The Librain

Recently, I took part in the really brilliant online conference organised by Your School Library that I talked about in my previous posts. the theme was on school library design and also the wider issues of designing learning spaces. In some ways, the course was not timed very well for me – we had only just opened our new school library! But, it was interesting to see just how much the ideas shared on the course fitted in with what I had tried to achieve with the design of our new library.

Some of the libraries shared with us on the course were totally amazing to those of us who work in the UK. Here, we generally do not have spaces big enough to turn into “Learning Commons”, even if that idea were appropriate for our schools!

As I take part in the YSL courses I feel more and more that I am connecting with fantastic teacher-librarians from around the world who are working at a level far beyond most of us in the UK. This idea inspires me to try to achieve more – it feels like climbing up a steep mountain-side to reach the summit. On the way up, colleagues are reaching down to help us all get to the top together. As I learn more from these librarians, I realise just how much I don’t know. This is where my lack of teacher-training makes itself felt. Quite often, we are speaking different languages – and I don’t mean the fact that many of the participants come from a range of countries where English is not the first language. What I do mean is that my first language was Librarianship and theirs is Education. I have to travel towards the Education side and strive to understand a language that is sometimes not that comfortable – there are occasionally huge gaps in the translation! But I will keep trying as I feel that I somehow have to make up the deficiencies that my lack of teacher training gives me.

If that sounds negative, I don’t mean it to be. This striving for knowledge is an important part of any professional development – I have always said that when I stop learning or trying to learn, that will be the time for me to retire. Hopefully, this is a long time away!

So, what did I learn from the course this time? Well, that many of the things we had built into our tiny new library space were spot-on in terms of new ways of thinking about school libraries – particularly trying to make a flexible space, displaying books face-on as much as possible, using slatwall imaginatively, positioning of our desk, trying to build in good ICT facilities.

I also took away some more practical ideas that I immediately tried out. One library had the words “Ask, Think, Create” on the walls. This library also had a very large space which had been turned into a Learning Commons. Musical and other performances take place regularly and have been very well received. I thought about the words used on the walls and one night (when my creative thoughts tend to bounce around the most) I realised that I could extend the words to make a kind of logo for the library. The next day I played around on Publisher and made a logo with the words:

Think…Ask…Read…Imagine…Create… @ Your Library

I have used this on bookmarks, compliments slips, report covers, noticeboard frames – in fact on all library communications and stationery. The words could be put on the library walls and also fit an Information Literacy “framework”. I am going to play around with the idea some more and see where it leads.

As to the performance idea – I spoke to our Head of Music that week and suggested this to her – she was thrilled with the idea. So let’s see where that goes…

Again, it is some time since I posted here. I must admit that I have found the last few weeks very difficult professionally – not in my own job, but in the wider profession of school librarianship. Anyone passing by this blog, wondering about my reaction to recent announcements, will have to contact me privately as I am still thinking about how to deal with my feelings on this matter. Most UK school librarians will know what I am talking about here.

I will move on, because that issue depresses me totally and I don’t want to feel depressed right now! I love my job and am thrilled about our recently opened library. So, I have decided to write about the hows and the whys of becoming a Librarian following (a bit late) on a meme going around called Library Routes. If you are interested, have a look at The Library Routes wiki.

Well, I am probably more than a bit strange as I have always wanted to be a Librarian! No, I wasn’t born with a bun, glasses and a book in my hand – but I did learn to read at about 3-4 years old! My Mum’s family were avid users of the public library – particularly my Grandfather, who left school at 12 and educated himself by reading as many books as he could. As I grew up, I remember vividly my Mum taking us to the public library every week and before we went back again, I would have read all of my books, all of my sister’s and all of my Mum’s too! In many ways, the library was a forbidding building, but not to me. I just loved the books and the comics and especially admired the Librarian who helped me to choose what to read next – I wanted to be just like her!

Funnily enough, my school libraries were not up to much – I have vivid memories of hiding underneath the shelves in one of them with a book, trying to avoid a PE lesson. But the books were not the colourful and attractive creations that they are these days – old cloth bindings were the  norm. I probably borrowed far more from the public library than from those at school – these libraries were small and pretty unloved, with no staffing.

What I did enjoy, was going on the mobile library that visited my primary school. The Headteacher used to ask me to help return our class books to the mobile as I was good at alphabetical order! Oh, the stereotype was beginning already!

All through my school days, I cannot ever remember wavering from my goal of becoming a Librarian when I left. Without much career advice, I wrote to the Library Association, as it was then called, when I was in the Sixth Form and asked what I should do to further my career. I decided that I did not want to do a first degree in Librarianship, but went down the route of taking a degree in Ancient History and Archaeology, followed by a Master’s in Librarianship.

In those days (late 1970s), you had to do a Graduate Trainee year between the first degree and the Master’s. With my normal laziness, I didn’t try seriously enough to get this post and messed up interviews with Sheffield Public Library and Birmingham University Library! Instead, I took a Master’s in Ancient History and Archaeology, then was able to try again the next year and was lucky enough to get a post at Lancaster University Library, with a place at Sheffield to do Librarianship.

At this point, I was convinced that I was looking at a future career in academic libraries. The year at Lancaster totally changed that view! The staff there were brilliant, but I did not have a happy year at all, although I did learn a huge amount. During my time at Sheffield, I became convinced that I would go into public libraries – my first love after all. But, on leaving, the first post I was offered was in the Schools Library Service in Nottinghamshire – the Education Library Service.

I had a fantastic time working for ELS – it was great because a lot of my friends from Sheffield were also working for Nottinghamshire in a variety of library posts. After a year, some new posts came up in the city of Nottingham. These were to be the first professional librarians being placed into a number of schools. My boss, suggested that I try for one…. and a School Librarian was born!

So, looking back 27 years to that day when I first took up the date-stamp at The Manning School, do I regret the route and the choices that I made? After all, I have now worked in six schools and have never changed into another area of the profession – could I have done anything differently?

Well, I did try to change a couple of times, but somehow it wasn’t meant to be. My Mum said something to me a while ago – she said that I found my vocation when I “fell” into school librarianship! I think that she was right. From those first stumblings at Manning (I was pretty awful), to now, I wouldn’t change a thing. Along the way, I developed a passion for school librarianship – I honestly believe that it is the most important area of the profession. We play a part in shaping young minds and are privileged to see students grow and attain amazing things with our help. This is why I firmly believe that school librarianship must not be watered down – our students deserve the best-qualified and experienced people to run their libraries.

So, if you are reading this and are thinking of becoming a librarian – consider coming into schools. You can make such a huge difference! We need people who are highly educated, committed, passionate, caring, expert, knowledgeable, ICT literate, resourceful, assertive, well-read, brave, strong and bold!

School Librarianship – the greatest job in the world!

(Most of the time)

What is a School Library for?

After some discussion about this on the SLN mailing list and also some messages to the list which show widely differing views of what constitutes the purpose of a school library, I am posting here my own thoughts on this subject. Whatever your view, I feel that it is important to have a clear vision for the school library and your own role. This is mine:

Ideas from other sources:
I am trying to find a link to what the School Libraries Group of CILIP has to say, but the CILIP site seems to be not working – I will add this as soon as I can.

The School Library Association believes that the purpose of a school library is to provide a wide range of books and multimedia resources to support teaching and learning throughout the key stages, and foster a reading and information culture that promotes independent motivated readers and learners for life.  It will be appropriately staffed and funded and accessible to the whole school community during and outside the school day.

The American Association of School Librarians has various “Position Statements” on the role of the Library and Librarian.

The Australian School Library Association has a range of policy documents on its site, including this School Library Bill of Rights.

I will develop this post later on as I think of more things to say!