When
reading through Theme 2 the first thing that struck me was the quote by Bishop
and Larimer that said “Library media specialists are often viewed as
storytellers and providers of resources rather than co-teachers who share
common goals.”. I think that this was my fear coming into my new library
position, that I would not be seen as a collaborator and co-teacher but as only
a storyteller. I have been in this library position for 6 months and my fears
have not come true. Sadly, I am only doing teacher’s preps so the co-teaching
is not able to happen however I think teachers are beginning to trust me more
and see that there is a huge resource in the library that can start to be
better used.
This theme
also talks about what our perception is of teacher librarians. When I did a
Google image search of the word librarian this is what the first page of results
were:
However,
when I searched school librarian this is what I found:
I think
that there is a noticeable shift between the two images. The first contains
pictures of a librarian mostly alone with the books. The second has a librarian
with kids, and that is the most important part of our job. Kids are who the
library should be geared towards and matching the library to their need is
important. What is missing from these pictures is the teacher librarian collaboration
aspect of our jobs. It seems that both Google and me have work to do in making
teacher librarian collaborative aspects more prevalent.
Looking at
the Stages of Collection Development by Ray Doiron shows me that I am on the
right path, going from below standard to acceptable. When looking at my
reference section I know that I need to find out more of the needs of our
school before I can start purchasing. I know that I need to collect some data
from teachers to see areas that we are lacking so informal discussions or a questionnaire
would help me find these gaps. A goal that I have for our reference books is to
make it more useful to teachers and students and to make them more aware of
what me and the books can do for them.
References:
Bishop,
K., & Larimer, N. (1999, October). Literacy through collaboration.
"Teacher Librarian," 27(1), 15-20.
Adapted from: Doiron, Ray. School Libraries in
Canada, 2002. Vol. 21, No. 4 and Ministry of Education materials
Sharing the two examples of photos based on the difference between Librarian and School librarian was quite insightful and very helpful for teasing out the key difference in our roles. Some good discussion of your progress and how you are fitting into the role and building relationships with your staff. A few connections to the key learning and new awareness from Theme 2.
ReplyDeleteGreat post! I love the comparison between Librarian and School Librarian. What an excellent way to highlight the evolving role of TLs. I really connect with your fear of being seen as a "storyteller and provider of resources". I am trying really hard to shift the culture in my own school to one of co-teaching and collaboration in the library, but as I'm new to the school it's been a continual challenge. The previous TL was there for many years and it's been a big change for staff so far. She was also only present at the school for 1 1/2 days per week, so I also think staff are getting used to actually being able to access support from a TL four days a week! Change is hard for people and a slow moving process, but I think I'm gradually starting to see a shift which is exciting and encouraging!
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