Professional+Practice

__**PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE**__

**2.1 Learning environment** Excellent teacher librarians: - create and nurture an information rich learning environment which supports the needs of the school community

**2.2 Learning and teaching** Excellent teacher librarians: - ensure that their programs are responsive to the needs of learners in the school community

**2.3 Library and information services management** Excellent teacher librarians: - provide exemplary reference and information services to the school community

__Collection management (cataloguing, library management systems) __
When selecting library materials, the teacher-librarian needs to take into consideration a number of different factors such as: student reading and interest levels, student input and the current library inventory. As a member of the school’s management team, the teacher librarian has a role in ensuring the school community’s access to an organised collection of teaching and learning resources and services designed to meet the educational, recreational and cultural needs of that community. (ASLA/ALIA, 2006)

Whilst basic information can be accessed from the ‘One school’ portal available to state schools, Cairns School 1’s website is still currently under construction (by a local designer) and is expected to undergo more significant changes over the next few months in preparation for the new school year (2012). The TL has allocated in the design, a page for the information literacy centre whereby children will be able to access the library catalogue from home or elsewhere 24 hours a day. His vision is to have a number of resources he currently uses during lessons also available for children to introduce their families to via the website (a little like ‘show and tell’). It has been noted that as most families at the school do not have computers at home, the school does not see the website as being overly purposeful for written communication __to__ the school community. However, by promoting a website, the school is able to attract clientele from outside the school community to further enhance the standing of the school. An 'inter-school' emailpal system is currently under development for the new school year which is a great way to promote information services to the school community. For all parents, correspondence is delivered in hard copy in the weekly newsletter including news and events from the library, most recently there is now also an ‘online’ version available. (see newsletter in ARCHIVES)  XX School Website viewed 4th Novemeber, 2011

In terms of how cataloguing and maintaining the collection are conducted, I would aim to emulate the TL at my SPP. It is clear that the TL has a very broad and deep understanding of the location and content of his collection and he is fascinating to watch put together baskets of resources within minutes of receiving a request. Whilst the TL is solely in charge of cataloging and putting data entry of new titles into LIBCODE and barcoding, the responsibility is then passed on to the very capable full time Library Aide to cover, label and shelve books.I have had the pleasure of learning the intricate process of labelling and cataloguing books following a precise and methodical procedure (see ‘Book Covering’ in Archives). The library work spaces and classrooms feel warm and inviting as well as productive. All resources in the library are thoroughly labelled and catalogued according to a strict procedure which even though at first I thought a little overrated, I now believe is fundamental to running a successful and efficient library. The TL at Cairns school 1 says that by using [|SCIS] to catalogue books, he has found it to be a more efficient and easy way to manage the collection. According to Education Qld’s Library website:  “SCIS provides high quality, consistent cataloguing data for Australian school libraries through a national data base of over one million catalogue records for educational resources that:
 * support the school curriculum
 * include fiction, non-fiction and teacher reference
 * cover all levels and content areas of the school curriculum
 * ====cover all formats including books, videos, computer software and websites ====
 * ====is accessed through SCISWeb, a web-based interface.” (QLD Government – Library Services, accessed 27th October 2011) ====

The TL is continually appraising the collection and the checking the relevance of existing resources. As the Curriculum Co-ordinator, the TL is able to have a grasp on what is needed within the school and make necessary decisions on behalf of the school when ordering resources to supplement the curriculum. The TL is also the I.T. co-ordinator at the school and collaboratively works with two computer technicians at Cairns School 1, which are employed on a part-time basis. The majority of the computer technicians role encompasses technical support for all classroom computers and staff laptops, however the TL is often the first port of call when problems arise. On a number of occasions during my visits, staff would call requesting passwords or to lodge a complaint regarding a computer problem. This often takes his focus away from tasks that he is currently doing, at times even during a lesson. A way I would see this being potentially avoided would be to have an online log book or wiki whereby staff could send a message and flag as ‘urgent’ where necessary.

By having a thorough understanding of the school clientele as well as the expectations and needs of the community utilizing the library, I believe that the TL is able to reflect what is happening at the school by maintaining a balanced collection. We have seen many BER libraries being built but not necessarily professionally staffed, which is disappointing as the library is considered to be a classroom and a place for learning. The school library has multiple roles beyond book selection, reading and research and these roles and that of the teacher-librarian should be explored to ensure that the needs and wants of the 21st century learner are well catered for.

“Effective learners are not just those who are knowledgeable but rather they are people who are able to find and use information as required. <span style="color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; font-size: 15.3333px; text-align: center;">It can be said that effective learners are those that are information literate. <span style="color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; font-size: 15.3333px; text-align: center;">Information literacy is synonymous with knowing how to learn. <span style="color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; font-size: 15.3333px; text-align: center;">This means that the ability to process and use information effectively <span style="color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; font-size: 15.3333px; text-align: center;">is more than a basic tool for the empowerment of school students: <span style="color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; font-size: 15.3333px; text-align: center;">it is in fact the basic survival skill for those who wish to be <span style="color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; font-size: 15.3333px; text-align: center;">successful members of the 21st century.” <span style="color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; font-size: 15.3333px; text-align: center;">(//Learning for the future: developing information services in schools// <span style="color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; font-size: 15.3333px; text-align: center;">2001, 2nd edition, p. 2.)