Critical Synthesis

I don’t think that I have ever subscribed to the librarian stereotype featured in the item about the Gillard enquiry into school libraries on the 9th April 2010 edition of Channel 10’s The 7pm Project. I think that I have long had a view of the librarian as a resource person to whom one went as a class teacher for assistance with locating, acquiring and organising resources for class assignments. More recently, I have appreciated the key partnership and leadership of the librarian in introducing and supporting online resources and digital literacy (Cooney 2010).

There are three aspects of the role of the teacher librarian that this course has brought into clear focus. The first is the pedagogical foundation for the teaching strategies and resources that my teacher librarian has helped me adopt in my teaching. These are Inquiry or Resource-based Learning and Information Literacy. By understanding these learning strategies and models more completely, I am able to better appreciate the teaching role and collaboration of the teacher librarian as well as more effectively employ them in my own teaching (Cooney, March 13th, 2010).

The second aspect is the importance of research-based reporting. Here’s my forum posting about this from March 7th:

"Having read the extended list and description of excellence in teacher-librarianship from the ASLA site, I was somewhat concerned about the suggestion that TLs [teacher librarians] should be involved in evidence-based research to justify the effectiveness of their role" (Cooney 2010).

Fellow student, Graham Bebington’s, response put my naïveté into sharp perspective.
"I tend to agree with you that it is strange that we have to justify and try and prove that we are effectively doing a job that for us we can see the tremendous benefits on student achievement and learning outcomes. However in this day and age there is a massive demand and an expectation of accountability and proof that we are facilitating and having a direct link to student academic growth" (Bebington 2010).

While working on assignment two I have come across a similar reference to research in Elements 6 and 7 of the NSW Institute of Teachers Professional Teaching Standards (NSW Institute of Teachers). However, I still think that the type of research described for teacher-librarians is different from that prescribed for teachers in general. The use of the same word may be misleading. When a graduate teacher explores “educational ideas and issues through research” or a professionally competent teacher explores “educational ideas, issues and research”, I suspect that this means locating, reading and evaluating professional literature and reports, whereas the ASLA standard – if the work of Ross Todd (2003, 2007) is to be the exemplary model – involves empirical research. I found the Delaware Case Study provided a compelling argument (Todd, 2009).

This is related to the third aspect that participating in this course has made clear: the precarious budgetary situation and the uncertain future for school libraries and teacher librarians. Whether the sobering budgeting guidelines of Debowski (2001), the case against invisibility set out by Oberg (2006) or the many stories set out by subscribers to the Australian Teacher Librarian Network (OZTL_NET) and the daily newspapers such as the Courier-Mail (2010) and The Age (2010), this has been a revelation. It has led to illuminating discussions with our own teacher librarian about the state of our school library collection and the effect that tighter budgeting has had upon it. These were certainly different from the views I expressed in an earlier blog from March 13th (Cooney, 2010). Having had to fight for many years for funds to resource my own subject area, I am no stranger to this situation but seeing the library as a central hub of the teaching and learning mission of the school, I had little or no awareness of the overall impact that this was having. I’m pleased that I kept note of the suggestions from Dianne McKenzie (McKenzie, 2009, 2010) in my blog entry from April 2nd (Cooney 2010).

I think that this is an issue that has genuine consequences for current teacher librarians and those of us who aspire to this profession. Without action to raise awareness and recognition of their role and effectiveness within the school, teacher librarians will be under threat (Cooney, May 9th, 2010). Those of us training for this role need to also be aware of the situation and ensure that our training and professional practice (including on-going training) enables us to lead in the making and monitoring of effective change and a positive difference in the learning and lives of our students.


References

Bebington, Graham. (2010, March 10th) Message posted to ETL 401 Sub-forum 2

Cooney, Philip. (2010, March 7th) Message posted to ETL 401 Sub-forum 2

Cooney, Philip. (2010, March 13th) Past and Future of School Libraries. Message posted to http://valleyofwaters.blogspot.com

Cooney, Philip. (2010, March 13th) Guided Enquiry Learning. Message posted to http://valleyofwaters.blogspot.com

Cooney, Philip. (2010, March 13th) Topic 2 Teacher Librarian Rules and Standards. Message posted to http://valleyofwaters.blogspot.com

Cooney, Philip. (2010, April 2nd) ETL 401 Readings. Message posted to http://valleyofwaters.blogspot.com

Cooney, Philip. (2010. April 8th) Assignment Reflection 2. Message posted to http://valleyofwaters.blogspot.com

Cooney, Philip. (2010, May 9th). Future of Teacher Librarians. Message posted to http://valleyofwaters.blogspot.com

Debowski, S. (2001). Collection program funding management. In K. Dillon, J. Henri, & J. McGregor (Eds.), Providing more with less: collection management for school libraries (2nd ed.) (pp. 299-326). Wagga Wagga, NSW: Centre for Information Studies, Charles Sturt University.

Libraries at Risk. (2010, March 30). The Courier-Mail, p. 40-41.
Mckenzie, Dianne. (2009, June 27th). Importance of creating an annual report. Message posted to http://librarygrits.blogspot.com
MPs to hear school library concern (2010, April 27). The Age. Retrieved from:
http://www.theage.com.au/national/education/mps-to-hear-school-library-concerns-20100426-tnci.html

Oberg, D. (2006). Developing the respect and support of school administrators. In Teacher librarian. 33, 3. 13-18.

Todd, R. (2003). How to prove you boost student achievement. In School Library Journal, 4/1/2003 retrieved from http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/index.asp?layout=article&articleid=CA287119&publication=slj

Todd, R.J. (2007) Evidence-based practice and school libraries. In S. Hughes-Hassall & V.H. Harada (Eds.). School reform and the school library media specialist (pp. 57-58). Westport, Conn: Libraries Unlimited

Todd. R. J. (2009). School libraries and continuous improvement: a case study. In Scan. 28(2). May. 26-31.