Reflective Portfolio

Video Transcript

When I started this course many people asked why I was studying to be a librarian, isn’t the librarian a dying breed one even joked? In some respects that person was right, along with those who were nice enough to only think it. Librarians in the traditional sense are being seen less now days. Gone are the stern librarians who sat at their lofty desks scolding shhh! The idea of the traditional librarian was even immortalised by Lego as a minifigure complete with glasses, demure clothes and grumpy outlook (Lego, 2013). Another friend asked for my opinion after hearing I was studying a librarianship. “What do you think of our local library, isn’t it a pretty pointless place now that we have the internet?” After some thought he concluded that there was still a need for academic libraries, but much less of a need for public libraries. But the role of the librarian and the concept of what a library is and what it can do for its learning community is changing.

I started this course with a video introduction and I felt it would be a suitable way to finish. In this video survey of my learning we will look at the development of my understanding of the role of the teacher librarian in three major areas; collection development & management,  information literacy, and leadership.

This will then be followed with a consideration of the future of libraries and my place in them. What I have learnt about librarianship over the last two years tells me it is not a dead profession. So what have I been talking about over the past two years to make me feel this way? I made a word cloud from my blog to find out.

Collection Development & Maintenance

An important role of the teacher librarian, which I have come to know more about, is the development and maintenance of the collection. Learning in this area addresses Standard 1.4 knowledge of library and information management and Standard 2.3 library and information services management in the Standards of professional excellence for teacher librarians (Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) & Australian School Library Association (ASLA), 2004). Collection development covers three areas; access, accountability and the variety of resource offered.

Access

The initial shaping of my understanding in the area of collection development and maintenance came from ETL503 Resourcing the Curriculum. This looked at collecting and managing e-books and resources and the issues of access and licensing. Having not worked in a library my initial understanding was limited. The first assignment considered the selection and accession process that goes into resourcing the curriculum for a particular subject.

This subject introduced the need for selection criteria specific to e-resources and this idea was further developed in the website evaluation report task and supported by the production of the pathfinder in ETL501. A pathfinder is a digital ‘map’ of alternative information resources, offering a variety of media formats and sources (Thibault, 2006). It helps provide access to resources that have been specifically selected based on evaluation criteria.  The pathfinder developed for this subject addressed a learning need in grade 6 science; it was a practical item that I was able to use with my own class.  Having a dynamic resource I could show school leaders was also positive. It helped to promote what a teacher librarian can do to support the curriculum. Providing organised access to a wide yet relevant array of information resources is a vital role libraries play today, especially considering the masses of unfiltered information students come across on the internet. Even if I just continue on as a teacher, rather than a teacher librarian, I would want to implement pathfinders into my lessons.

In ETL505 Bibliographic Standards in Education we considered information organisation and descriptive cataloguing. This demonstrated our ability to organise and classify information in the assignments by identifying subject headings, Dewey classifications, and RDA descriptions. My understanding of the use of metadata was developed the most during my placement. During this time I was heavily involved in cataloguing using MARC21 protocols, RDA descriptions and Medical subject headings (MeSH). This is an area where I have learnt the most in the course and that I see as needing the most study in the future. There is quite a lot I do not know about using the MARC protocol. To be an information service leader by providing effective access to the collection I will need to continue my education and development in this area.

Ethical issues relating to censorship and intellectual freedom need to be considered when providing access to the collection. As information service leaders and teacher librarians we have a responsibility to act within the code of ethics relating to access and censorship (International Federation of Library Associations, 2012). Our actions are made transparent by written policy and procedure documents.

Accountability

The major task in ETL503 was to write a collection development policy, I had never written a policy document before undertaking this subject so this was a large learning curve. The collection development policy acts as a justification for the collection and decisions made in selection or de-selection of materials. Standard 2.3 states that an excellent teacher librarian ensures that the library’s policy and procedures implement the school’s mission  (ALIA & ASLA, 2004). The school I was writing the policy document for did not have a librarian or policy documents to refer to. As such an interview with the principal and examination of the schools mission statements were necessary to align the library priorities with the school’s unique mission.  My understanding of what needs to be included in a collection development came from the guidelines set out in A Manual for developing policies and procedures in Australian school library resource centres (ALIA & Schools and Victorian Catholic Teacher Librarians, 2007), Learning for the future (ASLA & ALIA, 2002), Resourcing for curriculum innovation (Wall & Ryan, 2010) & Providing more with less: Collection management for school libraries (Dillion, Henri, & McGregor, 2001).  These were great tools for someone who did not know where to start. During the placement I was able to see the direct links between the library’s collection policy and what existed on the shelf. During this time I was also able to suggest changes that could be made to the policy document to update it for the e-resources the library had recently started collecting. This helped to consolidate what I had learnt. By having a collection development policy there is a supporting document to refer to when material is disputed and complaints made to the library. It also helps with evaluation of the collection and related allocation of the libraries budget.

Fiction in the collection

A component of collection development and maintenance that has seen the greatest change in my opinion is the role of fiction in the collection. I was not formally trained as an English teacher, so have done very little with fictional literature in my lessons. Early in the course I was swayed to the opinion that school libraries focus too heavily on their fiction collection (Herring, 2007). This was my mindset coming into ETL503 when I was producing a collection development policy. It was not until the second assignment of ETL402 that I accepted the greater role fiction can play in the curriculum. This helped me explore the wider use of fiction, exploring novels and manga that could be used in secondary science lessons. This has made an impact on how I teach different aspects of the curriculum and how in the future, as a teacher librarian, I might promote the collection and collaboratively plan lessons with other teachers.

The teacher librarian has a role in the future of information management and it is their role to collect, catalogue, and manage a variety of resources in a manner that allows for effective access to information.

Information literacy

As a science teacher information literacy was something I had not concentrated on in my teaching. Aside from considering the readability of the texts I chose or giving brief digital literacy lessons to be used within the class. The term information literacy was not even on my radar.

This course had as some of its initial guiding objectives that we demonstrate an understanding of key concepts such as inquiry based learning, information literacy and digital literacy and the application of information process models (Charles Sturt University, 2013, p. 25). With this understanding it is expected that we be able to link these to the development of information literacy practices in schools (Charles Sturt University, 2013, p. 27).  Blog task 3 in ETL401 focused on trying to define information literacy and see that it is more that a set of skills. When I was grappling with this, like most other times I created a mind map of my thoughts and references. From this picture my understanding of information literacy is the ability to find, understand, evaluate and filter information to be used in the creation of new information (Bundy, 2004; Eisenberg, 2008).

When we were discussing information literacy inevitably at some point we also discussed constructivist learning, inquiring learning and information process skills which go along with this. In this context constructivist learning means that students construct their own meaning through posing questions, conducting research, discussing, and reflecting on ideas with others.

The push for inquiry learning in education has partnered well with the science curriculum I was teaching. It was also an area that helped me to identify weaknesses in the library at the K-12 school I was teaching at. The library was not managed well or equipped to cater for the secondary school curriculum and most secondary classes did not use the facilities. If we acknowledge the importance of inquiry learning and information literacy in student learning then we should prioritise the development of the library collection to meet this need. This is something I have been able to voice since starting this course. Whenever possible I have also pushed the pivotal role of the teacher librarian in collaboratively planning and teaching information literacy and inquiry learning practices in our school.

Information process models such as the PLUS model (Herring, 1996), Information Search Process (Kuhlthau, 2013), and Big 6 (Eisenberg, 2008) were identified during this time and then critically compared and recommendations made for implementation in assignment 2 of ETL401. The pathfinder created in ETL501 promotes and guides reading of different types of media and access to information resources and services. The built in tutorials help ICT and research skill development.  The Big 6 information process was included in the pathfinder for my grade 6 class. These series of assignments have helped me expand my knowledge of information search processes and has also allowed for me to feel the feelings expressed by Kuhlthau (2013) for myself. It began in ETL401 with the frustration of not knowing which of the numerous databases to search for information on.

 I felt uncertainty, confusion and anxiety… I found understanding some of the terms quite difficult.  I felt a sense of hopelessness and frustration as I approached the task and questioned why I was even doing it. I felt the dip Kuhlthau described and it was not until I was well into the research [of the] assignment that I felt I was making headway (Obst, 2013).

What tells me that libraries have a place in the future is their role in educating information literate students. Students today are faced with vast amounts of information when they explore the internet. The information landscape has seen technological change in information format and delivery modes, technology is faster, smaller and more social (O'Connell, 2012, p. 215).  The enormity of unfiltered information inhibits students’ effective search for information. The library has a place in educating students about the information search process, linking resources with effective metadata, and enabling students to create their own information with new programs and technologies. Teacher librarians have a role in information literacy education. They should be spearheading the teaching staff as they are in a unique position to look at the curriculum holistically.  They are vital in bringing the school a consistent learning experience.

Leadership

Leadership is an area I initially felt was not necessary to cover in a teacher librarianship course. However the more I have studied, witnessed librarians in action and looked at job advertisements it became clear this is an important part of being a librarian. Employers want someone who is able to manage people, the volunteers and technicians, as well as someone who can manage a collection. Leadership as a role of the teacher librarian is written into the standards of professional excellence, instructing us to engage in school leadership, participate in key committees and build collaborative teams (standard 3.3).

Leadership within the profession of teacher librarianship involves advocacy for the library and its role in supporting student learning and achievement. To support this advocacy documentation of statistical evidence needs to be produced by the library. The standards also call for us to measure library resources, programs and services against current benchmarks and to be able to provide evidence of their outcomes (Standard 2.4). I noted in ETL401 module 2 that a way for the teacher librarian to make the library’s priorities clear is to prepare annual reports and budget proposals. This reflects the transparency needed for open leadership (Tapscott, 2012). The library can also consider trends in pedagogy and curriculum changes, such as those made with the introduction of the Australian Curriculum, to produce future proofing reports. We were able to practice this documentation in ETL504.

To bring about change within the school and library settings calls for effective change management. The type of leadership used can greatly affect people’s willingness to change. My understanding of leadership and management styles has grown from knowledge of business management to leadership styles used in schools. When the leadership is distributed within the school the teacher librarian has the ability to take on additional roles on curriculum and learning committees.

In ETL504 assignment 1 I ended with a few concluding thoughts about leadership. The teacher librarian;

·         shows leadership through providing training alongside technical and social support to enhance the learning of those they work with (O'Donoghue & Clarke, 2009),

·         has the emotional intelligence to understand individual’s needs and an understanding of what motivates followers (Cameron & Green, 2009) (Orridge, 2009), and

·         builds teams to help navigate change (Belbin, 2012).

I think it is this last point that I have reflected on the most since writing that assignment. By the end of assignment 2 I had undergone the placement and identified the real need for supportive teams. The librarian can be consumed with managerial or operational tasks and the day to day running of the library could not occur without support staff.

Future of libraries

The study tour was the place where I was most excited and made most nervous about the future of libraries. There was exciting innovation in libraries which were reinventing themselves to respond to 21^st century needs. Then there were other libraries which were suffering from budget and staffing cuts and other stories of specialist libraries closing.

For libraries to have a future place in our information rich environment the library and the teacher librarian must be responsive to 21st century learning needs. One of the most recent libraries to open is the Library at the Dock which demonstrates what a library of the future can look like. Alongside a traditional library collection it offers an interactive learning environment and digital collection, multi-purpose community spaces and a performance venue. One of the multi-purpose spaces is the music studio which offers a space for the public to record their own media. This is what being a 21^st century library is about, providing opportunity for people to learn and create their own information. This may come in the form of recording studios, game development labs, 3Dprinters, or any life-logging technologies. The exciting part is being able to provide equitable access to technologies and resources which might normally be out of reach for the public or our school students.

The future of libraries is tied to electronic resources, some people may be hesitant with new technologies, but I was encouraged early on with a quote taken from Plato’s Phaedrus in which he suggests the invention of writing would lead to forgetfulness for learners as they move away from memory and recital learning (Plato, 2009). Similarly we stress about students losing traditional modes of literacy. It is easy to fall back on old ways of thinking; it is what we are comfortable with. However new technologies bring growth and new ways of learning. The teacher librarian can redefine their role to be a coach for online content navigation and creation and teaching good digital citizenship.

The library will still have a place in the future if it has as its core values intellectual freedom, providing a safe place and fostering critical thinkers (American Association of School Librarians, 2012). If we provide a place where students can feel safe exploring the information they seek, just as we have in the past, then regardless of the future format we will still have a place in schools.

My place in the library

This is something that I have been grappling with over the last few months as I wrote this concluding piece and it is something I do not know definitively even now. What I know is that I love researching and I love helping people research. I enjoy academic life and want to work in a place that facilitates lifelong learning. I am hoping to work in a specialist library or a university library. I think my place in any library or information service will be in supporting the move to digital content management and creation.  This course has given me a background in current educational theory, information organisation and organisational leadership which I can now take with me to whatever future field I work in. 

References

American Association of School Librarians. (2012). 30 Second thought leadership: Insights from leaders in the school library community. Retrieved August 6, 2014 from  http://www.ala.org/aasl/kq/30second

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

Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) Schools and Victorian Catholic Teacher Librarians (VCTL). (2007). A manual for developing policies and procedures in Australian school library resource centres. Melbourne: ALIA Schools and VCTL.

Australian School Library Association (ASLA) & Australian Library Information Association (ALIA). (2002). Learning for the future (2nd ed.). Carlton, Victoria: Curriculum Corporation.

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

Bundy, A. (Ed.). (2004). Australian and New Zealand information literacy framework: Principles, standards and practice (2nd ed.). Adelaide: Australian and New Zealand Institute for Information Literacy.

Cameron, E., & Green, M. (2009). Making sense of change management: A complete guide to models, tools and techniques of organisational change. London: Kogan Page.

Charles Sturt University. (2013). Orientation session 1 2013 course induction booklet: Master of education (teacher librarianship). Wagga Wagga: Charles Sturt University .

Dillion, K., Henri, J., & McGregor, J. (Eds.). (2001). Providing more with less: Collection management for school libraries (2nd ed.). Wagga Wagga, NSW: Centre for Information Studies, Charles Sturt University.

Eisenberg, M. (2008). Information literacy: Essential skills in the information age. Journal of Library & Information Technology, 28(2), 39-47.

Frey, T. (n.d.). The future of libraries. Retrieved June 6, 2014, from Davinci Institute: http://www.davinciinstitute.com/papers/the-future-of-libraries/

Herring, J. (1996). Teaching information skills in schools. London: Library Association Publishing.

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

Herring, J. (2011). Improving students' web use and information literacy. London: Facet Publishing.

International Federation of Library Associations. (2012, August 12). IFLA code of ethics for librarians and other information workers. Retrieved June 17, 2014, from IFLA: http://www.ifla.org/news/ifla-code-of-ethics-for-librarians-and-other-information-workers-full-version

Kuhlthau, C. (2013). Information search process. Retrieved June 30, 2014, from https://comminfo.rutgers.edu/~kuhlthau/information_search_process.htm

Lego. (2013). Lego minifigures: Bios. Retrieved June 5, 2014, from Lego: http://minifigures.lego.com/en-us/bios/librarian.aspx

Obst, H. (2013, May, 26). ETL401 assignment 2 critical reflection [Blog post] Retrieved July 7, 2014 from http://hannahobst.blogspot.com.au/2013/05/etl401-assignment-2-critical-reflection.html

O'Connell, J. (2012). Information literacy beyond library 2.0. London: Facet.

O'Donoghue, T., & Clarke, S. (2009). Leading learning: Process, themes and issues in international contexts. Hoboken: Taylor and Francis.

Orridge, M. (2009). Change leadership. Surrey: Ashgate Publishing Group.

Plato. (2009). Phaedrus. (B. Jowett, Trans.) Retrieved from http://classics.mit.edu/Plato/phaedrus.html

Tapscott, D. (2012, June). Four Principles for the open world [Video file]. Edinburgh, Scotland: TEDGlobal.

Thibault, M. (2006). The student pathfinder. Retrieved June 11, 2014, from Learn NC: http://www.learnnc.org/lp/pages/968

Wall, J., & Ryan, S. (2010). Resourcing for curriculum innovation. In Learning in a Changing World Series. Camberwell, Victoria: ACER Press.

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. 

Medical library placement - the reference desk

I recently finished my placement at a medical library. The library has quite a different feel from other libraries I have been in. The library predominately provides an on demand information service rather than a place where people would go to spend time browsing and reading like in a public library. The clients were medical professionals and university students on placement at the hospital. They generally have well developed research skills compared to patrons of a school or public library. We discussed the changing nature of the reference desk in libraries. The questions I answered most frequently during my placement were not ‘reference’ questions but rather computer trouble shooting, printer and scanning issues and how to use the self-borrowing system.

This issue is further highlighted in the article ‘Reference service without the desk’ (Arndt, 2010) which discusses how one academic library responded to this issue through the use of on-call and consultative reference services.

Reference questions that we did respond to came via email or phone the majority of the time. If the request was simple enough we could send the information back to them quickly otherwise we could book or conduct an over the phone reference interview.

You may find this video humorous about reference/ help desks.

Arndt, T. (2010). Reference service without the desk. Reference Service Review, 38(1), 71-80. doi:10.1108/00907321011020734

ETL504 Module 4

Communication and Resolving Conflict

You have developed a new digital literacy program that you believe needs to be used across the school. How will you communicate this program to your staff?

I am the ‘sender’, the information I will need to send is about the new digital literacy program that has been developed. The means of communicating this program will be two fold; verbally in a face-to-face meeting and in written form for the staff to take away with them. The written document would be encoded in a way that suggests it is a professional document about what the program is, why it is important and how it will be implemented. An executive summary is provided at the front of the document for quicker communication. When delivering the message it is important to remove noise and distractions from the surroundings as much as possible. While discussing it with teachers I would use open body language to invite them into the conversation and use language that is clearly understood by those in the room, but not too casual as to seem unprepared or uninterested. The sender needs to make eye contact with the receivers to show respect and gain feedback on reception. It is the role of the receiver to interpret the message both the oral and supporting written documentation. The way I can determine my message has been understood is by looking at body cues, such as nodding and by asking questions. Open ended questions would better demonstrate the receivers understanding.

Resolving Conflict

While reading the points given by Levine – believing in abundance and with some creativity we can do anything - I reflected on a video I had recently watched. You may find this humorous too.

Beinerts, L. (2014, March 23). The Expert (short Comedy Sketch) retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKorP55Aqvg

Levine, S. (2009). Getting to resolution turning conflict into collaboration. (2nd ed.) San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler Publishers

Like most couples my husband and I have the odd argument. I used to find it frustrating when we would have arguments, because I thought my husband was such a good communicator and made logical arguments and I could not clearly express how I was feeling and why I felt that way. I would be more frustrated with how I was arguing than what the argument was about. We learnt a bit about communicating and negotiating in our pre-marriage counselling course (LifeWorks). A simple assertiveness activity to use when in communicating was suggested:

I feel…When you…Because… And what I would prefer is…

Another activity to try was the ‘ten steps for resolving conflict’:

1. Set a time and place for discussion
2. Define the problem- be specific
3. List the ways you each contribute to the problem
4. List past attempts to resolve the issue that were not successful
5. Brainstorm – list 10 possible solutions to the problem, to not judge or criticize them at this point
6. Discuss and evaluate each of these solutions
7. Agree on one solution to try
8. Agree how you will each work towards this solution
9. Setup another meeting to discuss your progress
10. Reward each other for progress

While the above ten steps have been written for couples I think they could work in a workplace setting too.

It is often harder to negotiate or persuade when you cannot share all the information you have. My husband is a lawyer and one of the problems he faces is confidentiality. He may gain certain information from one client that would be useful or beneficial to a second client but he can’t share that because of confidentiality issues. I think this is sometimes an issue in schools because certain pieces of information are not shared for privacy reasons, it leaves teachers in the dark. At one school I worked at we had a scary situation on a camp where a student became extremely violent towards other students and teachers, police ended up taking the child away. When all the staff were getting debriefed back at school we found that this student had a history of violence and was being handled by an external agency. They didn’t feel we needed to know this information. A lot of teachers were mad, frustrated and hurt that they did not know this. I think there is more chance of problems when there is not proper communication in schools.

My survey result: Competing. You tend to express above average assertiveness and below average cooperation. Some of your associates may think of you as a shark because you like to have things your way. What answering questionnaires tell me the most about myself is I am indecisive with how I view myself. I thinking internally I am a competitive person but externally I am more compromising and collaborative. 

ETL504 Assignment 1 Reflective Critical Analysis

Why even study leadership in a teacher librarian (TL) course, all we do is manage books, right? This wasn't too far from what I came into this course thinking, not having worked in a library. I have come to learn over this subject and others leading up to it how wrong I was.  

Very few schools these days would have one person making all the leadership decisions. One of the first schools I worked at used a distributed leadership model.  The school was led by four principals, one head and three assistants, each principal was delegated an area of school life to run. Each faculty had a leading teacher who attended curriculum meetings then passed the information on to those under their leadership. Other teachers were leaders in areas of domain, ICT, and student wellbeing. It was in this school situation that I noticed the role of the TL as leader the most. The TL was given a role on the leadership and curriculum committees. As part of the leadership team they were involved in decisions regarding teaching and learning practices and other school wide issues. It was also in this school and possibly because of this role in leadership that the school library had an effective collaborative teaching programme. The classroom teacher and the librarian planned and presented lessons to help students undertake inquiry activities. The library nearly always had a class using it and was highly valued by the school. The TL promoted the library and its activities which resulted in a library which is nearly always full.  The TL in this setting modelled the instructional style of leadership. They communicated the vision, goals and potential the library had, they provided the resources and training needed to use the library effectively for teaching, and they were a visible presence around the school and on committees (Marzano, Waters, & McNulty, 2005, p. 18).

I have also unfortunately seen the opposite situation in schools, where the TL is not a leader; the library does not have the same value to the teaching staff and goes underutilised. I think the difference here is the TL is functioning as a manager, ‘managers manage things, leaders lead people’ (Brocker, 2012). Teacher librarians have technical expertise to manage the library, but they must also be able to motivate followers.  This contrast in schools has made me reflect on the importance of having a TL who is a leader. We know that student achievement is increased when the leadership ability within a school is increased (Marzano, Waters, & McNulty, 2005, p. 11). We also know that the school libraries can have a positive impact on achievement (Lonsdale, 2003; Oberg, 2002; Todd, 2003). It is not much of a leap then to suggest that improving the leadership quality of TL in schools will also be beneficial to learning outcomes. Through the use of distributed leadership the capacity to lead is enhanced in principal and teacher alike (Townsend, 2011, p. 95).

Key thoughts to take away from assignment 1 are that a teacher librarian who is a leader and not just a manager;

• embraces and leads through change,
• builds balanced teams to navigate change (Belbin, 2012),
• provides training with ongoing technical and social support to personally develop others (O'Donoghue & Clarke, 2009)
• uses open leadership to empower and collaborate with those they lead (Tapscott, 2012), and
• has the emotional intelligence to understand individual’s needs and help motivate followers (Cameron & Green, 2009; Orridge, 2009). 

References

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

Brocker, B. (2012, March 22). Leadership theory and critical skills [Video file]. Retrieved March 31, 2014, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzAzhiEsZtY

Cameron, E., & Green, M. (2009). Making sense of change management: A complete guide to models, tools and techniques of organisational change. London: Kogan Page.

Lonsdale, M. (2003). Impact of school libraries on student improvement: A review of the research. Melbourne: Australian Council for Educational Research. Retrieved March 31, 2014, from http://www.asla.org.au/site/defaultsite/filesystem/documents/research.pdf

Marzano, R., Waters, T., & McNulty, B. (2005). School leadership that works: From research to results. Alexandria, Va: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Oberg, D. (2002). Looking for the evidence: Do school libraries improve student achievement? School Libraries in Canada, 22(2), 10-13.

O'Donoghue, T., & Clarke, S. (2009). Leading learning: Process, themes and issues in international contexts. Hoboken: Taylor and Francis.

Orridge, M. (2009). Change leadership. Surrey: Ashgate Publishing Group.

Tapscott, D. (2012, June). Four Principles for the open world [Video file]. Edinburgh, Scotland: TEDGlobal.

Todd, R. (2003). Irrefutable evidence: How to prove you boost student achievement. School Library Journal, 49(4), 52-56.

Townsend, T. (2011). School leadership in the twenty-first century: Different approaches to common problems? School Leadership and Management, 31(2), 93-103. doi:10.1080/13632434.2011.572419

ETL504 Module 3

Leadership for Learning

What is your understanding of leadership for learning?

'Leaders need to learn and leaders learn as they lead' (Swaffield & MacBeath, 2008, p.32)

O’Donoghue and Clark (2009) discussed the need for teachers to undergo reflective practice and specifically discuss the use of action inquiry to help teachers make informed judgements about their own practice. I am not sure what the current situation is for teaching in other states but under the Victorian Institute of Teaching to become a fully registered teacher. Teachers must submit an action inquiry conducted within their classroom in collaboration with a mentor and backed by the school principal. The action project was a process of trial and error, testing and seeking feedback. The year 11 students knew that I was trying new things and for the most part were eager to give it a go, and let me know what was or wasn’t working for them. There was an overlap in student and teacher learning and leading.  I cannot speak for every teacher doing this but my report was well over 60 pages of action plan discussion, evidence collection, reflection and evaluation of practices. While I had put off doing it a long time, fearing the increased workload would be too much, when I finally did the inquiry the planning, flow of teaching and consequential learning experiences were probably better than any other point in my teaching. While there was a lot of work put into this registration ‘hurdle’ it did make my teaching practice better.

I liked how both (Swaffield & MacBeath, 2008, O’Donoghue & Clark, 2009) both mentioned that teaching leadership should not be a gift handed out to a select few (or a burden delegated to them) but a right and responsibility of all. Teachers are to be treated as professionals capable of leadership and should be supported in there learning to fulfil this role.

Leadership for learning means that there is a major focus on learning and the conditions favour learning. Leadership of learning is shared and accountable.

‘Teaching is leadership, and leadership begins in the classroom as teachers “act with meaning”, seeking greater learning for their students and colleagues.’ (Collay, 2011 p.75)

Below is a diagram of the inquiry action plan mentioned earlier. Three major stages of the cycle involve planning, action and reflection.  

Have you been able to identify any particular element of leadership practice in collaborative environments, that has made you stop and think about the practical professional opportunities that you may like to explore or adopt in your school?

Reading the first paragraph of Semadeni’s section on professional development it made me reflect back on my teaching practice early in my career (2009, p.28). Teachers feeling uncomfortable sharing instructional strategies for example reminded me of my competitive attitude towards my teaching, wanting to have the best lessons. I didn’t really like sharing resources because I knew how much time and effort I put into to those resources. I felt really used when other teachers would take my resources (assignments, tests, notes…) for their classes. It was like getting stuck in a team project where you are the only one doing the work.  Semadeni also mentioned how teachers felt uncomfortable engaging in peer observation and allowing peers to give them feedback. I can also identify with this; I don’t know what drove me to go into teaching as I really hated public speaking and reading aloud. Funnily I could easily communicate with my secondary students, speak and read up front of a class, but as soon as a colleague or superior entered the room I was mess of nerves. However, now I feel a bit more open to having colleagues coming and observe and give feedback when it is someone I feel an equal to or have a friendship with. Speaking to students all the time has helped me to speak to adults. I feel at one stage or another I have been through each of the different forms of collaboration; ‘balkanization’, ‘comfortable collaboration’ and ‘contrived collegiality’ (Semadeni, 2009, p.31).

Classroom management was a stumbling point in my teaching; the principal saw this and offered me a mentor. This was horrifying for me as no one else in the school had to have a mentor, clearly I was incompetent. The perception needed to be changed that all teachers can learn from a mentor relationship although this is a can be a hard thing to take for some teachers (p.33). I liked the online schedule for peer observation it makes it seem more on an every practice for observing others teachers and invited teachers into their classroom (Semadeni, 2009, fig. 2.2).

I liked the idea of a co-teaching relationship discussed by Rytivaara & Kershner (2012), but I have not really seen a working relationship in action. I know of teachers that share a class due to being both part-time works but I don’t really know how well they worked together being in on separate days.

Collay, M. (2011). Teaching is leading. Everyday Teacher Leadership: Taking Action Where You Are (pp. 75-108). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Donoghue, T. A., & Clarke, S. (2010). Teachers learning and teachers leading. Leading learning: process, themes and issues in international contexts (pp. 87-99). London: Routledge.

MacBeath, J. E., & Dempster, N. (2009). Leadership for learning. Connecting leadership and learning: principles for practice (pp. 32-52). London: Routledge.

Rytivaara, A., & Kershner, R. (2012). Co-teaching as a context for teachers' professional learning and joint knowledge construction. Teaching and Teacher Education, 28(7), 999-1008. Retrieved March 19, 2014, from http://www.citeulike.org/article/10851402

Semadeni, J. H. (2009). Professional development. Taking charge of professional development a practical model for your school (pp. 28-48). Alexandria, Va.: ASCD.

ETL504 Module 2

Leading Change

Some thoughts about leadership that developed through discussion on leadership in another community setting:

•          A leader has the ability to look outside the situation; they look at it objectively and lead people through it. They work on the business rather than just in the business.
•          Self-leadership is one of the hardest but most important types of leadership, if you cannot lead yourself then how can you lead others.
•          Leaders can understand the unsaid, the emotions, feeling and unspoken complaints to know the people they lead.

John Kotter’s 8 step process for change management is something I have also had the privilege of teaching. Kotter's Change Management Lesson Link: includes written information, video, and quiz. 

Don Tapscott outlined 4 principles of an open world: collaboration, transparency, sharing, and empowerment.

How can these principles be applied to school libraries or teacher librarians?

Collaboration- External collaboration across libraries in the region or globally to provide a bigger knowledge/resources bank. Internal collaboration with staff and students in developing library collection and a digital presence.

Transparency- The school community has access to information about the library program, collection management procedures. The community is able to find information on how decisions are made and what reasons they are based on. It also has the ability to question and submit objections about those decisions in a clearly defined way. Responses made to objections or requests are also made transparent to the community. 

Sharing- Teaching creative commons sharing prinicples and modelling the use of it.

Empowerment- Some of the distribution of selection power can be given to the students at the school as suggested by Breitbach & Lamber’s Patron-Driven Ebook Acquisition (2011). Rather than the library making all the recommendations, user recommendations could be posted in a library blog/ Pinterest page/ Scoop.it or other curation tool.

Consider how this understanding of the 4 principles can support you in leading change at your school or in your school library?

To be relevant to the school community as it develops in a digital age we need to be open with the way we conduct our library. Change that happens within the library should be approached with openness, explaining the need for changes and the ways in which it will occur, collaborating with others to determine the best ways to change and empowering other team members to help support the change.

"Innovation is open to every man, woman, and child. It requires an inquisitive mind intent on solving an existing problem."

1.          What innovation has occurred in your school or work environment in recent times?
2.          How has the implementation of this innovation been managed?
3.          What current aspect of your own work could have "an inquisitive mind" lens applied to solve an existing problem?

Our school recently implemented an iPad programme at a year seven level, the idea is that students will move the programme up into the school with each new year. While the idea of each student having a device was not necessarily a bad one, I have seen it work well with laptops in other schools, the programme was poorly implemented.

 The computer technician was not capable and not willing to fix that many iPads as he was primarily familiar with PCs and so was flooded with problems he had trouble solving plus still maintaining the old PCs for the rest of the school. Subsequently he left the position leaving the school with no internal computer technician for more than two years now. Another issue with implementation was that only year seven teachers were given an iPad as part of the trial so if another teacher had to cover a class who didn’t have an iPad or the skills to use one it often meant the teacher was ill equipped to teach the work left for them to cover. The programme is mainly managed by one teacher who does not communicate issues and problem solving procedures well with other staff members. Students are sent directly to him for help adding to his workload and the appearance that all other teachers are incapable of using the technology. While the initial phase of implementation was confusing and frustrating to some, it has been around now long enough now that teachers have been able to adapt their teaching through their own experimentation.

I think if the school was to do this again and choose iPads they need to ensure firstly that they have a computer technician employed who is willing to use this format. They need to educate the entire staff on how to use the programs rather than a select few. They could also provide a FAQ manual of common problems and solutions to staff members so the burden is not on one staff member and issues that may arise in the classroom can be easily fixed rather than sending students out for long periods of time to get help. 

Tapscott, D. (2012, June). Four Principles for the open world. Presentation given in Edinburgh, Scotland TEDGlobal

Innovation Takes Practice More Than Talent. (2013, January 30). —. Retrieved February 5, 2013, from http://www.redthreadthinking.com/innovation-takes-practice-more-than-talent/

 Breitbach, W., & Lamber, J. (2011). Patron-Driven Ebook Acquisition. Computers in Libraries. 31(6) 16-20