ETL507 personal reflection

The following reflection outlines key learning moments experienced as a result of undertaking a Masters of Education in Teacher Librarianship. The précis will outline four such moments of learning including: that astute leadership and a deep knowledge of the learning environment is reflected in a school’s library collection policies, that the role of the Teacher Librarian is indeed dynamic and multifaceted, that school libraries need good leadership, not just good management, and finally that the critical role information literacy plays in the 21st century information landscape should not be underestimated.

Collection policy

 

Given that until this year I worked full time as an English teacher and had no previous experience working as a TL, I wanted to start by reflecting on what has been a learning highlight for me. Clearly every aspect of the course has set me on a steep learning trajectory, but I have particularly relished the opportunity to exhibit my learning in a practical way. This opportunity arose when I was asked to write a library collection policy. To the outsider, collection practices can appear ad hoc and reactive to demand but to the TL, I have learned, a well thought-out collection policy is an integral part of its strategic plan and vision for the future. For example, school libraries seeking to develop their online collection may include a condition in their policy that if a print book exists in the form of an e-book, then preference is given to the digital version over its print counterpart. A shrewd collection policy will also demand that the TL appreciate key elements of its learning environment such as the profile of its user population, the broader educational philosophies of the school, and its curriculum needs (Kennedy, 2006).

For me, one of the most manifestly satisfying outcomes of completing this course has been producing something of practical value as a result of new knowledge and understandings gained. ETL503 granted me this opportunity when I realised, after scrutinizing my own library’s collection policy, that it did not cater for one of its own distributed collections. My school library is comprised of two main buildings, both located at the school site and both of which fall under the same collection policy. The school’s distributed collection however is more unique, due both to its remote location and because it is underpinned by a distinct educational philosophy characterised chiefly by its off-line learning environment. So, whilst much of this course has been dedicated to promulgating a greater online presence and exploiting the potential for Web 2.0 as a sharing and collaborating tool etc.., the unique nature of this remote campus demanded a completely fresh approach to resourcing and supporting the curriculum. When the responsibility fell to me, much of my theoretical knowledge had to be put into practice and this remains a high point of this course; applying the theory and watching it deliver.

 

The ‘application’ involved an appraisal of the format and content of its current collection. As illustrated by the pie-chart below, none of the collection included e-books or other e-resources, a deliberate manifestation of its preference for print.  

The challenge was a question of balance; resourcing the teaching collection which serviced the needs of teachers and an avant-guard and progressive curriculum on sustainability and environmentalism, all of which demanded currency and up-to-date material in print, alongside the promotion of reading literature, also exclusively in print. All this had to be balanced upon a pedagogical philosophy which both revered technology for its ability to deliver the latest information but which also considered it an impediment to its overall educational aims in that particular environment. It was essentially a love-hate relationship with technology, something the collection policy had to negotiate and ultimately resolve.

Whilst this was challenging, it remains for me a highlight in terms of the way I was able to apply my knowledge of collection management practice. Until recently, the collection had not been sizable enough to warrant its own policy, and the collection had been managed in an ad hoc manner. Whilst both the collection and the curriculum demands had grown, a policy or vision for the collection had not yet been established and it stood out to me, even as a learner, as startling omission that the remote site collection should have escaped attention in this way.

The role of the Teacher Librarian

 

The learning in all other respects during this course has been just as acute; I had no practical experience working in a school library prior to undertaking the course and, like many of my fellow teachers, my preconceived notions of the role of the TL included, but was also limited to, fostering reading, teaching information literacy, building the resource collection and undertaking the usual nominal library duties that keep every library functioning.

 

Whilst these are important, I can see now that I had underestimated the enormity of the scope of the TL’s role, an ignorance quickly remedied in ETL401 via various readings debating the key aspects and extent of the role, the most salient of which were extensively ruminated upon, discussed with colleagues, and documented in my six November 2011 blogposts. These blogposts vividly recollect just how steep the learning curve was in those early weeks, with each required reading shedding more and more light on my hitherto pretty superficial understanding of the role. It was more complex for starters. Herring’s (2007) paper Teacher Librarians in the school library stressed this point exactly, while his diagrammatic representation of the TL (below) impressed upon me the idea that the TL’s role was much more manifold than singular and perfunctory.

Purcell’s (2010) appraisal of the TL’s role (also below) had a similar impact, highlighting the multifaceted nature of the role and stressing the idea that the TL had to be many things to many people, but always working towards that one goal of empowering students to become critical thinkers, enthusiastic readers, skillful researchers and ethical users of information (ASLA, 2009 p.5).

A recent opportunity to work as a Teacher Librarian in my own school library has brought to light just how challenging it is on a practical level to address each aspect of this role democratically. For example, whilst only one eleventh of Herring’s (2007) diagram addresses web development, an inordinate proportion of my time has been spent building our digital library (essentially a library website, or libguide, of resources dedicated to each and every curriculum area of the school from Years 7 to 12); this in practical accordance with our vision to become a library of the 21st century. Though Purcell’s (2010) key aspects coincide on the most part with Herring’s (2007), even fewer descriptors seem to coincide with the project occupying most of my time in my current role, highlighting both the realities and challenges the TL must address in today’s school libraries.

Another pertinent question raised in the readings was whether the TL deserved nomenclature more closely aligned to its changing 21st century role, introducing the notion that changes in technology had impacted the role so fundamentally that a name change was warranted; Purcell’s (2010) School Library Information Specialist (SLIS) and Lamb & Johnson’s (2008) School Library Media Specialist (SLMS) are good examples of this. Currently, my role seems more closely akin with Lamb & Johnston’s (2008) term technologist which highlights the critical role that the TL plays in embracing new and emerging learning technologies in meeting the needs of its users. Whatever the nomer, few disagree that the role of the TL today bears little resemblance to its 20th century counterpart and that technology has been the game-changer.

In an unusual point of convergence between public perception and academic appraisal, I reflect in my blog The Mule and the Piano  on the shared understanding of the collaborative nature of the TL. When I interviewed teachers about the role, they used language like "they assist" and "they help find information". Professional readings by Haycock, (2007) Purcell (2010), Lamb & Johnson (2008), Herring (2007) and works by Kuhlthau (1995) all reiterate the importance of working with teachers to assist in the information search process and in developing inquiry based research tasks. However my experience as a TL, albeit limited, has shown that endeavors to put this excellent theoretical ideal into practice often yields mixed results as much depends on the preparedness of teachers to operate as a team where working independently has long since been the norm. Here, collaboration reads as interference. 

Resistance to collaborate appears to be largely influenced by the culture of the school. I found that whilst many teachers were open to the idea, others resisted even where benefits to their teaching and to student learning were evident and potentially profound. Hence for me, a key learning moment regarding the role of the TL occurred when I tried to put my ETL401 learning into practice and encountered resistance. TLs are uniquely placed to have a holistic knowledge of the curriculum and of the resources available that support it; this means they are ideally positioned to offer pedagogical support across all areas. However, as is so pointedly emphasised by Haycock (2007), successful collaboration depends on cultivating strong and trusted relationships with teachers, nurtured at every stratum of the school from the principal down.

Leadership

This brings us to leadership and the critical role it evidently plays in enabling the TL to really take flight. Being a good manager was a characteristic I might have considered essential to the role of the TL prior to ETL504 but I did not necessarily equate this with good leadership. This was my first learning; leadership is not management. My new-found appreciation of the vital role leadership plays in school libraries was informed by professional readings such as Fullan (1997), Avolio, Walumbwa & Weber (2009), Hargreaves (2007) among others whose focus was on the transformational outcomes of good leadership; I comment extensively on this in my blogpost on April 2013. Leaders are not just managers. Leaders transform and inspire. Leaders even take risks. Most importantly, I learned that good leaders have vision. I could footnote this assertion with a long list of references to support this claim but I’ll include just a few in the understanding that the literature is vast and I offer just the ‘tip of the iceberg’. Brocker (2012), Crowley (2011), Hargreaves (2007), Hay & Todd (2010), LaMarca (2007) and Marzano, Walters & McNulty (2006) to name a few, explicate and reiterate how critical leadership is in planning for and managing an innovative school library ready to embrace the onslaught of the 21st century. Without vision there is no plan. Without a plan there is no future, no progress, and certainly no innovation. In the current educational landscape with its exciting new and emerging technologies, its powerfully ground-breaking pedagogies, and its ability to repurpose and reutilise learning spaces to bring out the best in student outcomes, where would the school library be without good leadership?

I was curious as to how the best tenets of such leadership would manifest themselves in my own school library environment. The answer became apparent when my school library was asked by management to account for itself and its future by way of a visioning document. Having already considered the role new technologies and innovative educational practices would play in my own strategic plan for a future library, the preparation for our visioning document was made manifestly easier and importantly, was built upon the sturdy tenets of academic research. Assignment 2 in ETL504 became all at once uncannily prophetic and very useful.

 

As such, I have learned that good leadership is less about being someone great and more about doing something greater (Marzano, Waters, & McNulty, 2006). It’s about being able to re-evaluate school library practices and anticipate future needs of students. In the spirit of Herring’s diagrammatical representation of the role of the TL, I tried to capture the essence of good leadership according to the literature in a diagram of my own. The final result concurs nicely with the notion that leadership does, not is, as every descriptor of good leadership is linked to the role of the TL via an action.

Information Literacy

 

Like many other prospective Teacher Librarians entering the world of the school library, I confess to a preconceived idea regarding information literacy that was limited, rather naively, to acquiring of a set of skills called upon during research to help you ‘find the right book’ and that’s about it. Clearly, I had not yet read Kuhlthau. Or Herring. And I had certainly not taken into serious consideration the savage impact technology and the web would have on a student’s ability to differentiate credible information from its dubious counterparts. Today, students are presented with a multifarious information landscape; a confusing research environment that pretends to offer accurate outcomes at the behest of a google search but which often misleads, resulting in a loss of confidence on behalf of the researcher. Kuhlthau’s (1995) visionary work on the Information Search Process (ISP) extrapolates on the dangers of becoming anxious and pessimistic when information seeking misses the mark and students lose confidence in the search process. Astoundingly, Kuhlthau’s work is possibly more profoundly relevant in today’s information landscape than it was when the work was published in 1995. Sadly, in my experience, teachers often mistaken a loss of confidence as inattentiveness or a poor attitude and become punitive rather than addressing the core issue. This, I realised, was one of the biggest threats to experiencing success as a learner, and the TL was beautifully placed to circumvent this by guiding the student through the information search process. One of my most profound learning moments on this course was understanding that experiences such as this could make the difference between a student enjoying school or hating it; between seeing themselves as capable of learning or seeing learning as futile. Most critically, it is students with learning issues who benefit most from information literacy skills, the very students who are often the first to drop out of school.

 

Herring (2011) took idea this further, demanding evidence of the transference of skills to demonstrate that the learning was deeply embedded. The call to define information literacy in ETL401 was enormously challenging but helped immensely in bringing together the most salient points from each of the academic readings in the subject including Herring (2011), Kauhlthau, (1995 & 2004), Haycock (2007) Langford (1998), and Moore (2002). I wanted to demonstrate that information literacy was not simply the acquisition of a stagnant set of skills but a lifelong process that included various stages of maturation. Another diagrammatic representation attempted to exemplify this:

Successfully implementing an information literacy model is another story altogether and not for a lack of IL models to choose from. A favorite of mine has become Einsberg & Berkowitz’s (2011) Big6 for its simplicity and its explicit call for students to evaluate the search process. However, while Langford (1998) confirms that it is the TL who is best placed to foster information literacy in students, its successful implementation seems to be predicated on the premise that the school as a whole will adopt it so that it can be developed sequentially and reinforced every year, developing what Herring (2011) refers to as transference. While the impact of information literacy on positive learning outcomes is indisputable, many teachers don’t even know that information literacy models exist (as I myself didn’t). Hence the ongoing challenge for the TL is to elucidate its merits not just to students, but also to teachers, facilitating a whole school information literacy continuum embedded into each area of the curriculum and in doing so, developing the information literate mind sequentially and in contexts pertinent to the learning taking place.

A new and relatively distinctive form of information literacy that significantly deepened my understanding of the research habits of 21st century learner was the Web Evaluation Criteria for assessing websites, the need for which has arisen from the explosion of website based information sites and students’ propensity to research this way. Students ‘google’ things. We all do. I was, however, surprised to learn that despite their ‘digital natives’ nomer, proficiency in evaluating websites for the credibility of their content is an assumed rather than a real skill in students, a deficiency that proves to be yet another stumbling block in the information search process (Combs, 2011). In my foray into ETL501, I learned that there are a good many Web Evaluation Criteria models have been developed indicating that whilst the phenomena is widespread, it can be addressed as part of the information literacy program.

I also experimented with various meta-search engines in order to counter a growing learning culture that defaulted to google and promulgated instead those designed to cater for students and researchers. I am hoping that these become the ‘new normal’ in the online information search process. Search engines whose content has been pre-evaluated by experts such as Sweet Search, and which capture only credible and worthwhile content have been enormously successful with both students and teachers at my school since its introduction. 

Sweet Search also teaches website research skills using online tutorials accessed from their homepage, which concur once again, with Carol Kuhlthau’s theory that guiding the inquiry and pre-empting and eliminating unnecessary anxiety in the search process can be enormously empowering for the student and teacher alike.

A great part of my current responsibility as a new Teacher Librarian has involved designing resource webpages for the school’s Digital Library, all a part of its mission to become increasingly accessible to students and teachers beyond traditional opening times and to transform it services to suit a more 21st century e-learning environment, all while ensuring that its services meet the Australian Curriculum’s General Capabilities. Kuhlthau’s (1995) ISP model has greatly influenced my thinking in how each of these libguides (formally functioning as pathfinders) is assembled and the role they play in circumventing a loss of confidence in the research process while balancing this with actively encouraging students in becoming independent learners. I liked Kuntz’s (2003) appraisal of such guides as a ‘launching pad’ for students, with ‘street signs’ and helpful hints along the way but not doing the work for them. I have learned that in becoming information literate, students understand that research is a not one-stop-shop where one or two resources will address all their questions. Rather, good research is characterised by working through a number of sources and being able to apply information literacy skills to resources in order to ascertain what is relevant. I have therefore tried to design my libguides in line with the idea of ‘berry picking’ rather than spoon-feeding, so referred to by Kuhlthau, Maniotes and Caspari (2007) as it involves selecting information form a range of resources provided, and learning to ascertain which are the most relevant by applying information literacy criteria to them, striking that all important balance between supporting the research process and facilitating independent learning practices.

 

Conclusion

 

It is incomprehensible to me that the teacher librarian could ever be made redundant, such is the vital nature of the role in the 21st century learning environment. The TL is integral in helping students acquire critical thinking skills in order to become effective and discerning seekers of information and to use the information they find meaningfully - lifelong skills that will surely remain pertinent their lives through. 

 

References

 

Australian School Library Association and Australian Library and Information Association. (2005). Learning for the Future: developing informaiton services in schools (2nd ed.). Victoria: Curriculum Corporation.

Avolio, B., Walumbwa, F., & Weber, T. (2009). Leadership: Current Theories, Research, and Future Directions. Lincoln: DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska. Retrieved from http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1036&context=managementfacpub

Brocker, B. (2012, March 22). Leadership Theory and Critical Skills. Bellevue University. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzAzhiEsZtY&feature=player_embedded

Combs, B. (2011). Digital natives or digital refugees: Why we have failed Gen Y. West Australia: ECU Publications.


Eisenberg, M., & Berkowitz, R. (2011). The Big 6. Retrieved from http://www.big6.com/
Fullan, M. (1997). Leadership for Change. In M. Fullan (Ed.), The Challenge of School Change (pp. 97-114). Australia: Hawker Brownlow Education.

Hargreaves, A. (2007). Sustainable Leadership and Development in Education: creating the future, conserving the past. European Journal of Education, 42(2), 223-233.

Hay, L & Todd, R. (2010, February). School Libraries 21C: the conversation begins. SCAN, 29(1), 30-42.

Haycock, K. (2007, January). Collaboration: Critical Success Factors for Student Learning. School Libraries Worldwide, 13(1), 25-35.

Herring, J. (2007). Teacher librarians and the school library. In S. Ferguson (Ed), Libraries in the Twenty First Century: charting new directions in information (pp. pp. 27-42). Wagga Wagga NSW: Centre for Information Studies, Charles Sturt University.

Herring, J. (2011). Improving students' web use and information literacy: A guide for teachers amd teacher librarians. London: Facet Publishing.

Kennedy, J. (2006). Collection Management: A concise Introduction. Wagga Wagga: Charles Sturt University Centre of Information Studies.

Kuhlthau, C. (1995). The Process of Learning from Information. School Libraries Worldwide, 1(1), 1-12.

Kuhlthau, C. (2004). Seeking Meaning (2 ed.). Westport, Connecticut, USA: Libraries Unlimited.

Kulhthau, C., Maniotis, L. & Kaspari, A. (2007). Introduction to Guided Inquiry: what is it, what's new, why now? In Guided Inquiry - Learning in the 21st Century. Westport: Libraries Unlimited.

Kuntz, K. (2003). Pathfinders: Helping Students Find Paths to Infprmation. Information today: Internet Librarian 2012, 10(3). Retrieved from MultiMedia Schools: http://www.infotoday.com/mmschools/may03/kuntz.shtml

LaMarca, S. (2007). RETHINK: Ideas for inspiring school library design. Victoria: School Library Association of Victoria Inv.

Lamb, Annette and Johnson, Larry. (2008, December). School Library Media Specialist 2.0: A Dynamic Collaborator, Teacher, and Technologist. Teacher Librarian, 36(2), pp. 74-78.

Lamb, Annette and Johnson, Larry. (2010). The School library Media Specialist. In Overview. http://eduscapes.com/sms/overview/collaboration.html.

Langford, L. (1998). Information Literacy: A Clarification. FNO.org From Now On: The Educational Technology Journal.

Marzano, R. Waters, T & McNulty, B. (2006). School Leadership that Works. Victoria, Australia: Hawker Brownlow.

Moore, P. (2002). An Analysis of Information Literacy Worldwide. White Paper prepared for UNESCO. Retrieved January 18, 2012, from http://portal.unesco.org/ci/fr/file_download.php/33e3dd652a107b3be6d64fd67ae898f5Information+Literacy+Education+(Moore).pdf

Purcell, M. (2010, November/December). All Librarians Do Is Check Out Books, Right? A Look at the Roles of a School Llibrary Media Specialist. Library Media Connection, 29(3), pp. 30-33.

A night at the museum

The information agency for this placement was Museum Victoria (MV) which comprises a number of sites including the Melbourne Museum (MM), the Immigration Museum (IM) and Scienceworks, but also runs distinctive stand-alone permanent exhibitions within the Melbourne Museum such as Bunjilaka, the Planetarium and Imax theatre. Each of these sites operates under a shared philosophy to enrich and inspire patrons in the areas of Humanities, the Natural Sciences, and History and Technology and each is uniquely supported through the MV library. The whole of Museum Victoria itself is an information agency; its collection includes everything in its vast assemblage both on exhibit and in storage, and its users are both its public patrons and the behind-the-scenes scientists, researchers and academics from across the world. Only one sixteenth of its collection is ever on exhibition yet its stored collection which includes everything from bones to live animals, and from millions of insects to a giant squid is used, and indeed loaned out for research, every day. Whilst this placement included an experience in every facet of the museum’s collection including the Melbourne Museum’s Discovery Centre (MMDC), the Immigration Museum’s Discovery Centre (IDC) and Museum Victoria’s main library, the focus of this report will be the MV library. The main users of the MV library are curatorial and research staff employed at MV, as well as other museum staff involved in day to day operations such as Customer Service Officers. More specifically, the users are characterised this way: Humanities staff: who regularly borrow monographs, purchase books and require cataloguing services, and require access to old and rare books. These are frequent users of the library loan service. Vertebrate Zoology staff: who most frequently utilise the Distributed Collection (DC) in their departmental library and regularly request book purchases and cataloguing. These are frequent users of journals for information purposes Invertebrate Zoology staff: who also most frequently utilise their DC and regularly request book purchases and cataloguing. They are also frequent users of journals and scientific periodicals for information purposes. Paleontology and Mineralology staff: who mostly utilise their departmental library and regularly request book purchases, journals and periodicals for information purposes. Museology staff: who mainly use the collection for reference purposes. They occasionally request reference lists on museology and design then make selections to peruse from this list. With some regularity, external patrons such as university lecturers, Masters students or PhD candidates, scientific researchers, or members of other museums locally or from abroad will request access to books in the MV collection. Although not a public library, this can be facilitated by a paid reciprocal interlibrary loan arrangement with that institution as per the MV loans policy. As the library’s holdings is accessible via Trove, there is a constant stream of requests from outsiders by external researchers. In general, members of the public to not have access to this interlibrary loan service Aspects of its collection has been made available for public use at the IDC and the MMDC to assist with public queries, however generally speaking, only a small portion of its collection of approximately 30,000 titles is accessible in this way and all are for reference use only. This library is distinguished by its comprehensive Natural History collection, its unique assortment of scientific journals dating back to the early nineteenth century, and by its collection of rare seminal texts in the natural sciences. However, unlike its public exhibits, the MV library is not just a collection for posterity and interest. Its main focus is for current daily use in the natural history, geology, paleontology, indigenous material, history, technology, and museology areas. The current scope of its collection includes over 28,000 monographs reflecting both the past and present interest of the museum and approximately 1400 periodical titles (mostly historical) with approximately 200 current subscriptions. Despite the majority of the collection being housed in compactuses in a warehouse type facility, the museum still has space issues which means that a large number of titles (both periodical and monograph) have had to be relocated to external storage facilities. This does not make them inaccessible but it does mean there are processes involved in accessing these titles and adds another dimension to the librarian’s role. There is also a limited range of microfiche, audio-cassette, video and DVD in the collection which are interfiled into the general collection. Interestingly, only a very small number of eBooks and eJournals featured in the museum’s current collection (approximately 75 while I was there). However the aim is to increase this size while exploring ways to facilitate accessibility and investigate the best platforms on which to deliver these. The MV collection also includes a collection of pamphlets that support current and future research projects, many of which are unique to MV. The Distributed Collection refers a collection that is housed outside of the main library. For example, hundreds of titles in the Vertebrate and Invertebrate Zoology sections are housed in those two departments to facilitate access to users. The collections for public reference at the MMDC and IDC include material aimed at helping staff and the public answer any questions pertinent to the services at each centre. Finally, its collection includes a very sizable and distinguished assortment of rare books dating back to the nineteenth century including historical ledgers, scientific expedition accounts and books which are of particular significance to the development of the city of Melbourne and the state of Victoria. The MV library’s objective is to ensure that the information needs of curators and researchers are met. Since the library is not set up for public access and the compactuses makes browsing a challenge (particularly when some titles are stored externally), an important aspect of the librarian’s job is to ensure that the catalogue is satisfactorily maintained and that online browse-ability is facilitated. The MV library uses Voyager as its OPAC which is linked and powered by the State Library of Victoria. Newly acquired titles are promoted online through the MV library webpage and weekly blogs, while a small display of new books is featured near the MV library office. However this office is not frequently visited by staff so this display has limited potential to promote new titles. Whilst some curators and researchers will indeed browse the actual shelves, I am told that typically users know what they want and simply request it via direct email to the library team. The title is then physically located on behalf of the borrower and sent to the user via the internal mail system. When outsiders request a title, this is facilitated using a reciprocal interlibrary loan system which staff can also use to borrow from common lenders outside MV. Another feature of the MV library is its Pop-up libraries in staffrooms at the MM and Science works, the objective being to promote the MV library given its limited public accessibility, and to support staff learning about exhibits, especially Customer Service Officers whose knowledge of the museum’s subject areas may be more limited. Technology featured at a rudimentary level at the MV library. In essence, technology is used to catalogue the collection using Voyager as their OPAC, and to facilitate interlibrary loans. Increasingly, however, technology is being introduced in a number of critical areas: to digitise their collection of old and rare books in order to preserve them and to increase their accessibility to outsiders, and, to address space and storage limitations by way of transitioning to eBooks and eJournals. At this point in time, I’m told that a freeze on State Government funding has impacted the museum’s ability to dedicate library staff to properly exploring which eResource platforms best suit the MV library, to changing a culture of reliance on print books, and to training MV library patrons on how to use eBooks from their desktop and mobile devices. Similarly, funding restrictions has meant that the digitisation of important and sought after old or rare collections depends on volunteers. By contrast to the resources offered at my school library, websites, online databases and Web 2.0 technologies were not part of the MV library information culture nor offered as part of a pathfinder via a lib-guide or similar. Insofar as the MV library’s role is to purchase, catalogue and provide access to titles that its users need, the library fulfills its role well. However, the current scope of the collection which consists predominately of printed materials limits accessibility and makes retrieving information slow and labor intensive. For example, many journals are now housed off site. Accessing a journal can take several days and does not allow for browsing content. The user must know exactly what they want including the month, volume and issue to order the material. Transitioning to eResources will address this in part. The MV library’s reticence to direct users to credible websites and online information sources, and to have the ability to organise and promote such resources on a lib-guide or equivalent seriously impedes its ability to provide currency in its repertoire of resources that it unnecessarily limited to print monographs. The MV library’s lack of a physical presence underpins need for an even stronger online presence. Also, in a school library, Teacher Librarians collaborate much more closely with teachers in order to source materials that support their curriculum. There is also an expectation that TLs understand the requirements of the Australian Curriculum and that they will proactively build their collection accordingly. The information agency at MV played a more passive role, responding to demand from experts rather than actively sourcing for the collection themselves. This placement involved three main areas of the museum; the Melbourne Museum’s Discovery Centre (MMDC), the Immigration Museum’s Discovery Centre (IDC) and Museum Victoria’s main library. Melbourne Museum Discovery Centre: Activities included orientation of the MMDC’s website and attending to emails from the public, the promotion of NAIDOC week through a book display in the MMDC’s distributed collection, assisting patrons with queries about the MMDC Collection both in person and online via the MV MMDC blog comments section, the creation of a new hands-on Indigenous topical display for MMDC patrons for NAIDOC week including aboriginal artefacts with corresponding information sheets, attending staff meetings and lectures by curators & research candidates, attending tours of the current exhibits, and attending tours of collections not accessible to the public such as the entomology collection, the marine biology collection and the exhibit preparations department where animals were taxidermied. Activities here included familiarisation of the IDC’s website and its links to external websites such as the public records office in order to assist visitors with their immigration and shipping enquiries, to familiarise myself with the MV library’s collection of migration monographs, to take a tour of the IM and become familiar with the exhibits, and finally to appraise and deselect titles from the IDC collection in order to address limited space issues. Activities included orientation with the MV library’s intranet on Musenet, learning about the processes involved in facilitating interlibrary loans, familiarisation with the MV library OPAC, attending to staff requests by searching the catalogue for titles, locating these in the compactuses and sending these to staff in the internal mail, shelving, checking in newly arrived journals onto the system, sourcing titles for, and developing an annotated bibliography for the Education and Activities team looking to rejuvenate the Children’s Gallery (see Appendix 1) and writing a blog on the Book of the Week for the MV Library Blog. The most involved of all these activities were the de-selection project at the IDC and the annotated bibliography at the MV library. The de-selection of titles from the IDC was prompted by the issues of space which is facing the MV library as a whole. In all, about 100 titles were weeded from the collection based on a set criteria and in accordance with the MV library’s collection policy. De-selecting titles from a collection whose inherent value is historical material was challenging. Most of the de-selected material was cross-checked on Trove to ascertain how prolific or rare the title was or whether the material was now digitally available online at another institution. Books in a very poor condition were de-selected on the basis that new editions could be purchased whilst others were retained despite their poor condition because they were otherwise unavailable. The compiling of the annotated bibliography for the Children’s Gallery at the MM involved firstly visiting the gallery space to gauge its purpose, and attending a lecture by MV curator Padmini Sebastian who had just returned from a tour of the award winning Children’s Museum at the National Museum in Copenhagen. The bibliography was to be a list of current MV monographs that could inform curators of ways to improve the space, increase patronage, and promote early learning. The list was extended to include websites and online scholarly articles on the latest research on children’s museum spaces and the impact of spaces on learning in children. It was very interesting to be in a library whose function was so different to my own library experiences, both professionally as a TL in a school library, but also as a masters student whose entire interaction with the library has been online. The most obvious differentiating features of the MV library compared to a school library was the unique nature of its clientele, its glaring lack of fiction, its confined accessibility and limited borrow-ability, and its method of warehousing its collection. Whilst the MV library appeared to effectively service the needs of its users, the very limited range of eResources and lack of headway for introducing them to users amounted to a real deficit in an otherwise brilliant institution. For an organisation that prides itself on being progressive, this was startling, and more so in light of the fact that MV is dealing with limited space issues. The digitisation of its collection and the embracing of eBooks and ePeriodicals is a matter of urgency for MV. The ability to utilise credible websites and online databases and digitised materials is a matter of priority for any 21st century information agency if it means to embrace new and emerging ways of collecting, disseminating and engaging with information, and I felt that the MV library needed to move in this direction. Otherwise, this was an inspiring and eternally fascinating information agency to be a part of. As an educator I found the MMDC’s hands-on learning opportunities in particular a really powerful way to arouse the curiosity of patrons of all ages. Where the library was closed, the Discovery Centre was open and engaged purposefully with the public. Curious patrons could engage with the exhibits, read books and magazines from the Distributed Collection, and have learning conversations with Discovery staff who were entomologists and palaeontologists among other things. I was also pleasantly surprised by the level of older museum goers who visited the Discovery Centre. Whilst many were accompanying parents who surprised themselves by becoming even more engaged in the exhibits than their kids, many older patrons came in especially, knowing that this was a point of contact with museum experts. In this sense, the MMDC became a place for dialogue between experts rather than just place for children to learn and discover. These kinds of interactions made the MV experience unique; the Discovery Centre gave the Museum a human face and, by way of its experts, offered patrons really valuable human resources. This was one aspect of the information agency that I felt I could take back to the school library and consider implementing. References: Museum Victoria. (2014). Retrieved from Museum Victoria: http://museumvictoria.com.au/ National Museum Copenhagan. (2014). Retrieved from The Children's Museum: http://www.visitcopenhagen.com/copenhagen/childrens-museum-at-the-national-museum-gdk443624  

Reflections on 505

Little to say, really. This subject was hard. I'm glad we have dedicated cataloguers who can deal with the RDA.

Crtical Reflection 504

I've had a lot of fun this semester surreptitiously measuring up anyone I know in a leadership position (past and present school principals, heads of department, political leaders) against the leadership principles I have come to understand are the best. I've even applied them to myself, both in a professional capacity and as a parent, and that’s been pretty interesting too. In doing so, I’ve realised that leadership is really just a term we use to describe the act of ‘taking charge’ during a time of change. The greater the change, the more imperative it is to have quality leadership. To say that education is in a state of change is a bit of an understatement. Like many other professions, teaching and learning has been impacted in unimaginable ways by the information and technology revolution, and the great news is, it promises to continue to do so. This is the time for a leadership style that can steer both educators and learners through an exciting metamorphosis in the education landscape.

So what key things have I learned in the process of studying ETL504? Let’s start with what good leadership isn’t:

Leaderships is not management

No matter how organised and efficient you are, you’re not leadership material until you have developed a capacity for vision and the ability to transform (Young, 2009). Managers are great making things happen on the ground, but they are not necessarily great visionaries who can see from above. Great leaders seem have the uncanny ability to keep one foot in the present while the other traverses into the future, envisioning what is needed, and organizing what needs to be done in the present to prepare for that place in 3 or 5 years’ time. Learning about that key distinction has been enlightening.

Good leadership is not authoritarian

Equally as illuminating has been learning about the elements that inhibit great leadership. Traditional understandings of leadership have long revered strong, autocratic leadership styles that micro-manage every detail and resist transparency. This kind of leadership is feudal. It looks powerful, it demands respect, but it stifles innovation (Aguilar, 2012), is intrinsically untrusting (Muzio, 2011) and typically, such leaders find it extraordinarily difficult to relinquish control and share responsibility (Hargraves, 2007). On the other hand, leaders who act in teams and share power are unafraid of healthy conflict (Brocker, 2012), tend to invite a range of ideas (Fullan, 1997) and therefore serve the greater community in ways that are called for and needed, rather than according to what a single leader presumes is desirable.

So, that’s what good leaders aren’t. This is what I have learned terrific leaders are:

Great leadership is open and transparent

Well, I can’t imagine that anyone who watched Don Tapscott’s 2012 TED talk on open leadership has remained unaffected by it. It seemed to trigger a paradigm shift. A culture of transparency and openness harvests incredible benefits. This comes as a result of the convergence of many knowledge sources, and demands that leaders relinquish the idea that knowledge is property that can be owned or rightfully withheld from others at their detriment (Tapscott, 2012). In a culture where knowledge is still sold as a commodity, his is a revolutionary idea. This notion also challenges the way we see information in the learning environment; currently intellectual data can be ‘owned’ and transacted like physical property. When I watched Tapscott's video, I realised that the democratisation of information had been going on of its own accord right under my nose, but I hadn't recognised it. The way Web 2.0 technologies are being used is a testament to this. Intellectual property is becoming universal property by virtue of the fact that it is becoming impossible to ‘contain’. This presents a unique philosophical challenge for libraries (both in terms of information literacy and the ethical attribution of intellectual sources in learning) but it is also, according to Tapscott (2012), a truly liberating notion for leadership, which will increasingly become characterised by a nuevo-transparency. Of course, this idea is inextricably linked to technology and the impact it is having on information access. Information cannot be kept back and controlled any more than can a tsunami, and Tapscott’s attitude is not to fight it, but to benefit from it, to use it. It will take a gutsy kind of leadership to negotiate this conundrum.

That every TL is a leader and has the potential to enact change in their school

Stop Press! All Teacher Librarians Are Skilled, Inspiring, and Professional Educational Leaders who Actively Promote Effective, Innovative Ways to Learn and Teach in their Schools!

Well, it ought not be news, but it was to me.

As a full-time English teacher, I can see now that there are certain drawbacks to learning about the role of the teacher librarian solely from a theoretical perspective. I can see that there would be advantages in being able to apply the learning in ETL504 to actual, rather than imagined scenarios. Nonetheless, I have discovered two things by observation have escaped my extensive readings for this subject:

1) that the existing skills of the TLs at many schools are lamentably under-promoted (otherwise I’d already know that the TLs at my school are pretty fantastic)

2) and that a lack of time, belief in the role, and funding for professional learning inhibits the true potential of the TL from being realised.

Part of my strategy for building the best possible future library in Assignment 2 included placing the TL at the center of all professional learning and teaching (Hargraves, 2009). In the past, we showed how much we revered libraries as the repositories of knowledge and the heart of all learning in the grandness of their architecture. Today, we must show how much we revere the same principles by investing not in buildings, but in people (Godin, 2010). As leaders of learning TLs have a most noble function, but this can be thwarted by what Sergiovanni (2005) refers to as a lack of trust and belief in the role. The TL must be empowered to positively influence the practices and thinking of others (Young, 2009). Not ‘investing’ in the TL by way of professional learning, especially in technology, effectively clips the wings of the TL, and the whole organisation suffers from an inability to take flight.

Abbey Library, St.Gallen, Switzerland

And this brings me to my final observation.

That a special kind of leadership is required for 21^stcentury learning

The way we seek and process information in the digital environment has revolutionised libraries and will surely continue to do so. The impact of technology is everywhere; it is the ubiquitous ‘given’ in every aspect of our lives, the least of which is the way we learn. We know that for a library to remain viable in the 21^st century it must adopt 21^stcentury practices, and this means that TLs must get with the times and skill up. I liked the cheeky way Hay (2010) put it when she said “shift happens”, the implication being that we may be uncomfortable with the pace of change, or nostalgic about the past, but our job isn’t to get sentimental; it’s about being proactive and dealing with it by putting the learning of our students first. The TL is beautifully positioned to lead schools holistically into the future of learning in the digital age. They are uniquely placed across the whole curriculum, they support both teachers and students, and their core business is lifelong independent learning ( (Kulhthau, C., Maniotis, L. & Kaspari, A., 2007). The challenge for them is to ensure that they become, and remain, proficient in the new universal democratic language of the digital age.

References

Aguilar, E. (2012, November 28). Effective Teams: The Key to Transforming Schools? Retrieved from Edutopia - What works in Education: http://www.edutopia.org/blog/teacher-teams-transform-schools-elena-aguilar

Brocker, B. (2012, March 22). Leadership Theory and Critical Skills. Bellevue University. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzAzhiEsZtY&feature=player_embedded

Fullan, M. (1997). Leadership for Change. In M. Fullan (Ed.),The Challenge of School Change (pp. 97-114). Australia: Hawker Brownlow Education.

Godin, S. (2010). The future of the library. Retrieved from http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2010/01/the-future-of-the-library.html

Hargreaves, A. (2007). Sustainable Leadership and Development in Education: creating the future, conserving the past. European Journal of Education, 42(2), 223-233.

Hay, L. (2010). Shift happens: It's time to re-think, rebuild and rebrand. Australian School Library Association, 24(4), 5-10. Retrieved from http://www.asla.org.au/publications/access/access-commentaries/shift-happens.aspx

Kulhthau, C., Maniotis, L. & Kaspari, A. (2007). Introduction to Guided Inquiry: what is it, what's new, why now? In Guided Inquiry - Learning in the 21st Century. Westport: Libraries Unlimited.

Muzio, E. (2011, June 8). 7 Step Problem Solving. Bnet. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZXDGQSuF9I&feature=player_embedded#!

Sergiovanni, T. (2005). The Virtues of Leadership. The Educational Forum(69), 112-123.

Tapscott, D. (2012, June). Four principles for the open world. Edinburgh, Scotland: TED. Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/talks/don_tapscott_four_principles_for_the_open_world_1.html?awesm=on.ted.com_Tapscott&utm_campaign=&utm_content=awesm-publisher&utm_medium=on.ted.com-static&utm_source=direct-on.ted.com

Young, H. (2009). (Un)Critical times? Situating distributed leadership in the field. Journal of Educational Administration and History, 41(4), 377-389.



I am coming to the pointy end of this first assignment. I have been reflecting on the qualities required for good leadership according to our readings, and when combined, the criteria is staggering. And yet, not beyond reach.

I recognise these qualities in colleagues with whom I work and it is heartening to know that these are all achievable. Having worked under a very authoritative (albeit charismatic) leader, I also know which I prefer. Leadership which instils a sense of empowerment and fosters an eagerness for change and innovation is truly exciting.

In the spirit of presenting information diagrammatically, I collected the descriptors of what a good leader does from our readings and have presented them here:

I then trawled through the job-descriptions of TLs in leadership positions and discovered that their key contacts included the following (also presented diagrammatically):

When I combined the two to represent leadership style with actual role, this was the result:

It actually looks like a fireworks display. For those not daunted by the many facets of leadership, I guess there's a lot to celebrate. If there's one thing I've learned here, it's that that while leadership can be developed, it really can't be taught. Surely the desire to embrace the challenges and rewards that come with this life need to come from somewhere within.

Some observations:

Leadership is process not a person – this is why there are so many verbs in the first diagram connecting leadership to outcomes. Leadership does, not is.

The mark of good leadership is in the morale of its teams.

Good leadership actively grows rather than fears new leaders.

Transparency is a mark of confident leadership.

Change cannot be mandated; leaders create the right environment and change occurs.

Aguilar, E. (2012, November 28). Effective Teams: The Key to Transforming Schools? Retrieved from Edutopia - What works in Education: http://www.edutopia.org/blog/teacher-teams-transform-schools-elena-aguilar

Avolio, B., Walumbwa, F., & Weber, T. (2009). Leadership: Current Theories, Research, and Future Directions. Lincoln: DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska. Retrieved from http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1036&context=managementfacpub

Belbin, M. (2010). Team Roles at Work (2nd ed.). Oxford, UK.

Brocker, B. (2012, March 22). Leadership Theory and Critical Skills. Bellevue University. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzAzhiEsZtY&feature=player_embedded

Fullan, M. (1997). Leadership for Change. In M. Fullan (Ed.), The Challenge of School Change (pp. 97-114). Australia: Hawker Brownlow Education.

Hargreaves, A. (2007). Sustainable Leadership and Development in Education: creating the future, conserving the past. European Journal of Education, 42(2), 223-233.

Hough, M., & Paine, J. (1997). Collaborative Decision Making with Teams. In Creating quality learning communities (pp. 110-127). South Melbourne: Macmillan Education Australia.

Knapp, M., Copland, M., & Swinnerton, J. (2007). Understanding the Promise and Dynamics of Leadership. Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education, Chapter 4 106(1), 74-104.

Kotter, J. (2012). Kotter International. Retrieved April 2013, from Innovate Strategy Implementation Professionals: http://www.kotterinternational.com/our-principles/changesteps

Lambert, L. (1998). What is Leadership Capacity? In Building leadership capacity in schools (pp. 1-9). Alexandria: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Law, S. & Glover, D. (2000). Leading effective teams. In Educational leadership and learning : practice, policy and research (pp. 71-86). Buckingham, England: Open University Press.

Marzano, R. Waters, T & McNulty, B. (2006). School Leadership that Works. Victoria, Australia: Hawker Brownlow.

Muzio, E. (2011, June 8). 7 Step Problem Solving. Bnet. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZXDGQSuF9I&feature=player_embedded#!

Schifter, C. (2008). Infusing Technology into the classroom: Continuous Practice Improvement. New York: Information Science Publishing.

Sergiovanni, T. (1984, February). Leadership and Excellence in Schooling. Educational Leadership, 4-13.

Sergiovanni, T. (2005). The Virtues of Leadership. The Educational Forum(69), 112-123.

Tapscott, D. (2012, June). Four principles for the open world. Edinburgh, Scotland: TED. Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/talks/don_tapscott_four_principles_for_the_open_world_1.html?awesm=on.ted.com_Tapscott&utm_campaign=&utm_content=awesm-publisher&utm_medium=on.ted.com-static&utm_source=direct-on.ted.com

Townsend, T. (2011). School leadership in the twenty-first century: different approaches to common problems. School Leadership and Management, 31(2), 93-103. Retrieved from http://www.tandfonline.com.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/doi/abs/10.1080/13632434.2011.572419 

Youngs, H. (2009). (Un)Critical times? Situating distributed leadership in the field. Journal of Educational Administration and History, 41(4), 377-389.