Week 4: A Balancing Act

Going through the readings this week, I thought a lot about balance. Related to what was discussed last week, it's evident that a school librarian accepts many roles in his/her position: manager, teacher, learner, librarian and facilitator (in no particular order of importance).

I chose to look at the "School Librarian's Bill of Responsibilities," a list of ten priorities professionals should undertake to create a positive learning experience in their school library. Of these, I thought #4, "Design student-centered learning experiences" was especially interesting. How can school librarians tailor instruction to their users when there are so many of them? Not only must librarians serve the entire student body, but they also must facilitate professional development among faculty/staff. Perhaps in conjunction with #4, the #3 responsibility is to "Support multiple paths to understanding for individual learning styles." Certainly, determining how to individualize a collective learning experience is an important task for school librarians.

"Bad business"--this is what Harada and Zmuda call weak instruction that school librarians provide in conjunction with another educator. That is, school librarians may be called upon to assist classroom teachers in designing/implementing lesson plans that are weak in critical thinking, inquiry, or real learning. What's a librarian to do? This certainly poses some dilemmas for those librarians who want to develop effective relationships with fellow educators but know that they must advocate for effective instruction first and foremost.
 
For her part, Ballard seems particularly concerned that the school librarians should be their own biggest fan as she argues for more public relations and written reports on librarian accomplishments. While her set of standards are commendable, it seems unlikely that every school/school library will value each of these priorities equally. In some learning communities, certain skills may be privileged over others, thereby influencing what school librarians are teaching. Similarly, some schools may not have equal resources to handle these responsibilities. Depending on the particular educational environment, a school librarian may find him/herself acting more as an administrator than a teacher or information specialist.


Another responsibility that a few of the readings touched upon was educating users to be ethical stewards of information. As new technologies emerge and social media becomes ubiquitous, I think this particular aim becomes more of a challenge--what exactly determines socially responsible use of information?


Harvey's short piece, "What Should a Teacher Expect a School Library Media Specialist to Be?" succinctly echoes many of the other issues mentioned above, as well as below.


To summarize, it seems that some of the most important goals of the school librarian are:

• Encourage students to be creative/critical thinkers
  
• Embrace collaboration with other professionals in the field (teachers, librarians, administrators)
• Create lifelong readers/learners out of students
• Establish a positive learning environment
• Keep current with professional development
  
• Teach students to use information effectively (whatever that means).