"To Be or Not to Be"... a Teacher Librarian

I would be remiss if I did not devote at least one blog entry to my own soap box.

I expect we are no different in our school district than many, as financial strains and budget cut decisions are being made at the board level.

Again, cuts in school library programs are one of the areas under discussion, as they usually are.

Essentially, in British Columbia, all educational professionals who do not enroll a class are at risk because in 2002, Bill 28, The Public Education Flexibility and Choice Act was enacted by the provincial government that removed staffing ratios for all non-enrolling teachers from collective agreements.

I have worked in libraries since I was 12, being a librarian is all I have ever wanted to do. I did not foresee, when I chose this profession over 20 years ago, that I would have to be in a constant state of advocacy.

Ten years ago I was a member of a district team that researched, then wrote our district's library service deliver model Libraries: Literacy and Literature in the Information Age: A Framework for Library Programs and Services in the 21st Century. The research was and is still clear.

At the time, researcher Dr. Keith Lance Curry and his Library Research Service Impact Studies team had just published his second Colorado Study on the impact of school librarians on student achievement. Since then Curry has conducted studies in over 14 states. Powering Achievement: How School Librarians Impact Academic Achievement reports library predictors of academic achievement and recommends staffing school libraries with professional & support staff, stocking them with current books & licensed databases as well as Internet capable computers, funding them to support school's curriculum and state's standards, adopt flexible scheduling and utilizing the school computer network to extend the library program’s reach into every classroom.

Past cuts to school librarian time have already jeopardized student achievement in our district. When librarian time has been cut it is seldom, if ever reinstated when the financial situation improves. The same may be said for library budgets.

The 2008 British Columbia Teacher Librarian's Association Working and Learning Conditions of Public Schools in British Columbia Survey shows where we land in terms with the rest of the province.

Locally, our own Dr. Ken Haycock has summarized studies related to school libraries in The Crisis in Canadian School Libraries: The Case for Reform and Re-Investment, including the impact on student learning, best practice and recommendations.

Statistics Canada published a study in 2005, Canadian school libraries and teacher librarians: Results from the 2003/04 information and communications technologies in schools survey. This study illustrated the influence on the students' education that the teacher librarian has in extending, beyond traditional teacher librarianship into roles that include ICT, skills such as finding and evaluating information online.

For my own thesis research, I was privileged to work with an exceptional group of teacher librarians and studied their practice for my Master's Degree Teacher Librarians, Technology and Collaborative Connections: A Case Study of Teacher Librarians from a Communities of Practice Perspective . The goal of this study was to document and analyze the work of teacher librarians and how it contributes to the delivery of educational programs. Data were analyzed using codes developed from Wenger’s Community of Practice research, and conversation analysis. The research questions considered whether the teacher librarians constituted a community of practice, the nature of that practice, and how this practice correlated with the delivery of instructional programs. It is argued from the findings how the notion of a community of practice may be helpful in reconceptualizing the nature and role of teacher librarianship.

This work is facilitated by having library aides in place to do the clerical administration of a library, processing and signing out books for example, while teacher librarians focus on curriculum development, literature appreciation, and information literacy.

Teacher librarians are often the unseen heroes of the school, providing safe havens for students to hang out, matching the perfect book to a student's reading interest, hunting down the best reference source...

Teacher librarians are the curriculum integration and information literacy specialists, we support all school programs.

We are the champions for integrating district programs, such as Web in the Classroom, Reading 44, and Literacy 44.

I was at a dinner party last weekend with one of my very good friend teacher librarian mentors. I was telling Mike about the current situation. He said that was why he left the library to become a classroom teacher - the constant advocacy was exhausting. The school library's loss was definitely the classroom's gain. Interesting idea. I have between 10 to 15 years left - I have the energy now to advocate again - what the future holds - we'll see.

To be or not to be a teacher librarian.

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