Part A – Personal Philosophy
A teacher librarian has the potential to make the library the heart of the school community and to help students grow into life-long learners who are prepared to face the world beyond school.
The teacher librarian does this by creating an environment where students feel safe and supported in their learning journey. They build students’ research and digital literacy skills and encourage students to strive for their potential. They also support and work with teaching staff to create engaging lessons while upholding the vision and mission of the school.
An effective teacher librarian always endeavours to foster twenty-first century learning and always embraces the new opportunities to improve their own and others’ learning.
Part B – Learning Evaluation
When beginning the Master of Education (Teacher Librarianship) course, I was beginning my fifth year as a teacher in Darwin and was inspired by the teacher librarian at my school to see how else I could share my passion for learning and literature. I began the course reflecting on the role of the teacher librarian, identifying their ability to make the library a supportive place that fosters learning, research, discussions and conversation (Schembri, 2020a). While I still believe this is true, I now know there is so much more to the teacher librarian and their place in the school, highlighted by the following three inter-linked themes.
Teacher Librarian as leader
A teacher librarian (TL) has many roles within a school and often needs to insert themselves into other aspects of school life to highlight what those roles include and advocate for their position. When I think back to the two librarians that my school has had in the years I have been there, I see an enormous difference. The first, a library technician, didn’t seem to care about creating a welcoming space and rarely left her office to interact with anyone. When she left the College, our current teacher librarian took over, and there was a noticeable change in the atmosphere. Although unable to fully revamp the library physically due to budget, she was able to think outside the box and create a place where students feel welcome. The number of resources borrowed in her first year as a teacher librarian nearly doubled the previous two years under the old library technician. In addition, she sought out staff to see where she could help and offered her services to help facilitate lessons about research and inquiry.
In my second trimester of the course, I undertook ETL504 – Teacher Librarian as leader. Here I was introduced to a variety of different leadership styles, and the concept of leading from the middle. This concept instantly struck home when I thought about our current teacher librarian and I realised, this was exactly what she was doing. Cox & Korodaj (2019) talked about the importance of the TL recognising where they fit within the school leadership hierarchy, so that they can make the most of their position. Across two blog posts for ETL504 (Module 2 and Reflection) I thought about this and came up with my ideal position for the librarian: outside of the hierarchy itself but leading from a place where they could interact with everyone in the school from the principal all the way down to the new student in their first year at the school – in other words, leading from the middle (Schembri, 2020b & 2020c).
I further elaborated on this in my first assessment where I was required to create a flow chart of leadership within the school (see figure one). My flow chart put the teacher librarian in the very middle and had them being given some leadership by the principal, but more importantly, had them making use of servant leadership to help others. Servant leadership is the act of the leader being first a servant to their community and putting their needs aside for the benefit of others (Mughal, 2019). Having never heard of it before, it struck a chord with me as I realised how making the conscious effort to help others and serve their needs was a form of leadership itself. Blanchard (2018) highlights that a servant leader is less concerned with their own recognition or promotion and is more concerned with the purpose of the school and ensuring it is successful. I see now how true this is, the TL does not strive to become principal, or strive for higher pay (although it would be nice), but strives to ensure their school has adequate resources, every teacher is able to teach to the best of their ability and of course, that every student is engaged and enjoying their time at school.
Figure One: Leadership Mind Map
In the last six months, I started working as a teacher librarian in my school one day a week to support our current TL who is looking to retire soon. As a result of this experience and my learning across the degree, if I were to re-make this flow chart, I would try and tie the teacher librarian to more elements highlighting just how linked they are to everything and everyone within a school. In addition, I would try to add two things: advocacy and collaboration.
In one blog post, I spoke about the importance of the TL advocating for their budget, and while I still think this is true, there is so much more that they need to advocate for (Schembri, 2020d). As a TL’s work and leadership often occurs behind the scenes, they often need to advocate for the importance of their position within the school. Lewis (2020) emphasised the importance of advocating due to budget cuts usually impact school libraries first. However, she came to recognise that the best way to advocate was through building relationships and working with staff (Lewis, 2020). Having seen this happen in my school and learnt about the importance of collaboration over the course of the degree, I see that by highlighting how much collaboration occurs between the TL and other teaching staff to improve student learning, the TL is advocating for their own importance. Collaborating is a crucial aspect of the TL’s role, and in the flow chart, should be used to link the TL to all staff as it has been found to helps improve information and digital literacy (Pihl, Carlsten and van der Kooij, 2017).
Information and Digital Literacy
Having worked as a teacher for five years and comparing the students I teach to my own learning experience I have realised that the level of information literacy is quite different. Whether these differences stem from the different locations of where I teach and where I grew up, or whether it is different socioeconomic status, I am still unsure. What I am sure of, is that information literacy is a crucial aspect of being both a teacher and a teacher librarian.
The term information literacy often seems to confuse people, and I admit, took me a bit of time to really define in a way I was happy with. My first blog post on the topic, (written for ETL401 – Introduction to Teacher Librarianship) looked at the two terms separately and discussed how difficult it can be to come up with an adequate definition when they are together (Schembri 2020g). By the end of ETL401, I was able to expand on that idea and described information literacy as the ability to be selective with information (Schembri, 2020h). Looking back now, this still was not enough for me to rest on by the end of the course, so I continued researching. The Australian Library and Information Association describe information literacy as the ability to locate, manage and use information to create information products using a variety of inquiry methods (2016), wording which works best in my mind, combining what I previously understood with the future direction I want to go.
When trying to tackle levels of information literacy, TL’s are facing a group of students who are dealing with something that they were not exposed to as students themselves, information overload. Historically, when trying to conduct research, one would go to a library and choose any number of books available that were relevant to the topic. Comparatively, now when research needs to happen many people turn to Google. This presents two main problems stemming from the quality and quantity of content available through the search engine.
Searching through Google can lead to a seemingly endless option of resources which can result in information overload – the overexposure to information and the inability for the brain to take it all in (Klingberg, 2008). This makes it difficult for people to filter through the sheer number of resources to find the most relevant. The American Library Association (2011) highlights this problem by stating that school libraries should ensure students have access to technology and the literacy skills to navigate the technology successfully. This assumes that one aspect of the TL’s role is to teach students about information literacy and how to successfully research for and find the information that they need. I discussed this idea extensively in my first assignment of this course for ETL401 which looked at how the role of the TL had changed as a result of technology focusing on information literacy. Since writing that assignment, my understanding of the issues TL’s face around information literacy has continued to grow and I recognise it as one of the crucial elements of being a teacher librarian.
Similarly, regarding quality of information, the internet has enabled everyone to become authors and publish their ideas without following the process of having their work peer reviewed. As such, the information presented on the internet may not be of a high quality and students need to evaluate the quality of what they read. This is a skill which students need to be taught how to do, and the most effective teacher librarians are able to do this. Nelson and Irwin (2014) state that a TL is able to help students interpret the information they find to ensure it is of a good quality.
Outside of being able to interpret the actual information, is the ability to use and create information products, which often involves technology. This brings in the issue of digital literacy, first coined by Glister in 1997 identified the ability to effectively access and use technology (Secker, 2017). I believe this has extended in recent years and is now often linked to information literacy, and it is focused on the ability to use technology to access information and create new forms of information. While on placement, I spoke with the librarians in my organisation about this issue and they emphasised that it was prevalent in their organisation. To help combat this, they had created multiple videos which they encouraged staff to embed in lessons to teach students about processes for using technology-based programs.
The concepts of both information and digital literacy have been consistent elements across a number of subjects studied in this course and is something that is going to continue to be relevant for teacher librarians for a number of years to come.
Collection Management
A big motivator for me beginning this course was my own love of books and the fact that I had grown up spending hours at the library each week because there always seemed to be so many books and not enough time. Only now, reflecting on the course do I realise how much thought, effort and decision-making went into the cultivation of that library collection. In particular, there were two subjects which looked at the importance of literature and resourcing: ETL402 – Literature Across the Curriculum and ETL503 – Resourcing the Curriculum respectively. Although focusing on different areas of teacher librarianship, both subjects emphasised the importance of having a well-stocked and relevant selection of resources in the library, and the importance of making use of the resources within the classroom.
ETL503 taught me some of the specifics about collection management, in particular the importance of a collection development policy. This document outlines what resources are to be included in the collection, why they should be included, what happens when they are no longer relevant and so much more. While I reflected on and recognised the importance of this document, knowing that it would protect the TL if anyone questioned why a book had been included, I worried about schools not having one and how daunting that would be for a new TL to handle (Schembri, 2020e). Earlier this year, after talking to the TL at my school, I realised we did not have a policy at all, and as such were opening ourselves up to problems in the future and so, less than one year after writing that blog post, I was faced with the task of creating a policy. Although it is still a work in progress, with the help of what I learned in ETL503, we have highlighted the key areas that we want to incorporate in our policy and have begun writing it. Our starting point for the policy was the belief that selection decisions need to consider the users and the appropriateness of the resource (Johnson, 2018). Ideally this starting point will ensure that the policy we write enables us to select resources which will engage students and staff and are able to be implemented in classes effectively.
One idea I have struggled to come to terms with over the course was challenged materials. First introduced to the idea in the module readings about censorship, I expressed my dislike for it in a blog (Schembri, 2020e) and have continued to battle with the concept. Braxton’s 2018 blog which spoke about the process for challenging materials and offered a suggestion for how to include it in the policy, gave me some hope. Working in a Catholic school has meant that some books have been deemed inappropriate for students, not purchased, removed from shelves, or designated as ‘senior fiction’ so that younger students cannot borrow them. So far, this has been enough, and we have not had anyone challenge a particular text. However, Braxton’s (2018) approach and sample policy emphasised the right of anyone in the community to oppose a resource but ensured a fair process which did not give power to one person. This safeguards students’ access to resources and allows them to broaden their horizons and think critically.
Although it was something we did not need to include specifically in the policy, ETL402 sparked a fire in me about making use of fiction books in the curriculum. Having worked as an English teacher, I always enjoyed teaching a novel study and I was delighted to research more about the benefits of incorporating fiction into other areas of the curriculum. First and foremost, Haven (2007) discussed the benefits of using a story structure to introduce complex concepts due to its familiarity. This can make a complex idea easier to understand and remember (p. 97). Alternatively, the use of a fiction text can be used as a starting point, or as inspiration for different topics and concepts (Young & Serafini, 2011). In my first assessment for ETL402, I focused on the use of fiction in the history classroom, and at the end of the course in a blog post I expressed my desire to include fiction into Psychology classes (Schembri, 2020f). Unfortunately, while I have been unable to successfully do this due to time constraints, I have been trying to reference different books and other literature to link students’ prior knowledge of texts to theories we have looked at. Furthermore, since beginning working in the library I have started to try and collaborate with staff members in each faculty of the school to assist with resource selection, research tasks and creating displays (see figures two and three) in the library linked to teaching areas.
Figure Two: Dystopian display for Year 9 English
Figure Three: Fairytale display for Year 7 English
Part C – Professional Standards
Reflecting on the Master of Education in Teacher Librarianship, there are many skills and concepts which I have learned that have helped shape me into the teacher librarian I am today. However, looking at the standards of professional excellence described by the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) and Australian School Library Association (ASLA) (2004), I know that there is still so much more I can do to continue to learn and grow across the three standards.
Professional Knowledge
ETL401 influenced 1.1 of Professional Knowledge by providing a foundational knowledge of Information Literacy and inspired me to help implement inquiry learning in schools. It also solidified my understanding of the importance of lifelong learning and allowed me to research into theories about this more thoroughly. This has become an important part of my own philosophy and will influence my journey as a TL in the future.
To assist with 1.2 – Knowledge of learning and teaching, in ETL402 I learned different theories about the importance of catering to individual learning needs and having a library which includes resources to do this. This will be an ongoing part of my professional development as a TL, as I will need to continue to learn about student needs and interests to be able to cater to them. I will also need to continue to research the accessibility and appropriateness of resources in relation to the students with whom I am working.
Professional Practice
2.3 and 2.4 of Professional Practice focus on policies and procedures aligning with the school’s missions and continuing to evaluate the library to ensure it measures up against the policies. ETL503 first introduced the concept of a collection development policy, and it is something that I have started to implement. In future, I will need to work with the policy to ensure the library abides by what has been written. To further my development in the area of professional practice I will endeavour to learn about upcoming technology which the school chooses to use so that I can collaborate with other staff effectively and work with other TLs to ensure I provide equitable access to resources for all learners.
Professional Commitment
ETL504 emphasised the importance of the TL as a leader within the school and has encouraged me to work on my leadership skills as a TL. Being part of a network of other teacher librarians who can inspire and provide ideas about different ways of showcasing leadership is an important part of my ongoing development in this area. In addition, this will improve my community responsibilities, as will several of the online groups I have joined, inspired by INF506.
Each of the subjects I undertook as part of this course have taught me about different aspects of teacher librarianship. They have built up my knowledge about leadership, policies, resourcing, networking, learning styles and so much more. The course has laid the foundation for me to become a quality teacher librarian who will continue to develop and learn while working to create a resource-filled library where students and staff feel welcomed and want to live by the motto that guides Hermione Granger’s life ‘when in doubt, go to the library’ (Rowling, 1998).
References
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Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA), (2004). Standards of professional excellence for teacher librarians. https://www.alia.org.au/about-alia/policies-standards-and-guidelines/standards-professional-excellence-teacher-librarians
Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA). (2016). ALIA/ASLA policy on information literacy. https://www.alia.org.au/about-alia/policies-standards-and-guidelines/aliaasla-policy-information-literacy-australian-schools
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Young, S & Serafini, F. (2011). Comprehension strategies for reading historical fiction picture books. The reading teacher, 65(2). Pp. 115-124.