ETL 401 Blog Task #1

Principal Support and the Role of the Teacher Librarian

I was once interviewed for a teacher librarian (TL) job. The school principal was on the panel and he had a very simplistic view of the role of TLs. He referred to the position as one that teachers returning to work covet because it is a soft option, with little chance to build relationships with students. Having a limited understanding of the TL role myself, I had no rebuttal.

It is easy to be critical of principals who have no understanding of what TLs do, but research has shown that principals rarely learn about TLs or libraries within their administrative courses (McGhee, M. W. 2005). Unfortunately the stereotype of TLs as cranky women, lurking in dark corners shelving books is hard to shake. To do so, TLs need to be advocates for their profession.

TLs are teachers, collaborators and leaders. They are information specialists and program administrators (Purcell, 2010). They teach students and staff to become better self-directed learners, but in so doing, TLs become invisible. This makes it hard for principals to overcome the negative TL stereotypes and recognise a TL’s real worth (Oberg, D, 2006).

So how do TLs convince principals that TLs play a pivotal role within the school? Is it necessary to trick principals into attending regional library conferences as Tim Snyder (2004) describes or is there a better way?

Collecting hard and fast data is one way to educate administrators. Purcell (2011) suggests conducting a time study over the period of a week to record the actual tasks done and the roles these represent.

Schmidt (2007) also advocates data collection and a professional attitude when approaching the principal. She states, ‘I asked with a smile, with a positive attitude, with facts and figures from my own collection, with usage statistics, with library research studies quotes, and with an analysis on why the materials were needed and how they would affect student learning, which is a key component that should be included in any request.’

Williams (2011) supports this notion of stressing how students will benefit from library programs. TLs need to identify and advocate for student’s needs (Williams, 2011) rather than emphasise their own needs for support or funding. In doing so, they prove their own worth, that of a champion of school improvement for the benefit of students, a goal high on most principal’s priority lists (Harvey II, 2009).

It is important for TLs to work on the principal/TL relationship. Haycock (2004) states that three trends are clear in how principals perceive TLs. Firstly TLs who are active collaborators are appreciated because they make a difference to student outcomes. Also TLs who perform leadership roles within the school are better supported and held in higher regard than those who do not. Lastly, principals value the informal professional development that TLs can give to the staff.

It is clear that TLs need to be active in educating principals with regard to what librarians do. They need to be part of planning, management and curriculum committees to flex their leadership and program management muscles. TLs have the potential to drive new initiatives within the curriculum and can view the school from a wide perspective instead of having subject or faculty blinkers. In this respect they have a lot in common with principals.

REFERENCES

Harvey II, Carl A, ‘Principal Perspective, part 3: Advocacy and Shared Vision.’ School Library Media Activities Monthly/Volume XXV, Number 6/February 2009

Haycock, K. ‘Priority-setting: the Tough Work.’ Teacher Librarian, Apr2004, Vol.31 Issue 4, p6

McGhee, Maria W. ‘Helping Learners to Learn: Teaching Principals about School libraries.’ Teacher Librarian, Jun2005, Vol. 32 Issue 5, pp62-63

Oberg, Dianne. ‘Developing the Respect and Support of School Administrators.’ Teacher Librarian, Feb2006, Vol. 33 Issue 3, pp13-18

Purcell, M. ‘All Librarians do is Check out Books, Right? A Look at the Roles of a School Library Media Specialist.’ Library Media Connection, v29 n3 pp30-33 Nov-Dec2010 (EJ907292)

Schmidt, Cindy. ‘Whine or Woo-Which Describes You? (and be Honest with Yourself) Teacher Librarian, Oct2007, Vol.35 Issue, p73-74

Snyder, T. ‘Gaining the Hearts of Administrators.’ Teacher Librarian, Apr2004, Vol.31 Issue 4, p75

Williams, I. ‘Is it Time to Stop Advocating for Teacher Librarians?’ Access (10300155), Dec2011, Vol. 25 Issue 4, p3