Then and now

When I was a child, and completely smitten with the written word, particularly in novel form, I dreamed of working in a library surrounded by wonderful books, and of reading and writing them in my spare time. The libraries I was familiar with contained books and books only, with maybe a few computers starting to appear in a corner somewhere or an adjoining room - separate to the library in my mind. There were beanbags and reading corners, lovely people to help you find the books you were looking for, or even to recommend one or two to you on the odd occasion. I looked forward to a day when I would know all the things about books that they knew, when I'd be able to put things in order on the shelf, and find things for other people. Of perhaps sneaking a read of a blurb or a page here and there...

Now I realise there is not going to be much time to sneak a read of a page!

Of course, I will make sure I do so anyway if it is going to help me to know the content of the library I am working in, but after reading the standards of professional excellence for teacher librarians on the ASLA website (see previous post), I realise that my wonderful dream when I was young was entirely too simplistic. Admittedly, I did not at that stage combine my teacher dreams with my librarian ones, but still there are skills I will need that I would not have suspected I would need back then for either role. The expectations that I have for myself, as I strive to become an 'excellent teacher librarian', have expanded, as have the expectations of the role of the teacher librarian in general. Below are some of the expectations that from my experience are relatively new to the profession - that I do not remember seeing when I was at school:

• Understanding and appreciating the role of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in lifelong learning - ICT is a major thread throughout the entire ASLA document, a thread that has only woven itself in in the last decade or two
• Contributing to school programs and resourcing the curriculum for classroom teachers as well as implementing an effective learning program in the library itself
• Collaborating with teachers, planning and implementing programs involving information literacty and literature
• I do not remember seeing evaluation by the teacher librarian at my primary school (this does not mean it did not happen, but the fact that the library is now completely unused makes me wonder). I have recently come to realise that this is an important aspect of a TLs work in this day and age - to ensure his or her profressional survival
• Empowering all school community members to become life long learners
• Undertaking research - keeping abreast of new research in education and using this knowledge to inform school library programs, as well as to engage in educational debates within the school
• Organising and encouraging library-related professional development for staff
• Taking on leadership roles within the school - this I definitely do not remember seeing throughout my school years
• Encouraging the whole school to focus on information literacy - to implement policy together

It truly is a changing profession, as was highlighted in the 7.30 Report on ABC last night (Thurs 18th March 2010, approx 17mins into the broadcast, available http://www.abc.net.au/iview/#/view/533599).

As I think I have said before, I am glad that so much is expected of me, and I look forward to having so much input to a school community one day, but at the same time it is rather daunting!