Librarians as Learning Specialists

If you want to hone your "21st Century" understandings about schools and begin to transform the teaching and learning capacity of your school library into a Learning Commons, you must go immediately to Amazon and order Librarians as Learning Specialists: Meeting the Learning Imperative for the 21st Century (A. Zmuda & V.H. Harada, Libraries Unlimited, 2008).  Regularly $40 USD, you will see that there is a discounted price and also a less expensive Kindle version.  Maybe now is the time to treat yourself to an e-reader device to enter the e-reading environment as well.  (Think of this as a direction for library improvement and use your own or school-based Pro D funds or your library's "slush" account; you can share the device and this book with your administrator and others as a collaborative Pro D tool and experience.)

THIS BOOK IS NOT JUST FOR TEACHER-LIBRARIANS

-- IT IS ALSO FOR ADMINISTRATORS!

In realizing that Vancouver has no clear blueprint for schools and teacher-librarians to design and construct Learning Commons for new and existing schools here in 21st-century Vancouver, I am in the process of gathering the building blocks, plans, evidence of the value, and any "blue sky" thinking to add compelling depth and colour to the design and to compile the definitive website. 

It is in this on-going context that I have begun to read Zmuda and Harada, supported with a Foreword from Wiggins.  I have finished Chapter 1 and want to share the following snippets with you:

I am a big believer in the importance of libraries with windows.  Writes Wiggins in his Foreword,

The [school library resource centre, or LRC] is more than just a space or resource .... It is a window into how well the entire staff understands learning and honors best practice.  If the staff understands how people learn, then the [LRC] is a hub of core activity.  If the school is committed to long-term mission-related goals, teachers and learning specialists constantly work together. (xi)

Zmuda and Harada make the powerful case that the advent of 21st century learning is also the time for learning specialists to move from the margins to the centre of learning, to leadership roles that move schools forward.  They believe that "what happens in the library is at the heart of the work of the school because it brings the world to the local community, inspires the curiosity and imagination of students, and brings people together to explore and communicate ideas." (xiii)

The words of Dr Ross Todd invite TLs, administrators, and teachers to re-vision the role of the school library in the educational community and in the learning opportunities we all create to engage our students in learning:

The hallmark of a school library in the 21st century is not its collections, its system, its technology, its staffing, its buildings, but its actions and evidences that show that it makes a real difference to student learning, that it contributes in tangible and significant ways to the development of meaning making and constructing knowledge. (xii)

I have finished Chapter 1 on creating whole-school commitment to a common purpose and to instructional adjustment to achieve the common goal.  I have reviewed Todd's 10 Learning Principles for School Libraries(2007), "Working for Knowledge Construction: Transformational Leadership" and have reconsidered the underpinning views of such leading educators as John Dewey, Michael Fullan, and Mel Levine.  I am firmly hooked on this book.

But just imagine my surprise when I looked at sample school library mission statements from Canada, the US, and Australia.  The only example from Canada reads, "Gladstone School Library Resource Centre is dedicated to creating a safe atmosphere that fosters self-esteem, creativity, and enthusiasm for reading and lifelong learning."  Whoo-hoo!  I remember the call to give permission for its use but I hadn't thought about this since. 

This Gladstone statement, by the way, derived from the exercise of creating the school's Mission Statement that the principal had undertaken with the staff.  A search of the school's website shows a nuts-and-bolts approach has overtaken its messages now.  I remember how galvanizing it was for us to all be on the same page in relation to our students, kind of like the thesis statement in an essay that keeps your writing on track. As I read the next three chapters on the role of the TL, instructional design, and robust assessment, I am sure you can understand that I have wholly connected on a quite personal level as well as a professional one and will read for deep understanding, with the key idea that a mission-based approach that works requires a school's staff, including its TL, to:

... know how students learn and how different students learn differently, how children acquire language and how to support language development, how to organize a curriculum that builds on students' prior knowledge and experiences, how to assess what students know and how they are learning, how to diagnose and meet the needs of struggling students, how to use a range of teaching strategies, how to motivate students and how to work collaboratively with parents and peers to reinforce learning at home and school.

Patti Goes to Edmonton: Another Vancouver Star!

Let's recognize our TL/Star of the Year in Canada:

Pat Parungao is the CASL recipient of the 2010 Follett Internation Teacher-librarian of the Year Award, presented this weekend in Edmonton at the Canadian Library Association (CLA) conference.


Pat catches up on a little light reading before our day at the U of A. She is digging deeply into Treasure Mountain Canada: Leading Journeys, compiled by Carol Koechlin. My paper included herein was delivered at the "summit" called TMCanada. The paper outlines the development of The BCTLA Points of Inquiry project, developed jointly with the VSB with the support of the Vancouver School District Teacher-librarian 2009 Inquiry initiative.

Here, Pat claims a rightful place at the very front of the class. This is Dr Ross Todd working with Carol Koechlin (right) and Liz Kerr (of the CLA, behind).


On Friday, Patti claimed her place amongst the most honoured of Canada's TLs as the CASL-Follett Award winner for 2010. Speech was fantastic and more than fairly represented why, after several decades of contributions to the field in an outstanding leadership role, she is OUR STAR.

We are very proud of you, Pat Parungao.

PSSSSTTTT:

While I have you, and if you haven't already done so, read Jamie McKenzie's FNO March 2010 article on Why We Still Need Libraries and Librarians.

Wisdoms from the Treasure Mountain Summit

Pat Parungao, Canada's TL of the Year 2010

with Dr Ross Todd at Treasure Mountain, Edmonton

Here are some of the key points from the keynote evening at Treasure Mountain, a think-tank for practicing Canadian TLs and school library researchers held in Edmonton in conjunction with the Canadian Library Association Conference. Pat Parungao, Heather Daly, Coquitlam consultant and president, BCTLA, Richard Beaudry in his capacity as Past President of CASL and Joanie Probskie, both from Langley, also attended.

Dr Ross Todd gave us the global picture, from countries like Portugal and Sweden, where school libraries are now mandated, and Australia where stimulus money is being used to build school libraries and where a national inquiry is under way into school libraries to the decimation of school library programs in the US. The digital divide is clearer and enhanced by these "ends" of service to students.

For Todd, there are three critical issues:


Vision:

The vision of a school library as "learning or knowledge commons" -- a shared space for all that enables deep knowledge outcomes and thus intellectual agency through accessible resources, including a teacher-librarian -- is an empowering one for young minds. In a flexible, dynamic, 24/7 learning centre, young learners find the help, digital and print resources and tools to create, produce, and share knowledge. By providing opportunities for students and teachers to engage in discovery and inquiry learning in an environment that is safe and that offers opportunities for deep reading, collaboration, creativity, cooperation, and intellectual play, TLs are supported both within and beyond the school as they guide and awaken minds and enable intellectual development, agency, and empowerment.


Engagement:

The primary focus of such a re-visioned school learning commons to build the capacity for creative and critical engagement. There is a shift in the instructional role, from helping people "find stuff" to doing something with the found information. The LC is a centre for learning innovation. The LC is a place, space, and mindset for staff and students in a school. Engagement is social, academic, and intellectual where children become part of a "thinking conversation" (Knodt).


Evidence:

The questions for us are these: How do we immerse our young learners in learning that enables them to develop their sense of self and a sense of the future? How can we be a key part of their learning to develop intellectual, personal, and socio-cultural agency? And how can we provide evidence to district decision-makers, administrators, teachers, and students that what we are proposing and, in some cases, already doing, works? The opportunities lie in the rich leadership TLs offer beyond the traditional imparting of information literacy, in designing learning partnerships that enable TLs to guide teachers and students to develop capabilities that are resource-base, thinking-based, and knowledge-based, that are personal and interpersonal, and that are about reading to learn and learning management.

Back in for a while ...

... After a Month on the Road

There's a lovely fresh and lighter look at Van Horne. This was our last stop on the city tour of school libraries. I think the photos are the best thing I've blogged so far and am well aware they are inspiring a much-needed energy to "lighten up" and weed the "dead stuff" in these stressful times in the VSB's annus horribilis. When times get tough, TLs weed (and get weeded, but that's another not-so-light story)!

Way to go, Dorothy, and assistant/mentors Maryann (who has a vested interest as a VH Kindergarten mother), Linda, Wendy, and Sylvia. Lots was done and learned in a very short period of time as Dorothy has only been there since January.


I won't be showing any photos of the cubicle that's waiting for me after our month of May Update sessions for Vancouver TLs. Know that my piles were only slightly less than these that were waiting for Maryann:

Here (below) am I with Renee, Primary Lit Consultant, down in Library Services as we are getting ready for our presentation at the online international conference on Reading, called YSL4 (YourSchoolLibrary, 4th event):

Our Session is to be an informal one. We are posting an emerging discussion called Reading the Word and the World: Shared Perspectives on Guiding Readers to Quality Literature. Do TLs have key points they want to see included? Why, yes they do. I'll be using our School Libraries and Literacies document you have seen in its finished form at the Updates. And nothing says I can't draw from comments received on my blog! (We learned it's okay to start sentences with And, But, or Because ... but that's never been a problem with the conventions of blog-writing, in my view.)My next appearance, while flying between outpourings of brilliance in the conference seesions I am attending and the discussions and upcoming interviews, will be at the same conference as a moderator for Stephen Krashen. Ain't I the important person!

Secondary TLs Make Appearance at SFU

I am dreadfully sorry I didn't take a single picture at SFU Bennett Library this week with most of the secondary TLs in attendance to hear the Writing expert (also named Renee) from the SFU Learning Commons identify the Top Ten Things Students Need to Know How to Do To Succeed with Academic Reading and Writing, a nice follow-up to last year's session about Academic Research. This team will be with us and some of our academic secondary department head colleagues at UBC later in June. We were delighted and send profuse thanks to Hope (my invitation said, There's Hope at SFU) and the team of librarians and we are quite convinced our colleagues will be greatly pleased with this session.

I am also sorry to say I don't have pictures of the annual year-end secondary dinner and gabfest, this time at Vita Bella restaurant in Burnaby. It was perhaps the loudest EVER! Who knew that they who apparently specialize in "shushing" could be so readily and enthusiastically influenced by Italian style and gusto. I think I needed that special night out with my specialist friends.

Bye for now ... won't likely be here at my usual blogspot next week as I am off to Edmonton to talk about Inquiry with Ross Todd, David Loertscher, Carol Koechlin, Sandi Zwaan, and more. Mmmm-hmmm. That's ME, important! We are going to be discussing our papers in relation to School Libraries as Learning Commons. Heather from Coquitlam and our Pat are going to be there too ... but I still can't say why Pat is coming!

Thanks, everyone. We saw TLs from all but about six of our school libraries at these sessions. That's amazing professionalism and dedication to currency and planning, eh? But that's what is so great about our TL community.

PSSSSTTTT: Be sure to check out the next blog and take 20 minutes or so to poke around in the TED site, if you have never been there before. Sir Ken Robinson's talks (this one is new and there is one from 2008) are amongst the most thought-provoking for us TLs as promoters of inquiry-based learning.

Big Things Happening ...

In the news this week --

Budget Finalized --
Cuts Mostly Away from Schools and Classrooms
Learning Services Loses
Consultants, Release Time, and Supplies
Computer Talks Under Way in Schools
Databases to be Axed

What more? We TLs who held hard to the gunwales began to breathe a little easier. Thanks are due to hard-working parents and visionary Trustees, as well as administrators, union leaders, and Management in retaining what we in school libraries know to be an important piece in learning for 21st Century students. Early reports are that school libraries are valued and staffing has been sustained here. There are echoes heard from other school districts that this has not been the case for them.

Then --

NEWS FLASH: A SUPER-RETIREMENT

Whenever I run into our Superintendent, not often but usually in the elevator, I ask, as of a captain, if everything is under control. I am always reassured that, indeed this is the case, yes, the mother-ship is moving forward in capable hands. All systems ahead, The Navigation Team is steering the course straight and true.

I have liked being able to use the analogy of seamanship and navigation, these fitting The Man. I have felt, guided as we have been by a reader of charts and books and maps for education, that from the beginning this voyage would be safe and interesting and planned with the skill of a seaman, yet still offer a sense of adventure in plying the familiar waters. It has suited me better than sports analogies.

I am hopeful our next Navigator will have as great a capacity to read an audience, a context, and a book and to pull the pieces together in ways that make us keen to row together on the journey through the educational seas, sometimes choppy, sometimes calm, but inevitably always a source of inspiration.


On Inquiry, Updates, and Events

From The Critical Thinking Consortium, a book launch of Cyber-bullying by Dr Shaheen Shariff, May 19, 5:30 to 9:00 pm, Vancouver Sun Reading Room:

• We have one more TL Inquiry session and an Inquiry Showcase Event on June 3 here in Room 400 after school. Filming, animoto-ing, writing, mentoring ... all kinds of things are under way. Here's our Inquiry Wiki, should you want to keep up with us as we seek answers to how to identify and share best practices in the field and in the district.
  
• May Updates "The Final Chapter" are also under way. Lovely setting at Kingsford-Smith, Ms Kelly convening. Thanks to the First 9 TLs who came to this season's trial-run. There was interest in the emerging Infolit Benchmarks Project (very much in draft stages).


• Thanks to Kam and Gwen for the Q&A Tea for New TLs at Fleming this last week as well.
  
• VTLA Dinner -- save Monday, June 8, on your calendar. Check for the flyer.
  
• New look for BCTLA Online
  
• Summer Institutes of interest at UBC: EPLT is offering
  
  Interactive White Boards (August 13-17 at Livingstone) -- This is both a Summer Institute (July 13 & 14) & 3-credit course (July 13 - 17) for both beginning and advanced users of Smartboards. Teachers will work on developing literacies, lessons, and learning strategies that can be used in the first weeks of school.
  
  Digital Literacy -- The Use and Benefits of Social Media in the Classroom (July 20-24, 2009; 10:00 am - 3:00 pm; UBC Campus Ponderosa F103) -- 4 day-long workshops to learn how and when to use collaborative tools for writing, discussion, and research.
  
• Courses for Teacher-librarianship >>> check out the programs and options >>> and more on Coquitlam's SD43 TL Courses which has "public" face so we can all access it. Thanks, Heather.
  
• See also the new TLSpecial Wiki page, Conferences Near and Far, for information on international and local professional development opportunities, including details of the Fall BCTLA Conference in Richmond, Olympically themed "Champions of Literacy" with its opening reception to be held with mascots at The Oval.

INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL LIBRARY SCENE

If you are considering the Italian Grand Tour in conjunction with the 38th Annual IASL Conference for School Libraries around the world to be held in Padua in the late part of the summer:

Here is some updated information on the IASL Workshop Day, Monday, August 31, to be held in Padua , as per attachment of conference package options, sent earlier in the week:

• Dr Carol Kuhlthau and Dr Ross Todd from Rutgers are offering a day-long session (2 workshops) entitled Guided Inquiry. As an IASL member, I will pay $100 CDN (instead of the non-member $185 for the day), that price to include lunch, coffee breaks, materials and certificate of attendance. The Workshops are limited to 50 registrants. I'm keen on framing my Italian certificate.
  
• We here in Canada are IASL Zone A (developed countries) and membership dues enable IASL to promote and support school libraries in developing countries. If you personally join, membership is $60 CDN. Your Association or District can join as well, and name three people who can have the privileges of membership, for $115 CDN. To join, check here.
  

For your information as well, the 75th Annual IFLA Conference is being held August 23-27 in Milan, Italy! That's too much for me but some hardier souls might like to take this in as well. World Library and Information Congress: 75th IFLA General Conference and Assembly "Libraries create futures: Building on cultural heritage" / 23-27 August 2009 / Milan, Italy.

Congratulations are in order!

The TL Scene / Seen:

It's the busy time of year. That's my excuse for slowing down with the posts ... and besides, I need you to catch your breath on the school library roller-coaster ride. We are moving along at quite a clip and it's hard to take it all in.

There are a couple of national awards of interest to Vancouver TLs ... but I am overstepping the official CLA / CASL announcements next week and can only suggest you stay tuned. We remain Haycock's Legacy! By the way, I saw Ken two weekends ago at the BC Librarians' Conference in Burnaby. Look for more Haycock by summer's end.

All kinds of events for the BCTLA are recorded by our President Heather Daly on her BCTLA blog In Circulation. Read, for example, about:

• this year's Distinguished Service Award recipient Coquitlam principal Ross Davidson who supports literacy by making sure his school has a strong school library program with full-time staffing and by continuing his involvement in the partnership of principals and vice-principals whose Hog Wild About Reading motorcycle ride campaign has, for the past nine years, raised funds for Coquitlam's school library collections. Yay, Ross!
  
• our VTLA President Chris Evans' receiving this year's BCTLA Ken Haycock Grant for Professional Development to help defray costs of coming to the 2009 IASL Conference in Italy. Mary's in for sure, and we have three others considering coming.
  
• Michele Farquharson and Chris being elected to the 2009/10 BCTLA Executive, joining me and Sylvia from Vancouver as well as the retired Val H who, when not geo-caching, continues her web-working-wonders for TLs.
  
• this year's TL of the Year, Victoria's Karen Lindsay, our BCTLA second VP, particularly well-known for her work in advocacy for school libraries and for promoting DEAR: Drop Everything and READ.
  
• now retired Richmond TL phenom Judith Kootte who won this year's Val Hamilton Lifetime Achievement Award. Judith continues her fine leadership role in learning resources and technology learning with ERAC.
  
• the new BCTLA Position Statement on Book Levelling and School Library Collections which is to be ready next week.

Amazing morning! See you Tuesday for Tea ...

Earlier this week the Churchill school library, a-buzz as ever with herds of students, was filled with rookie TLs, most of whom couldn't be distinguished from the kids. The 30 or so of our newest TL-colleagues were delightful to work with -- I know Maryann, Katharine, and Linda will agree -- and Mark Roberts too, as he has shed his "rookie" mantle after the first year back in our ranks from several years in a classroom. It was crowded but the energy and enthusiasm was fantastic. Thanks also to the VTLA, Kam at Fleming and Gwen in particular, who have identified the need for our new TLs to have the support of seasoned TL colleagues and time to talk. Don't miss their invitation to have tea and share experiences and ask questions ... May 5, Fleming School Library. See you there!

The Final Chapter / May Year-end Update Sessions

Still more than 50 need to sign up for these important in-service sessions to prepare you for the busiest time of year, June, and for what to expect in September. The first session is scheduled for Thursday this week. Sign up online please if you haven't done so. Contact ME if you need help organizing to attend. An important workshop for a number of you will be Bombino's Inventory Basics as well, scheduled for this month.

Very Last Minute Notices

Perhaps if you are checking this and if I finish in time, you will want to rush down to the CWILL Spring Hatching event at the VPL ... that is, if you didn't get the notice sent out earlier this week --- or to the Histori.ca Fair event at the Museum.

On things historical, by the way, I loved every minute of the presentation made by Wes Knapp at the Kitsilano workshop to share the DVD and teaching package for 1907 / Vancouver / 2007. Now every high school has the kit and there are two sets for lending at Media Services. Elementary teachers are using it as well. All this has been funded by the Vancouver Historical Society and is an amazing resource for Vancouver students. Wes and Charlie Hou will be presenting this again in October.


Web 2.0, Part 2: Online Conference June/July

Check here for more Henri/Lee Your SchoolLibrary Pro D, an online conference entitled Information Literacy and Web 2.0. This conference features our own Pat Parungao as a presenter alongside names like Mike Eisenberg of BigSix fame. If you "attended" the last one, there is a discounted price. There is also a group price. Let me know how many will be "coming" to this session which has more presenters and which runs from June 13 to July 5. Let me know ASAP if you are in for this one and I will set about negotiating our participation.


Educators to Watch

Maryann and I spent time together at the annual Fast Forward event which, despite the lack of ERAC participation, continues to provide public and academic librarians, as well as K-12 educators, a chance to pre-view and select DVDs and other related tools and resources for their patrons. I worked alongside Joan from Hamber and Steve from the VSB, as well as two of our French Immersion colleagues. We were all excited about some great programs that had been nixed or missed by the ERAC selection process. Mostly I loved the NFB videostreaming database ... you'll see this at the Update sessions. Oh, and lunch with a guy to watch ...

So we watched DVDs ... and then dashed to a lunch-time talk to hear Assistant Superintendent (West Van) Chris Kennedy's energetic presentation. Well, began, Kennedy, the world needs more librarians in the 21st Century (don't need to worry about hooking this audience) -- kids need to be taught how not to plagiarize, not learn by getting caught by mechanical plagiarism detectors. Using wikispaces as a presentation tool, he talked about the world-class product of our education system that we have here in BC, as evidenced by the PISA tests, measuring 15-year-olds for international comparison, that clearly place us at the top alongside countries like Finland. His District's literacy goals next year will feature Digital Literacy ... how much fun will that be! After the little shot of professional adrenalin to keeps us thinking about how best to work for our teacher-colleagues and with the needs of the children of the 21st Century in mind, we headed back to the viewing tables. Yes, it's all exciting stuff.

Budget Presentations

Kudos to the parents who are Friends of the School Libraries here in Vancouver, for the astounding level of support given to us in the recent budget process. Thank you, Trustees, for your support under the most trying of times, as well. It surely isn't the best part of your leadership role, having to cut the very services, resources, and tools that you know enable and empower our young learners to enter the adult world better able to read, think, learn, and prosper. It's been lean here in public schools for way too long now.


IASL Conference 2009

Planning-for-Padua Update

Are you looking for a great travel opportunity with fantastic company? If you haven't looked at the IASL Conference information, you may want to see what's up for TLs in Italy this summer. And we are so excited we have organized a group tour with our Italian travel consultant, Pre-conference Tour Organizer Francesca della Hastings (as in our Frances). We are pretty close to having a package together that we will send out for your summertime consideration. Vancouver and other TLs, educators, and friends might want to consider the 10-day Tour that brings us to Padua in time for the Workshop Day (August 31) with Dr Ross Todd and Dr Carol Kuhlthau -- I emailed for details which are too follow but they are pleased to hear a group from BC is coming! The Pre-conference Day, September 1, is fully posted. The workshops and papers have been selected so more detail on conference presenters will be coming soon. The actual conference, School Libraries in the Picture: Preparing Pupils for the Future, is September 2-4. Email ME for the information package.

New Issue of Teacher-Librarian, April 2009

This is the Best-of Issue (best fiction, picture books, websites, graphic novels, software, adult books for older teens, and so on) of Teacher Librarian and it includes the BEST from Canada's Resource Links 2008. Two articles I intend to savour: Tips from National School Library Media Program Winners for Success, in "A Recipe for Your School Library," and an article entitled "From Library to Learning Commons: A Metamorphosis." Great Advisory Board here everyone ... includes Ray Doiron, Michele Farquharson, Doug Johnson, Joy McGregor, Marcia Mardis and more. Try the magazine's TLToolkit for great websites.

Inquiry

Project continues. Inquiry TLs are invited for Monday morning to join SLRCCC sub-committee to look at IL Benchmarks and to consider project timeline and products for June. Academic librarians from UBC and SFU will join us for half the meeting. I am looking forward to this. Our TLs showcase so well!

Ross Todd, James Herring, and more ...

Day 5: Tuesday, August 5


Today began with keynote speaker James Herring, a Scottish academic now working in Wagga Wagga, NSW, in Australia. Insights into the IASL converence and his address to participants can be found on James's blog. His talk, Reading Websites, challenged us to think about student reading abilities when they are applied to electronic sources. Which websites work with students? who teaches website-reading? what are the differences in skills required to read a website's text, photos, and video offerings? what strategies enable students to read websites effectively?


Teaching students to search, suggests Herring, may be overrated; we should give them websites they can read in the form of hotlists or pathfinders. Finding too is overrated. We focus students to find information by skimming and scanning, but students need help with comprehension. Images and image creation are underrated, as are the skills to comprehend them. Students need help understanding images, learning from them, thinking about them, interpreting them, and communicating them. Students need to be taught to ask, what do I see? what does it mean to me? why would I say this? what was the purpose of the image?


Important considerations were these, and ones that were strongly linked to what Dr Ross Todd of Rutgers University in New Jersey observed later the same day in his presentation of the study of Delaware teacher-librarians. Entitled "Building Capacity and Continuous Improvement of School Libraries," Dr Todd began in clear delight to tell us about the recent legislative changes that have occurred in New Jersey, so new the ink isn’t dry and the academics and members of the NJ Association of School Librarians are still gasping at its implications for their work.


To support student achievement in New Jersey, school districts must “provide for an academically rigorous, personalized environment to prepare students for post-secondary and/or careers after graduation.” A priority for instruction is the provision of library services connected to classroom teaching, including “access to computers, district-approved instructional software, appropriate books including novels, anthologies and other reference materials and supplemental materials that motivate students to read in and out of school and to conduct research. Each school district shall provide these library-media services under the direction of a certified school library media specialist.” (NJASL, 2008; for more detail, click here.


Todd then talked more about the Rutgers study for the Delaware Governor’s Task Force on School Libraries. Recent studies (Slavin, 2008; Gore and Ladwig, 2002; Kuhlthau et al, 2007; Scholastic, 2008) provide a context for Todd’s research. Research evidence on school libraries traditionally included data about the infrastructure of school libraries -- the staffing, resources, technology, as well as the curriculum, reading, literacy and other literacies initiatives, usually describing its informational role in schools. Ross saw that what was needed were insights from teacher-librarians about the nature of instructional activities undertaken in their programs. It was time to illuminate the formational and transformational roles.




As key players in the gathering of research evidence about school libraries, Todd believed, teacher-librarians lead and enable dynamic school library programs to meet the school’s goals for student learning; he set our to document and support improved instruction and achievement, that is, to build capacity and thus to implement strategies for continuous professional improvement. He sought answers to questions such as, how do teacher-librarians develop reading, and how do they understand the impact of their program on student learning and achievement? how do they engage collaboratively with teachers in instructional activities? how engaged are the teacher-librarians with professional development? what do they see as the barriers to their work? what learning is enabled by their programs?

Ross concluded that teacher-librarians’ instruction for information literacy in school libraries focussed on the found and not on engaging with the found. It was likely to be centred on knowing about the school library, different and various resources, research strategies, and skills for evaluating sources, often in isolation rather than as part of an instruction partnership. Further, instruction for information literacy focussed on information sources, their location, formats, quality, and use, not on the processes on constructing new meaning or deep understanding of the curriculum, such as interpreting, identifying key ideas, organizing ideas into meaningful structures, critiquing, creating information products, and sharing the new ideas.

Information technology skills in searching, using databases, evaluating websites, and using the internet ethically were more likely to be taught in high schools, often again not in instructional partnerships.

Teacher-librarians engaged in a variety of reading promotion activities, but there was a noticeable decline in these activities in high schools and too many of these activities were passive in nature. School libraries could do more with discussion, lit circles, for example, and creative output to promote the love of reading.

So, teacher-librarians could describe improvements in reading, information literacy, use of information technology, and attitudes to the library. But fewer than half of the responding teacher-librarians were able to relate learning outcomes to students’ acquisition of deep knowledge or understanding about curriculum content. They were more likely to identify what they did than clarify what the students had learned.

Teacher-librarian responses suggest two aspects of their work, the lack of flexible scheduling and the clerical/administrative responsibilities, that constrain their instructional role.
Todd’s study also identified issues with levels of resources available to students, low participation in interlibrary loans, low budgets and budget decreases, and limited online search capability for school library catalogues and access to computers and school library websites.
What became clear was that there were some common characteristics of successful or “robust” programs which were highly integrated into the learning and life of the school:

• A qualified teacher-librarian
• Available support staff who freed the TL for instruction and reading initiatives
• Flexible scheduling that enabled collaborative planning and information literacy instruction
• Collections of 15-20 books per child
• Commitment to staff development for information and technology literacies
• Budgets of $12-15 per student per year, ensuring a current and vital information base
• A networked IT infrastructure for access and use of information resources 24/7
  

Todd’s key recommendations for the Task Force findings sought to place the locus for action squarely on the shoulders of the teacher-librarians themselves. The focus would be on issues of professional practice and on building the spirit of continuous improvement for “ourselves.” The recommendations included:

• Building school library programs on a stronger foundation of evidence-based practice in order to show the ways school libraries contribute to achievement
• Shifting the focus from instructing for simplistic information skills to stronger collaborations tied to content and skills outcomes
• Developing service and instruction for reading and literacy programs based on achievement gaps and learning need
• Creating an integrated approach to professional development where school librarians work with educational leaders to build opportunities for improved student achievement

To date, mini-courses using evidence-based practice have addressed building collaborative instructional capacity, planning, and literacy. The key principles for these mini-courses include sharing expertise across the educational arena, teachers, district consultants, teacher-librarians, and curriculum leaders committing to work together to build the capacity of school libraries; engaging with available research data to identify gaps and needs and create appropriate instructional programs; and linking planning and processes for capacity-building to school goals. School librarians must take a systematic and sustained approach to action, using research and experience to identify where school libraries can intervene in the school improvement process, for collaborative partnerships, and thus build active support for their work and their programs.

Some were overheard, in response to Todd's talk, wishing he had come to their state from his Australian roots in Sydney where his career began in teaching and teacher-librarianship and then at the University of Technology before he came to the US.