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A Biblioteca Escolar: desafios e oportunidades no contexto
da mudança
As bibliotecas escolares no contexto da mudança
A biblioteca escolar tem passado por transformações assinaláveis resultantes da
evolução do paradigma tecnológico e das implicações profundas no acesso, uso e
comunicação da Informação. Neste contexto, passaram de espaços organizados com
recursos destinados ao acesso da informação e ao lazer a espaços de trabalho e de
construção do conhecimento.
Há evidência irrefutável atestada por diferentes estudos internacionais, de que a
biblioteca escolar contribui para o sucesso educativo dos estudantes e para o
desenvolvimento das literacias imprescindíveis na nossa sociedade.
Linhas de força definidoras da biblioteca escolar actual
Ross Todd conseguiu, de forma sintética, objectivar as transformações por que passa a
biblioteca escolar actualmente:
•Knowledge space, not information place
•Connections, not collections
•Actions, not positions
•Evidence, not advocacy
Com possibillidade de acesso em qualquer lugar e sem qualquer mediação, mas com
necessidades evidentes de rever o portfólio de competências exigíveis ao uso da informação, à
construção do conhecimento e à construção da cidadania, a biblioteca escolar vê redefinidos
contextos de trabalho e de prestação de serviços e ganha um papel preponderante na
formação para as literacias e para o acompanhamento curricular e das aprendizagens dos
alunos.
As bibliotecas escolares passam, neste contexto, a ter um papel:
• Informacional: Disponibilizam recursos de informação, apoiam a infra-estrutura tecnológica,
contribuindo para o seu uso e integração nas práticas lectivas;
• Transformativo: Formam para as diferentes literacias, contribuindo de forma colaborativa e
articulada com os outros docentes para o desenvolvimento de competências que suportam as
aprendizagens e a construção do conhecimento.
• Formativo: Transformam-se de espaços de disponibilização de recursos em espaços de
aprendizagem, de construção do conhecimento. (Bogel, 2006)
Noutro artigo da CILIP, New guidelines, new challenges in schools, a forma como a mudança
induz novas práticas está também patente. Os organogramas revelam a mudança de enfoque
que deve presidir às nossas práticas. Esse enfoque varia entre a valorização dos processos de
gestão e uma mudança de papel que coloca a biblioteca escolar no centro das aprendizagens e
da construção do conhecimento.
Evidenciam também o impacto que o paradigma digital tem na biblioteca escolar, nas práticas
e na forma como gerimos e processamos a informação. Neste paradigma, conteúdos,
administração/ gestão, ambientes virtuais de aprendizagem e currículo são partes de um todo
que a biblioteca escolar tem forçosamente que integrar.
Estes organogramas podem servir-nos de exemplo à perspectivação da mudança que o
Plano Tecnológico da Educação trará às nossas bibliotecas. Capacidade de antecipação
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e de alterar práticas e modelos de trabalho serão fundamentais. A organização da
informação digital para estar pronta a usar no quadro interactivo, a criação de
ambientes virtuais de aprendizagem, a ligação ao currículo serão factores críticos de
sobrevivência para as BEs.
Que bibliotecas escolares temos?
Embora em Portugal exista um quase vazio de dados em termos de avaliação e
conhecimento da realidade das nossas bibliotecas diversos estudos internacionais,
realizados em países com um percurso maior nesta área, vieram demonstrar a
importância das práticas de avaliação.
A Literatura Internacional na área das bibliotecas escolares evidencia, de forma clara, o
impacto das bibliotecas na aprendizagem e no sucesso educativo dos alunos em
regiões e em contextos diversos. Estes estudos realizaram-se em diferentes estados da
América, mas também no Canadá, Reino Unido ou na Austrália, países onde as
bibliotecas têm um percurso mais consolidado. A American Assotiation of School
Libraries conduz um inquérito anual, a nível nacional - “School Libraries Count!”- com o
objectivo de recolher informação acerca da situação das bibliotecas escolares e das
mudanças ocorridas.
Em todos estes estudos, há o reconhecimento de que a biblioteca escolar é usada
enquanto espaço apetrechado com um conjunto significativo de recursos e de
equipamentos (as condições externas, as condições físicas e a qualidade da colecção
são fundamentais) e, como espaço formativo e de aprendizagem, intrinsecamente
relacionado com a escola e com o processo de ensino/ aprendizagem. A Literacia da
Informação tem, nestes estudos, um papel muito importante.
Estes estudos identificam, também, áreas chave, determinantes na construção de uma
biblioteca escolar de qualidade:
- Integração na escola e no processo de ensino/ aprendizagem
- Integração institucional e programática, de acordo com os objectivos
educacionais e programáticos da escola;
-Desenvolvimento de competências de leitura e de um programa de Literacia
da Informação, integrado no desenvolvimento curricular;
-Articulação com departamentos, professores e alunos na planificação e
desenvolvimento de actividades educativas e de aprendizagem.
- Condições de Acesso. Qualidade da Colecção
- Organização e equipamento de acordo com os standards definidos, facultando
condições de acesso e de trabalho individual ou em grupo;
- Disponibilização de um conjunto de recursos de informação, em diferentes
ambientes e suportes, actualizada e em extensão e qualidade adequadas às
necessidades dos utilizadores.
- Gestão da BE
- Afectação de um professor bibliotecário qualificado e de uma equipa que
assegure as rotinas inerentes à gestão, que articule e trabalhe com a escola,
professores e alunos;
- Liderança do professor bibliotecário e da equipa;
- Desenvolvimento de estratégias de gestão e de integração da BE na escola e no
desenvolvimento curricular.
- Desenvolvimento de estratégias de gestão baseadas na recolha sistemática de
evidências – evidence based practice
Avaliação - Gestão - Mudança
Avaliação, gestão e mudança são conceitos que apontam para diferentes
dimensões implicadas nos processos, práticas e impactos das nossas acções enquanto
profissionais. Quando gerimos um serviço, gerimos expectativas, definimos
políticas, planeamos e projectamos, por norma com um horizonte temporal em
perspectiva. Estas expectativas, projecções e acções estão forçosamente ligadas a um
objecto, uma realidade concreta (no nosso caso, a biblioteca escolar) na qual incide a
nossa acção.
Esse objecto/ realidade sobre a qual actuamos, é atravessado por uma série de
factores internos capazes de condicionar a resposta àquilo que perspectivamos ou
acções que realizamos.
Existem, também, factores externos com proximidade e forças diferenciadas que
temos que ter em conta quando pensamos um serviço ou perspectivamos a sua
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gestão. Do ambiente externo (próximo) fazem parte entidades tão diversas como a
escola, o órgão directivo, outros stakeholders... Fazem ainda parte, por exemplo, os
órgãos decisores (macroestrutura) que definem políticas, como o Ministério da
Educação/ Gabinete RBE.
A avaliação é um elemento fundamental no processo de gestão porque nos permite:
- Aferir a eficácia dos serviços que prestamos, identificando sucessos e insucessos –
gaps que condicionam a qualidade e eficiência do serviço.
- Aferir o impacto que temos nas atitudes, comportamento e competências dos nossos
utilizadores.
Em suma, procuramos, através do processo de avaliação, trazer à luz a diferença que
fazemos na escola que servimos. Fazer entender essa diferença é fundamental. É
importante fazer compreender àqueles que têm poder decisor que somos
imprescindíveis; É fundamental fazer ver por que é que investir em mais recursos de
informação ou realizar outros investimentos, como, por exemplo em recursos
humanos, não representa uma perda ou um investimento sem retorno.
É também importantíssimo fazer entender aos professores (alguns fechados à
colaboração com a biblioteca), aos pais e aos alunos que a biblioteca cumpre
objectivos semelhantes àqueles em que toda a restante escola se empenha e que
algum do sucesso obtido tem a sua participação.
Interrogar a biblioteca escolar – What Works?
A comparação com standards pré-definidos permite-nos aferir as expectativas
existentes relativamente a determinado domínio e os resultados obtidos (ou o que a
nossa experiência empírica nos mostra).
A grande mudança reside no facto de desenvolvermos uma actividade sistemática de
recolha de informação que nos permita ajuizar e decidir de forma fundamentada o
rumo a dar à nossa acção.
Tais práticas implicam:
- Gerir para o sucesso educativo; para a melhoria das aprendizagens e do trabalho
escolar; criar mais-valias comportamentais, formativas e de aprendizagem junto dos
nossos alunos.
- Gerir no sentido da optimização dos processos que produzam resultados e impacto
na qualidade da BE e dos serviços que prestamos.
Ser prospectivo, estar atento e ter uma postura de investigação e de aprendizagem
contínua são factores críticos à efectivação de uma boa gestão e à prestação de
serviços de qualidade.
The 2001 IASL Conference
Auckland, New Zealand, 9-12 July
ASPECTS FOR DISCUSSION:
From Ross Todd:
I would like the focus of discussion to be on approaches to evidence-based practice.
Participants should share:
Examples of initiatives that provide evidence of the power of the educative role of the
school librarian: describe the initiative, how you collected some evidence, what you
found.
This does not have to relate to technology -- but initiatives where impact, benefit can be
demonstrated: it might centre on reading, literacy, information literacy, information
technology, communication, perceptions of seld as learners, improved test scores.
KEYNOTE PAPER: VIRTUAL CONFERENCE SESSION
Transitions for preferred futures of school libraries:
Knowledge space, not information place
Connections, not collections
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Actions, not positions
Evidence, not advocacy
DR ROSS TODD
ABSTRACT
The fusion of learning, libraries and literacies is creating dynamic, if not confronting
challenges for teacher-librarians, teachers and administrators, particularly when set
against the backdrop of learning and information environments that are complex and
fluid, connective and interactive, and ones no longer constrained by time and space. It
is both an opportunity to evaluate and chart impacts and achievements, as well as an
invitation to examining new ways of looking and thinking, being and doing. This
presentation will argue that action and evidence-based, learning-centered practice,
rather than position and advocacy, are key mindsets for the profession if it is to achieve
its preferred future, particularly in the context of the development of digital collections
and services. It will elucidate a shared-learning framework as the fundamental building
block for the articulation of roles, selection of resources, the nature of the instructional
program, and for evaluating the power of the library in achieving the school’s learning
objectives.
INTRODUCTION
Two statements from different times and contexts form the heart of my address. Winnie
the Pooh has been attributed with saying: “There has been an alarming increase in the
number of things I know nothing about”. The German philosopher Goethe, once said:
“Are you in earnest? Seize this very minute. What you can do, or dream you can, begin
it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Only engage and then the mind grows
heated. Begin and then the work will be completed”. In a time of intense educational
change and profound growth in accessible information, both somewhat driven by
networked information technology, the challenge for teacher-librarians to chart a
preferred future for the information environments of schools is both complex and
potentially confronting. It is time to acknowledge our past, reflect on our achievements,
and chart a course for the future.
I have begun writing this address in one of the world’s magnificent libraries, the Library
of Congress, in Washington D.C. The scale and grandeur of the physical place and the
enormity of its collection are difficult to comprehend. The collection includes more than
28 million catalogued books and other print materials in 460 languages, and has the
largest rare book collection in North America, as well as the world’s largest collection
of legal materials, films, maps, sheet music and sound recordings. Marble, gilt, brass
inlay, vaulted ceilings, mosaics honoring the professions, magnificent paintings
depicting the creation and diffusion of knowledge and the role of literature and learning,
sculptures featuring life and thought and honoring those who over centuries have made
distinguished contributions – all these make it visually an awesome and inspiring place.
I am working in the domed Reading Room of the Thomas Jefferson Wing, barely able
to concentrate.
A mural by Edwin Blashfield depicting the great epochs of civilization adorns the apex
of this enormous and embellished dome. In the cupola of the dome is another painting
by Edwin Blashfield, and it is this that captures my attention. Here is painted a female
figure, visible only to those in the Reading Room below, representing Human
Understanding. Human Understanding. And atop this dome, on the outside of the
building, is the “Torch of Learning”. It is my view that at the pinnacle, the c entre, the
heart of a library is the development of human understanding. My central claim in this
paper is that the school library in the 21st Century is about constructing sense and new
knowledge, and building an information infrastructure and information resources to
enable this. This is the idea of the library as a knowledge space, not information place.
In order to achieve that, I believe we need to focus on three things: connections, not
collections; actions, not positions; and evidence, not advocacy.
FROM INFORMATION TO KNOWLEDGE
The information environment of the 21st century is complex and fluid, connective and
interactive, diverse, ambiguous and unpredictable, and one no longer constrained by
physical collections, time, place and national boundaries. The e-environment, at a time
when social commentary focuses on “the dot.com age”, “the dot.con age”, “the
dot.come-and-gone age” is increasingly giving attention to the development of “the
knowledge society”, “the clever country”. This does not happen by chance. Not does it
happen by having magnificent information collections, inspiring physical environments,
or advanced information technology networks. These are important, there is no question
about that, but I do not believe that these are the hallmarks of the school library of the
21st Century. Giving information is not the same as giving knowledge, and turning
information into knowledge is potentially the most complex, challenging and rewarding
task of all educators.
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In order for school libraries to play a key role in the information age school, I believe
there needs to be a fundamental shift from thinking about the movement and
management of information resources through structures and networks, and from
information skills and information literacy, to a key focus on knowledge construction
and human understanding, implemented through a constructivist, inquiry-based
framework. The notion of human understanding is the essence of the word
“information”: inform.ere informo, informare, informavi, informatus = inward forming.
School libraries are aboutproviding the best information opportunities for people to
make the most of their lives as sense-making, constructive, independent people. They
know how to connect with, interact with and utilize their information rich world to
enable them to understand their world around them, to think through issues and to make
decisions to sustain and enrich their own lives. Information is the heartbeat of
meaningful learning in schools. But it is not the hallmark of the 21st century school.
The hallmark of a school library in the 21st century is not its collections, its systems, its
technology, its staffing, its buildings, BUT its actions and evidences that show that it
makes a real difference to student learning, that it contributes in tangible and significant
ways to the development of human understanding, meaning making and constructing
knowledge. The school library is about empowerment, connectivity, engagement,
interactivity, and its outcome is knowledge construction. This must be at the centre of
our philosophy, the mandate for our role, and the driver of all our day-by-day teaching
and learning actions. Information is not power. It is human understanding and
knowledge that is power, and information is how you get it. Professor Kuhlthau's
address earlier this week argued that inquiry-based learning provides both a
philosophical and action-centred constructivist framework for building an appropriate
learning environment in an information-rich school, one that has construction of
meaning and understanding as its outcome, where students are engaged in "an active
personal process" fitting information in with what one already knows and extending this
knowledge to create new perspectives (Kuhlthau, 1993:4). This is the significant context
for my paper today.
Writing in the preface to Effective libraries in international schools (Markuson, 1999), I
make this statement: "Preparing our students today for tomorrow's unknown world,
being able to predict an uncertain future, and moving into it with confidence, takes
courgae and conviction. Indeed the best way to predict the future is to work towards
creating it, and creating it begins today, not tomorrow. This means that although we
respect and are informed by our past, we also have the courage and determination to
think and act divergently" (1999, 9). I like this quote, from an unknown source: "If we
always see as we've always seen, we'll always be as we've always, and we'll always do
as we've always done." So what is the problem? I am going to stick my neck out here. I
am not convinced that empowerment for knowledge construction and the development
of human understanding is the central concern of teacher-librarians today. Over my 25
year period of engagement with the profession, as a practicing teacher-librarian,
educator and researcher, I have sat in numerous meetings, forums and conferences, and
listened to the concerns and challenges of teacher-librarians around the world I still
remain unconvinced that action and evidence-based, learning-centred practice focusing
on engagement with information for human understanding and knowledge construction,
are key mindsets for the profession -- philosophically and in practice. Certainly they are
reflected in the rhetoric about roles and responsibilities, in other words, espoused
values. But I would argue that the central public concerns of teacher-librarians continue
to be expressed in terms of collections, position and advocacy, and I believe that this is
the major limiting factor of the profession today. I strongly believe that our mindset
needs to shift to evidence-based, learning centred practice that has as its heart the
central concepts of knowledge construction and human understanding. This should be
the locus of our concern and the fundamental challenge that drives us, and the rest will
look after itself.
PERCEPTIONS OF CHALLENGES
Let me give some simple evidence for this. Recently I sent out a message to two
Australian electronic lists for teacher-librarians: OZTL_NET and InfoSpec. (a
discussion list for the Parramatta Diocese school libraries staff). I requested teacher-
librarians to email me and tell me what they thought were the most important challenges
facing them at this time. This could be broad or narrow -- on the educative role, on
technology, on the status of their position, on their image value; on anything they think
important. I asked them to list these in priority order, from the most important or highest
priority. It was not intended to be a formal study, and the results I mention here need to
be perceived in that context -- however, they show some interesting patterns. I received
74 written replies. I did provide some prompts, as stated above, based on my own
hunches, and these were taken up, and others identified as well. I undertook a content
analysis of those replies, first by identifying individual statements of challenge. 249
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individual statements of challenge were provided. Some of these were expressed
broadly, which enabled me to establish 11 categories for grouping these challenges;
others were expressed quite specifically, which serve to illustrate the breadth and depth
of each category.
Key Challenges Facing Teacher-Librarians
ConcernNumber of
Statements
% of Total
Statements
Impact of information technology on
library and role of teacher-librarian47 18.87
Perceived lack of understanding of the
nature and dimensions of the role32 12.85
Perceived lack of value, importance and
appreciation28 11.24
Negative perceptions of the image of
teacher-librarian by others23 9.23
Perceived lack of support for the role of
teacher-librarian20 8.03
Not able to do the job I want to do as
teacher-librarian27 10.84
Perceived low status 17 6.84
Student learning -- processes and
outcomes15 6.902
Advocacy of position and role 12 4.82
Funding 10 4.03
Professional development 7 2.81
Other 11 4.42
TOTAL 249 100%
The most significant challenges were in terms of information technology, and
challenges related to other's perceptions of the image and role of the teacher-librarian,
the lack of understanding by others of the role, and dealing with less-than-desired
perceptions of the importance and value of the contributions made by them. The bullet
points below each category are some of the individual statements made by teacher-
librarians, to illustrate the dynamics, breadth and depth of the challenges.
Impact of information technology on library and role of librarian
Another issue is the problem of responsibility for technology. As more
equipment is being placed in the library -- networked printers, scanners, colour
photocopiers, ID cards -- more pressure / expectations are being placed on the
TL to maintain / service the needs of the equipment and the users.
Taking on more and more tasks like web master, network password
administrator, PD organiser for staff, mentor to "reluctant" staff, computer
technician, with no extra staff provided nor time allowance to cope with the
load. The pace just keeps hotting up; some days the descent into chaos is
positively scary.
In the use of technology, many teachers lack the skills to assist students, so they
are relying more on the TL to be involved with their classes, which leaves less
time for management tasks.
TLs are hampered by technology in every sense of the word; They receive the
cast noff machines from the Administration areas; There is little or no
technological support; the latest software does not work with older machines;
The technology is forever changing; the students think they know about
technology -- but they do not know how to research.
Information technology drains the library budget (is money going to computers
etc instead of the library).
Perceived lack of support for the role
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We see lots of excellent school-based staff getting very frustrated because the
job they do isn't supported or appreciated.
The energy of the battle is not worth the little support we gain.
We seem to have to spend a lot of time fighting for any support we get.
Support seems to be given grudgingly, often to shut me up.
If I become too strident over library needs, I get into all sorts of strife if I don't
get strident, the library gets nothing or leftovers, after years of asking.
Perceived lack of value and importance and appreciation
Not perceived by peers as being relevant (in part die to the increasing problem of
being sidelined by the IT agenda in a school). Why do we need a library (TLs)
when we're "connected" to the world.
Lack of official value -- school annual reports can be written with no library or
T-L but happily report on the multi-purpose shelter & the bus as facilities.
Showing my value and being valued as a teacher librarian -- a special role in the
school -- so as not to be replaced by a librarian.
Encouraging classroom teachers to see me as a valuable resource in their
classrooms as well as in the library.
Recognition for cooperative work done with teachers with an adequate time
allocation for this.
Perceived lack of understanding of the nature and dimensions of the role
Perpetual misunderstandings of one's role (not a new one).
Principals in general do not have an understanding of the importance of the
library to teaching and learning.
The boss consults the computer class teacher on what equipment should go into
the library and since this teacher rarely even uses the library, his vision and mine
seldom overlap.
Having administration and colleagues understanding the role of the t/l in the 21st
century.
If our colleagues in the profession could see how valuable we could be in a more
collaborative role beyond "give me all you have on transport" and storytelling to
the littlies then things might change.
From where I sit one of my biggest concerns is the apparent lack of
understanding by administrators and teachers, of the place that the library and a
good teacher librarian can play in the learning process. This is especially evident
with the advent of the Internet with the tendency in many schools to think that
online information can replace the book stock and trained library staff.
The administration of schools only seem to know that the library is a problem
when something has gone wrong or a parent complains.
Perceived low status of position
The challenge is to get enough status to get the money to ring the changes that
move us forward whatever the current sticking point may be.
Top of my priorities at the moment is the perception of the status of TLs in
Australian schools, and specifically, of course in my own school.
I have less status than I have ever had in this school. I am fearful that if I studied
for a PhD, as I have wanted to, that I would find myself cleaning the toilets.
Trained TLs are being replaced by other, untrained teachers who sometimes do
quite extraordinary things to collections such as abandoning the Dewey system
for home-made ones.
Status as an educator -- I'm an assistant principal/TL and still have to fight for
time, resourcing and status of the library. It is convenient to have me in this dual
role, so I can be on call whenever there is a more urgent need for me to wear my
AP hat -- which if allowed, would be 90% of the time. I have 3 days TL and 2
days AP.
Negative perceptions of the image of School Librarian by others
Tag of librarian -- still has the image of somewhat old fashioned keeper of the
books and daggy.
Librarians have a negative image, and no matter what you do, it doesn't seem to
shift.
TLs are often seen as second grade in a school, with nothing to offer but control
of the shelves with a stern face.
The image of the librarian -- attitudes of the old days still persist as strong as
ever.
No matter what I do or say, I am still tarnished with the past image of the
librarian.
Advocacy
Encouraging good quality training courses for new TLs with an emphasis on
education, not just library management.
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The need to convince all stakeholders (politicians, society, academics, teachers,
parents and students) that Information Literacy is an essential responsibility of
schooling. If it is established that if graduates can access and efficiently use
information, and be critical thinkers, data can become knowledge, and
knowledge can be transformed into wisdom, I think most of our challenges will
be diminished somewhat.
I think it is a worry that there do not seem to be any courses on offer in Victoria
to train teacher librarians.
Information skills are an important part of our work and many tertiary
institutions are realising the importance of conducting classes for their students,
perhaps there should be more consultation between the two sectors.
Student learning -- processes and outcomes
TLs are frustrated by the lack of technical skills amongst the students and staff.
Users rush in waving a disk and want material printed out yesterday. They have
used Word 2000 on Mac and we have windows 95 etc etc.
Teacher librarians do not contribute to the debate on the place of information
technology and and its effects on curriculum, and teaching and learning, and as a
consequence the implications for the role of the teacher librarian and the
resource centre then they run the very serious risk of being sidelined.
Encouraging teachers to see the ICT Competencies, especially the Info Lit
component, should be across the curriculum, not just considered in the IT
classes.
Incorporating ICT resources into the library collection in a way that doesn't
downgrade more traditional resources i.e. persuading students that the Internet
isn't the only place to go for research. Maintaining the value of print resources.
Need to explore electronic aspects to info process -- not the locating and
selecting, but the cut and paste organisation aspects, (my own area not explored,
still give the kids paper and pencil).
Curriculum development for composite classes.
Student assessment.
Funding
Funds -- probably linked to above -- some libraries are starved of fundsto make
them the vibrant places they should be.
Maintaining our library budget and library staffing ratios in tight times and in
tough competition with other needy areas of the school, or new "must have or
we'll look bad" school trends in the region.
Funding and resources: once the need for information literacy is established, the
challenge to provide adequate resources in the way of staffing, hardware,
technology and technology support, information sources, and funds for ongoing
research and development, will be on the way to being met.
Chronic under-funding is another major problem.
Libraries are considered a waste of funds.
Not able to do the job I want to do
Find TIME, TIME, Time. Find enough time to do all that I want to do.
I spend more time than I think I should need to on: student management (first
year at this school so still not known by students); student discipline (we are in a
difficult demographic area); paperwork related to purchasing, getting signatures
and faxing (must be a better way); too many meetings (at school and network
level -- usually valuable but too many); house-keeping as in shelving, and
training and selling cards for the photocopier!!
Time management... to do less better. Finding the time to teach AND monitor
authority files & the nitty-gritty that makes the database effective.
Would like more time available: for planning and implementing a meaningful
research skills plan for students; for teaching teachers about the value of our
college intranet and how it can make teaching and learning a more positive
experience.
Time -- to do own professional development, present it to colleagues, discussion
for co-operative, read latest literature on shelf, be available to students outside
"lesson" time, to debrief with peers!
Professional development
Education of the staff on the need for integrated, systematic Information Skills
classes across the curriculum.
Remaining at the forefront of new information technology as it pertains to
information management and teaching.
Change and the ability to keep up (espcially when you are the only one in the
library); keeping up with and gaining in-service training.
16
Continuous training and development; once the pivotal role of Information
Literacy and the fact that school/university libraries are in a prime position to
enahnce and develop it, is established, hopefully the provision of quality, free,
ongoing training will also become less of a struggle, for those working in the
field and undergraduates.
Learning new skills myself and implementing ideas for literature programs:
frustration at students' poor research skills; read more of the latest adolescent
fiction; teach myself how to use PowerPoint, etc.
These are important challenges, ones not just local to Australia, and ones that need to be
addressed. Many of these challenges have been expressed for decades. These were the
issues I thought about when I did my training in teacher-librarianship in the early 1980s.
Yes, even technology, as we grappled with the integration of the audio-visual
technologies into learning. What is particularly interesting is that challenges related to
the processes and outcomes of student learning received lower priority. There may be a
number of reasons for this: these challenges are well under control for the majority of
teacher-librarians, or they don't exist or don't matter, or it is perceived that solutions to
the other challenges need to be in place before the real work of student learning can be
accomplished. Maybe there is something in the old proverb: "Energy goes where the
attention flows". We tend to send our energy where our attention is. The attention we
are giving and needing to the challenges expressed above may not bring about the
desired effect. It is my view that we cannot wait around, hoping that someone out there
will rescue us from this concerns. We need to shift our thinking to what we espouse as
the real purposes of our roles, and demonstrate its power on the lives of the students we
deal with. We need to move beyond the public relations approach, and focus on an
evidence-based practice approach.
I spoke at the 4th National Information Literacy Conference in Adelaide, Australia, in
December 1999, and made the comment that information literacy is often seen by others
as "a clarion call by committed protagonists to improve literacy and learning outcomes"
(Todd, 2000: 29), rather than as an action-centred process where tangible outcomes
could be demonstrated. I cited Foster who claimed that information literacy is "an
exercise in public relations" and "an effort to deny the ancillary status of librarianship
by inventing a social malady with which librarians as 'information professionals' are
uniquely qualified to deal" (Foster, 1993, 346), and Miller who observed: "the word
'literacy' carries with it the connotations of illiteracy, and the continuing implication that
librarians are dealing with clients on a basic or even remedial level" (Miller, 1992).
Foster's and Miller's remarks are undeserved and many people were angered by my
comments.
However, the advocacy, role, status, image and position messages are the messages that
school executives, system administrators, school library educators, and school library
professional associations have been hearing for decades. Why haven't they been heard
to the extent that the teacher-librarian's position today is the most exalted, cherished and
sought-after position in the school? I believe that one key element in this answer is that
these are all self-centred and ego-driven dimensions. People -- administrators,
classroom teachers and parents -- sometimes do not see the links between what you do
on a day-to-day basis and how that enables the learning outcomes of the students. I am
going to be blunt here. I hope I am wrong. But you will not be heard until your day-to-
day practice is evidence-based; a practice that is directed towards demonstrating the real
tangible power of your contribution to the school's learning goals -- goals that while
expressed in many different ways, have at their heart concepts of knowledge
construction and human understanding. The evidence of your direct, tangible
contribution to improving learning in your school should be the substance of your
message, the substance of your public concern, the substance of your negotiations.
In my short survey, one teacher-librarian commented:
"I teach with some wonderful, dedicated teachers, and we use scads of ingenuity in
finding the resources we need, and teaching our students. This is still the best job in the
world, either teaching on its own, or being a teacher librarian, and there is great
satisfaction to be had from finding a needed, elusive fact, or introducing a child to a
book that brings them back for 'more of the same, please'. But there is so much more we
could do."
I would suggest that the answer to the concluding remark, "But there is so much more
we could do" needs to foocus on evidence-based practice. We might argue that there is a
great deal of evidence out there that highlights the empowering role of the school
library. Yet even with this evidence, it is sometimes difficult to convince school
executive of the nature, scope and importance of this role. Why? I think there is a
simple answer to this. The evidence is not local, immediately derived from the day-to-
day teaching and learning going on in a specific school. Principals, teachers, parents,
want to hear local success, local improvement; they want to know how their students in
18
particular are benefiting, not how others are doing. Yesterday (June 14th), the US
Senate approved the first major overhaul of the country's education policy in 35 years.
The Bill calls for annual testing of students in reading and methematics, and requires
each school to demonstrate progress in eliminating academic achievement gaps. Failing
schools will receive aid to improve, but will face the loss of funds and other penalties if
they fail to make adequate progress. If a school does not make enough progress after
two years, it must allow students to transfer to other public schools. Schools with a
continuing record of failing may also be required to replace staff or restructure.
However we might react to this approach, it clearly shows that local outcomes will
matter; local improvements will be monitored, watched, listened to, and it highlights the
importance of teacher-librarians being engaged in evidence-based practice that shows
that their role in the learning goals of the school makes a difference. Oberg (2001)
makes this timely comment: "Many people, including educators, are suspicious of
research and researchers. Research conducted closer to home is more likely to be
considered and perhaps to be viewed as trustworthy".
EVIDENCE-BASED PRACTICE
Another teacher-librarian provided this longer reply to my challenges request:
"Information technology has provided the means for teacher librarians to present
themselves to the world in a way clearly valued to the world. We employ our
information management skills to manage information and knowledge across a whole
spectrum of formats. We are at the forefront of taking information technology from a
frightening spectre to place it within the context of education in a controlled and
meaningful way. We look at the curriculum needs, and work with teachers to plan their
courses and lessons, than set about finding the best information in whatever format,
including websites, and applying the most suitable information technology -- from
simple pathfinders on a website to highly complex webquests. We then teach teachers
and their classes how to use it. Schools and teachers are convinced that we know what
we are doing because we use every opportunity to be involved in curriculum planning
and to sell our skills to the school community: on councils, meetings, in-service,
assemblies, workshops. We use our websites to best effect for the school and to present
our knowledge and information management to the school and the broader community.
We monitor education and librarianship email discussion lists and channel relevant
emails to our colleagues. We publish good news about our libraries in every venue
possible. We send our library staff to as many professional development sessions as
possible."
There are some worthwhile initiatives here. The fundamental question needs to be
asked: what difference did this make to student learning? The focus here is on "doing",
and undoubtedly, some fine doing. What did this do in terms of students "being" and
"becoming"? For students, teachers and parents, what was the "experience"? What were
the differences, defined and expressed in ways that say: "hey, we want more of this!".
This is evidence-based practice.
Evidence-based practice focuses on two things. Firstly, it is the conscientious, explicit
and judicious use of current best evidence in making decisions about the performance of
your role. It is about using research evidence, coupled with your own professionsl
expertise and reasoning to implement learning interventions that are effective. Without
current best evidence, practice runs the risk of not only being out of date, but detracts
from the real purpose, to the detriment of learners. Secondly, evidence-based practice is
about ensuring that your daily efforst put some focus on effectiveness evaluation that
gathers meaningful and systematic evidence on dimensions of teaching and learning that
matter to the school and its support community, evidences that clearly convey that
learning outcomes are continuing to improve. Some may claim that evidence-based
practice is impossible to practice, given the seemingly limited time for keeping abreast,
let alone implementing strategies, or that it is only possible to be done by those in ivory
towers. My view is that evidence-based practice is fundamental to future survival.
Unless teacher-librarians engage in carefully planned evidence-based practice, I see the
continuing erosion of the role. It is about action, not position; it is about evidence, not
advocacy, and at the heart of this is inquiry-based learning for knowledge construction.
THE RESEARCH EVIDENCE
There is a considerable body of evidence already existing that provides direction in
terms of where the evidence-based focus of a school might lie. This research evidence is
well documented in substantive reviews undertaken over a number of years, for
example, by Didier (1984), Haycock (1992, 1994), Loertscher and Woolls (1999),
Oberg (2001), as well as many individual and large-scale research studies, such as
Kuhlthau's research on inquiry-based learning and the Information Search Process
(1993, 1994, 1999), and the Colorado Studies by Lance and colleagues (1992, 1999,
2000, 2001). It is imperative that teacher-librarians continue to engage actively with this
20
literature, and use it as a way of determining how each individual school might establish
its library program, identify learning needs, and chart its own evidence.
As I examine this literature, I see at least 8 important generalizations about the
relationship of school libraries to learning, each underpinned by specific research-based
evidence. These are:
A shared educational philosophy centering on inquiry learning provides an
appropriate and common climate for engaging teacher-librarians and school staff
in collaborative, integrated learning opportunities. A "shared philosophy of
learning" (Kuhlthau, 1993) underpins a shared vision for the learning outcomes,
and a commitment to a shared collaborative process.
A process approach focusing on the systematic and explicit development of
students' abilities to connect with, and utilize information to contruct personal
understanding results in improved performance in terms of personal mastery of
content.
The systematic and explicit development of students' abilities to connect with,
interact with, snd utilize information to construct personal understanding results
in more positive attitudes to learning, increased active engagement in the
learning environment, and more positive perceptions of themselves as active,
constructive learners. Kuhlthau has in particular studied attitudes and feelings of
certainty and confidence in the search process, and demonstrates how feelings of
uncertainty and poor self-concept can change positively through engagement in
active inquiry-centered learning.
The development of student competence is most effective when it is integrated
into flexibly delivered classroom instruction at the point of need.
Active reading programs foster higher levels of reading, comprehension,
vocabulary development and language skills.
There are benefits to students when school and public libraries communicate and
co-operate more effectively. Evidence suggests that students who are active
school library users are more likely to have more positive attitudes to public
libraries and using those libraries.
Successful school library programs are ones that set clear expectations and
manageable objectives, establish realistic time lines, and gather meaningful and
systematic feedback from students and teachers on the impacts of the programs.
School leaders tend to be more supportive when they can see the library actively
engaged in the teaching and learning process, and when they can articulate
specific impacts of this engagement. Such evidence to them demonstrates
people-centered, learning-cerntered empowerment.
We should be greatly encouraged by such findings, but it is not good enough to simply
tout these findings particularly in the context of shoring up image, position, role, power,
or status, or a clarion call for more funding for teachnology or resources. I believe
central to our role is the major task of developing our own school evidence that supports
these findings -- building the local case in the context of more global findings, as well
as identifying specific local learning dilemmas, and exploring how the school library
program might contribute to their solution.
SOME OPPORTUNITIES FOR EVIDENCE-BASED PRACTICE
One key area that teacher-librarians might focus on relates to students' engagement with
information technology. There are many important learning dilemmas emerging from available
research evidence, and these might form the centre of carefully planned, evidence-based
practice. The Table below highlights some learning dilemmas faced by students when engaging
with the World Wide Web. I have analyzed this literature from an information literacy
perspective, where information literacy is conceptualized as centering on people connecting
with information, interacting with information and utilizing information as part of the learning
process for knowledge construction. The research, primarily American, provides insights into
the cognitions, behaviors and emotions that are commonly experienced during the process of
interacting with electronic information. This research, in contrast to the commonly held view
that young people are gurus in this vast digital world, suggests that the intuitiveness, ease,
certainty, and success as input and outcomes attributes of searching the World Wide Web are
highly questionable, and highlights significant learning dilemmas in this arena.
INFORMATION
LITERACY
DIMENSION
RESEARCH FINDINGS
Connecting with
information
Atkin (1998); Watson (1999); high levels of information
overload; inability to manage and reduce large volumes of
information;
Bilal & Watson (1998); McNicholas & Todd (1996); Todd
22
(2000): failure to retrieve documents based on aboutness;
formulating ineffective search queries; failure to utilize Boolean
operators
Kuhlthau (1991); McNicholas & Todd (1996); Watson (1999):
considerable insecurity and uncertainty when searching;
McNicholas & Todd (1996); Kafai & Bates (1997); problems
with working with search engines;
Hertzberg & Rudner (1997); Nims & Rich (1998); tendency to
conduct simple searches, crafting poor searches; considerable
guessing of appropriate terms;
Nims & Rich (1998): high expectation of the technology's ability
to make up for poor searching techniques
Fidel (1999): examine only first screens of most sites
Schacter, Hung & Dorr (1998): preferred browsing techniques to
systematic, andlytic-based strategies;
Hirsch (1999, 1997): motivation for searching decreases when
site load time is slow, and especially in relation to graphics --
technical implications
Interacting with
information
Atkin (1998): coping strategies -- filtering, simplification, errors,
delegating; feelings of confusion and frustration;
Bilal & Watson (1998); Hirsch (1999): not thinking critically
and evaluatively in searching; limited use of thesaurus
Hertzberg & Rudner (1997): typical user only performs 2 or 3
inquiries per search; very small number of citations examined (5-
6); abort searches quickly;
McNicholas & Todd (1996); Schacter, Hung & Dorr (1998);
Hirsch (1999): inability to judge quality of information
Watson (1999): inability to question the accuracy of Web
information
McNicholas & Todd (1996); Wallace & Kuperman (1997);
Hirsch (1999): not able to judge relevance of information;
Fidel (1999): often inappropriately favoring visual cues;
minimalist behaviour -- made quick decisions at all stages of
search process; looked at pictures rather than textual information
as signs of relevance; use of "landmarks" rather than in-depth
critical analysis of sites to judge relevance and quality
Utilising
information
McNicholas & Todd (1996): project management issues of time,
workload management, meeting deadlines
Hertzberg & Rudner (1997): median amount of time spent in
searching was 5-6 minutes; willing to construct answer on
limited information; users satisfied with any somewhat-relevant
hit
McNicholas & Todd (1996): tendency to plagiarize
As can be seen from the above analysis, students are experiencing a substantial range of
learning dilemmas associated with the World Wide Web. Any one of these learning
dilemmas provides a rich opportunity for teacher-librarians to intervene, and through
collaborative, inquiry-centered approaches, demonstrate that their practice makes a real
difference to student learning. This does not imply that information technology alone
provides the opportunities; opportunities exist with all facets of the library's information
literacy, reading, and literature programs. What is important is that the learning needs
are identified, instructional strategies developed, and considerations given to how this
will be evaluated. This is evidence-based practice. It might be in the form of statistics,
or stories, or documented case studies, or analyses of reflective student interviews or
feedback processes. It does not need to be complicated, but manageable, and clear.
Oberg (2001) identifies a range of evidence-based practices. In this paper, she asks:
How can we show that school libraries are making a difference in student learning? She
explores key approaches, some of which have already been touched on here. They are:
Using research findings from the school library field; as indicated, these
highlight an extensive range of learning dilemmas that have a clear information
literacy focus.
Analysing the results of national, state or provincial testing programs: these
provide opportunities to see what key learning needs are, and how the library
can intervene to improve these. Often such results are accompanied by reports
on the local school, and sometimes these make explicit suggestions relating to
critical thinking skills, reading abilities, transfer of knowledge to new situations,
24
ability to interpret information, ability to structure and organise information.
These are opportunities begging the library program to intervene.
Using locally available library and test data: the school library's automated
system can provide data about circulation of library materials; these data can be
correlated with learning programs, test scores, assignment results to see if there
are patterns that indicate that using the library makes a difference. For example,
it might show that the class that has the highest circulation, or the class where
collaborative inquiry learning processes have been implemented have scored
higher on reading comprehension or content mastery.
Carrying out action research or teacher-researcher projects: at the heart of this
is an identified learning problem, and developing a cycle of collaborative
planning, acting, evaluating and reflecting to address it. The problem might be
low motivation for reading, plagiarism, weaknesses in skills of analysis and
synthesis, or it might relate to World Wide Web issues, such as issues centring
on the evaluation of web information. I want to commend to you the 1996
Volume 3 Issue 2 of School Libraries Worldwide, which documented a range of
perspectives and strategies on action research. Action research projects provide
real, creative, and collaborative opportunities for teacher-librarians to initiate
and document learning improvements. I want to commend to you the
forthcoming book
Using statistical data that is available or easily obtained: this approach might
include census data or educational system data, so that a specific school situation
might be compared to regional or state or national levels, and opportunities
identified for the school library program to intervene.
PRINCIPLES OF LEARNING
At the heart of evidence-based practice, and driving this practice, are 10 principles of learning.
I have been greatly influenced in my thinking by a paper called "Powerful Partnerships: Shared
Learning" (1999), developed by the American Association for Higher Education and other
associations, which articulates these principles of learning as a basis for collaborative learning
where students, teachers and community are all stakeholders. I will briefly outline these.
These principles form an exciting basis from which a library program can be derived; they
define the functions and roles of the library team working transformatively for knowledge
construction; they become the basis of the criteria for the selection of resources; they shape
the allocation of physical space in thelibrary; they are the basis of developing school-wide
ownership of the library program. In addition, they become the marketing framework of the
library, and are the basis for demonstating the evidence of the power of the library. Each of
these learning principles forms a basis around which evidence might be collected to show the
power of the library program.
LEARNING PRINCIPLE
WORKING FOR KNOWLEDGE
CONSTRUCTION:
TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP
1. Learning is an active search for
meaning by the learner: it is about
constructing knowledge rather than
passively receiving it; involving
learners directly in discovery of
knowledge; enabling them to
transform prior knowledge and
experience, and to take
responsibility for learning
An inquiry-based learning approach is the central
philosophy and practice of the school -- from it
stems the information search process and the
range of teaching-learning initiatives which
focus on the development of the intellectual
scaffolds for engaging with and using
information for knowledge construction.
Inquiry based learning, not information literacy
or information skills, is the educative platform.
Outcomes articulated in terms of learning gains,
with evidence, becomes the strongest argument
for library support
2. Learning is about making and
maintaining connections: linking
concepts, ideas, meaning; linking
mind and environment; linking self
and others; linking deliberation and
action.
Need to situate information literacy advocacy
and initiatives within an empowerment model
towards knowledge construction, rather than
conveying a deficiency notion -- ie students are
somehow deficient because they do not have
these skills.
Ensuring instruction links needs to experience.
Giving learners responsibility for solving
problems and resolving conflicts.
Creating a physical and virtual environment that
is an invitation to connect, to get to know, to
know more.
Making sure my instruction makes explicit the
26
relationships of need to the curriculum.
Ensuring that I personalize interventions
appropriate to learners' circumstances and needs.
Gathering evidence on which to base learning
initiatives and decisions.
3. Learning is developmental: a
cumulative process involving whole
person. Intellectual growth is
gradual: advancement,
consolidation, reinforcement;
fostering an integrated sense of
identity.
Planning for the progessive, developmental
nature of each learning experience: instruction
should be additive and cumulative -> greater
richness, complexity.
Tracking student development of competence
(gathering the evidence).
Providing opportunities for trialing, testing,
reviewing, as well as opportunities for needs
assessment, discussion, reflection.
Systematic approaches to gathering evidence.
4. Learning is both individual and
social: Responsive to students'
personal histories and common
cultures; opportunities for co-
operative learning; cultivating and
inclusive community; valuing
human differences.
This might mean:
Opportunities for peer tutoring and learning from
each other; enable students from different
cultural backgrounds to experience each other's
traditions -- choice of resources;
creative approaches responsive to different
learning styles and development of self-learning
packages to cater for different learning styles;
creating learning zones in the library, depending
on social or individual needs;
librarians daring to have fun with their students
-- in the library!
using school, home and community as resources
for collaborative learning.
5. Learning is strongly affected by
educational climate in which it
takes place: value academic and
Ensuring that the library plays a key role in
building a strong sense of community.
Library conveys a clear sense that it values
personal success and intellectual
inquiry; involve all constituents in
contributing to effective student
learning feeling connected, cared for
and trusted.
intellectual inquiry and knowledge construction.
Library rules and regulations invite, rather than
forbid.
Learning environment in which students feel
connected, cared for, trusted -- and where they
do not suffer from LH ("Loans Harrassment") or
PFS ("Petty Fines Syndrome")
Clearly thinking about what you convey that is
important to your students by your attitudes,
values, and in-house behaviors.
Celebrate knowledge successes.
6. Learning requires feedback,
practice, and use:
Feedback -> sustained learning
Practice -> nourishing learning
Opportunities to use -> meaningful
learning
Instructional design encourages goal setting, and
opportunities for students to chart and measure
their learning gain.
Grab every opportunity to provide information
on their progress towards meeting learning goals.
Engage in a recurring process of needs analysis
and improvement.
Be prepared to take risk and learn from your own
mistakes.
Encourage development of learners as
constructive critics.
Ensure demands for behavior modification and
rules compliances are not your primary
feedback, rather your feedback is the feedback of
learning-partners.
7. Much learning takes place
informally and incidentally:
Activities beyond the classroom
enrich formal learning experiences;
Mentoring relationships beyond the
classroom;
Creative and imaginative approaches to
instruction -- not necessarily the group one-size-
fits-all approach.
Rethink distributuion of responsibilities.
Engage school staff as Information Literacy
support staff.
28
Learning in a variety of settings and
circumstances.
Identify strategies that ensure the library is a
learning portal to information and enrichment.
Develop pathways to extension and enrichment
on curriculum topics.
Provide a virtual or real space that links students
with peers, staff, community mentors.
Create a physical environment that is an open
invitation for mystery, intrigue, discovery --
where accidental discovery is highly likely: ie an
invitation to dance the "knowledge dance".
Use of volunteers and activities.
Provide on-line help points: quick-fix.
Learning is grounded in particular
contexts and individual
experiences:
Requires effort to transfer specific
knowledge and skills to new
circumstances;
Grounded nature of learning:
encounter alternative perspectives
and other realities
Provide opportunities to tailor education to
individual rather than mass-produced delivery.
Explore how you can use educational
technologies as tool for collaborative learning.
Make the library a hotbed of learning activism, a
space where they can encounter alternative
perspectives and other realities, challenge
conventional views, test application of new
knowledge, engage in dialogue with people of
disparate perspectives and backgrounds -- in an
environment of safety and respect.
Focus on the development of the experience, and
reflection on the experience.
Provide students with opportunities to share their
experiences with others that have shaped their
identities and learning.
Understand factors which affect student
cognition.
Curriculum co-ordination to contextualize
learning experience.
9. Learning involves ability of
individuals to monitor own
learning:
Understand how knowledge is
acquired;
Know how to work with capacities
and limitations; Awareness of own
ways of knowing; Ability to monitor
own learning.
Provide opportunities and processes to help
students understand their strengths and
weaknesses in learning.
Help students observe and record their own
progress in learning.
Show students how to think about their learning
and learning processes in a reflective way.
10. Learning is enhanced by
taking place in the context of
compelling situations:
Provides challenge and opportunity.
Stimulates brain to conceptualize,
contemplate and reflect.
Amplifies the learning process.
Students learn more when asked to tackle
complex and compelling problems that invite
them to develop an array of workable and
innovative solutions.
Students tend to engage more when they produce
work to be shared with multiple audiences.
Ensure instruction provides opportunities for
active application of skills and abilities.
Effective instruction takes place when students
are placed in settings where they can draw on
past knowledge and competencies.
CONCLUSION
On the basis of what I have said, and in summary, I would like to suggest the following
as a model of teacher-librarians creating an information-knowledge environment for
learning, one that focuses on information connectivity and empowerment for knowledge
construction and the development of meaning and understanding. At its heart is an
educational philosophy and practice centering on inquiry learning, and which drives the
transformative actions and evidence-based practices centering on knowledge
construction and meaning making. This focus underpins the nature and scope of
collaborations to achieve learning outcomes, and in the context of the educational role
of the teacher-librarians, is likely to give emphasis to the information search process and
enabling students to connect with, interact with and utilize information in the process of
knowledge construction. This shapes and guides the selection of resources amd how
30
information technology is utilized across the school. And this focus underpins the nature
of the management role of the information-knowledge environment and its
infrastructure to create a knowledge sharing community.
At the heart of a school library empowering learning are teacher-librarians and
educators whose philosophy and actions empower learners to connect with, interact with
and utilize information to develop their own understanding, to construct their own
meaning, and who have the evidence to demonstrate this. It is about adding value and
making a difference to people. Systems, structures, buildings provide infrastructure,
frameworks, contexts, locations, and linkages are important, but they in themselves do
not empower. It is people who empower, and people who are empowered.
Senge (1990) claims that empowerment is one of four components that are central to
transformational leadership. These components are "the Four Es" -- Envisioning,
Energizing, Empathizing, and Empowering. Caldwell & Spinks (1992) argue that
transformational leadership is about leadership that transforms rather than simply
maintains the status quo; it is about leadership that brings about meaningful and
purposeful change; it is about leadership grounded in actions and evidence that create
the desired reality. Transformational leadership is about creating and enabling preferred
futures, and this is achieved through people who are empowered to take evidence-based
action. It is commitment to making a difference through action. It involves envisioning,
energizing, emphazing, and empowering. Central to this is a shared inquiry centered
philosophy and process of learning.
This calls for conceptualizing the role of the teacher-librarian as partner-leader. Partner-
leaders demonstrate:
Purposeful leadership: have a clear vuision of desired learning outcomes for the
school;
Strategic leadership: have a clear blueprint for translating learning-centred
vision into evidence-based actions;
Collaborative and creative leadership: are able to creatively combine
capabilities, and mutually reinforce capabilities, to deliver real value to the
school community;
Renewable leadership: are able to be highly flexible and adaptive, continuously
learning, changing and innovating; and
Sustainable leadership: being able to identify and celebrate achievements,
outcomes, and impacts -- showing, through evidence, the role of the teacher-
librarian is the most prized role in the school.
A personal philosophy of mine is "You begin the road by walking it". Today I present to
you the road, the way ahead, and I challenge you to walk it.
REFERENCES
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students. School Library Media Quarterly Online. 1, 1998.
BILAL, D. & WATSON, J. Children's paperless projects: Inspiring research via the
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http://www.ifla.org/IV/ifla64/009-131e.htm
BILAL, D. Children's use of Yahoologans! Web Search Engine: 1. Cognitive, physical
and affective behaviors on fact-based search tasks. Journal of the American Society for
Information Science. 51(7), 2000. 646-665.
CALDWELL, B., and SPINKS, J. Leading the self-managing school. London: Farmer,
1992.
DIDIER, E. Research on the impact of school library media programs on student
achievement: implications for school library media professionals. In S. Aaron and P.R.
Scales (Eds), School Library Media Annual 1984 (pp.343-361). Note: Also published in
1985 in School Library Media Quarterly, 14(1), 1984, 33-36.
FIDEL, R. et al. A visit to the information mall: Web searching behavior of high school
students. Journal of the American Society for Information Science. 50(1), 1999, 24-37.
Haycock, K. What works: Research about teaching and learning through the school's
library resource center. Vancouver: Rockland Press, 1992.
HAYCOCK, K. Research in teacher-librarianship and the institutionalization of change.
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SCHOOL LIBRARY MEDIA ACTIVITIES MONTHLY/VOLUME XXIV, NUMBER 8/APRIL 2008
Reframing the Library Media Specialist as a Learning Specialist
BY ALLISON ZMUDA AND VIOLET H. HARADA
Allison G. Zmuda is an education consultant who has worked with schools throughout the United States and Canada. Email:
zmuda@competentclassroom.com
Violet H. Harada is a professor in the University of Hawaii"s Library and Information Science Program. Email: vharada@hawaii.edu
Preparing students to meet the challenges of the 21st century has solidified the need for information literacy and technology as
meaningful components of curriculum designs and instructional practices. The survey report Partnership for 21st Century Skills
states that, when polled, voters rank the following areas as high priorities for schools (2007):
computer and technology skills
critical thinking and problem solving skills
ethics and social responsibility
written and oral communications
teamwork and collaboration
lifelong learning and self-direction
leadership
creativity and innovation
media literacy
global awareness
In today's schools, a host of learning specialists joins classroom teachers in working with students. These specialists have no
formal classroom assignments, but they provide instruction for students, and, frequently, training for teachers. They range from
library media specialists and reading resource teachers to technology coordinators and math coaches. As learning specialists,
library media specialists, because of their deep content expertise about the nature of inquiry and the construction of knowledge,
are uniquely suited to develop 21st-century student learning skills. What would it look like if learners could determine their
information needs, solve problems, read for pleasure, effectively and ethically use information and ideas, debate merits of a point
of view, and create quality written and oral communications?
Such clarification of what the learners must do to achieve mission goals defines for all staff what good business looks like in the
library media center. Good business is work (instructional activities and assessments) that develops student learning around the
goals that are most important (again as defined by the mission). The recently published Standards for the 21st-Century Learner
requires students to construct knowledge through the exploration and analysis of ideas, information, and point of view, and to
communicate their learning through authentic, transfer-oriented tasks (AASL 2007). In his research of student learning in Ohio,
Ross Todd found strong evidence that:
Students unequivocally recognize that when school librarians have a clearly defined role as an information literacy specialist,
their opportunities for learning are enhanced. This role is a very active, learning-centered role where school librarians actively
contribute their expertise to that of the classroom teachers to enable students to transform information into personal knowledge
(Todd, 2006).
Bad business is work that is irrelevant, tangential, or counter-productive. These activities or
assessments require students to collect information or resources in the library media center
and then leave. The superficiality of this acquisition is doomed to fail. Students will not
become wiser, more skillful, or more strategic; they will not become more prolific or powerful
as communicators; they will not become more mindful of the validity of alternate points of
view or the persuasive use of data. Bad business takes up precious resources of the library
media specialist because of the time it takes to prepare and organize the resources as well as
the orchestration and oversight of the experience. Major features of bad and good business
practices are delineated in Table 1.
Table 1. Bad and Good Business Practices for Library Media Specialists
Moving away from bad business where... Moving toward good business where...
Success is defined by the number of staff who
collaborate with the library media specialist.
Success is defined by the quality of the work completed in the library media center.
Success is defined by doing whatever is asked
in order to be recognized as valuable or
important.
Success is defined by investing resources only in those tasks that are central to the library
mission.
Success is defined by helping students find what
they are looking for.
Success is defined by engaging students in the construction of deep knowledge through the
exploration of ideas and information, conducting of investigations, and communication and
evaluation of findings.
Success is defined by the number of
instructional sessions held in the library media
center.
Success is defined by the student learning that resulted from completion of work centered on
subject area and information literacy goals.
There is no upside to library media specialists collaborating with classroom teachers on tasks that are bad business. If library
media specialists participate in the design and orchestration of these types of tasks, even though they know that it is "bad
business," they become accomplices in the assignment of yet another task that dilutes inquiry to the level of answering the
questions on a worksheet, reduces deep reading to counting the number of pages read, and prostitutes construction of
knowledge to a cut-and-paste exercise. The library media specialist must insist that every learning experience in the library-
classroom aligns with the learning goals of both the classroom teacher’s curriculum and the library media curriculum. The key to
depersonalizing this transformation of "bad business" to "good business" comes from the continued insistence that this isn’t
about what the teacher or library media specialist prefers, but what the learner requires. The mission statement and AASL
Standards for the 21st-Century Learner should be prominently featured in all aspects of the learning environment—physically
hung on the walls, judiciously placed in curriculum binders and planning materials, and prominently displayed on the school and
library media websites. The library media specialist also should use the learning goals as a touchstone in every conversation with
staff. Such relentless consistency both models and reinforces to staff that the focus on the goals of learning is a "disciplined
mindset" that ensures that what students are asked to do on a daily basis is challenging and worthy of the attempt.
How the 21st-Century Mission Affects the Job Description of the Library Media Specialist
In their upcoming book, Librarians as Learning Specialists: Meeting the Learning Imperative for the 21st Century, Zmuda and
Harada contend that library media specialists must refocus their job descriptions and their
daily practice so that they target direct contributions to improve the achievement of all
learners on defined curricular goals. The job description of a library media specialist
predictably includes key components that appear in those of many other learning specialists
employed in schools. A comparative analysis of reading, technology, mathematics and librarian
job descriptions is shown in Table 2.
Table 2. What Learning Specialists Do
Assessment and Instruction (with
students)
Curriculum, Assessment, and Instruction
(with staff)
Program Development, Leadership, and
Management
Provide instruction for
individuals or small groups of
students. Such instruction tends to be
supplemental to that provided by the
classroom teachers.
Work on short-term basis
with targeted students, then provide
strategies/processes for classroom
teachers to follow.
Curriculum
Serve on curriculum committees.
Assessment
Assist in the development of
assessment instruments (retelling protocols
and running records) and selection of
assessment instruments.
Assist in interpretation of test
Development and Leadership
Provide professional development for
teachers as part of the school staff development
program; also teach classes that teachers can take for
credit. Work with teachers in planning and conducting
professional development in the schools.
Work closely with the principal in setting a
schedule and making decisions about professional
36
Provide instruction, using
research-supported programs.
results with teachers and parents.
Share results of assessments with
public.
Instruction
Discuss and share ideas with
teachers about help for struggling students,
and materials and ideas that enhance
performance.
Hold collaborative planning
sessions to develop lessons and strategies for
working with students. These are held either
on a systematic, regular basis, as needed, or
"on the fly."
Demonstrate strategies for
teachers, observe, and provide feedback.
Participate in observations
(teachers observing each other) for
professional growth.
Provide a "friendly ear" for
teachers who want to talk about issues,
problems, or ideas that they have about
instruction and assessment for their students.
development.
Serve as mentor to new teachers by
modeling, providing feedback, and coaching.
Work with special educators and serve on
instructional support or pupil personnel teams.
Lead study groups (read a professional
book or article and then discuss).
Serve as a resource to allied professionals,
parents, other community members, volunteers, and
tutors.
Serve as a resource for parents
(communicate with parents, providing and accessing
information); conduct workshops on how they can work
with their children; provide workshops for parents of
preschool students.
Work with other school specialists.
Work with volunteers (provide training
sessions, coordinate schedules, recruit).
Management
Maintain center or location for various
materials.
Look for and assist in the selection of new
materials (including development of criteria for
determining quality of those materials); assist in the
piloting of new materials.
Coordinate program schedules.
While the parallels are evident in theory, will this "reframing" resonate with library media specialists? The authors tested out the
viability of the concept through countless conversations with library media specialists and their supervisors throughout the
United States. In one such exploratory conversation at a state-level conference, Zmuda asked over 100 library media specialists
to participate in a KWL activity on their ideas, concerns, and insights about being viewed as a learning specialist. This
discussion is summarized in Table 3.
Table 3. Insights and Issues of Library Media Specialists as Learning Specialists
K
What do we know a learning
specialist to be?
W
What are we curious or concerned
about if the library media specialist
is reframed as a learning specialist?
L
What have we learned so far about what
reframing the library media specialist as a
learning specialist will require?
Someone who believes that all
students can be successful learners.
Someone who is up on the
latest trends in teaching and learning.
Someone who has work
experience in both the classroom and the
library media center.
Someone who uses
assessment data to determine student
strength and weaknesses to inform future
instruction.
Someone who can diagnose
learning problems and design ways to
address them.
Someone with deep content
expertise about how people learn.
Someone who works with staff
and students.
Someone who constantly
reflects on his/her own practice and how
How do we articulate our role
in an effective way so the message is
heard?
How do we use professional
learning communities to facilitate work?
How much do we really know
about how different types of learners
learn in the library media center?
How can we earn respect of
staff and the larger system as a learning
specialist?
How does the learning
specialist fit into the hierarchy of the
school or district organization?
Who has the authority to
make decisions about what instruction will
look like in the library media center?
How do we increase the
number of teachers who want to
collaborate with us in the design,
Just because it isn"t happening in front of
us doesn"t mean it isn"t happening—the teacher"s
classroom is an extension of the work in the library
media center.
We will never be considered learning
specialists without collecting evidence of student
achievement in our classroom.
Because disengaged learners learn
nothing, we have a responsibility to "fix" instructional
designs that are low-level, information retrieval tasks.
A learning specialist, like any teacher-
leadership position, is an inherently precarious, messy
job because it lives somewhere between the
administrative ranks and the teaching ranks.
Without a clear job description (on paper
and in practice), it is impossible to know whether we
are doing the right things.
Staff think that we are what they see us do
—if they only watch us organize, sort, manage, and
support, they will not see us as learning specialists.
to improve.
Someone who is able to break
things down into small, manageable
pieces.
Someone who is fluent with
the curriculum goals across grade levels
and subject areas.
Someone who can coach
performance (from staff and students)
through the design of challenging and
motivating tasks.
Someone who seeks out new
learning experiences, tools, and resources
because of what the learners need.
implementation, and evaluation of
learning?
How do we hone our
leadership skills so that we can improve
the effectiveness of our collaborative work
with staff?
How do we elevate the quality
of instructional and assessment practices
in the school/district?
Who are the other learning
specialists in the school? What
relationship do we have with one another?
What relationship should we have?
How do we facilitate learning
while running the library media center?
Note: Specific contributions to the KWL chart were made by audience participants at a breakout session facilitated by Allison Zmuda on
November 15, 2007, including but not limited to the reflections of: Debra Kay Logan, Hilda Weisburg, Dee Giordan, Linda Piscione, Pat
Slemmer, Diane Drayer Beler, Pat VanEs, Christine Lopey, and Dawn Henderson.
How This Affects the Design, Implementation, and Analysis of Student Learning
Instructional designs are always in a state of flux. While there are core practices, strategies, and resources that constitute the
basis of the learning experiences, teachers and library media specialists must constantly monitor and adjust their work in light of
their increased knowledge of the nature of their learners and the learning. This design cycle of construction, analysis, and
adjustment is grounded in the essential question: How do I know if what I did today worked? For an instructional design to "work,"
a teacher or library media specialist must investigate:
Did the instructional experience(s) cause the desired learning for every learner?
What evidence do I have to that effect?
Will the learning likely transfer to future learning experiences?
Ross Todd stated in an interview in 2006:
In the current educational climate there is a very clear mandate for a shift from putting our emphasis on finding and accessing to
knowledge building. It"s where education is going. We are talking about standards-based education. We are talking about
accountability. We are talking about evidence of achievements. There is incredible emphasis on meeting curriculum standards,
knowledge-based outcomes. Our instructional interventions need to put a richer emphasis on those knowledge-based outcomes.
How do we pedagogically intervene in the information experience of a child, to enable them to go beyond the amassing of facts
to the interrogation of those facts and to develop deep knowledge? That"s a very complex task (Kenney 2006).
What makes this inquiry even more complex is the inevitable reality that what "works" for one student does not work for all
students. Staff must work to troubleshoot inevitable learning problems so that students have additional opportunities to improve
performance through highly focused remediation, extension, and enrichment. Again, library media specialists as learning
specialists are uniquely situated to collaborate in this effort through their development and dissemination of resources,
curriculum leadership, and participation in professional learning communities. They also possess valuable skills in designing and
analyzing instructional activities and assessments tasks, modeling of processes and "best practices," and coaching of improved
staff and student performance.
How This Affects Our Short-Term and Long-Term Efforts
A mission-centered mindset requires a constant analysis of whether the daily practices of the library media specialist are having
the desired effects on student achievement. Such analysis will inevitably uncover areas of "misalignment" where significant
resources are expended to support the development of work and acquisition of materials that are tangential to established
curricular goals. This "misalignment" plagues not only the work of the library media specialist but of all educators. In their
seminal work on schooling and leadership, Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe state:
One failure of conventional schooling and of school reform in general relates to the deeply held belief that if we just get good
people trying hard to do good things, it will all work out. The truth is otherwise: excellence in leadership as well as in teaching is a
function of constant and deliberate self-correction, mindful of clear and agreed-upon goals while unflinchingly seeking out
feedback and thus dealing with the brutal facts of reality. The school reforms of the past twenty-five years continue—and
continue to be needed—because many schools are far from facing the information that cannot be ignored. That information is of
two kinds: feedback about how deeply and effectively students are learning and are engaged, and feedback suggesting that
many time-honored actions and policies in school are dysfunctional—counter to mission (2007, 179).
Library media specialists who reframe themselves as learning specialists will find the recognition, respect, and collaboration they
seek when they put an end to "bad business" practices that divert focus from the mission. This charge will not be easy. It will be
fraught with difficult conversations, political strategizing, repeated modeling, relentless data collection and analysis, and candid
feedback. But the rewards of good business will be spectacular: the sound of students engaged in the construction of knowledge
38
and the communication of thinking, the opportunity to see that the investment of resources positively affects student
performance on higher-order tasks and staff teaching practices, and the sense of satisfaction that the library media center is the
most information-rich, inquiry-rich, resource-rich, pedagogically-rich classroom in the building.
References
American Association of School Librarians. Standards for the 21st-Century Learner. http://www.ala.org/aasl/standards (accessed
November 18, 2007).
Kenney, Brian. "Rutgers" Ross Todd"s Quest to Renew School Libraries."
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6320013.html (accessed November 15, 2007).
Partnership for 21st Century Skills. "Beyond the Three Rs: Voter Attitudes toward 21st Century Skills."
http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/documents/p21_pollreport_2pg.pdf (accessed November 15, 2007).
Todd, Ross. "It"s All about Getting A"s." http://www.cilip.org.uk/publications/updatemagazine/archive/archive2006/january/
toddjan06.htm (accessed November 15, 2007).
Wiggins, Grant, and Jay McTighe. Schooling by Design. Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 2007.
Zmuda, Allison, and Violet H. Harada. Librarians as Learning Specialists: Meeting the Learning Imperative for the 21st Century.
Libraries Unlimited, 2008.
http://www.schoollibrarymonthly.com/articles/Zmuda&Harada2008v24nn8p42.html
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