".a (qualified) teacher librarian can contribute to the school community to a significant degree, particularly with ongoing curricular changes and ICT impacting on teacher workload. Teacher librarians ease that workload, not by re-shelving books but by using their expertise to collaborate with teachers; not by covering books but by providing valuable professional development in the use of ICT; not by checking books in and out but by joining committees to develop policies and practices that enhance student learning; not by chasing overdues but by working directly with students to develop their reading and information literacy skills."
Spence, Sue (2002), "Survey highlights major problems with library staffing" AEU Journal, SA branch.
It should be clear from this statement that I have a firm and passionate belief in the valuable, nay essential, contribution that qualified and pro-active teacher librarians can make to their learning community. I believe we have a unique combination of information skills, management expertise, cross-curriculum perspective and pedagogical knowledge and experience; which schools should not be denied.
I have been active within my local professional associations in advocating the need for qualified teacher librarians in every school. I also work with a local hub group of local teacher librarians in the western suburbs of Adelaide, and I initiated slasanet - a listserv for South Australian teacher librarians; all to create a local professional community. Much of my PD work had been a two-edged sword - designed to make teachers aware of the valuable support we can offer to them and the students [see workshops aimed at educators ] ; and to encourage teacher librarians to be pro-active within their own communities [see workshops aimed at teacher librarians ]. This very web-site serves the same purpose. I seize any and every opportunity to pass my message on.
There are some core references in Australia that delineate the role of teacher librarians:
- Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA), Australian School Library Association (ASLA). (2001). Learning for the future: Developing Information Services in schools . 2nd edition. Carlton South, Vic.: Curriculum Corporation.
- School Library Association of South Australia (SLASA). (2003) Role Statement for Teacher Librarians http://www.slasa.asn.au/rolestatement.html
- ALIA/ASLA (2003) Joint statement on teacher-librarians http://www.asla.org.au/policy/p_tlaust.htm
- ALIA/ASLA (2005) Australian Standards of Excellence for Teacher Librarians http://www.asla.org.au/policy/standards.htm
By these means a lone TL, perhaps professionally isolated in their own school, can tap into the power of the professional associations.I have used some to great effect in my own school:
- I used the SLASA role statement as a framework that clearly defined roles and responsibilities within our Resource Centre team of a coordinator, 3 teacher librarians and 2 support officers - and the Principal was enlightened when I gave him a copy too!
- I used the staffing standards in "Learning for the future" to change a proposed two hour cut in assistant hours, into an increase, albeit temporary, of three hours per week!
The teacher librarian professional community is far-reaching and generous. I have provided a number of links to Australian and international organisations and recommend Oztlnet and other listservs that are worth joining. As a sample of the 'sharing' that occurs in this community you will find the following:
- a collection of advice for the 'new' teacher librarian , gleaned from Oztlnet.
- the collated results of a 2003 survey where I asked interested TLs how they go about their job of creating an information literate community.
- a 'hit' of responses from Oztlnet on programmes used to promote reading and literacy, especially for boys.
ADVOCACY WRITINGS
Spence, Sue (2006) "Invest in school libraries to create 21st century learning communities". Access, ASLA, Zillmere, Queensland. Vol. 20, Issue 3, 2006 [reprint of Principal Mattters article]
Spence, Sue (2006) "Creating 21st century learning communities". Principal Matters VASSP, Melbourne, Victoria. Issue No. 67, Winter 2006.
Spence, Sue (2005) "Teacher librarians, an under utilised asset in schools". Curriculum Leadership e-Journal Curriculum Corporation, Melbourne, Victoria. Vol 3, Issue 1 7 October 2005, http://cmslive.curriculum.edu.au/leader/default.asp?id=9258 .
Spence, Sue (2004) "SLASA Submission to the Senate Inquiry into the progress and future direction of life-long learning", June 2004. http://www.aph.gov.au/senate/committee/eet_ctte/lifelong04/submissions/sub029.pdf
Spence, Sue (2002), " Oh, where is a teacher librarian when you really need one? " AEU Journal, SA branch, June 2002.
Spence, Sue (2002), " Survey highlights major problems with library staffing " AEU Journal, SA branch, December 2002.
Spence, Sue & Mitchell, Pru (2002) "CoSLA submission to the Senate Inquiry into the Role of Libraries in the Online Environment" , August 2002. http://www.aph.gov.au/Senate/committee/ecita_ctte/online_libraries/submissions/sub70.rtf