The Crucial Role of District-Level Teacher-Librarians in Enhancing BC's Educational Landscape: Advocating for Sustained School Library Leadership
by Cathy Fowler, Joseph Jeffery, and Shaunna MacDonald
This paper examines the benefits of dedicated central support for school libraries. Across the country this kind of professional support takes on many forms if it exists at all. The writers have researched many districts in British Columbia and shared their positive findings. They document the pivotal function of the district-level TL and why their role should be considered essential staffing within a district.
Cathy Fowler has been a teacher-librarian for 20 years and is currently the District Teacher-Librarian in Campbell River School District. She holds a Master of Educational Technology from the University of British Columbia with a Post Grad Diploma in Library Sciences from UBC. She has been actively involved in the transformations of Libraries to Library Learning Commons across two districts and loves seeing the transformation in school cultures that a vibrant Learning Commons brings. She reads historical fiction and devours graphic novels, especially the reworked classics.
Joseph Jeffery is the District Learning Commons Teacher-Librarian in School District 57 – Prince George, BC where he supports teacher-librarians in creating and maintaining information literacy rich library learning commons programming, designing participatory and flexible learning spaces, and developing culturally responsive library learning commons. Joseph holds a Master of Education in Curriculum and Pedagogy specializing in Teacher-Librarianship from the University of Alberta. Joseph is currently serving as the Chair of the Canadian School Libraries Board of Directors. Outside of school, Joseph is an avid gamer of all types from card to tabletop to video games and enjoys being transported to imaginative worlds of science fiction and fantasy as a reader.
Shaunna MacDonald has been a teacher-librarian for 11 years and is currently the Teacher Librarian Helping Teacher in Surrey School District, British Columbia. She holds a Master of Education in Teacher Librarianship from Charles Sturt University, NSW, Australia. Her professional passions lie in connecting readers with books and creating student-centered Library Learning Common spaces and collections. You’ll most commonly find her hanging out in any middle grade fiction section, raving about her latest favourite reads.
Cathy, Joseph, and Shaunna,
ReplyDeleteI was already in agreement with your position even before reading your paper. In my school board in Ontario (Toronto District School Board), we have benefited greatly from our Library and Learning Resources Department Program Coordinators, both current (shout-out to Deb Haines) and past (Andrea Sykes, Ruth Hall, Sharon Mills, Tim Gauntley, Esther Rosenfeld, and others). In Ontario, we also have a group called TALCO (The Association of Library Coordinators of Ontario), where school board library leaders can meet.
You make a great point that "these positions are not all created equally" (page 2). The same is true in Ontario. Some are a department of one. Others have to manage many schools and juggle the demands of large numbers of school library professionals.
Closing district TL positions may not at first seem as devastating as saying goodbye to a school library professional who sits in front of students daily, but the ripples are far reaching. They are the great equalizers. I am so grateful that I do not have to sit in on budget meetings or consultations with vendors about databases; my school board does this for me so I can enjoy the fruits of their labor - helpful databases paid for centrally and easily accessible on our board's virtual library site (maintained centrally, thanks to the team and the district TL).
I don't understand why district school library centers are targeted when "bean counters" need to save money. When these services close, who can object? If the district TLs do it, it looks like it's self-serving. The voices of "regular educators" in schools are easily ignored at the system level, and sometimes we who are in individual schools are unaware of the danger our central library departments may face in terms of significant cuts. What is the most effective way to learn about and object to cuts?
Finally, thank you for the end-statement about AI in your paper. It is important to be transparent, and model how to appropriately use AI. It is an area that school libraries will need to play a vital role.
Diana Maliszewski