James Herring (2007, Chapter 2, paragraph 2) states, “School libraries do not exist in a vacuum”, yet experience tells me that many school libraries operate precisely that way. Prior to enrolling in this course, I was of the opinion that a teacher-librarian’s primary mandate was to foster a love of reading in children. Professional contact with other teachers consisted of discussing with them, any upcoming units of work so that library resources could be evaluated for adequacy and attempt to fill in gaps.
However, descriptions of teacher-librarian and classroom teacher collaboration that included co-planning, co-teaching, and co-assessing (Montiel-Overall, P., 2005) opened up possibilities I had not considered. Fullan (1999, p. 38) has added fuel to this new burning fire within me by stating, “…the true value of collaborative cultures is that they simultaneously encourage passion and provide emotional support as people work through the roller coaster of change”. I can now say that I believe this collaboration to be a “fundamental professional responsibility” (Immroth, B. & Lukenbill, W.B., 2007) and when given the chance to operate in the capacity of teacher-librarian again, I will be endeavouring to establish this culture within the school. Most probably, this will not be an easy task according to comments posted on the Forum that state that the “faculty mentality” is still very strong in many schools. Realistically, change is generally slow, but it is important to not give up (Toor,R. & Weisburg, H.K., 2011).
Essential to collaborative teaching is a thorough understanding of information literacy. Whatever teaching model is preferred to implement this, whether it be the Big 6 by Eisenberg and Berkowitz (Hughes, S., 2003), the 8 W’s (Lamb, A., Smith, N. & Johnson, L., 1997), Carol Kuhlthau’s ISP (1993), or James Herring’s PLUS model (1996), there is one thing that is crucial to success. One model needs to be chosen by the school and the teacher-librarian and every teacher in the school needs to use the same model (Lee, E.A., 2005). Prior to studying this subject, I am sorry to say that I had never heard of these models. Now that I am aware of them, I feel empowered to bring more to the role than I would have thought I could. Teacher-librarians need to take a leading role in seeing this implemented – after all, they are the ones that have contact with all the teachers and their students in the school and have the capacity to bring cohesiveness (Frazier, D., 2010).
The role of teacher-librarian is multi-faceted (Herring, 2007). They need to be an information specialist, a leader, a teacher of students and teachers, one who can create a practical, appealing learning space, and able to choose wisely needed resources within a set budget (Purcell, 2010; Hay, L. & Todd, R.J., 2010; Kennedy, 2006). In addition, he/she needs to possess the character traits of perseverance, passion and enthusiasm in order to be embraced into the culture of the school (Toor, R. & Weisburg, H.K., 2011). Another vital role that needs to be included is that of networker.
At the outset of the course I was dubious as to the value of the Forum. I have changed my thinking dramatically regarding this during the course. The forum is a way of sharing not only information and opinions, but opens up a community of people travelling a similar path. Once I am in a teacher-librarian position, I will quickly be signing onto professional forums as a way of keeping up to date of current issues, trends and information.
This semester has been an interesting journey. If the journey could be drawn on a continuum from one to ten, I would have considered my starting point to be somewhere around three. Now, I would say it was not far above zero! As for my progress, I believe now that I would be barely reaching two. Am I worried? Most emphatically, no! I now realise just how much the job description for teacher-librarian can entail. It is exciting, as learning opens new horizons, not only for myself but for all I have the privilege of working with. “To practice a discipline is to be a lifelong learner…The more you learn the more acutely aware you become of your ignorance” (Senge, P.M., 2007).
REFERENCES
Frazier, D. (2010). School library media collaborations: benefits and barriers. Library Media Connection, November/December 2010, Vol.29, Issue 3.
Hay, L. & Todd, R.J., (2010). School libraries 21C: the conversation begins. SCAN. Vol.29, Issue 1.
Herring, J. (1996). Teaching information skills in schools. London: Library Association Publishing.
Herring, J. (2007). Teacher librarians and the school library. In S. Ferguson (Ed.) Libraries in the twenty-first century: charting new directions in information (pp. 27-42). Wagga Wagga, NSW: Centre for Information Studies, Charles Sturt University.
Herring, J. (2007). The end of the teacher librarian. Teacher Librarian. Vol. 33, Issue 1, pp.26-29.
Hughes, S. (2003). The big 6 as a strategy for student research. School Libraries in Canada, Vol. 22, No. 4, pp. 28-29.
Immroth, B. & Lukenbill, W.B. (2007). Promoting information literacy & teacher-librarian collaboration through social marketing strategies: a human information behavior study. Texas Library Journal, Summer 2007. Retrieved April 30, 2011 from EBSCO host http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=df187673-4710-4220-be71-cabdf882e161%40sessionmgr10&vid=5&hid=18
Kennedy, J. (2006). Collection management: a concise introduction (Revised edition). Wagga Wagga: Centre for Information Studies, Charles Sturt University.
Kuhlthau, C.C. (1993). Seeking meaning: a process approach to library and information services. Norwood, NJ : Ablex Publishing Corp., pp. 45-51. Retrieved April 22nd, 2011 from www.library.humboldt.edu/general_competency/kuhlthau.html
Lee, E.A. (2005). Teaching reading strategies to build information literacy. In R. Doiron & M. Asselin (Ed.) Literacy libraries and learning (pp. 65-80). Markham, Canada: Stenhouse Publishers.
Montiel-Overall, P. (2005). Toward a theory of collaboration for teachers and librarians. Retrieved May 2nd, 2011 from http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/aasl/aaslpubsandjournals/slmrb/slmrcontents/volume82005/theory.cfm
Purcell, M (2010). All librarians do is check out books, right? A look at the roles of a school library media specialist. Library Media Connection, Vol.29, Issue 3. Retrieved march 5, 2011 from EBSCO host http://exproxy.csu.edu.au/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lih&AN=55822153&site=ehost-live
Senge, P.M. (2007). Give me a lever long enough…and single-handed I can move the world. In Jossey-Bass Reader on educational leadership (Second ed.) San Francisco, CA : John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Toor, R. & Weisburg, H.K. (2011). Being indispensable: a school librarian’s guide to becoming an invaluable leader. Chicago: American Library Association.
