I began this unit feeling very anxious about
my lack of experience working in a library and my current lack of access to a
school library. I learn best by seeing and then doing, so this practical unit,
crucial to the role of teacher librarian did at times present me with
challenges.
The case studies from Henley High
School (Mitchell, 2014b) were a confronting introduction to the unit. It
challenged my feelings about the role of the school library and my initial blog
post for Module 1 (Ferdinand, 28th February), was an opportunity for
me to explore what I believed to be important aspects of school library
collections. I believe that a challenge
for teacher librarians is balancing the print and digital collection, ensuring
a professionally managed and well-resourced library that provides
‘sophisticated 21st century learning environments, offering equal
opportunities for achievement to all students (NCLIS, 2008, p. 1).
Completing the model collection proposal
reinforced that print and digital resources are complimentary not exclusionary,
and it is essential in the primary school setting to have a collection that
reflects the learning needs of the community. Students still require access to
both print and digital resources, as both formats have an important place in
the primary school library where they are used for different purposes, together
creating rich learning experiences (Johnson, 2009). Planning for a model
collection was a challenging and thought-provoking task. One of the initial
challenges was, not working in a school at the moment, having an actual school
context with which to work. This highlighted to me, just how important it is to
know your community and in order to develop a collection that is responsive to
its needs.
In my post ‘Thoughts on the purpose
and role of the library’ (Ferdinand, 3rd
March) I explored the challenges facing libraries in a digital age when many
people still hold pre-information age understandings of the role of the
library. Learnings from Module 5 (Mitchell,
2014a) demonstrated the necessity for the teacher librarian to provide as much
information as possible to the school leadership team and the school community
at large about the role of the library in meeting the teaching and learning
needs of the school in the 21st century. Ongoing
evaluation of the collection, and the sharing of the results of that
evaluation, creating an annual report on the goals, objectives and achievements
of the library where not functions of the library that I was familiar with, yet
have come to see as a vital function of ensuring the library not only has
sufficient funding, but an established and respected role within the school
community.
My success with
the first assignment, demonstrated to me, that my 20 years of searching for
resources as a classroom teacher has given me a strong background for resource
collection and I thoroughly enjoyed accessing unfamiliar selection aids and
exploring their potential for finding resources.
I enjoyed
taking the time in Module 6.2 (Mitchell, 2014c) to analyse two collection
policies against Braxton’s Sample collection policy (Braxton, 2014). The blog
post of my analysis (Ferdinand, 17th May) demonstrates how this
process helped me to understand the importance of documenting the collection
management process, to ensure the collection is well managed in its selection
and growth (Debowski, 2001, p. 127).
It has been
beneficial to see where I currently have strengths in regards to collection
development as this has helped me to frame where my weaknesses lie. Along with the administration procedures of
managing resources, I see the priorities for my own practice being directed
towards developing collection evaluation skills and exploring the variety of
evaluation strategies discussed throughout the unit.
At the
conclusion of this unit, I have accumulated a wealth of information about the
development and management of libraries collections and learnt so much that I
am very keen to put into practice. My regret is that I will not have an opportunity
to do so for at least another 12 months!
References
Braxton, B. (2014). Sample
Collection Policy. In 500 hats: the
teacher librarian in the 21st century. Retrieved from http://500hats.edublogs.org/policies/sample-collection-policy/
Debowski, S. (2001). Collection management policies. In K.
Dillon, J. Henri & J. McGregor (Eds.), Providing more with less :
collection management for school libraries (2nd ed.) (pp. 126-136). Wagga Wagga, NSW
: Centre for Information Studies, Charles Sturt University.
Ferdinand, J. (28th
February, 2014). Libraries and their collections – initial thoughts from the
introduction. In The tales of a
travelling librarian. Retrieved from http://thetalesofatravellinglibrarian.blogspot.ca/2014/02/libraries-and-their-collections-initial.html
Ferdinand, J. (3rd
March, 2014). Thoughts on the purpose and role of the library. In The
tales of a travelling librarian. Retrieved from http://thetalesofatravellinglibrarian.blogspot.ca/2014/03/is-collection-of-resources-fundamental.html
Ferdinand, J. (17th
May, 2014). Analysing collection management policies. In The tales of a travelling librarian. Retrieved from http://thetalesofatravellinglibrarian.blogspot.ca/2014/05/analysing-collection-management-policies.html
Johnson, D. (2009) Budgeting
for mean lean times part 2. In The blue
skunk blog. Retrieved from http://doug-johnson.squarespace.com/blue-skunk-blog/2009/12/19/budgeting-for-mean-lean-times-part-2.html
Mitchell, P.
(2014a). Evaluating Collections [Module 5] Retrieved
May 31, 2014, from Charles Sturt University website: http://interact.csu.edu.au/portal/site/ETL503_201430_W_D/page/107347c1-3a72-453a-8091-13f98fefcf2c
Mitchell, P.
(2014b). The school library collection in the context of teaching and learning and
the digital environment [Module 1.1] Retrieved
May 31, 2014, from Charles Sturt University website: http://interact.csu.edu.au/portal/site/ETL503_201430_W_D/page/107347c1-3a72-453a-8091-13f98fefcf2c
Mitchell, P.
(2014c). What should a collection policy contain [Module 6.2] Retrieved May 31, 2014, from Charles Sturt University website: http://interact.csu.edu.au/portal/site/ETL503_201430_W_D/page/107347c1-3a72-453a-8091-13f98fefcf2c
NCLIS (U.S. National Commission on Libraries and
Information Science). (2008). School libraries work! Retrieved from http://www.scholastic.com/content/collateral_resources/pdf/s/slw3_2008.pdf
No comments:
Post a Comment