the topic and seek feedback to check what they would like to be improved so that they can gain more understanding if they would like to learn any topics related to digital citizenship in the future.
I believe digital citizenship is still the best terminology to use in the 21st century. Citizenship implies adherence to a set of rules or guidelines as a citizen of a given country. It is like any discipline with a standard code of conduct to guide one’s behaviour, which one ought to follow if they decide to engage in that profession. Digital has varying meanings depending on the context. The Cambridge and Merriam online dictionaries both indicate that when the term is used in conjunction with other nouns, it means the technological or electronic version of that noun, such as digital media or digital clocks, as opposed to traditional media and analogue clocks. However, what ‘digital’ encompasses will shift over time according to the changing digital environment. When people hear the words digital citizenship as a single term, they have a basic understanding it implies behaving responsibly or in a certain way when participating online. Common Sense Education supports this idea and defines skills in digital citizenship as displaying appropriate behaviour, contributing constructively to online communities, and creating a positive outcome for the future. After reading the first chapter of ‘A Brief History of Digital Citizenship’ by Ribble (2015), I believe my fundamental understanding of the term still stands and is supported by Öztürk’s (2021) article, which demonstrates a similar definition of the term. They both concur that the term regards ethical and behavioural standards one should uphold in the digital realm. I believe the term ‘digital citizenship’ will remain until digital landscapes evolve and experts coin more fitting terms for new circumstances. At this point in time, the term digital citizenship still has its place.
The Social Networking for Information Professionals unit has broadened my perspective as a future library professional in understanding the positive uses and harms that technology can serve in the society. For me, the most meaningful aspect of this unit is that it identifies the importance of online and offline etiquette for what it takes to be a social networking information professional in the 21st century, through an array of multilayered learning.
In module one, I reviewed Han and Yang’s (2023) article, concurring with their survey on relational closeness for social media use and self-esteem on individuals. Individuals will have high self-esteem if they have a supportive friends’ network and adverse effect if not. Equally, several other students agreed with the concluded findings. Later, I noticed the article did not deduce a protective measure for this issue. Having completed the module, I learned the way to conquer this issue is to educate students on how to navigate social media, equip them with the necessary tools to manage their personal data and know where to seek assistance when encountering attacks either in the form of cyberbullying or cybersecurity threats (Etuh & Bakpo, 2022). Additionally, I concurred with Brenna Guiney’s (Guiney, 2023, November 25) evaluation on Mulvey and Keller’s (2023) article on social media platforms governed by algorithms and restricting what content can be shown on platforms. I realised since representation of the information could be biased opinion, it is difficult for viewers to notice from selected information, unless posts are very one-sided opinions. This understanding of how algorithms alter information showed me that it can be harmful to students and how crucial it is to promote information literacy in education for learning in the 21st century.
Further into module 2, the influence of social networking and technology on society were explored. I have learned that technology evolved from Web 1.0 to Web 2.0 and will continue to transform. Now I know that Web 2.0 allows users to contribute to web content and social media which facilitates collaboration and makes it possible for networking through mobile technologies, to interact with each other seamlessly. Nevertheless, the information environment that we are now living in is inevitably changing, upgrading, and it is a challenging task for information organisations to keep up with the fast-paced, ever-changing digital online platforms. This means that information organisations need to update their policies and guidelines regularly, and documents need to be fluid. Hence, I found that this method will allow accessing and conducting everyday business in internal and external websites to be kept secure. I have realised from this unit that the amount of data that travels and is stored in the cloud poses privacy and security issues. I have come to understand that to keep data safe and secure for patrons has become an expectation and is a strenuous task (Martínez-Caro et al., 2020). Keeping the infrastructure and online resources current is an enormous cost for information organisations. In the near future, information organisation might need to join ventures and pull their funds together to reach a common goal.
After watching Laura Cole’s TED Talk video (2016) in module 3, I discovered the history of the changing role of library professionals from preserver to cultivator, and from a custodian of books to having the active role of a navigator. Cole (2016) discussed the library 2.0 ethos in relational to information organisations and explored how there are a vast majority of roles that library professionals are required to perform. I agreed there are different expectations, and new roles and responsibilities seem to be emerging in an upward trend. According to Margaret K. Merga (2022), there are more than thirty-six aspects of role requirements and characteristics of the Australian teacher librarian. Margaret’s research (Merga, 2022) indicated that in South Australia schools have 94% of unqualified staff managing the library, due to cheaper remuneration packages. This demonstrated to me that the perception of library professionals remains static and is still considered a ‘breezy’ career, with a traditional lady sitting behind the front desk serving patrons (Rubin & Rubin, 2020). Hence, I think the need to promote the important role of librarians is immediate. I believe librarians act as a bridge between patrons and online platforms. I feel that constant training and upgrading library professionals’ knowledge and skills to support the community is vital to ensure a safe and protected environment for users.
I have explored various social networking websites in this unit for assessments and successfully learnt to create an artificial library website using Instagram. It was a great experience to learn a new application, where I can transfer the knowledge to my students in future to support them to navigate or create their own webpages using Instagram. I used the trial-and-error method for this assessment task, and reading and commenting on other students’ blogs inspired my learning for this unit. When I compared two twitter feeds (X), Digital Education Research Network (Australia) (DERN) (DERN [@derntwits], n.d.) and the American Library Association (ALA) (ALA [@ALALibrary], n.d.), I learnt that content appearance, type and the variety of posts do matter for attracting an audience. If posting is infrequent, that will create less market exposure, and mainly text content will drive users away. In addition, this unit taught me that algorithms are a useful tool to sort out the most relevant information and acknowledge images by reference to the code of Creative Commons to abide by the law, before downloading and sharing with others (Maurer et al., 2016).
Social networking is the norm, no matter what application you use, it is a part of our everyday life. I am a qualified teacher and have curriculum knowledge and a pedagogy. However, I found teacher librarians are uniquely qualified information professionals and require a different skillset, and it would be valuable for me to improve my information management knowledge and skills to support and implement programs that will benefit the school community. This unit revealed to me that libraries are increasing toward online resources and security protection, requiring multi-dimensional approaches with management and technical solutions. This unit supported me to advance my technological and management skills. I have no regrets in choosing “Social Networking for Information Professionals” and will utilise all the skills that I have learnt in my future career.
Han, Y., & Yang, F. (2023). Will Using Social Media Benefit or Harm Users’ Self-Esteem? It Depends on Perceived Relational-Closeness. Social Media + Society, 9(4). https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051231203680
Martínez-Caro, E., Cegarra-Navarro, J. G., & Alfonso-Ruiz, F. J. (2020). Digital technologies and firm performance: The role of digital organisational culture. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 154, 119962. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2020.119962
Maurer, M., Gerdes, J. C., Lenz, B., & Winner, H. (2016). Autonomous driving: technical, legal and social aspects. Springer Nature.
Merga, M. K. (2022). School libraries supporting literacy and wellbeing. Facet Publishing.
Mulvey, A. P., & Keller, J. M. (2023). Brooms and ballots: #WitchTheVote, the nostalgic internet, and intersectional feminist politics on Instagram. Social Media + Society, 9(4), 1-13, https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051231205
