This presentation will be made available on my blog readingpower.wordpress.

com, so
you will be able to access both slides and notes. Last year at Edutech, I shared our
library renovation. Photos of our Library will again feature in todays slides. However,
the renovating of the space was but one stage. The next stage was to renovate our
library program to maximise the learning potential of this wonderful environment.
Firstly, some work for you. Jot down or discuss with the person next to you an answer
to the question: What is your idea of a visionary library program? You have one
minute. We will share these at the end of the session, time permitting. I find it
immensely helpful to hear the vision of other librarians for reflecting on my own. This
talk today is our vision statement: our aspiration for our school library which might
challenge you to think differently or it might reinforce what you are already doing.
Like most of our students, I started with google. I found an article called how to do a
TED-like talk. It said A good 20-minute talk presents: one idea, tells one story, and
asks one question.

One idea: Teacher librarians must provide cutting edge library programs, using
evidence based practice, that focus on goals directly connected to school leadership
priorities. Teacher librarians need to use Professional Learning Networks to develop
these programs and must promote these.
One story: kill Sacred Cows
One big question: Is your library program satisfying your Principal or school
leadership?
Lets consider the last question mathematically. Please dont answer. But consider what are you paid? What is a library aide paid? Lets say an experienced teacher
librarian might cost a school $90,000; possibly more. An aide running the library
(term time only) might cost less than half this amount, that is less than $45,000. So,
school leadership would need to be satisfied that the learning benefit provide by
the teacher librarian is worth the differential cost - say $45,000. What does this
mean? Here is a recent example. A teacher librarian returning from leave asked her
school leadership if she could take mainly prep and younger classes. School
leadership refused this as they were concerned this teacher librarian would largely
be reading picture books, based on her past work, and they were not satisfied that
this justified paying her salary. Teacher librarians spend a lot of time juggling finances,

so we should be very aware of what this must be like for school leadership.
When teacher librarians lose their job, they are sometimes given the choice of
returning to the classroom. I have been told by some teacher librarians that they
chose to resign because classroom teaching is too demanding. Teachers work on
average a 60 hour week with marking, preparation, parent meetings and so on.
Teacher librarians need to work as hard as teachers if expecting a teacher's salary and
many teacher librarians work longer hours than this.
http://www.theguardian.com/education/2014/feb/28/primary-school-teacherswork-60-hour-week Many teacher librarians already have timetabled classes with
reporting and assessment. I do. Just this month. I was told about a teacher librarian
who applied to fill a contract for a teacher librarian on long service leave. This
applicant was a qualified teacher librarian, but said she could not take classes by
herself. Needless to say, she did not get the job. It is non-negotiable, that teachers
librarians must show leadership in teaching.

There are many excellent teacher librarians, but not every teacher librarian is
excellent. Some do not connect with cutting edge school library information, so do
not hear, let alone heed, the warnings that have been communicated for many years,
about the need for change in teacher librarian roles and programs.
I am not saying that only poorly performing teacher librarians have lost jobs, for that
is not the case. Rather, I am saying that we need to consider the issue more broadly
than blaming Principals or asking Unions to enforce one teacher librarian in every
library. Some school libraries are simply revising what has been done in the past.
Most teacher librarians work hard and mean well, but this is not enough to keep
teacher librarians in jobs. Technological advances mean that many library processes
can be done without specialist skills, yet many teacher-librarians spend considerable
time on such tasks. In America, the role is often called library media specialist.
Teacher librarians need to run programs that are very "special" to enhance learning. If
teacher librarians are doing jobs that can be done by non-specialist staff; if they do
not become indispensible to their school's learning goals, then they become an
expense that can be dispensed with.
Recently, on the main Australian teacher librarian list, a teacher librarian emailed

about disparaging remarks that had been made about teacher librarians at a
conference. In response, the suggestion was: let's ... bombard them with messages
from school libraries and kids. The problem with this response is the "show, don't
tell" rule. Telling people we are "good" is unlikely to work if that is not what they have
been shown.
We need to reflect seriously on why these poor opinions of school librarians exist
because teacher librarian jobs are disappearing at a rapid rate, not only in Australia,
but also worldwide. Some teacher librarians plan their programs quite separately
from teachers, let alone communicating with school leadership. It is easier to get rid
of teacher librarians if they are already disconnected.

So, the most important step in revisioning the library program is to look at the
practices of the teacher librarian. This does not mean abandoning information
literacy, reading or resourcing roles; but it may mean doing these things differently; it
may mean stopping some practices; and it means making time for new directions.
Literature and inquiry are now included more explicitly in International Baccalaureate
and other curriculum documents more extensively than in the past. Teacher librarians
do not own reading promotion or information literacy. These programs will only be
most effective when the teacher librarian operates with teachers as a team, who
have a shared approach, which is sequenced across year levels.

Teacher librarian, Natalie Georgious from Western Australia sums it up on her blog
http://www.backtothelibrary.com/ ; it is easy to start playing the blame game. She
says there has been much pointing of fingers towards school administrations and the
government... She says if you put yourself in their shoes with their very tight budgets,
knowing that the only way to continue learning programs is to cut back in other
areas, could you justify the employment of library staff? Natalie states if all we are
really doing is building and maintaining resource collections, along with traditional
reading programs and some ad hoc information research skills teaching, then we are
indeed an expensive luxury resource in the schools overall budget. It will only be a
matter of time before your position becomes redundant and replaced by someone
who costs a lot less.
She also says on her blog; "At the end of last year (2014) ...the library staff (3 Teacher
Librarians and 2 Library Officers) at a very large city public school were told by their
Principal that they were no longer needed at the school and that they would be
replaced by a Level 3 Library Officer... This was a start of a stream of horror stories
about teacher librarians being retrenched or not being replaced and Library Officers
left stranded in running large school libraries without any support or training to do
the job....

Natalie states the Western Australian Department of Education in 2014 rewrote the
job description for Level 2 Library Officers stating that their duties include running a
school library in its entirety, including budgeting, resourcing, programming and duty
of care, with not a mention of a Teacher Librarian anywhere in sight! Natalies story is
similar to moves in many other jurisdictions worldwide. Technology has wrought
massive changes to learning, with more to come, so unless teacher librarians change
their programs to meet the needs of modern learners, the job will go the same way
as rat catchers, leech collectors and the milkman.

There is no perfect library program. Each teacher librarian needs to make choices on
how they can make the biggest impact on their own schools learning goals. These
decisions should be reached through collaboration with school leadership. This is not
about leadership telling the teacher librarian what to do. This is about a 2 way
professional conversation with the teacher librarian proposing programs that they see
as achieving school goals and obtaining ideas and feedback. If this conversation does
not happen, at least annually, then this is the first practise that needs to change. The
teacher librarian also needs to be perceptive in eliciting leadership directions which
are made explicit in many forums, including conversations, staff meetings,
newsletters and other school communications. The library program then needs to be
implemented as strategic and operational library goals, looking ahead, and then
broken down into years, terms and weeks. Then this can later be broken down into
goals for each day. Statistics need to be taken and reports made regularly of progress.
These plans should have some flexibility, but there is an old quote: failing to plan is
planning to fail.
So, how do we make our plan happen? By killing Sacred Cows. The phrase Sacred
Cow comes from India, where cows are protected even if people are starving. It
refers to someone or something that has been accepted or respected for a long time

and that people are afraid or unwilling to criticize or question. With the rapid decline
in teacher librarian jobs, nothing should be too sacred not to be questioned.
So, I am proposing to kill 10 Sacred Cows today.

Sacred Cow number 1: Not enough time to introduce new programs. Di McKenzie
http://librarygrits.blogspot.com.au/2014/02/day-7-keeping-track.html suggests
teacher librarians should track how they use time. It is important to review where
time is being spent, so that most time is spent on the most important goals. I tracked
my time for 2 weeks and was amazed how much time I spent trying to fix student
printing problems. Not any more.
Also, setting deadlines for achieving goals, changes how you view time, even if you
take more time than expected. Deadlines force focus.

Sacred Cow 2. Cataloguing. Many years ago I did a contract at Earnshaw State College
where a volunteer did ALL the library cataloguing. Teacher librarians need to avoid
doing work that can or should be done by aides or others. Part of the teacher
librarian role is to manage training of other staff in administrative skills; such as
cataloguing.

Sacred Cow Number 3. Repeat lessons. Taking repeat lessons is part of the job.
However, this needs careful management. Taking many repeat lessons is fine, if this is
what your employer wants and if you have enough staff to do this. However, there
might be areas where repeat lessons can be reduced, such as by providing videos,
screencasts or pathfinders, so teachers can deliver this information. For example,
referencing classes. You could make a video that teachers can use and students can
access 24/7 on how to reference. You might teach referencing to one year level in
person, for example Year 7, but in higher grades you might refer teachers and
students to the support materials. For schools where the teacher librarian has very
limited hours, creating referencing videos might be the only option.
Sacred Cow 4. Reading. Can the class teacher read the picture book, especially in
lower year levels? Can new books and reading titles be promoted in other ways than
the teacher librarian doing multiple repeat book talks; for example videos or digital
updates? It is more effective if students are empowered to find good books
themselves, rather than having a system dependant on the personal presence of a
teacher librarian to suggest reading options. There are many websites and apps that
provide reading recommendations and these are rapidly improving. There are many
other strategies that can be provided to maximise chances for students to find books

they will enjoy. All teachers should promote reading. This year at our school, the
Director of Middle School organised National Simultaneous Story Time this was
great because she has much more ability to convince classes on at this time, in this
case it included science classes, to give up time to make this happen.

Sacred Cow 5. Displays. How much time is taken doing displays? Can they be left up
longer or done by other staff or by students?
Sacred Cow 6. Activities. We need to look at the cost benefit of each of our activities.
Time is an important cost. At our school we have reduced what we do for Book Week
and no longer do Readers Cup. These were hard decisions, but we assessed our many
time demands and targeted areas that more closely met school learning goals. I am
not saying that everyone should do this. We did not have a system where we could
implement Readers Cup for large groups, so we were spending a lot of time on this
for a small number of students.
With any activity, there should be consideration of how the activities promote
specific learning goals. It is not enough to justify activities by saying they promote
reading. This is too general. There should be specific and measurable goals. For
example, say there were concerns about student conflict in Year 6. Developing
activities around the theme of friendship using a targeted book or book section could
be a good strategy. Then students could participate in activities that encourage
reflection on behaviours. Students could post to a private blog, that only the teacher
can see, a reflection about what they have learnt to reduce the interpersonal issues

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that have been occurring. The blog would provide evidence pointing to what has
been learnt.
We need to be targeted and always consider cost versus learning benefit. Some
libraries spend huge amounts of time creating pathfinders and on developing their
library website. There needs to be balance; the goal is to empower students to learn
to research, not for library staff to spend too much time researching student
assignments.

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Sacred Cow 7: Only the teacher librarian operates the book lending software. If aides
can run libraries, they can lend books. Teacher librarians can train teachers or even
some capable students to do the lending. If there are concerns about the accuracy of
the catalogue, then reconsider practices in relation to lost or overdue books and
ensure students can and do check their library borrowing record on the catalogue.

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Sacred Cow 8. Flexible versus fixed timetabling. Flexible timetabling often means
there are 2 teachers at a library lesson. Unless the teacher is active in the lesson e.g.
on rotations, or taking groups aside, then this is very expensive. One teacher librarian
recently told me that she ran a silent reading lesson where both she and the teacher
were silently reading with the students. Would the Principal question the learning
and cost effectiveness of this? Schools cannot provide the ideal learning solution - if
so, every student might have their own individual teacher. It is about finding the most
effective learning solution in given circumstances. So, arguing for flexible timetabling
is pricing some teacher librarians out of the learning ballpark.
Buffy Hamilton said in 2012, that despite almost thirty years of promotion of flexible
scheduling as a strategy for richer instructional outcomes, most American elementary
school libraries remain on fixed schedules. "Ironically, this reality saved many
colleagues jobs during the recession." Collaboration is time consuming and not all
teachers cooperate. Buffy states flexible timetabling often relies on some classes
opting out, and thus missing out. Fontichiaro, K., & Hamilton, B. (2014).
UNDERCURRENTS. Knowledge Quest, 43(1), 56-59

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These slides show ways of better utilising having a teacher and teacher librarian in a
class at the same time. For example, creating smaller groups within lessons; some of
which can be student led.

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This model shows a combination of whole class and smaller groupings over a term.

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These models can be applied even where there is one teacher librarian staffing library
lessons. This is from Jackie Childs blog. It shows students doing rotations. Then, the
teacher librarian can work with one of the smaller groups, while students undertake
independent learning in others.

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So, Sacred Cow number 9 is almost everything else, not yet mentioned. Do books
have to be covered? Does it really matter if shelves are sometimes messy? Are
minutes typed during meetings, so time is not needed to do this later? Is an online
booking system used for booking library spaces instead of booking in person or by
phone? Set goals and deadlines, make sure these goals support leadership goals; then
question everything that is standing in the way.
Even lack of money. When money is limited it is even more critical to manage time
and resources very carefully and to be goal focused. Nikki Robertson in her blog
report http://www.nikkidrobertson.com/2012/01/asla-twitter-chat-review132012.html?q=funded reports that Alabama schools have not been funded for
books for over 8 years. This makes the job much harder, but many teacher librarians
fundraise, ask for donations, use volunteers and student helpers, and find cheap ways
of running effective library programs.

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So, what are these specialist cutting edge library programs? They need to go beyond
good teaching. They often feature blended learning and new technologies. Teacher
librarians need to be leaders in technology it is not optional for job survival.
Including technology in library programs adds the perception that library programs
are "cutting edge," further marketing the value of the role. Local examples include:
Jackie Childs and Megan Daley combine their primary school literature lessons with
makerspace activities and gardening. Cathy Oxley uses scavenger hunts with QR
codes as part of library inductions and immersive apps. My team has a library
youtube channel with instructional screencasts. We have adapted our school
information literacy model resources so they can be easily shared in class onenotes.
Four local school library staff created a simulated fantasy quest using immersive and
augmented reality experiences to promote creative writing. Marist Ashgrove is using
database articles to help secondary students improve skills in decoding challenging
texts. The Mt Alvernia team is using social media and genius hour strategies to
engage and challenge students to be independent, critical and globally connected
learners. The choice of activities should reflect each school's circumstances.
Connecting library programs to the curriculum and school community aids
promotion.

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Teacher librarians need to be connected professionally. Every teacher librarian needs

a PLN, a Personal Learning Network. This saves time, by providing access to cutting
edge ideas from other teacher librarians. Options include twitter, blogs, MOOCs, as I
am currently doing as on the slide with the University of Adelaide, , email lists or
Google hangouts. There is a huge amount of free Professional Development available.
Much can be undertaken online whenever it is convenient. Many cutting edge
teacher librarians share generously and their programs can be modified to suit the
needs of other schools. Once teacher librarians implement library programs, they
must use evidence based practice to improve and show the effectiveness of these
programs. So, take photos, make surveys, report on what has been done and use this
information to improve, so the program gets better and better. Teacher librarians
must then promote what they are doing. It is no good doing a fantastic job if no one
knows about it.

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So, let us take further the idea of perception of the role. If a Principal asks for a goal
to be prioritised or makes a request of a teacher librarian, what should the response
be? If a teacher librarian is critical, disagrees or opposes the Principal's ideas, then
this is a sure fire way to become perceived negatively and even eventually lose a job.
Being right is not always the right way to handle career situations.
For example, if asked by the Principal to provide ideas for using technology to
improve literacy, responding that technology is not needed to improve literacy just
makes the teacher librarian look difficult, unable to find such resources, or lacking in
technology skills. We need to be career savvy and create win-win outcomes. Take the
Marist literacy idea of decoding journal articles. This could be presented to the
Principal with the option of students making digital annotations on articles on their
devices. However, in practise handwriting on printed articles could be the backup
plan, if technology is problematic. Teacher librarians need to market themselves as
"can do" people. The Fascination Principle says:" if your boss is interested in an
initiative, you should be fascinated." Like any job, the way to keep it, is to support
your employer's goals.
Teacher librarians need to be leaders in curriculum and technology. We have seen

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such roles offered in schools in Queensland, in the last decade, especially in primary
schools, but these have often been declined by teacher librarians because they are:
"not my role." At one stage some teacher librarians were saying that copyright was
not their job. However, if teacher librarians are meant of be specialists in information,
it is difficult to see why this would not include copyright expertise which now
includes concepts such as creative commons and information commons. And now we
have the future focused opportunity with makerspaces. There is really no set role for
teacher librarians. If we fail to step up to meet the current learning needs of schools,
then we will be left behind as relics of the past. Many valued teacher librarians now
do more elearning and staff professional development than in the past. We see
teacher librarians providing support for 1 to 1 devices, systems management,
textbook hire, music collections, and archives. My library staff are responsible for
school bulk printing. On the plus side, we do get to see every school assignment. We
need to get rid of the knots - do not, can not, will not and stop basing the role on
practices from the past.

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Some universities still advise that a teacher librarian's priority is to meet the needs of
staff and students. This is Sacred Cow number 10. Whilst providing specialist support
to staff and students is extremely important, the teacher librarians first priority
should be to support the goals of school leadership. These do not always align. For
example, some teaching staff regularly request help with doing their photocopying
and treat flexible library lessons as preparation time.
Be strategic when assisting staff and students. The goal is to help them be more
independent. You can also try and divert non specialist "helping" roles to others. If
you do not have support staff, then discuss managing this with your Principal. Set out
options, such as not covering books, using student or parent volunteers, and so on;
because operating as a library aide is a sure fire way to get replaced by one.
Remember, library aides are now expected to be able to run school libraries. Let
someone else be the expert in un-jamming the photocopier.

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Here is an example of solution thinking. When I was at Terrace Library last Friday, they
had a help desk in the library run by students. These students provided the initial
troubleshooting support for issues, such as printing for other students. Creative
solutions, such as this one, can ensure teacher librarians have time for designing and
implementing cutting edge library programs.

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We have tried many strategies over the years to find more time for cutting edge
programs. Some of these are here.

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And what can you do with this time? Programs like makerspaces. But even these
programs need to show learning benefits. The goal is to empower students to be
innovating, initiating learning, inventing and problem solving, not just turning on
some LED lights or making craft.

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I do not have time today to explore this further, but nearly all libraries have
catalogues. Yet, I hear some teacher librarians say their catalogue is barely used.
Secondly, catalogues are designed for searching, so makes it easier for patrons if they
can find everything in one place. Our catalogue provides access to Clickview, scanned
pdfs, digital textbooks, books, instructions, pathfinders, school archives, equipment,
everything we can think of; it even records lending of musical instruments. So, we are
moving to use this more and more as our main library portal.

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With our revisioning, we still support learning in class time. However, there has been
a significant shift to ownership of student learning outside class time.
Our library is a destination with exciting events. We generally run organised events
outside class time mainly for the first 4 weeks of school, mainly at lunchtimes, then
leave students to focus on assessment or chill out exploring our resources for the rest
of the term. We try not to compete with other scheduled school events. We connect
our activities with curricular and extra curricular activities, for mutual benefit.

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It is critical to plan change management. You must get your library staff on board.
Libraries need to plan for others in the school community to share ownership of parts
of library programs, especially students.

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An important part of the library program is connecting with teaching staff. Here is
what our library is offering teaching staff in the last 2 days of this term, for example.

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Teacher librarians usually cannot see every class for every assignment. However, by
having a systematic approach this can be done more efficiently. For example, see all
Year 7s for referencing lessons, Year 8s for in text referencing, Year 9 for website
evaluation, Year 10 for database training. Choose assignments that suit these skills
and that are done by all students in a year level. This is more effective than an
approach that relies on teacher contacting library staff which results in situations
such as some students missing out, while other students receive multiple referencing
lessons.

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Teacher librarians must work out a way to connect with school IT staff to be
successful.

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So, please think back on the ideas you jotted down or discussed at the beginning of
this session.
Did you write that teacher librarians must manage time and resources to achieve
goals directly connected to school leadership priorities?
Did you write about providing specialist cutting edge library programs using evidence
based practice?
Did you write about promoting, sharing and connections?
Did you mention connecting with leading teacher librarians and educators to select
cutting edge programs best suited to your schools goals?
Did you say that library programs should satisfy school leadership

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It is not about how hard teacher librarians work.

It is about delivering library programs that make our school leadership satisfied.
And to achieve this we need to kill any Sacred Cows that stand in the way.

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