Having relieved in the teacher librarian (TL)
position at my school for some time prior to being appointed to the role I
understood that there would be a lot of learning involved in qualifying myself
for the position. The two day orientation in Sydney that the DEC provided left
me filled with an equal measure of anticipation and anxiety as I came to
realise just how much learning would be involved. I was fortunate enough at the
beginning of the year to have the retiring TL work alongside me for a while and
she was able to provide some good insight into the role from a practical
perspective.
I have found learning online at times quite
traumatic and at the beginning when trying to set up my blog this was apparent
from my forum
request for help as I obviously had no idea what I was
doing. However, perseverance is the key and when I did eventually work up the
courage to make
a start it was not as difficult as anticipated. I have
found as the course has progressed that my ability to search the CSU library
databases for information has improved and with every little success confidence
grows a bit too (in all the areas of technology associated with learning).
The initial readings of Purcell (2010), Herring,
(2007) and Lamb and Johnson, (2008) opened up the many aspects of the TL role
and made it clearer to me how important the multi-faceted role of TL is to the
success of a school in developing information literate students (Herring, 2007,
p. 32). The completion of ETL401 assignment 1 provided a much deeper
understanding of the role and the analysis and evaluation of the ASLA standards (2004,
para. 8) further clarified the expectations of the role.
Despite the current uncertainty surrounding the future
of school libraries and TL’s in schools (Local Schools, Local Decisions) I
feel there is much to look forward to and the principles outlined in Hay &
Todd’s (2010) article about School Libraries in the 21st Century
would indicate this to be the case. The importance of collaboration,
leadership, being forward-thinking and building capacity for critical thought
to ensure student outcomes are achieved in a visible way are crucial. The need also
for accountability and evidence–based practice are relevant to the security of
the role in the future (Todd, 2003).
The exchange of ideas and opinions in the forums has
helped considerably to clarify and consolidate my thoughts and perceptions of
the readings and activities in the modules. While I have read through all of
the posts that everyone has contributed, it has been a struggle to keep up with
the forum and I’ve often fallen behind and consequently not been as active a
participant as I should have been. I feel I have let myself down here as a
learner and will endeavour to manage my time more effectively and be more
involved in the next round of subjects. The importance of being an active
participant in ones’ own learning and being involved in all of the processes is
exactly what we’ve all been learning about. To be an information
literate person in the 21st century it is necessary to engage
with information using a variety of formats to initiate higher order thinking
and develop deeper knowledge (Kuhlthau, 2012).
The completion of this final assessment has been
enlightening in a number of ways and I feel my understanding of the theoretical
and practical aspects of the subject has improved significantly. The defining
of information literacy, evaluation of the information
literacy models and in-depth look at collaboration as an obstacle which may
arise when developing information literacy in a school as the TL are all
equally important areas requiring a sound understanding to enable success in
the teacher librarian role.
