Synthesis

=Synthesis=

//I have created this page as a place where we can work together to write our synthesis.//

**__ The School __**
 Lonsdale (2003), claims that a purposeful library program implemented by a qualified teacher librarian, leads to improved student outcomes. These findings are echoed in research put forth in Martineau (2010) which shows that a school library program with qualified staff is a strong positive indicator of student achievement in standardized tests. All three case studies which have been presented involve fully qualified and experienced teacher librarians. Site 1 is a Prep-12 campus in the private sector catering for a large student population. In contrast to this, Site 2 and 3 are Education Queensland State Prep-Year 7 Schools catering for approximately half the student enrolment when compared to Site 1. A common thread of all three schools, however, is their situation in rural locations of Queensland. In addition to this, all three sites boast a newly constructed (or extended) and furnished library.

**__ Collaboration and Curriculum __**
According to Gibson-Langford (2007) the act of collaborating provides a platform for developing whole school knowledge. In addition, she claims that collaboration allows for continuous reflection of teaching practices and promotes innovative ways of thinking. It can be surmised from this that by allowing collaboration to take place continuity can be achieved throughout the school. In addition, this practice can ultimately lend itself to improved outcomes for the students. The Australian School Library Association (2004) concurs with this stating that teachers should collaborate ‘to plan and implement information literacy and literature programs that result in positive student learning outcomes’.

It is evident at all three sites that collaboration among staff is a skill which is highly lacking but which needs to be brought to the foreground. The Director at Site 1 is acutely aware of this problem and is attempting to change his focus from the traditional TL role to a role in which he works closely with the Curriculum Heads and class teachers to jointly construct a curriculum that will assist students in learning in an increasing technological society. As Benson and Favini (2006, p.18) suggest as new technologies arise and the web evolves so too must the teacher librarian. The shift in focus however, is receiving some opposition from staff.

Interestingly, the TL at Site 3 believes that although collaboration used to occur at this site, the increasing demands of the curriculum on the class teacher, coupled with the addition of a HOC at the school, has lead to a demise of this process. Time for all of these interested bodies to meet has become a major hurdle in allowing collaboration to occur. However, as is indicated by Montiel-Overall (2008) the issues of time can be overcome when commitment to collaborate is high.

The TL at Site 2 also acknowledges the lack of time as being an influencing factor in the occurrence of collaboration of which she is a part. As with Site 3, time is allocated at this site for class teacher collaboration however time for the class teacher to collaborate with the TL is not a priority. Hay (2005) indicates, that to provide an effective library program one must work with class teachers. The importance of this belief is understood by the TL at Site 2 and hence she has taken it upon herself to find one willingly negotiator. This TL is trying to demonstrate the value adding she can provide to curriculum design and implementation by working closely with one staff member to complete a research project using the guided inquiry approach.

Leadership
﻿ //“It may sound counterintuitive, but if a school board member should walk// //into a library and see a credentialed teacher librarian shelving books, that// //school board member might justifiably question whether the district is// //getting its money’s worth from that librarian.”// (Jeffus in Martineau, 2010, p. 6)

The ASLA [Australian School Library Association] and ALIA [Australian Library and Information Association] explicitly mention leadership as a key aspect of excellence in the //Standards of professional excellence for teacher librarians// (2004). It is also a common thread in scholarly examinations of the profession that teacher librarians are seen as uniquely positioned to be leaders and agents for change in school communities (Hutchinson Belisle, 2004; Smith 2010). However, Coen in Hutchinson Belisle, (2004) states that “administrators [teacher/librarians] often have to create change in resistant environments” (p 621). In light of the three sites, this statement rings true in varying degrees.

A common thread across the three sites is the lack of value placed on the teacher/librarian as a curriculum leader. The T/L is uniformly viewed in the stereotypical manner as “a custodian of books in a study hall” (Hutchinson Belisle, 2004, p. 3). In Sites 2 and 3, the T/Ls learn of curriculum decisions for the purposes of resourcing rather than being approached as an information specialist prior to the decision being made. In Site 1, the well intentioned centralization policy focused solely on the administrative aspect of resourcing and missed the opportunity to expand into the curriculum leadership realm. It is clear that all three sites require attention in this area to meet the ALIA/ASLA standard (2004) in the Knowledge of Curriculum.

In looking for commonality, it was observed that in all three sites there exists a focus on technology. While Site 1 leads the way in positioning technology in the forefront of teacher thought, it still suffers as the other two sites do in its attempts to integrate technology into the curriculum and classroom. It is clear that the teacher/librarian in each site meets the ALIA/ASLA professional criteria in that they “appreciate the dynamic nature of ICTs” (2004, p3), however the use of technology is limited to the library environment in the hands of the librarians. It can be surmised that this view of technology can be accredited to the view that “often school librarians can assume these [technology] roles because they are not assigned to specific classrooms and can interact with entire schools” (Smith 2010, p. 621). It does not logically follow that the placing of this leadership role in the hands of a T/L will necessarily result in quality learning outcomes. Only in Site 1 is it clear that the teacher/librarian promotes the use of technology in the classroom through the provision of professional development opportunities for staff.

It has been noted by O’Connor (2007) that T/Ls do their work in isolation; very few colleagues see the day to day duties of a teacher librarian and very few understand the issues that they face (Martineau, 2010). It is put forth in Hutchinson Belisle, (2004) that this isolation is self-imposed and comes from the “authoritative, bureaucratic, hierarchical leadership structures” (p. 1) within traditional school models that foster a “culture of servitude” (p.4). Rather than draw the ire of administration T/L refrain from broadcasting in a unified, cohesive way what they are doing. This isolation can be seen in varying forms in the three sites in the way they promote their leadership roles. In Sites 2 and 3, the T/Ls have approached the promotion of their roles in an inconsistent manner through emails and newsletters. Site 2 has a connection to the principal to communicate her philosophy however, the content of the meetings focuses on traditional T/L issues. These site isolate themselves by presenting an intermittent message that fails to motivate or influence anyone in Hutchinson Belisle, (2004). In Site 1, the T/L is fluent in the broadcasting of his message; however the T/L has aligned himself, either by choice or by design, with the technological aspects of the role at the expense of other critical areas of the ALIA/ASLA standards, e.g. data gathering through evaluation. By aligning himself with that particular aspect he has developed a one dimensional model for staff call on. He wonders why all his time is taken up with ‘nuts and bolts’ issues – this is due to the manner in which he has promoted his leadership.

Future Vision Trying to envisage the future direction of the role of the T/L is problematic at best (Hay & Foley, 2009). However, it is possible to extrapolate on current movements in the sites and foresee three emerging priorities that will impact on the duties as well as mindsets of the professionals in these locations. The trend that is clearly evident across the three sites is the advent of technology into the library. Following on from this, and noticeably linked to this issue, is that of the role of the T/L as a change agent for classroom practice.

In each of the sites there is an observable trend to incorporate modern technology into the roles of the T/Ls and it is this trend that can be seen to continue and intensify into the future. This is a departure from the traditional stereotype of the librarian – user relationship where the T/L is seen across a desk and as the end point to a user inquiry (Blling, Henrichsen & Skouvig, 2008). The new model provided by the advent of technology has functioned to radically shift the power structure between the user and the librarian where the librarian was seen as the authority. In this altered paradigm the librarian “acts as a member [of a learning community] on equal terms with the other members” (Blling, Henrichsen & Skouvig, 2008, p 61). Each of the sites has to varying degrees incorporated technology into their roles. Site 2 is in the process of implementing a website to allow to boost the visibility of the library and the services it offers. The future direction for the role of the T/L in Site 1 is clearly entwined with the integration of technology in the library through the recognizing of the new user who demands “personalization, self-service, mobility and technology” (Benson & Favini, 2006, p. 18). Again, the T/L in Site 3 has implicitly acknowledged the role of interactive technology in her role through the creation of a blog and the visibility of the laptop resources in the library. While these three sites currently conform to the ALIA/ASLA Standards of Excellence that calls for an “appreciat[ion] of the dynamic nature of ICTs and their role in education” (2004, p 3) their future vision as stated do not meet the expectation that not only will ICTs be appreciated but also ICTs should be taught (2004). None of the sites have clearly put forth a vision for the education of its users.

As evidenced above, there is a tremendous move in the role of the T/L to be one of technological expert, however Sykes posits that an equally important role for the T/L is to be the “human interfaces” (2001, p7) that support classroom practice. That is to say, the T/L functions in a humanistic fashion to act as a guide, facilitator and mediator for the students and teachers, empowering them to “transform found information into personal knowledge” (Todd in Hay & Foley, 2009, p. 18; Sykes, 2009) outside of the library environment. This this guise, the T/L’s role is to assist the classroom teacher in adjusting the curriculum to move from a model that espouses the notion of “having to ‘cover it’ to ‘uncovering’ it as underlying structures symmetries and constructs emerge for rich learn connections” (Sykes, 2001, p. 5). Reflecting on these statements, each of the sites recognizes the importance of extending the library experience into the classroom. The T/Ls in Site 1 and 2 have explicitly stated that one of their goals is to help students become capable information users. While the T/L in Site 3 admits that her IT skills may need improving to better implement the curriculum, she sees a closer relationship to the classroom teacher as imperative in equipping student with the required skills. The T/L in Site 1 does not lack in IT skills but admits that the priority placed on what he calls the library’s ‘core business’ (Site 1 2011) of empowering students has not had the time allocated to it that it requires. The position of the T/L in Site 3 is somewhat more vague when it comes to the transfer of skills to the classroom but does highlight the need for a culture that supports inquiry based learning.

** __ Conclusion  __ ** The Australian School Library Association (ASLA) has produced a document entitled ‘Standards of Professional Excellence for Teacher Librarians’ (2004). This document outlines the goals that should be an aspiration for all Australian teacher librarians. Furthermore it provides statements of quality professional practices encompassing knowledge, skills and quality teaching for teacher librarians to embrace. Comparing the three sites focused upon in this assignment, it is our belief that all three sites are achieving these standards but to varying degrees. It has become evident throughout this analysis, that often what a teacher librarian holds as an ideal method of operation, is not always the most readily acceptable method of implementation. The role of the teacher librarian within a particular school context is very reliant upon external forces such as the administrative team, other teaching and non-teaching staff members and the community at large. In summary, although each of these three sites use these standards to guide their practices, the role of each teacher librarian is unique to the values and beliefs of the community in which it exists. __**REFERENCES**__
 * ALIA-ASLA (2004) Standards of professional excellence for teacher-librarians. Retrieved April 7, 2011, from [|http://www.asla.org.au/policy/standards.htm]
 * Benson, A. & Favini, R. (2006). Evolving Web, Evolving Library. //Library Hi Tech News,// //7, pp18-21.//
 *  Gibson-Langford, Linda. (2007). Collaboration : force or forced? Scan, 26 (4), 19-25. Retrieved April 7, 2011, from Queensland University of Technology Course Materials Database
 * Hay, L. (2005). Student learning through Australian school libraries. Part 1: a statistical analysis of student perceptions //Synergy//, 3 (2), 17-30. Retrieved April 7, 2011, from Queensland University of Technology Course Materials Database
 * Lonsdale, Michele (2003) //Impact of school libraries on student achievement: A review of the research.// Australian Council for Educational Research. Retrieved April 7, 2011, from Queensland University of Technology Course Materials Database
 * Montiel-Overall, Patricia. (2008). Teacher and librarian collaboration: A qualitative study Library & Information Science Research, 30 (2), 145-155. Retrieved April 7, 2011, from Queensland University of Technology Course Materials Database
 * Martineau (2010).
 * Sykes (2001)
 * Hutchinson Belisle (2004)
 * Hay & Foley (2009)
 * Blling, Henrichsen & Skouvig (2008)
 * Smith (2010)