1. To be a school librarian in
France…
Two examples: Lycée Uruguay-France in Avon
and Lycée Jules Verne in Limours.
10/2011
2. Staff: Recruitment
• The school librarian is a specialized teacher.
• He/she has to pass the same level competitive
examination than the others teachers.
• A four year long academic curriculum allows to take
the « CAPES » (Secondary Education Teaching
Competency Certificate).
• The entrance exam is national and the Ministry of
Education controls teachers’ careers and pay their
wages.
• The recruitment is centralized and the training
follows the same curriculum.
3. • After succeeding and after following a one year long
pedagogical training, the laureate is allowed to
teach. His succes also provides him a legal
professional status, since his responsabilies and
duties are settleed by laws: number of working
hours per week; incomes and rules of promotion;
appointment and rules of transfert.
• As state public servants, teachers can stay in this
function all his/her work life.
• Since 1990, the school librarians (called teacher-
librarians, professeurs-documentalistes) have to pass
the CAPES of documentation.
We can assert that public schools in France present a
homogenous situation regarding the documentation
service, managed by a qualified teacher-librarian.
4. Staff: Timetable
• The school librarians are
supposed to work 36 hours
per week: 30 inside the
school, 6 outside (to go to
books shops, to visit
museum and exibitions, to
prepare courses, to get
formations…).
• Beside the head librarian,
both qualified as teacher and
as a library media specialist,
some assistants work for the
documentation center. They
often hand the basic library
function (equipment of
books, lending activities…)
5. Library Work
The school librarian work is very affected by
the type of junior high school or high school
where he/she is working in and how is the
CDI (centre de documentation et
d’information ), the library itself.
6. The Library - CDI
Almost all CDI have divided
areas, each one with a
specific purpose:
• The librarian desk.
• The documentaries section.
Most of the CDI use the
Dewey Decimal
classification.
7. The Library - CDI
• The reading section and
tables to work.
• The periodical section.
• The vocational guidance
section.
• The computer section.
The CDI opens generally from
9am to 17pm 4 days per
week. The presence of
assistants also allows to be
more largely opened.
8. Library work: Duties and activities
For few years, there is a project of a new teachers-
librarians’duties. This document defines the librarians’
missions in four fields of action:
Teaching goals
• Educate students to information culture :
teach the research process ; develop critical thinking ;
teach information skills ; train to the use of
technologies...
Work in collaboration with other teachers to develop a
resource based curriculum.
9. Management and organization
Define the school documentary policy, with the
contribution of administrators and teachers :
•Define the needs of the school community ;
•Choose the proper technical tools to organize the whole
information service.
Collection and access
• Build-up an appropriate collection, suiting
students' and teachers' needs ;
• Give access to the entire collection.
Links with the professional and cultural environment
Set up collaborative projects to promote local cultural
and professional associations, to work in collaboration
with the public library.
10. Library budget
• The school board of administrators (composed of the
school headmaster, members of the administrative
team, teachers, parents and local elected
representatives) decides each year the amount that
will be devoted to the documentation service. These
funds are taken from the school budget allocated to
educational and pedagogical activities. The teacher-
librarian uses those financial resources to buy print
and digital materials, pay subscriptions to periodicals
and databases
11. • The budget of the CDI
therefore varies from an
institution to another. It
depends on the school
resources (linked to the
number of students and the
region where the school is
set up), on the teacher-
librarian’s influence, on the
support the headmaster
gives him, on the
pedagogical choices made
by the whole staff.
12. Library evaluation
• The work of the • Each year, the
teacher-librarians is documentalist has to
evaluated by academic assess a report of
inspectors and the head his/her action to give to
master. They give them the head master and
a administrative and the school board of
pedagogical grade that administrators.
got influence on the
salary.
13. Some successful activities…
• Students training course
to vocational or
curriculum counselling
with their head teacher.
14. • Exhibit about « slam »
and collaborative work
with a literature
teacher.
