ELT504 Assignment 2 Reflection

Coming in to this course I was able to share my prior knowledge of change management and leadership in module 1 which I learnt through teaching this area to VCE business management students. I think my knowledge has grown from an understanding of organisational leadership in profit driven businesses to include a school context of leadership and the teacher librarian.

I think for a long time I have been trying to avoid the fact that what I thought a librarian was is closer to the position description of a library technician (Australian Library and Information Association, 2014). The teacher librarian is a manager and leader. This fact was reiterated to me in my recent placement which was undertaken concurrently with this subject in a library which was staffed by two people. The librarian spent much of her time in her office preparing policy documents, budgets and other reports. The part-time library technician was the front of house staff member. In the assignment 1 blog post I mentioned a teacher librarian who inspired me in how they interacted with staff and students to highlight the importance of the library in learning. However, I did not see the managerial side of this person and how much work went on behind the scenes compared to the perspective I had during my placement. I think this teacher librarian would have been lost without a solid team behind them to take on the day to day running of the library. In a small school situation, with only one or two library staff, it would be very hard to implement change without major interruptions to library service. How do you take the time to write a new policy or plan a new teaching programme when you have a library to run? The end result is a library which has the appearance of being unmanned if you take the time out from the library or dated, irrelevant and unorganised if you don’t.

This problem highlights the need for team work and a leader who is able to influence a group to achieve goals. The leader needs to have the emotional intelligence and communication skills to manage a group of individuals. 

Strategic planning for the future looks at what changes need to be made to the library to meet organisational goals and in this planning stage if under staffing is currently an issue propose alternate solutions. When undertaking a task like writing a strategic or a future proofing report such as this assignment the importance of team work is once again reiterated. Trying to identify ideas and still remain practical without the sounding board of a team is quite hard. The tasks in module 5 illustrated that across the industry there is confusion about the difference between mission and visions, and writing appropriate SMART goals in strategic planning documents (Locke & Latham, 2002). I think this is another area in which having a sounding board can add clarity.

Inspiration for the futures of libraries comes from libraries who are currently forging ahead with library innovation. While a school library generally does not have the large budget of a university or state library they are good benchmarks. The University of Melbourne explores the variety of functional spaces for recreation and learning. An exciting new library is the Library at the Dock which has been designed to incorporate games room, recording studio, a 3D printing lab as just a small section of technologies they are showcasing. There is potential for automation such as the Bookbot used by Hunt University, library freeing up librarians to develop multimedia classes and provide chat style reference services. 

I am excited about the future of libraries and the varied role teacher librarians will play. I think the notion of what a teacher librarian will dramatically change as we move away from the traditional image of a library. There will still be large aspects of the job focused on information management but there will also be greater emphasis on helping clients communicate ideas and create information instead of just finding information. If we are truly committed to our profession’s standard of enabling lifelong learners in 21st century citizens then our library practices and facilities need to reflect that (Australian Library and Information Association & Australian School Library Association, 2004). 

I believe leadership remains an area I need to work on personally. I have expressed my wavering thoughts on my own leadership throughout the course. In module 4, for example, my survey results indicated I had a competing style of leadership. I agree I am a very driven person, aiming for perfection in myself. However, most people probably view me as compromising or submissive in how I relate to others. Leadership is about being able to identify your weaknesses and building a team around you which can balance those weaknesses. I am someone who has specialist knowledge, I am an investigator, I am a creative problem solver and I am good at finding ideas and solutions. If I was developing a team to bring about change I would look for other specialists, evaluators, implementers and team workers to complement this (Belbin, 2012). 

References

Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) & Australian School Library Association (ASLA). (2004). Standards of professional excellence for teacher librarians. 

Australian Library and Information Association. (2014). Careers in libraries and information management. Retrieved May 24, 2014, from Australian Library and Information Association: https://www.alia.org.au/employment-and-careers/careers-libraries-and-information-management 

Belbin, M. (2012). Team roles at work. Hoboken: Taylor and Francis. 

Locke, E., & Latham, G. (2002). Building a practically useful theory of goal setting and task motivation: A 35- year odyssey. American Psychologist, 57(9), 705-717.

The Future of Libraries

Varied Learning Spaces

The University of Melbourne Libraries

Library Physical Environment & Automation

Hunt University Library

A library for the future

 The Library at the Dock, Melbourne Library Service

ETL504 Module 6

Teacher Librarian as Leader

Simon Sinek’s TED talk was quite an interesting way of looking at what makes people buy into a product, person or idea. I admit I felt a little disappointed in the reality of his message. No matter how good your product or service is if you cannot sell the ‘why’ of it, you will probably struggle. I am not an apple person, I don’t believe their products are better for my needs than any other company, but they do sell the ‘why’ which is why they have so many followers.

In the context of libraries if we cannot sell our ‘why’ the vision and purpose of the library and the teacher librarian then we will not be seen as critical to the future of schools. I think this means we have to openly communicate, to whoever will listen particularly those in leadership roles, our purpose not just what we do and how we do it.

 I think this is opposite to how I would want to be seen as a leader. Having to tell someone you are important does not make you important; I think it should be reflected in your actions rather than your words. Unfortunately there is not often time for principals and others to see what you are doing and hard work may go unappreciated. If you want to be that visible leader you need to head up councils and committees not just be on them as suggest by Barbara at the start of the module. 

ETL504: Module 5

Strategic Planning

Environmental Scanning: STEEP

The STEEP tactic introduced here is very similar to the acronym we use in VCE geography to analyse geographic factors in human activity and natural processes. SHEEPT: Social, Historic, Economic, Environmental, Political and Technological factors. In class students can use this to analyse images, newspaper articles and other texts. I am sure the STEEP or SHEEPT factors could be used as a classroom activity in younger years too it does not have to be just a strategic planning tool.

I find this quite hard to do when not currently working, so I will think about studying and being unemployed.
Social - There is a positive social attitude to furthering yourself and attaining a master degree. However there is also stigma to being unemployed and not supporting your family.
Technological - Having access to relatively high speed internet has led to the ability to take on a course via distance ed. Large amounts of screen time strains my eyes and makes me lazy.
Environmental - I print out a lot of the readings, so I don't have to be at the computer all day. This leads to a lot of paper waste.
Economic - Because I am not working full time we are on a very tight budget, I feel bad about that. No certainty this will even get me a job so the cost of the degree may be too high for the end outcome. The new suggestion we might have to start paying back our HELP debt once we hit minimum wage. (Sorry way too negative here).
Political - Wanting to raise the standards of teachers and teacher librarians means further study for some.

Mission and Vision

Example library mission and vision :

Mission

We strive to provide quality library and information services in the field of health sciences to the South West Healthcare network.

Vision

• Working within the framework of the organization's vision, Stan Carroll library is committed to:
• Providing staff of South West Healthcare, affiliated organisations, health science students and members of the public with appropriate information to support patient care, education and research.
• Providing a setting conducive to independent learning and research and expertise in educating users in accessing and using the resources.
• Forging effective partnerships with other health science and tertiary institutions for the benefit of library users.

Example school mission and vision :

• To prepare well-equipped children and young men and women for a fruitful life, enabling them to strive for academic excellence, high integrity, and strong character;
• To challenge young people to know Jesus Christ as Lord, to love others as themselves, and to grow in knowledge and skill, so they may serve the world through their character and leadership; and
• To present a living education that develops vigorous minds and bodies, and a self-disciplined spirit, integrated in a Christian view of life and the world.

I found the mission statements for a school and a library I have been associated with on their websites. I think the school mission is unique to them and says what they do, however they are quite long compared to the examples given in the m3planning videos and associated readings. The school did not have a vision statement and I think this is why the mission was so long, it was a mix of the two.

The library mission however, is quite succinct stating what they do and who for. The libraries vision statement was about the capabilities and qualities it has to meet the organisations vision. I don’t think they have gone far enough to inspire them towards change in their future. I think these sound more like specific mission statements. They are not quantitative or competitive in their vision statements. In the video ‘How to write a vision statement that inspires’ states that there are basically three types of vision statements those quantitative in measure ($), competitive in nature (out do the competitors) and superlative (#1, the best). I don’t think the two vision statements fit these any of these types.

I think that for both these organisations there is not a clear delineation between mission and vision.

Smart Goals

I had a look through the strategic goals of the library where I had my placement. They had quite a lot of goals and the way they broke them down and set them out made it clear that they were SMART goals. It was in the fleshing out of the goals into actions that made these into specific goals that were achievable. At the top of each page was the organisational goal, below this was a table with the following headings Action, Performance Measure, Person Responsible, Timeline, Outcome: progress and final report of business objectives.

Annotated strategic place of a P & C of a school.