For the Provincial Specialist Association PSA Day, I attended the CUE BC (Computer Using Educators) conference and happily bumped into some colleagues including a few TLs. We had time over lunch to chat about the changing role of the TL and the day to day job of being a TL. The discussion was very relevant to the modules and readings in this course and got me thinking about who I want to be as a TL and also had me consider my path to being a TL in terms of an inquiry. I realize that I’ve been informally conducting my own inquiry into teacher librarianship over the past while as I’ve worked alongside librarians, taken LIBE coursework, participated in conversations and conferences and made myriad observations.

As we chatted, I asked: How do you want to be as a TL? How do you want your TL to be? and I recorded the responses (shown here as a word cloud to illustrate frequency). You will likely notice that the work of the TL discussed in Riedling (2001) would require a TL with the qualities noted here:

created using https://worditout.com/

I thought about making an infographic to describe the ‘me’ I want to be and to help synthesize what we’ve been learning in the past few weeks… but then I came across this example (pictured below) that so clearly aligns with my own emerging philosophy based on the knowledge gained so far in my TL inquiry through coursework, conversations, observations and readings.  This image is only part of a complete infographic that is actually a comprehensive literature review investigating the role of the teacher librarian and the school library. Not surprisingly, the reference list on this work has several authors in common to our own readings and resources (Loertscher, cited in Leading Learning, is one that popped out at me right away)

CC image piktochart by @KayOddone  For full infographic & presentation: https://create.piktochart.com/output/21604066-school-libraries-teacher-librarians-student-achievement

I appreciate, in particular, the way the title of the above section focuses the reader immediately on the all-important support role of the TL as highlighted most effectively in Leading the Learning. Here and in Leading the Learning, we are reminded that the role of the teacher librarian is to “Foster a collaborative school culture of inquiry and participatory learning in both physical and virtual environments.” (CLA, 2014, pg. 5). In the CLA document, we see the Library as a place where teachers collaborate and TLs help foster inquiry and develop best practices. Where the library is a place of knowledge co-construction and the TL works to foster connections in order to build a community rather than focusing solely on building strong collections of resources and assisting users to find and use them effectively. Of course, I recognize that a large part of the position continues to include managing the collection – reference collection included – but I am heartened by the words of one friend,

There are so many models and resources available to help the TL select, evaluate, purchase and weed but, really, you need to find the process that works for you, for your library and your community. The important thing is to  HAVE A PLAN – develop one that is personalized to your school and even develop it with your school community and remember, the library is a school community resource – YOU don’t OWN it.

#musmemes National Library of Scotland from https://knowyourmeme.com/photos/1404215-musmemes

Similar to my current mentor role, where my ultimate goal is to work myself out of a job – where my audience is so skilled that such a role shifts into something completely different – I’d love to see myself as a librarian who empowers patrons (be they teachers, parents or students) to be able to independently select and evaluate resources without my help… to be an ‘Empowerer’ perhaps?

References:

Canadian Library Association. “Leading Learning: Standards of Practice for School Library Learning Commons in Canada” (2014) http://llsop.canadianschoollibraries.ca/

Riedling, Ann, Reference skills for the school library media specialist: Tools and tips, (Third Edition). Pgs. 99-105. Linworth.

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