The integration of the real world with the online has changed the teacher librarian’s role dramatically, in terms of the class content that students now need, along with a shift in education to teach thinking skills, rather than the ‘knowing’ of facts. The online world has effectively created new jobs, new ways of working, as well as making some industries obsolete, as demonstrated by effect of online flight and hotel bookings on travel agencies. The Teaching Librarian must now have proficiency in diverse media formats that correspond to the curriculum and are pertinent to the goal of ensuring access to culturally rich materials. This involves granting access to information resources beyond what is currently available in the school library or within the current experiences of library users. 

This shift would also dictate that were is now there is an identified need for teacher librarians to apply evidence-based methods to the work they perform in schools (Hay, 2005; Combes, 2016). Additionally, the lack of Australian data with students within this trend would suggest that there is a demand for TLs to perform their own research in this field. The commissioned review “Impact of School Libraries on Student Achievement” by the Australian School Library Association (ASLA), Lonsdale stresses the importance of conducting local research instead of solely relying on the majority of research findings from the United States (Hay, 2005). 

Hay’s (2005) 3 main criteria for change also dictates the need for TLs to work alongside course teachers to support learning and teachers by successfully integrating the development of information literacy and ICT literacy, and working with teachers to support the learning needs of students. Having the teacher-librarian collaboratively plan, implement and evaluate with classroom teachers to expose students to resource-based inquiry, and process learning through thinking and problem-solving activities. By providing training opportunities for teachers in the use of new information resources and ICTs and their use in curriculum contexts. 

Hence, the concept is that a Teacher-Librarian (TL) is an accomplished and highly specialized educator. As per the findings from studies conducted by Lipman (1998) and Payne (1994) cited in Sternberg & Subotnik (2006), an effective teacher exhibits the following traits: dedication, awareness of students’ needs, attentiveness to all students in class, consistent intellectual and emotional engagement, high expectations for students, and the ability to recognize both the weaknesses and strengths of students. 

Combes, B. (2016). literacy matters! literacy, advocacy and the teacher librarians. Synergy, 14(2). https://www.slav.vic.edu.au/index.php/Synergy/article/view/v14220163/14  

Hay, L. (2005). Student learning through Australian school libraries part 1: A statistical analysis of student perceptions. Synergy, 3(2). https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/document?repid=rep1&type=pdf&doi=034e820dd6f2230672da4982f80a7c8228fd8f0c  

Sternberg, R. J., & Subotnik, R. F. (2006). Optimizing student success in school with the other three Rs : reasoning, resilience, and responsibility. https://ci.nii.ac.jp/ncid/BA82395877