Given my last blog post, I have been asked what will be lost to library programs in secondary.
No final decisions have been made; however some suggestions have been to staff a library with a teacher librarian but no clerical support, or a library with clerical support but no teacher librarian.
I can speak from personal experience as my previous teacher librarian position, where I was for 17 years, never had adequate aide time - 5 hours or less a week - and for 12 of those years I was an 80% teacher librarian.
Here is a section that was annually included in my year end report for 17 years:
I consider the most important function of being a teacher librarian to be the curriculum development, information literacy, and literature appreciation components of a library program.
Unfortunately, due to lack of clerical support, many daily library administration tasks need to be completed by me. The five hours of aide time assigned to the library has never been adequate and are mainly spent completing circulation management tasks such as compiling overdue material lists. This lack of aide time is a constant frustration and limits the time available to spend on curriculum development.
In the absence of adequate aide time, I complete the duties normally assigned to clerical support staff, such as:
* receiving, and processing a wide variety of learning resources
* receiving materials, supplies, and equipment
* preparing orders for resource materials
* preparing bibliographies of materials for consideration for purchase
* processing mail, new materials, discards, and rebinds
* maintaining circulation procedures
* maintaining catalog records in electronic format
* maintaining a pamphlet or information file
* shelving of resource materials
* compiling and/or typing bibliographies, resource lists, unit plans, correspondence, orders, reports and/or overdue notices
* producing and/or assembling displays and other promotional material
* conducting an inventory of resources
Having to complete the above tasks, limits the time available to spend on my professional duties as a teacher librarian, which include, but are not limited to:
• Administration of the Learning Resource Program
• Professionalism and Leadership Activities
• Cooperative Program Planning and Teaching
• Promotion of the Effective Use of Learning Resources and Services
• Selection of Learning Resources
• Information and Reference Services
• Design and Produce Learning Resources
• Acquisition, Organization, and Circulation of Learning Resources
A teacher librarian's expertise in Curriculum Development, Literature Appreciation and Information Literacy is not utilized if the Library Administration Clerical duties become the focus of the job.
Furthermore, secondary school library hours are facilitated by both the teacher librarian and library aide. Noon hour supervision is often shared by the teacher librarian and the library aide. The library aide allows for the teacher librarian to take a lunch break at some point, either before or after noon hour, or during noon hour when the teacher librarian has a noon hour meeting.
School libraries could potentially be closed at noon hour.
Although, by contract, teacher librarians can have a prep period, we never take the time. If our job becomes maintaining a collection as oppose to curriculum development, then this prep time becomes important. This time is also important if the teacher librarian teaches a scheduled class. Therefore, the library could be closed a block or two during the day.
A library staffed with a library aide but no teacher librarian becomes a room with books that circulate. No collection development, no literature appreciation foci, no information literacy skills taught, no curriculum development, no teaching of research skills, no cooperative planning with teachers.
Furthermore, teacher librarians often take a leadership role in the adoption of new technologies. They have both the pedagogical and technical skills to do this. This leadership role becomes increasingly difficult to fulfill if the teacher librarian becomes a library clerk to maintain the collection.
Take a look at the blog entry below for information and background research as to how teacher librarians support the educational program and impact academic achievement.
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.
So... to answer the question what's best for school library programs? For a school library program to be exemplary, to impact student achievement, both are needed. School library programs are the great equalizing factor in the educational program that provide support for all curricular areas - our students deserve no less.
"Libraries will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no libraries."
--Anne Herbert (1950- ), The Next Whole Earth Catalog: Access to Tools
Again, please forward this post to anyone who you feel should read it.
Back to the fun stuff in the next post - I promise!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
6 comments:
Hazel,
I agree wholeheartedly with your post. When I first began this position as a secondary TL I had to do a lot of the work of a technician but now that the library clerical hours have been improved and I have a full time well-qualified technician, the transformation is incredible. I am now freed up to work collaboratively planning with teachers, give booktalks, assist students in selecting books and resources, and helping students with their "just-in-time" learning situations. I can give demonstrations to classes on how to use databases, how to correctly cite information, and search effectively (as you know these teens are not very savvy in searching or evaluating information). The teachers are amazed by how much they are learning as well as they sit in and learn alongside the students. How can teacher librarians do their job as leaders for information literacy and best practices for technology integration if we aren't available to fulfill this capacity because we have to shelve the library books?
Joanie
Thanks Joanie,
Well said!
I have since found out that it was a parent who suggested teacher librarians be replaced with library aides. All the more reason for us to publize what we do - some much of our work is behind the scenes supporting curriculum - unseen by many.
Haze
You've done a good job outlining under what circumstances school library programs are sometimes sadly threatened. I'm a teacher-librarian in a secondary school. With the help of two trained library technician I'm able to keep our library open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. most days. I work with teachers, students, administrators, fellow teacher-librarians and other division staff towards meeting our students information literacy skills in this rapidly changing information landscape.
The Canadian Association for School Libraries (CASL) has done a great job outlining standards in their publication "Achieving Information Literacy: Standards for School Libraries in Canada". http://www.cla.ca/casl/ailbook.html My copy always remains close by my desk at school. CASL has done an exceptional job explaining that BOTH library technicians and teacher librarians are required for a functional school library and school library program.
To close, here are the words of His Excellency John Ralston Saul on the effect of school library programs on student learning in Canada "Nor is the catastrophic state of school libraries across Canada helpful. Within minutes of entering a school you can tell the state of the library from the attention span of the students, their curiosity, their questions, the sophistication of their answers." http://archive.gg.ca/media/doc.asp?lang=e&DocID=4521
Our students are worth fighting for,
Regards,
Rhonda from Winnipeg
I am a teacher-librarian in a secondary school. As you have stated so eloquently, the job of the teacher-librarian is vastly different from that of the library technician. As you know, both positions are vital if the school library program is to be effective. One cannot replace the other without having a negative impact on student learning.
First and foremost, I am a teacher and a pedagogical leader in my school. Given my education and expertise, it is naive, at best, to think I could be replaced by a library technician.
It is unfortunate that as teacher-librarians we are often put in the position of having to defend our role in schools. One only has to turn to the work of Keith Curry Lance (http://www.keithcurrylance.com/) or the research of the Ontario Library Association (http://www.accessola.com/data/6/rec_docs/475_Exemplary_School_Libraries_in_Ontario_2009.pdf) to understand the vital role teacher-librarians play in advancing student achievement.
Please don't give up the fight. There are thousands of teacher-librarians and school library organizations in Canada and world-wide who understand the significance of their position. You must continue to educate the general public on the value of teacher-librarians. You can count on us to support you!
Jo-Anne
Long live the teacher librarian. As a misfit in grade four, Mr. Barltrop, our school’s teacher librarian, taught me how to research using encyclopedias. He then asked me to use my new found skills to prepare a short essay in an attempt to divert my delinquency. I remember the feeling of liberation once I understood how to tap in to the knowledge locked in the stacks of dusty volumes. I went on to be the first university grad in my family history and currently practice law locally. Not bad for a kid on the verge of failure. Thanks, Mr. Barltrop. And long live the teacher librarian!
DJB
You remember the bumper sticker that went something like "Wouldn't it be great if schools had all the money they needed and the military had to hold a bake sale to buy fighter jet?" Sometimes I have a parallel in my head that goes like this: "Wouldn't it be great if school libraries had all the respect they deserved and the math department had to advocate for its role?" Of course, that's cranky and possibly unprofessional, but between being the lone t-l in my school and having to prove my worth every day, being LSA president, and serving on the BCTLA, I feel that half my week is spent on advocacy and it is quite exhausting. Tired often leads to cranky at my house.
Anyway, we pick ourselves up each time and go back into the fray. We know our value, and how our work helps kids. I am about to start work on a small video project in support of school library programs, à la http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_A-ZVCjfWf8&feature=related If I can make it work, you'll hear!
Post a Comment