Let’s get this straight…
There is no way to absolutely define the role of the school library or its librarian, hoping that it has one. The media will at times have you believe that we are The Guardians of The Books, who do not believe in technology and at other times argue that books are behind the times and “who needs them, it’s all online and librarians are grumpy and unhelpful anyway”.
The truth is that many librarians work in places where their jobs are undervalued and uncertain. The job role is warped and intensified and the training to implement this change has been sparse and largely irrelevant. No-one knows what the library is for, just that one is necessary. When self issue machines arrive, patrons bemoan the replacement of their librarians, ignoring the fact that this implies that all a librarian does is issue books. No wonder some are grumpy! Librarians actually have excellent information literacy skills, which can be applied to the Internet to great effect. Remember that the next time you’re battling with a search engine for information.
School libraries suffer from similar problems. Often we are the only ones in the school who know what we do. When I took over my current role, desperate for a job close to home, I had 3 hours of “training” and suddenly found myself in charge of an unfamiliar library management system, antiquated books, an insufficient budget and the door at the back of the library that only 6th formers were allowed to use! Nobody else knew that I had my own software, let alone how to use it. Having taken the job of a “qualified and chartered” school librarian, I was dumped in the library on my first day and expected to work miracles for roughly the same pay as an administrative assistant. Despite 11 years of library experience, without the support of email networks, local school librarian meetings and the School Library Association, I’m not sure what I would have done.
My point is, I’m fed up of the media telling me what libraries should be. I’m fed up of comments underneath articles about libraries, that are clearly not written by librarians or anyone who relies on libraries for vital services. The school library is at the whim of education policies, just as school departments are. Some schools interpret “promoting literacy” by creating “reading corners” and make their librarians redundant in favour of comfortable seating and one shelf of new books. Has nobody ever made the link between the assessment of children by “reading age” and the reluctance to read that I’ve perceived in students? Reading is literacy and literacy is educational and we all know that education is boring, right?
I’m aware this is a long first post but I need to get this off of my chest from the start. School librarians need to be appreciated more. By the public, by students and yes, by teachers. When you buy in much needed resources for students and then have to chase after teachers to promote them, the job can seem like a farce. We do every part of a job that in other parts of the industry, is divided into smaller job roles. On top of this we often take on extra responsibilities such as form tutor, cover lessons or taking part in extracurricular activities. We do this with relatively little support, no matter how well-intentioned the school. I’m lucky to have a supportive line manager but many others do this despite a difficult environment.They hang in there because they are passionate about what they do and don’t want to let their students down, which isn’t fair considering that these people are usually those that deserve the support of the organisation.
Sometimes we are the disciplinarian, checking behaviour and keeping noise down. Sometimes we are the teacher, teaching information literacy or running reading groups. Sometimes we are the ICT support, fixing laptop problems and showing students how to work programmes. Sometimes we are the geek, enthusing over a book, a comic, a game. Sometimes we are the counsellor, advising students on revision, time management, stress relief or just lending a caring ear. We interpret questions and situations into information needs and then find the information and provide it. We work with data and information, creating reports and maintaining databases. We create policies, manage budgets,make decisions, run events and train student librarians. On a good day we get to purchase new books and sometimes, just sometimes, we get some time to read them too!
School librarians do a wide variety of jobs and take up roles that suit their own skill set, developing their skills to fit the needs of the organisation and their students. Most of us are experts in finding online information, although often books are quicker to use. We tend to enjoy eBooks and physical books. Personally, I don’t care what a students reads as long as they do read. And reading is so important for so many reasons.
So please ignore the comments under news articles, and don’t expect us to automatically back you up when you’re nagging a class of 12 year olds to read “Pride and Prejudice”. Get to know your local librarian and find out what we can do for you.
Kiminthelibrary 