The Start of a Long, Arduous Journey to Become a Teacher Librarian

When I graduated from Macquarie University in 2017 with a BADipEd in secondary history teaching I hadn’t even heard the term teacher librarian, let alone developed an understanding of the role. Working in the library was never something I had really considered, instead I spent the first few years of my teaching career jumping between temporary positions in various primary and secondary schools.

My first few experiences with the library in a working context were delivering primary library lessons as a casual teacher and taking classes to the library for ‘information studies’ lessons. I thoroughly enjoyed these lessons in the library space, it seemed almost like another world when compared with the regular classroom environment. However, my few experiences in secondary school libraries were far different; I encountered several teacher librarians with little motivation and school cultures that tended to avoid the library at all costs. This included my current school. I was offered the position of ‘acting TL’  in Term 2 of 2019 after working casually there for a few months, as the resident teacher librarian had received a transfer. Initially I was apprehensive, but now more than ever I am so glad that I made the leap and accepted the position. I immediately fell in love with the role and the environment I was in, although it was a very steep learning curve (and still is!) and far different to any other role I had taken on previously.

After an initial discussion about my role and duties, it became clear that there was a lot to being a teacher librarian. To understand my place in the school better I first consulted the NSW DET Policy Library and looked in detail at the ‘Handbook for School Libraries’. From these documents I gathered that the role of a TL was predominantly to be the information specialist, someone who is responsible for providing resources and services for the school teaching and learning community, identifying the information needs of the community, encouraging reading and viewing and of course managing library systems and policies. ASLA’s definition of a teacher librarian similarly helped me to build my understanding, that being a teacher librarian has three main roles as curriculum leaders, information specialists and information service managers. I used these definitions as my starting point, building on the roles described and learning along the way.

Just in the first week of this course, my understanding of the role of the TL in schools has developed dramatically. Amongst my additional readings about the challenges facing libraries in a digital age, Horava (2010) states: “the challenge lies in how to balance libraries’ finite resources of money, time, and energy… No single approach will suffice because each will be important for addressing the library community’s diverse information needs and educational goals.” I think this sums up our roles as teacher librarians perfectly. There are no two learning environments the same, just as there is no one overarching approach to being a teacher librarian. The role itself is adaptive and requires us to look deeper at the needs of our specific teaching and learning community and the best ways that we can meet those needs, whether that be providing information services, collaborating with teachers on learning programs or providing specialist assistance to students and staff alike. 

 

References

Horava, T. (2010). Challenges and Possibilities for Collection Management in a Digital Age. Library Resources & Technical Services, 54(3), 142-152. https://doi.org/10.5860/lrts.54n3.142

NSW Department of Education. (2020). Library Policy – Schools | Policy library.  Retrieved 9 March 2020, from https://policies.education.nsw.gov.au/policy-library/policies/library-policy-schools.

What is a Teacher Librarian?. Asla.org.au. (2020). Retrieved 9 March 2020, from https://www.asla.org.au/what-is-a-teacher-librarian.