Libraries and their collections - initial thoughts from the introduction

‘The Windsor-Essex Catholic District School Board said last month that declining enrollment is forcing them to lay off 39 school librarians and close the libraries. The board is facing a $10-million budget cut next year. It lost 800 students last year and is projecting a similar loss next year.’ (CBC News, 2011).

The biggest issue facing the role of the school library within schools is a lack of understanding about the role of the teacher librarian and the library itself. For many people, a library is a place stacked with books; a place that has diminished relevance in an increasingly digital world. It is worrying, that when faced with budgetary cuts, one school board effectively wiped out what should be considered THE two most relevant and important resources within the school: the library and the qualified teacher librarian who works in it. How or why can this happen?

I have to admit, there are days when I wonder if I can fully embrace the digital change that is occurring in libraries. And when I read about schools such as the Windsor Catholic schools, who removed all of their libraries from their schools, there are days when I sit back and wonder if many of the changes that are happening are a case of throwing out the baby with the bathwater. This is troubling, when as discussed in the introduction to module 1, that there is no systemic research available yet, that provides guidance around whether these sweeping changes are actually of benefit to the school community.

This article ‘What to watch for in 2013’ (Shatzkin, 2013) points out an important fact regarding the transition of print resources to digital.  ‘Immersive Books’, those books that are read from the first page, through the last, have been easily produced in ebook format. “Other than immersive’ books – reference books, picture books, illustrated books are still lagging behind in transitioning to digital format, and could do so for the foreseeable future. In resourcing the school library, and advocating for the types of resources that are acquired for the collection, this is an important understanding to have.

There is much about this process that will ultimately benefit from hindsight. It is an undeniable fact that yes, we now live in the ‘information age’. And yes, most of what people want to find out, they look for on google. And yes, one can download ebooks from the comfort of their own living rooms. Does being digital really mean the death of libraries? I don’t believe so. But I also don’t believe that libraries can only survive by going completely digital. It will be interesting to see research into the book-less, all-digital library in San Antonio, Texas compared with other more hybrid library designs, particularly concerning the reading matter that CAN’T be accessed through this approach.

I cannot agree with a decision to remove all printed books from the school library at this point in time, when many resources have not yet made the successful transition to digital dominance. To do so, right now, restricts students from accessing literature that has not yet been moved into digital format. It restricts student access to a multitude of well-researched and accurate reference material that they can trust and use in conjunction with online research. At this point in time, if the entire library catalogue is digital, it restricts the students from accessing reference books, picture books, illustrated books. These are not just books that students choose to research from, but are books that provide the teacher librarian with the opportunity to foster a love of reading across all genres and areas of information. 

What is reassuring from reading this article and the follow up article, Libraries to return to Windsor Catholic schools (Jeflyn, 2011) are two things. One, the strong reaction from both the parents and students regarding the closing of what they considered an important area of their school. Secondly, was the subsequent back down from the board, to reintroduce libraries back into the schools through a partnership with the local public library system. It is reassuring to see the emphasis put back into book collections and exciting children about reading. It is wonderful so see how collaboration between the school library and local community in creating a resource space valued and used beyond the four walls of the school.  

I believe there is a definite and important place for both digital and print resources in our school libraries at the present time. The challenge for teacher librarians is balancing these two important aspects of the collection, ensuring a professionally managed and well-resourced library that creates and nurtures an information rich learning environment. With this challenge, comes a need for the teacher librarian to be an advocate for the place of the school library, educating and working with the school leadership team and key committees in developing a common understanding for the place of the library with the schools learning environment.  It is too early yet, to be throwing that baby out with the bath water.

References:

Australian School Library Association (ASLA) & Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA),  (2004). Standards of Professional Excellence for teacher librarians.  In Australian School Library Association::ASLA. Retrieved from http://www.asla.org.au/policy/standards.aspx

CBC News (May 12, 2011). Parents don’t want book shut on school libraries. In CBC News Windsor. Retrieved from http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/parents-don-t-want-book-shut-on-school-libraries-1.1061505

Idea Logical Blog. (

Jeflyn, P. (Nov 15, 2011). Libraries to return to Windsor Catholic Schools. In CBC News Windsor. Retrieved from http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/libraries-to-return-to-windsor-catholic-schools-1.1021028

Shatzkin, M. (Jan 2, 2013). The Shatzkin Files – What to look for in 2013. In The Idea Logical Company.  Retrieved from http://www.idealog.com/blog/what-to-watch-for-in-2013/

Zipes

(Critics) are not recognising or do not want to recognise that the former traditional approaches to alphabetic literacy through reading print are not meeting the needs of young people who read texts much differently than the generations of teachers and educators who are teaching them.(p. 42)

Zipes, J. (2009). Misreading children and the fate of the book in Relentless progress the reconfiguration of children's literature, fairy tales, and storytelling. London: Routledge. (Chapter 2, p. 27-44)

I disagree with this comment from Zipes. Much of what has been commented on in the research on reading decline in this module, comments on the shift of reading for pleasure by the time students enter high school or college.

So it seems to be incongruous to say that traditional approaches to alphabetic literacy are not meeting the needs of young people.

In order for a person to choose to read for pleasure, they must possess the necessary skills for reading. A significant part of developing those skills is the variety of kills and instructions surrounding the ability to decode ie alphabetic literacy.

I would suggest that it is the skills that build upon decoding – critical literacy, inferential literacy are the ones that are often under taught in classrooms (particularly over the past decade where significant portions of the literacy curriculum has been devoted to the teaching of ‘text types’). If our curriculum does not encourage, nay demand of us to teach beyond the decoding stage, then we are not meeting the needs of young people.

In todays information age, where people are bombarded daily with a seemingly inexhaustible supply of information, it is imperative that we teach our students to be critically literate, to develop skills for interpreting what they read, justify their interpretations, make their own meaning of texts they read, compare themselves and their own experiences with what they read, to read broadly, to develop their own point of view, to respond to what they read

Then we will be teaching young people to be

• avid, self motivated, confident readers
• who feel strongly about what they choose to read
• who justify their reading choices
• who are engaged in the process of reading because they choose to be

Regardless of whether they read in print or digitally.

For the teacher librarian, this means a greater collaboration with classroom teachers to use literature across the curriculum that encourages and explicitly teaches these skills to our students.  

21st Century Literacies

At 18 months and 10 months old, these 'Digital Natives' (Prensky, 2001) already know how to navigate and interact with forms of 21st century literacies. They are surrounded by technologies that have become integral to our lives: computers, phones, tablets. They are growing up in a world where single function devices such as watches, have become overtaken by multimodal devices that provide a variety of information at the touch of the fingertips, in any location, at any time. 

The implications for classroom teachers, teacher librarians, schools and educational organisations in general, is vast and overwhelming. According to Prenksy's article 'Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants' (2001, pg 1) 'today's students think and process information fundamentally differently from their predecessors.' Students today have greater, faster access to information, use networking and will often multi-task a range of digital technologies at once.  For over a decade, educators have been playing catch-up, struggling to integrate new technologies into old classroom practices. There has been a shift, acknowledging the need to adapt traditional teaching practices where the individual users accessed content, to a new paradigm where communities create and share ideas. (Pence 2007). In an increasingly changing educational landscape, what is the role of the Teacher Librarian?

The past decade has seen a shift in the role of the teacher librarian from the holder of a repository of information, to becoming 'an integral part of the learning and teaching community' (Herring pg 27). The teacher librarian role in today's education systems is a multifaceted one with a variety of possible roles. Herring, in his book 'Teacher Librarians and the School library', refers to the ASLA document 'Learning for the Future' (ASLA 2003) and the three main roles of the teacher librarian: curriculum leader, information specialist and information services manager (pg. 31).The need to shift the focus of the library from its traditional role, to one that embraces 21st century literacies is vital. It has become necessary for teacher librarians to work collaboratively using 'a site of participatory culture, conducive to helping students create personal learning networks and environments that allow them to cultivate resources for accessing, evaluating and sharing information locally and with the world at large.' (Hamilton 2011, pg. 35) 

The Standards of Professional Excellence for Teacher Librarians (ALIA/ASLA) acknowledges the diverse skills and qualifications of teacher librarians - skilled educators who combine curriculum knowledge and pedagogy with information management knowledge  and skills. Excellent teacher librarians 'comprehensively understand the role of information and communication technologies in lifelong learning.' (Standard 1.1)

'With the Internet as the defining technology for literacy and learning in the 21st century' (Drew pg.322), Teacher librarians are uniquely placed within the school environment to provide opportunities for students to develop the skills and strategies necessary to succeed in a 'globally networked, multimodal, digital age of information and communication'. (Drew pg. 321).  

The Australian Curriculum Framework does not provide specific Information and Communication Technology (ICT) content descriptors and elaborations. Rather, it has put the ICT as a general capability across the curriculum. Classroom teachers benefit then, from the collaboration with Teacher Librarians to ensure development of ICT skills across different curriculum areas, where ICT skills become embedded in classroom programs, designed around collaborative projects and jointly planned and taught by teacher librarians. Where classroom teachers are required in the Australian Curriculum to develop literacy proficiency across Language, Literature and Literacy, Teacher Librarians can focus more specifically on the skills and strategies for locating, evaluating, synthesising and communicating information, using 21st Century literacies and technologies. Through the use of online literacies such a search engines, databases, wikis, blogs, forums, social networking, smart devices, Teacher Librarians can provide learning opportunities that encourage students to become critically literate members of the global digital community. 

In an education environment, where 'future literacy demands will encompass technologies yet to be invented', the role of the Teacher Librarian has never been so important and pivotal to the teaching and learning experiences within the school environment. It is necessary that Teacher Librarians embrace the use of 21st Century literacies and how they can use them to enrich the learning experiences of the 'digital natives', equipping them with the necessary skills for interacting critically, intelligently and ethically as information literate members of a digital society in the future. 

References

ALIA/ASLA (2004) Standards of Professional Excellence for Teacher Librarians Australian School Library Association retrieved from http://www.asla.org.au/policy/standards.aspx

Drew, S.L. (Dec 2012/ Jan 2013) Open Up the Ceiling on the Common Core State Standards: Preparing Students for 21st Century Literacy - Now.  Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy 56 (4), 321-330. doi: 10.1002/ JAAL. 00145

Hamilton, B.J. (2011) The School Librarian as Teacher: What Kind of Teacher are You? 

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. 

Pence, H.E. (2007) Preparing for the real web generation. Journal of Educational  Technology Systems. 35(3), 347-356

Prensky, M. (2001) Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants. On the Horizon (MCB University Press) 9 (5)