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Revisioning the School Library Program
The document provides suggestions for school library programs to better align with leadership priorities and make the most of resources: 1) Teacher librarians should ensure library programs are cutting edge, evidence-based, and directly connected to school goals by collaborating with professional networks and promoting outcomes. 2) Outdated practices should be re-examined critically to better serve students and leadership. 3) Librarians must find ways to maximize time for innovative programming like makerspaces through efficiency, volunteers, and connecting library resources to curriculum.
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Revisioning the School Library Program
- 1. https://readingpower.wordpress.com/ Revisioning the SchoolLibrary Program @Anneticipation Anne Weaver
- 2. •One idea: Teacherlibrarians should provide: cutting edge programs use evidence based practice goals connected to school leadership priorities informed by leading Professional Learning Networks promote and report on programs •One story: kill Sacred Cows •One big question: Is your library program satisfying your Principal and school leadership?
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- 18. PLN • http://oomscholasticblog.com/post /10-school-librarians-follow-twitter • Twitter •Find blogs • http://tlvirtualcafe.wikispaces.com/ • Real people • Free PD • Webinars • State Library QLD and similar
- 21. IT Helpdesk inthe library run by students Help Desk
- 22. Finding more time •combine staff from Archives, bookhire, bulk printing, AV to cover counter duties • design library so staff work area assists supervision • books come covered from suppliers, or not covered • issued textbooks now stored in library • custom reports for automated billing, picking slips • volunteers • Online Booking System • Procedures manual • Digitisation and paperless office • AHS library youtube site • Training and skilling staff • Library staff communication onenote http://www.freestockphotos.biz/stockphoto/16192 http://pixabay.com/en/pimp-hat-purple-profession-26737/
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- 24. Catalogue One StopShop, Federated Search • How much time is taken by library website, pathfinders? • Removing barriers for staff and students to connect with information – have catalogue anyway, so make it effective • ebooks for equity • everything in one place • can be accessed 24/7 – catalogue has app – • LibraryLink app http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Collapsible_top_hat_IMGP9662.jpg
- 25. Makerspace Programming: outsideclass time becomes more important https://ahsmakerspace.wordpress.com • Book clubs • Board games • Crafts • Circuits • Robotics • Coding • When: do not compete with assessment nor other schools events https://www.flickr.com/photos/borkweb/355808183
- 26. Programming: Make itmanageable • move staff practices to taking on these projects • vary demands: high tech, low tech, low support • number of bookclubs once per term? • chunk – staff one makerspace activity each and term to develop and learn • connect to curriculum and extra curricular • students take on leadership roles in making • what can other teacher-librarians, staff, students, parents share, help or donate? • what do they want to learn?
- 27. Staff PD days(end of Term 2 start of Term 3) Session 1: Are you making the most of the AHS library catalogue? •New Federated search •OverDrive Ebooks, Audiobooks, EBSCO databases, EBSCO eBooks, Clickview •Refining searches to access digital resources •Types of digital resources – tips for using them •Pathfinders, Instructions Session 2: Research Made Easy (RME) model What is RME? Why should students use this? Why in OneNote format? Examples of the types of resources provided, layout and special features. How to incorporate the RME into research lessons.
- 28. Find points of intervention so readingpromotion and information literacy is targeted and systematic
- 29. Connect with schoolIT staff and technology http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Love_Heart_SVG.svg https://ahsmakerspace.wordpress.com/
- 30. What did youwrite at the session beginning? • that teacher librarians must manage time and resources to achieve goals directly connected to school leadership priorities? • about providing specialist cutting edge library programs using evidence based practice? • about promoting, sharing and connecting? • about connecting with leading teacher librarians and educators to select cutting edge programs best suited to your school’s goals?
- 31. Images from http://pixabay.com/en/photos/cow's%20milk/http://pixabay.com/en/photos/bolt/ Non-commercial re-use with modification
Editor's Notes
- #2 This presentation will be made available on my blog readingpower.wordpress.com, using slideshare, so you will be able to access both slides and notes. Last year at Edutech, I shared our library renovation. Photos of our Library will again feature in today’s slides. However, the renovating of the space was but one stage. The next stage was to renovate our library program to maximise the learning potential of this wonderful environment. Firstly, some work for you. Jot down or type ideas to answer the question: What is your idea of a visionary library program? You have ... Minute/s. We will share these at the end of the session, time permitting. I find it immensely helpful to hear the vision of other librarians for reflecting on my own. This talk today is our vision statement: our aspiration for our school library which might challenge you to think differently or it might reinforce what you are already doing. Firstly, some work for you. Jot down or type ideas to answer the question: What is your idea of a visionary, best practice, library program? You have ... Minute/s. We will share these ideas at the end of the session, time permitting. Like most of our students, I started with google. I found an article called how to do a TED-like talk. It said “A good 20-minute talk presents: one idea, tells one story, and asks one questiike most of our students, I started preparing with google. I found an article called how to do a TED-like talk. It said “A good 20-minute talk presents: one idea, tells one story, and asks one question.”
- #3 One idea: Teacher librarians must provide cutting edge library programs, using evidence based practice, that focus on goals directly connected to school leadership priorities. Teacher librarians need to use Professional Learning Networks to develop these programs and must promote these. One story: kill Sacred Cows One big question: Is your library program satisfying your Principal or school leadership? Let’s consider the last question mathematically. Please don’t answer. But consider - what are you paid? What is a library aide paid? Let’s say an experienced teacher librarian might cost a school $90,000; possibly more. An aide running the library (term time only) might cost less than half this amount, that is less than $45,000. So, school leadership would need to be “satisfied” that the learning benefit provide by the teacher librarian is worth the differential cost - say $45,000. Here is a recent example. A teacher librarian returning from leave asked her school leadership if she could take mainly prep and younger classes. School leadership refused this as they were concerned this teacher librarian would largely be reading picture books, and they were not satisfied that this justified paying her salary. Teacher librarians spend a lot of time juggling finances, so we should be very aware of what this must be like for school leadership. When teacher librarians lose their job, they are sometimes given the choice of returning to the classroom. I have been told by some teacher librarians that they chose to resign because classroom teaching is too demanding. Teachers work on average a 60 hour week with marking, preparation, parent meetings and so on. Teacher librarians need to work as hard as teachers if expecting a teacher's salary. http://www.theguardian.com/education/2014/feb/28/primary-school-teachers-work-60-hour-week Many teacher librarians already have timetabled classes with reporting and assessment. I do. Another recent story. I was told about a teacher librarian who applied to fill a contract for a teacher librarian on long service leave. This applicant was a qualified teacher librarian, but said she could not take classes by herself. Needless to say, she did not get the job. It is non-negotiable, that teachers librarians must show leadership in teaching.
- #4 There are many excellent teacher librarians, but not every teacher librarian is excellent. Some do not connect with cutting edge school library information, so do not hear, let alone heed, the warnings that have been communicated for many years, about the need for change in teacher librarian roles and programs. I am not saying that only poorly performing teacher librarians have lost jobs, for that is not the case. Rather, I am saying that we need to consider the issue more broadly than blaming Principals or asking Unions to enforce one teacher librarian in every library. Some school libraries are simply “revising” what has been done in the past. Most teacher librarians work hard and mean well, but this is not enough to keep teacher librarians in jobs. Technological advances mean that many library processes can be done without specialist skills, yet many teacher-librarians spend considerable time on such tasks. In America, the role is often called library media specialist. Teacher librarians need to run programs that are very "special" to enhance learning. If teacher librarians are doing jobs that can be done by non-specialist staff; if they do not become indispensible to their school's learning goals, then they become an expense that can be dispensed with. Recently, on the main Australian teacher librarian list, a teacher librarian emailed about disparaging remarks that had been made about teacher librarians at a conference. In response, the suggestion was: let's ... bombard them with messages from school libraries and kids. The problem with this response is the "show, don't tell" rule. Telling people we are "good" is unlikely to work if that is not what they have been shown. We need to reflect seriously on why these poor opinions of school librarians exist because teacher librarian jobs are disappearing at a rapid rate, not only in Australia, but also worldwide. Some teacher librarians plan their programs quite separately from teachers, let alone communicating with school leadership. It is very easy to get rid of teacher librarians if they are already disconnected.
- #5 The most important step in revisioning the library program is to look at the practices of the teacher librarian. This does not mean abandoning information literacy, reading or resourcing roles; but it may mean doing these things differently; it may mean stopping some practices; and it means making time for new directions. Literature and inquiry are now included explicitly in International Baccalaureate and other curriculum documents more extensively than in the past. Teacher librarians do not “own” reading promotion or information literacy. These programs will only be most effective when the teacher librarian operates with teachers as a team, who have a shared approach, which is sequenced across year levels.
- #6 Teacher librarian, Natalie Georgious from Western Australia sums it up on her blog http://www.backtothelibrary.com/ ; “it is easy to start playing the blame game. She says there has been much pointing of fingers towards school administrations and the government... If you put yourself in their shoes with their very tight budgets, knowing that the only way to continue learning programs is to cut back in other areas, could you justify the employment of library staff?” Natalie states if all we are really doing is building and maintaining resource collections, along with traditional reading programs and some ad hoc information research skills teaching, then we are indeed an expensive luxury resource in the school’s overall budget. It will only be a matter of time before your position becomes redundant and replaced by someone who costs a lot less.” She also says on her blog; "At the end of last year (2014) ...the library staff (3 Teacher Librarians and 2 Library Officers) at a very large city public school were told by their Principal that they were no longer needed at the school and that they would be replaced by a Level 3 Library Officer... This was a start of a stream of “horror” stories about teacher librarians being retrenched or not being replaced and Library Officers left stranded in running large school libraries without any support or training to do the job.... The Western Australian Department of Education in 2014 rewrote the job description for Level 2 Library Officers stating that their duties include running a school library in its entirety, including budgeting, resourcing, programming and duty of care, with not a mention of a Teacher Librarian anywhere in sight! This is similar to moves in many other jurisdictions worldwide. Technology has wrought massive changes to learning, with more to come, so unless teacher librarians change their programs to meet the needs of modern learners, the job will go the same way as rat catchers, leech collectors and the milkman.
- #7 There is no perfect library program. Each teacher librarian needs to make choices on how they can make the biggest impact on their own school’s learning goals. These decisions should be reached through collaboration with school leadership. This is about a 2 way professional conversation with the teacher librarian proposing programs that they see as achieving school goals and obtaining ideas and feedback. If this conversation does not happen, at least annually, then this is the first practise that needs to change. The teacher librarian also needs to be perceptive in eliciting leadership directions which are made explicit in many forums, including staff meetings, newsletters and other school communications. The library program then needs to be implemented as strategic and operational library goals, looking ahead, and then broken down into years, terms and weeks. Then this can later be broken down into goals for each day. Statistics need to be taken and reports made regularly of progress. These plans should have some flexibility, but there is an old quote: failing to plan is planning to fail. So, how do we make our plan happen? By killing Sacred Cows. The phrase “Sacred Cow” comes from India, where cows are protected even if people are starving. It refers to someone or something that has been accepted or respected for a long time and that people are afraid or unwilling to criticize or question. With the rapid decline in teacher librarian jobs, nothing should be too sacred not to be questioned.
- #8 Sacred Cow number 1: Not enough time. Di McKenzie http://librarygrits.blogspot.com.au/2014/02/day-7-keeping-track.html suggests teacher librarians should track how they use time. It is important to review where time is being spent, so that most time is spent on the most important goals. I tracked my time for 2 weeks and was amazed how much time I spent trying to fix student printing problems. Not any more.
- #9 Sacred Cow 2. Sacred Cow 2. Cataloguing. Many years ago I did a contract at Earnshaw State College where a volunteer did ALL the library cataloguing. Teacher librarians need to avoid doing work that can or should be done by aides or others. Part of the teacher librarian role is to manage training of staff in administrative skills; such as cataloguing.
- #10 Sacred Cow Number 3. Repeat lessons. Taking repeat lessons is part of the job. However, this needs careful management. Taking many repeat lessons is fine, if this is what your employer wants and if you have enough staff to do this. However, there might be areas where repeat lessons can be reduced, such as by providing videos, screencasts or pathfinders, so teachers can deliver this information. For example, referencing classes. You could make a video that teachers can use and students can access 24/7 on how to reference. You might teach referencing to one year level in person, for example Year 7, but in higher grades you might refer teachers and students to the support materials. For schools where the teacher librarian has very limited hours, creating referencing videos might be the only option. Sacred Cow 4. Reading. Can the class teacher read the picture book, especially in lower year levels? Can new books and reading titles be promoted in other ways than the teacher librarian doing multiple repeat book talks; for example videos or digital updates? It is more effective if students are empowered to find good books themselves, rather than having a system dependant on the personal presence of a teacher librarian to suggest reading options. There are many websites and apps that provide reading recommendations and these are rapidly improving. There are many other strategies that can be provided to maximise chances for students to find books they will enjoy. All teachers should promote reading. This year at our school, the Director of Middle School organised National Simultaneous Story Time – this was great because she has much more ability to convince classes on at this time, in this case it included science classes, to give up time to make this happen.
- #11 Sacred Cow 5. Displays. How much time is taken doing displays? Can they be left up longer or done by other staff or by students? Sacred Cow 6. Activities. We need to look at the cost benefit of each of our activities. Time is an important cost. At our school we have reduced what we do for Book Week and no longer do Readers Cup. These were hard decisions, but we assessed our many time demands and targeted areas that more closely met school learning goals. I am not saying that everyone should do this. We did not have a system where we could implement Readers Cup for large groups, so we were spending a lot of time on this for a small number of students. With any activity, there should be consideration of how the activities promote specific learning goals. It is not enough to justify activities by saying they promote reading. This is too general. There should be specific and measurable goals. For example, say there were concerns about student conflict in Year 6. Developing activities around the theme of friendship using a targeted book or book section could be a good strategy. Then students could participate in activities that encourage reflection on behaviours. Students could post to a private blog, that only the teacher can see, a reflection about what they have learnt to reduce the interpersonal issues that have been occurring. The blog would reflect what has been learnt. We need to be targeted and look at time versus learning benefit. Some libraries spend huge amounts of time creating pathfinders and on their library website. There needs to be balance; the goal is to empower students to learn to research, not for library staff to spend too much time researching student assignments.
- #12 Sacred Cow 7: Only the teacher librarian operates the book lending software. If aides can run libraries, they can lend books. Teacher librarians can train teachers or even some capable students to do the lending. If there are concerns about the accuracy of the catalogue, then reconsider practices in relation to lost or overdue books and ensure students can and do check their library borrowing record on the catalogue.
- #13 Sacred Cow 8. Flexible versus fixed timetabling. Flexible timetabling often means there are 2 teachers at a library lesson. Unless the teacher is active in the lesson e.g. on rotations, or taking groups aside, then this is very expensive. One teacher librarian recently told me that she ran a silent reading lesson where both she and the teacher were silently reading with the students. Would the Principal question the learning and cost effectiveness of this? Schools cannot provide the ideal learning solution - if so, every student would have their own individual teacher. It is about finding the most effective learning solution in given circumstances. So, arguing for flexible timetabling is pricing some teacher librarians out of the learning ballpark. Buffy Hamilton said in 2012, that despite almost thirty years of promotion of flexible scheduling as a strategy for richer instructional outcomes, most American elementary school libraries remain on fixed schedules. "Ironically, this reality saved many colleagues’ jobs during the recession." Collaboration is time consuming and not all teachers cooperate. Flexible timetabling often relies on some classes opting out, and thus missing out. Fontichiaro, K., & Hamilton, B. (2014). UNDERCURRENTS. Knowledge Quest, 43(1), 56-59
- #14 These slides show ways of better utilising having a teacher and teacher librarian in a class at the same time. For example, creates smaller groups; some can be student led.
- #15 This model shows a combination of whole class and smaller groupings.
- #16 These models can be applied even where there is one teacher librarian staffing library lessons. This is from Jackie Child’s blog. It shows students doing rotations. Then, the teacher librarian can work with smaller groups.
- #17 So, Sacred Cow number 9 is everything else, not yet mentioned. Do books have to be covered? Does it really matter if shelves are sometimes messy? Are minutes typed during meetings, so time is not needed to do this later? Is an online booking system used for booking library spaces instead of booking in person or by phone? Set goals, make sure these goals support leadership goals; then question everything that is standing in the way. Even lack of money. When money is limited it is even more critical to manage time and resources very carefully and to be goal focused. Nikki Robertson in her blog report http://www.nikkidrobertson.com/2012/01/asla-twitter-chat-review-132012.html?q=funded reports that Alabama schools have not been funded for books for over 8 years. This makes the job much harder, but many teacher librarians fundraise, ask for donations, use volunteers and student helpers, and find cheap ways of running effective library programs.
- #18 So, what are these specialist cutting edge library programs? They need to go beyond good teaching. They often feature blended learning and new technologies. Teacher librarians need to be leaders in technology – it really is not optional for job survival. Including technology in library programs adds the perception that library programs are "cutting edge," further marketing the value of the role. Local examples include: Jackie Childs and Megan Daley combine their primary school literature lessons with makerspace activities and gardening. Cathy Oxley uses scavenger hunts with QR codes as part of library inductions and immersive apps. My team has a library youtube channel with instructional screencasts. We have adapted our school information literacy model resources so they can be easily “shared” in class onenotes. Four local school library staff created a simulated fantasy quest using immersive and augmented reality experiences to promote creative writing. Marist Ashgrove is using database articles to help secondary students improve skills in decoding challenging texts. The Mt Alvernia team is using social media and genius hour strategies to engage and challenge students to be independent, critical and globally connected learners. The choice of activities should reflect each school's circumstances. Connecting library programs to the curriculum and school community, aids promotion.
- #19 Teacher librarians need to be connected professionally. Every teacher librarian needs a PLN, a Personal Learning Network. This saves time, by providing access to cutting edge ideas from other teacher librarians. Options include twitter, blogs, MOOCs, email lists or Google hangouts. There is a huge amount of free Professional Development available. Much can be undertaken online whenever it is convenient. Many cutting edge teacher librarians share generously and their programs can be modified to suit the needs of other schools. Once teacher librarians implement library programs, they must use evidence based practice to improve and show the effectiveness of these programs. So, take photos, make surveys, report on what has been done and use this information to improve, so the program gets better and better. Teacher librarians must then promote what they are doing. It is no good doing a fantastic job if no one knows about it.
- #20 So, let us take further the idea of perception of the role. If a Principal asks for a goal to be prioritised or makes a request of a teacher librarian, what should the response be? If a teacher librarian is critical, disagrees or opposes the Principal's ideas, then this is a sure fire way to become perceived negatively and even eventually lose a job. Being right is not always the right way to handle career situations. For example, if asked by the Principal to provide ideas for using technology to improve literacy, responding that technology is not needed to improve literacy just makes the teacher librarian look difficult, unable to find such resources, or lacking in technology skills. We need to be career savvy and create win-win outcomes. Take the Marist literacy idea of decoding journal articles. This could be presented to the Principal with the option of students making digital annotations on articles on their devices. However, in practise handwriting on printed articles could be the backup plan, if technology is problematic. Teacher librarians need to market themselves as "can do" people. The Fascination Principle says:" if your boss is interested in an initiative, you should be fascinated." Like any job, the way to keep it, is to support your employer's goals. Teacher librarians need to be leaders in curriculum and technology. We have seen such roles offered in schools in Queensland, in the last decade, especially in primary schools, but these have often been declined by teacher librarians because they are: "not my role." At one stage some teacher librarians were saying that copyright was not their job. However, if teacher librarians are meant of be specialists in information, it is difficult to see why this would not include copyright – which now includes concepts such as creative commons and information commons. And now we have the future focused opportunity with makerspsaces. There is really no set role for teacher librarians. If we fail to step up to meet the current learning needs of schools, then we will be left behind as relics of the past. Many valued teacher librarians now do more elearning and staff professional development than in the past. We see teacher librarians providing support for 1 to 1 devices, systems management, textbook hire, music collections, and archives. My library staff are responsible for school bulk printing. On the plus side, we do get to see every school assignment. We need to get rid of the knots - do not, can not, will not and stop basing the role on practices from the past.
- #21 Some universities still advise that a teacher librarian's priority is to meet the needs of staff and students. This is Sacred Cow number 10. Whilst providing specialist support to staff and students is extremely important, the teacher librarian’s first priority should be to support the goals of school leadership. These do not always align. For example, some teaching staff regularly request help with doing their photocopying and treat flexible library lessons as preparation time. Be strategic when you do assist staff and students, so you help them to be independent. Try and diverting non specialist "helping" roles to others. If you do not have support staff, then discuss managing this with your Principal. Set out options, such as not covering books, using student or parent volunteers, and so on; because operating as a library aide is a sure fire way to get replaced by one. Remember, library aides are now expected to be able to run school libraries. Let someone else be the expert in un-jamming the photocopier.
- #22 Here is an example of solution thinking. When I was at Terrace Library last Friday, they had a help desk in the library run by students. These students provided the initial troubleshooting support for issues, such as printing for other students. Creative solutions, such as this one, can ensure teacher librarians have time for designing and implementing ”cutting edge” library programs.
- #23 We have tried many strategies over the years to find more time for cutting edge programs. Some of these are here.
- #25 I do not have time today to explore this further, but all libraries have catalogues, well all I have known. Yet, I hear some teacher librarians say their catalogue is barely used. Secondly, catalogues are designed for searching, so makes it easier for patrons if they can find everything in one place. Our catalogue provides access to Clickview, scanned pdfs, digital textbooks, books, instructions, pathfinders, school archives, everything we can think of; it even records lending of musical instruments. So, we are moving to use this as our main library portal.
- #26 With our revisioning, we still support learning in class time. However, there has been a significant shift to ownership of student learning outside class time. Our library is a destination with exciting events. We generally run organised events outside class time mainly for the first 4 weeks of school, then leave students to focus on assessment or chill out exploring our resources for the rest of the term We try not to compete with other scheduled school events, though we can improve on this. We connect our events with curricular and extra curricular activities, for mutual benefit.
- #27 It is critical to plan change management. You must get your staff on board. Libraries need to plan for others to share ownership of library programs, especially students.
- #28 An important part of the library program is connecting with teaching staff. Here is what our library is offering teaching staff in the last 2 days of this term, for example.
- #29 Teacher librarians usually cannot see every class for every assignment. However, by having a systematic approach this can be done more efficiently. For example, see all Year 7s for referencing lessons, Year 8s for in text referencing, Year 9 for website evaluation, Year 10 for database training. Choose assignments that suit these skills and that are done by all students in a year level. This is more effective than an approach taht relies on teacher contacting library staff which results on some students missing out while other students receive multiple referencing lessons.
- #30 This goes without saying. Today, information and technology is inseparable. Teacher librarians must work out a way to connect with school IT staff to be successful.
- #31 So, please look back on the ideas you jotted down at the beginning of this session. Did you write that teacher librarians must manage time and resources to achieve goals directly connected to school leadership priorities? Did you write about providing specialist cutting edge library programs using evidence based practice? Did you write about promoting, sharing and connecting? Did you mention connecting with leading teacher librarians and educators to select cutting edge programs best suited to your school’s goals? Did you say that library programs should impress school leadership
- #32 It is not about how hard teacher librarians work. It is about delivering library programs that make our school leadership satisfied. And to achieve this we need to kill any Sacred Cows that stand in the way.