9. A ‘retail quality’ experience...
National Centre for the Written Word, South Shields
10. Makerspaces...
“The Makerspace
idea reinforces the
library’s role in the
entire learning
spectrum from
recreational
reading to research
to production and
sharing.”
National Association
of Independent
Schools
11.
12. The ‘school librarian’ is
becoming an
embedded
information
professional,
supporting a wide range
of learning & teaching
activities
13. A qualified school librarian...
Understands the wider legal,
professional and
pedagogical context for their
work
14. A qualified school librarian...
Keeps in touch with
developments in professional
practice across the public,
private and 3rd sectors
15. A qualified school librarian...
Has specific technical,
professional expertise in helping
you create, manage, store,
discover, reuse and share
knowledge and information
16. A qualified school librarian...
Is trained to support reader
development, literacy and wider
formal and informal learning
17. A qualified school librarian...
Has been trained in wider
management skills, including
strategic planning, customer
service, digital and
communications
18. A qualified school librarian...
Has made a personal
commitment to the ethics of
the information profession,
including balance, respecting
rights, promoting equality and
inclusion
19. “School librarians help
facilitate the increasingly
important global connection
between students and the rest
of the world, helping students
connect to an authentic
audience in a broader
community, arranging Skype
sessions with authors or experts
in other locations, and culling
resources as needed from
varied sources and experts
outside the school walls”
Elizabeth Abarbanel
“The New School Library”
20. The ability to manage information as a core
strategic asset has become central to
succeeding as a competitive business.
If they are to find employment in a ‘post-
digital world’ of AI, fake news and global
trade, it is essential that today’s children are
equipped with the skills to manage knowledge
& information.
The ‘school librarian’ provides a bridge
between reading, literacy and learning and
this new world of skills & opportunities.
22. Content is changing...
“Modern library resources include a whole range of elements, from ebooks, to
academic databases, to innovative programs that allow students to explore their
creative inclinations, learn new skills, and apply their learning in innovative ways,”
- Matthew Lynch, EdWeek
23. Services are changing...
• Classroom/curriculum support
• ‘Downtime’
• Skills & literacy
• Access to information
• Self-discovery (health/wellbeing)
• Understanding & empathy
• Citizenship
24. Enabling the delivery of DfE outcomes...
1. Safety and wellbeing: all children and young
people are protected from harm and vulnerable
children are supported to succeed with opportunities
as good as those for any other child.
2. Educational excellence everywhere: every child
and young person can access high-quality provision,
achieving to the best of his or her ability regardless of
location, prior attainment and background.
3. Prepared for adult life: all 19-year-olds complete
school or college with the skills and character to
contribute to the UK’s society and economy and are
able to access high-quality work or study options.
26. Find out more about libraries, librarians & information
professionals www.cilip.org.uk
Editor's Notes
CILIP is the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professional (CILIP). We represent information, library and knowledge management professionals working across the public, private and 3rd sectors.
This presentation provides an overview of some of the key trends and changes impacting on the school libraries sector.
It refers to wider trends for in teaching and learning and the role which librarians can play in supporting the school in delivering educational excellence for every child.
CILIP supports the School Libraries Group, a Special Interest Group for school librarians. For further information, visit http://www.cilip.org.uk/about/special-interest-groups/school-libraries-group.
The library and information sector is changing to meet the current and future needs of our users;
The past decade has seen significant changes in all areas of provision;
The people who work in libraries and their professional skills are undergoing huge changes;
The significance of the library space and how it supports different parts of the educational experience is changing rapidly;
The services we provide, for learners, teaching staff, parents and carers, are all changing;
The types of resources we need to be able to manage and make available are changing too.
School libraries have changed fundamentally since the libraries you would have used in your childhood
From being an archive of knowledge, they are becoming a ‘learning commons’ – an open, inclusive platform for formal and informal education, self-directed learning and self-discovery.
In this presentation, we explore some of the key trends driving these changes. We hope these will be useful in re-imagining the way you work with library staff, spaces and resources to achieve your goals.
The modern library is a beautiful place. Library architecture and design provides an excellent platform for architects to re-imagine public spaces;
This is Dokk1 – the award-winning combined library, civic space and cultural centre in Aarhus, Denmark;
It combines formal and informal spaces, quiet corners and noisy atria, acting as a multi-functional place for the community to come and share knowledge and ideas;
Right in the central atrium of Dokk1 is a huge tubular gong. Every time a child is born, the gong is struck, welcoming them to the community.
Contemporary library design is increasingly person-centred, rather than being centred around the architecture of books or authority.
The brilliant re-imagining of the Manchester Central Library’s reading room places the user and their information needs at the heart of the architecture;
This grand plinth in the centre of the Reading Room used to be the librarian’s seat of authority. Now it opens out onto a view of the cafe and community areas below.
Library design and architecture is also a great playground to test concepts around sustainable buildings and furniture design that is both hard-wearing, practical and beautiful;
This is the Hive in Worcester, a combined public and University library. The whole interior has been designed to create modular spaces for learning and reading, while maintaining airflow and temperature.
Particularly in a school setting, the library can be a creative platform to ‘do something completely different’ – to create a moment of wonder in a child’s day or give them an environment that feels entirely their own;
The beautiful new Conarte Children’s Library in Mexico is designd to echo a skatepark and a landscape that belongs entirely to the children, giving them lots of opportunities to discover the books.
We increasingly talk about a ‘retail quality’ experience. As library design matures, retail quality finishes, lighting and furniture are increasingly accessible;
To children who have grown up experiencing carefully thought-through retails environments, the library environment should match their expectations.
Makerspaces provide an opportunity to transform peoples understanding and expectations of what it is ‘ok to do’ in a library space;
As the National Association of Independent Schools says, “the makerspace reinforces the library’s role in the entire learning spectrum from recreational reading to research to production and sharing”;
Makerspaces in schools provide an opportunity to life traditional Design & Techology teaching and set in a more contemporary and surprising context.
At the same time as library spaces are evolving and changing to meet new needs and expectations, so too are librarians and information professionals;
As the professional organisation for librarians and information professionals, part of our role is to monitor the changing needs of employers, schools and school leaders to ensure that we can continue to support their work.
The school librarian is increasingly an information professional, embedded into the school staff and supporting a huge range of teaching and learning activities;
Our research in 2015-16 found that school librarians contribute to engagement, student learning, achievement and reading;
As is happening across many different sectors, librarians are increasingly becoming information specialists who can work as part of the teaching staff to improve results, extend curriculum-based teaching and help the school to understand and improve performance.
CILIP is responsible for maintaining and developing the Professional Knowledge and Skills Base, which sets out the skills and values which a qualified professional librarian brings to their work;
As an employer or school leader, this is why you should be hiring qualified librarians, and requiring evidence of their Chartership in your recruitment.
A qualified school librarian understands the wider legal, professional and pedagogic context for their work, which is why they are ideally placed to support the school’s requirements around areas like PREVENT and safeguarding.
A school librarian will often be the only information professional in the school.
By hiring a qualified librarian, you can be confident that they have committed to their professional development and are able to benefit from best practice in other sectors.
A qualified professional school librarian will have to have demonstrated not only that they have acquired technical skills in knowledge and information management, information governance and a range of other areas but also that they have kept those skills up-to-date and relevant – helping you to manage your exposure to risk.
A qualified professional librarian has also been specifically training in supporting literacy and reader development, enhancing and extending formal and informal learning in your school.
Critically, though, library qualifications don’t just focus on technical professional skills. They also provide an overview of management and strategic planning, influencing and communications and digital development, so that the qualified librarian can drive changes which help the school meet its objectives.
At the heart of all of this, all Chartered librarians make a personal commitment to a set of Ethical Principles which ensure that they are providing balanced, reliable information which promotes equality and inclusion.
In an age of ‘fake news’ and misinformation, a librarian’s professional ethics give them a central role in helping students and learners to develop information literacy and critical thinking skills.
As school leaders, you will be aware that no school is an island. Delivering educational excellence increasingly depends on reaching out beyond the school, building bridges and giving students and learners access to experts outside the school walls.
There is no organisation or community that will not need access to library and information skills and professional values over the next 30 years;
Equipping students and learners with information skills is central to preparing them for adulthood and the world of work;
The school librarian provides that bridge between reading, literacy and learning and the new world of information and digital skills.
One of the drivers for all of this innovation, alongside the changing needs of users, is the tremendous change happening in the nature of resources and information to which a good school library can provide access.
In addition to up-to-date book stock, school libraries are increasingly providing access to a wide range of electronic resources, including e-books, academic and research databases and wider tools to support learning and discovery;
Part of the role of a qualified school librarian is constantly to develop these resources, to work with other teaching staff, to suggest possible resources and to ensure that learners have access to the right material on the right day to meet their needs.
One of the reasons why school librarians are such an important part of the teaching staff in a school is the diverse range of services they are able to offer;
This US poster highlights ‘100 things kids will miss if they don’t have access to a school librarian’ and it is important to realise that school libraries support health and wellbeing, provide a safe and quiet space, offer respite, help develop soft skills and empathy as much as providing structured support for the curriculum.
CILIP is working with Government to help expand their understanding of what a school library is and does. We have mapped the impact and value of a quality library and a qualified librarian in schools to the priorities set out in the Department for Education’s ‘Forward View’ and it is clear that we make a central difference to all 3.
We are working hard to re-imagine the role of the library and librarian at the heart of the transformation your schools are experiencing.
We are changing to meet the needs of modern learners. The best way to find out how you can get more out of your school librarian is to talk to them!
For more information or to find out how we can help you recruit a qualified school librarian to transform your school visit http://www.cilip.org.uk.