TOPIC 2. The Role of the Teacher Librarian    

The teacher librarian: role statements and standards

Looking through the ALIA Core Values Statement and the Standards of Professional Excellence for Teacher Librarians document I take comfort from the statement on p2 that "it is primarily intended for use by teacher librarians as a framework for ongoing professional learning."
As a beginning TL there's SO much to learn and as Barbara says on the forum "small steps"! I queried at my school the existence of a TL role statement and was advised that the information I needed would be found in the school Library Policy. Upon reading this though I didn't find a great deal that could be related to the Standards document.

Some Author's Views
Purcell (2010), Lamb and Johnson (2008) and Herring's (2007) Readings

Having read through the articles and chapters I find myself agreeing more with the views of Herring as opposed to Purcell or Lamb and Johnson's. Although Herring has listed significantly more roles to be fulfilled, he also states that they are multi-faceted and should overlap and he places the role of teacher as a priority, which differs quite a bit from Purcell and Lamb and Johnson's ideas.

I believe the priority of roles a TL plays in a school do depend very much on the needs of the particular school, but that as a TL the primary role is that of teacher in order to be seen as a valuable team player.

 Principal support is central to school library success

• Haycock, K. (2007). Collaboration: Critical success factors for student learning. School Libraries Worldwide, 13(1), 25-35.
• Oberg, D. (2006). Developing the respect and support of school administrators. Teacher Librarian, 33(3), 13-18.
• Hartzell, G.'What's It Take?' (presented at the Washington White House Conference on School Libraries in 2002)

Very interesting reading so far on the importance of the principal with regard to collaboration and success of the TL being dependant on it. I'd like to relate my personal experinece while working in the library to the readings' about "collaboration". When appointed to the position of TL at my school my principal at the time was highly supportive of the role and encouraged collaboration with executive staff to provide me with the time, support and advice from the retiring TL to ensure a positive handover/ introduction to the role. Less than a week after my appointment the Principal was moved to another school and his position is now being relieved in by the D.P.

While the timetabling and expectations of me seem to remain the same the relieving principal has passed his supervisory role of my position to another member of the executive team as he is too busy with other school admin. roles to supervise me also. He has also advised that there is no budget available to the library this year, which means no new resources other than our Aust. Standing Orders subscription (which has already been in place for a long time before my arrival). This leaves me feeling that perhaps there's no room for the relieving principal and I to collaborate and work together as he's always genuinely very busy with other things to do!

As the Principal's position is about to be advertised, I'm wondering what will become of the library and the expectations of my role in the school. I hope the support of the previous principal can be matched by the incoming one. In the last year or two our library received an IWB (as did most classrooms) and 12 new laptops to access media technology in the new library building, which caused a great deal of excitement in the school and local community.

I'm fortunate to be in a collaborative team-teaching role with classroom teachers currrently and not expected to just teach RFF. I have the hard work of the previous TL to thank for this. A number of staff do actually collaborate and team teach with me, however an almost equal amount sit up at the back of the room and don't involve themselves. I'm hoping next term to try and make some changes to my program to try and involve staff and to "collaborate" more. It's a real challenge knowing how to best do this...and a relief to know (from the readings) that it's not just my issue but lots of TL's out there!

Making a start...

I find myself still feeling very overwhelmed and wondering just how to fit everything in to an already hectic life. The thought of reflecting openly on a blog makes my toes curl and I've successfully procrastinated for over a week now. A friend referred to me as an "internet truant" during the week and hit the nail right on the head as I've sat with every intention of studying and gone from hyperlink to hyperlink being successfully distracted. Where to begin then?!

How do I rate as an Information professional?
Definitely as a beginner!!!
I believe I have a very long road to travel.. and find, after just a little reading(!), that my ideas about what it means to be a Librarian fall a little short of the mark. After reading through the ALIA policy on the Library and Information sector : Core knowledge, skills and attributes (http://www.alia.org.au/policies/core.knowledge.html) I find myself wondering if I'm going to make it. I'm nervous and excited at the same time and just have to keep telling myself over and over, I think I can, I know I can.

The library I've recently been appointed to is a new building, courtesy of BER funding. I'm in a very fortunate position having worked as a casual teacher in the school, occasionally relieving in the library while it was being built and set up. I assisted with the transition from the old to the new and really enjoyed the task. With the students, staff and local community knowing who I am it made the transition into the position of TL much easier and allows me to concentrate my energy on learning how to be the best Teacher-librarian I can be.

I listened with interest to the vodcast of Dagmar Schmidmaier AM discussing "Education for the Library Profession in the Digital Age." http://www2.slv.vic.gov.au/programs/ltf/forums/digital_forums/dagmar.html
What she had to say about libraries losing importance and their day's being numbered due to internet use was quite disconcerting. I found myself wondering if the date of the address was relevant to the views held. However, by the end of the address I think I had a better understanding of what was being said. The main message seemed to be the importance of taking a pro-active role incorporating the internet into library learning and making it a worthwhile learning experience. It really is an exciting time to be climbing on board. Now time for a cuppa!

Herring,J. (2007) Ch2. http://www.csu.edu.au/division/library/ereserve/pdf/herring-j.pdf
I found it interesting to read about the different titles given to T.L's in the U.S.A, U.K. and Canada and differences in the Standards followed by the different countries.
Herrring's opinion that a school library should be a centre of learning first and resources second is one I agree with and felt it relevant to where I am at the moment, having recently been requested(by one teacher) to "just teach library skills" as opposed to integrating these into the curriculum which I know is the more appropriate option. Many staff where I work lack the confidence and skills themselves to try and use our new technology but another big issue is the maintenance and reliability of the equipment.

School library mission
  "...reading for pleasure is a small (but important) part of the school curriculum, it can be argued that this aspect is given unnecessary prominence in some school library mission statements." (p.2) I do believe children should be encouraged to enjoy reading to ensure success with it and that this is made possible through exposure to a variety of fiction from the earliest possible age, so am left wondering about the implications of this. My search on the Primo database uncovered a fabulous website though! (http://en.childrenslibrary.org/) 

The Role of the T.L.
Looking at the diagram of the "Multi-faceted role of the teacher librarian" (p.5) there are quite a lot of possible hats to wear. Adaptibility to all things new and the ability to evaluate what's most needed by the school and the students seem to be important pointers toward success in the role..."Smart information using students need smart teacher librarians to help them learn" (p.5).

Information Literacy in schools 
Some models used to scaffold students work in libraries are:
Australia - uses Capra and Ryan's Information Literacy Planning Overview (ILPO)(2001)
N. America - The Big 6 Model (www.big6.com) (Eisenberg and Berkowitz 1990)
U.K. - Herring's (2004) PLUS Model (Purpose,Location, Use and Self-evaluation)
While all are valuable the reading would suggest that more is needed with the way technology is continuosly developing.

Collection development in school libraries
The comment about a library collection reflecting "the views and aspirations of the teacher librarian, rather than that of the school" (p.8) jumped out at me! I don't believe this is an issue at my school as I think we do have quite a varied amount of material across the collection, but the need to keep the point in mind is very valid.

The School library website and school intranet
This is definitely an area I'm going to have to learn a lot more about and after reading about the different purposes for the website and intranet I feel enthusiastic about the possibilities. Upon doing a quick search of my school's website there's no link or mention of the library anywhere! Something for me to follow up on next week...

The Beginning

I'm so relieved Friday has arrived as it has been a particularly long and busy week. I'm hoping this works and by the end of the weekend I'll be up and running!