Global Action on School Library Education and Training 9783110616163, 9783110613124

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IFLA Publications

Edited by Janine Schmidt International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions Fédération Internationale des Associations de Bibliothécaires et des Bibliothèques Internationaler Verband der bibliothekarischen Vereine und Institutionen Международная Федерация Библиотечных Ассоциаций и Учреждений Federación Internacional de Asociaciones de Bibliotecarios y Bibliotecas

Volume 178

Global Action on School Library Education and Training

Edited on behalf of IFLA by Barbara A. Schultz-Jones and Dianne Oberg

DE GRUYTER SAUR

ISBN 978-3-11-061312-4 e-ISBN (PDF) 978-3-11-061616-3 e-ISBN (EPUB) 978-3-11-061324-7 ISSN 0344-6891 Library of Congress Control Number: 2018961662 Bibliografische Information der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data is available on the internet at http://dnb.dnb.de. © 2019 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston Cover Image: kali9 / E+ / gettyimages.com Typesetting: Dr Rainer Ostermann, München Printing and binding: CPI books GmbH, Leck www.degruyter.com

Contents About IFLA

Contents

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Joanne Plante and Katy Manck Messages from the Sponsoring Organisations

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Barbara A. Schultz-Jones and Dianne Oberg Preface 1

Part I: Guidelines and Standards for School Library Education and Training Part I addresses the use of international and national guidelines for school library education as frameworks for designing school library education and training.

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Barbara A. Schultz-Jones International Guidelines for School Library Education and Training

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Elizabeth Burns, Marcia A. Mardis, Mary Keeling and Kate Lechtenberg 2 The New U.S. National School Library Standards: Integrated Learning and Growth for Innovative School Librarian Preparation 21 3

Lesley S. J. Farmer Developing and Using Standards to Improve School Library Education 31

Part 2: Educating the School Library Professional

Part II addresses approaches taken for initial preparation of school librarians, offered in formal educational settings, as well as designed to develop dually qualified professionals holding both teaching and librarianship qualifications.

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Jennifer Branch-Mueller and Joanne Rodger From Teacher to Teacher-Librarian: Building Knowledge, Skills and Attitudes for School Leadership 45

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 Contents

Pascale Peurot, Cécile Chabassier, Anaïs Denis, Valérie Glass and Magali Bon The Initial Training of Teacher Librarians in France: Towards the Construction of a Faceted Professional Identity 57

Audrey P. Church, Karla B. Collins, Carl A. Harvey II and Jenifer R. Spisak 6 Preparing School Library Professionals Using a Hybrid Instructional Model 69

Part 3: Changing Pathways in School Library Education and Training

Part III addresses alternate approaches to providing initial preparation for school librarians emphasising programmes offered by professional associations or government ministries and programmes in transition due to changing external forces or internal understandings.

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Rei Iwasaki, Mutsumi Ohira and Junko Nishio Pathways for School Library Education and Training in Japan

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Boemo N. Jorosi and Margaret Baffour-Awuah 8 Marching Forward, Marching in Circles: Education for Teacher-Librarians in Botswana: 1962–Present 93 Jing Zhang, Jingqi Cheng, Han Xie, Weinan Zheng and Zhiwen Kuang 9 Reforms in Education for School Librarians in China 105

Part 4: Continuing Education and Professional Development

Part IV considers programmes offered to in-service school librarians by professional associations, government ministries, school library networks and collaborative ventures. Kristina Čunović and Alka Stropnik 10 The Continuing Professional Development of School Librarians in Croatia 123 Mary K. Biagini and Rebecca J. Morris 11 Growing Leaders: Statewide Leadership Development Academies for School Librarians 137 Contents



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Isabel Mendinhos and António Nogueira 12 Building and Sustaining a Network of School Libraries in Portugal: The Role of Professional Development 150 Karen W. Gavigan 13 Regional Workshops – Collaborative Professional Development for In-Service Librarians in South Carolina, USA 162 Barbara A. Schultz-Jones and Dianne Oberg Afterword 170 Contributors Index Contents

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About IFLA www.ifla.org IFLA (The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions) is the leading international body representing the interests of library and information services and their users. It is the global voice of the library and information profession. IFLA provides information specialists throughout the world with a forum for exchanging ideas and promoting international cooperation, research, and development in all fields of library activity and information service. IFLA is one of the means through which libraries, information centres, and information professionals worldwide can formulate their goals, exert their influence as a group, protect their interests, and find solutions to global problems. IFLA’s aims, objectives, and professional programme can only be fulfilled with the co-operation and active involvement of its members and affiliates. Currently, approximately 1400 associations, institutions and individuals, from widely divergent cultural backgrounds are working together to further the goals of the Federation and to promote librarianship on a global level. Through its formal membership, IFLA directly or indirectly represents some 500,000 library and information professionals worldwide. IFLA pursues its aims through a variety of channels, including the publication of a major journal, as well as guidelines, reports and monographs on a wide range of topics. IFLA organises workshops and seminars around the world to enhance professional practice and increase awareness of the growing importance of libraries supporting their communities and society in the digital age. All this is done in collaboration with a number of other non-governmental organisations, funding bodies and international agencies such as UNESCO and WIPO. The Federation’s website is a prime source of information about IFLA, its policies and activities: www.ifla.org Library and information professionals gather annually at the IFLA World Library and Information Congress, held in August each year in cities around the world. IFLA was founded in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1927 at an international conference of national library directors. IFLA was registered in the Netherlands in 1971. The Koninklijke Bibliotheek (Royal Library), the national library of the Netherlands, in The Hague, generously hosts IFLA’s headquarters. Regional offices are located in Buenos Aires, Argentina; Pretoria, South Africa; and Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110616163-202

Messages from the Sponsoring Organisations As Chair of the IFLA School Libraries Section, I am very honoured to introduce the work that the IFLA School Libraries Section and the International Association of School Librarianship have produced together. Over the years, we have seen that working in collaboration is more than worthwhile, considering this book is our third co-publication. School librarians work with and support teachers in many ways to ensure students become good citizens. In a world overwhelmed by technologies, information as well as other fast and continuous changes, school librarians need to constantly be keeping up to date with the best practices. This book highlights pathways in school library education and training that help school librarians do everything possible to help students become independent and resourceful citizens. Finally, I would like to acknowledge the wonderful work and commitment of the authors and the co-editors. Joanne Plante Chair IFLA School Libraries Section

As President of the International Association of School Librarianship, it gives me great joy to see the publication of another IFLA-IASL book filled with learning and inspiration about our profession, in continued collaboration with the International Federation of Library Associations’ School Libraries Section. This book speaks directly to my own belief that “every child deserves a great school library and a qualified school librarian” by telling us more about how school library education and training are addressed by countries around the globe. Whether you are seeking information on school library education for comparative purposes or searching for ways to enliven professional development for https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110616163-203

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teacher librarians in your area, you will find interesting as well as enlightening methods and statistics here. Its editors, Barbara Schultz-Jones and Dianne Oberg, are dedicated members of IASL and IFLA whose previous collaboration, Global Action on School Library Guidelines (2015), continues to inspire as well as instruct teacher librarians and policymakers at local and national levels. Thank you also to our authors; may their findings inspire you to report nationally as well as internationally on school library education and training from your perspective. Katy Manck President International Association of School Librarianship

Preface

Preface

The genesis of this book emerged from meetings of the IFLA School Libraries Section Standing Committee where school library education and training were being discussed as critical issues worldwide. Even in countries where general programmes in library and information studies are well established, specific programmes of education in school librarianship often are lacking. School librarians live in the two worlds of teaching and librarianship, and they need expertise in bridging those two worlds, especially in understanding the key concepts of organisational culture and change. The concepts have important implications for educators of school librarians as well. School library education, whether through library schools or colleges of education, should prepare information specialists who are also prepared to act as school leaders and as change agents and catalysts for school improvement. The educational research literature emphasizes the importance of school culture as a factor in instructional innovations. The concepts of organizational culture and the change process need to be addressed thoroughly in library education, particularly in school library education. Because teacher-librarians often need to help teachers and administrators understand the integrated school library program, school library education programs should prepare their graduates to positively present their key instructional role. (Oberg 2009, 23)

School librarians add an essential dimension to the learning environment of the school library. While they provide instruction, management, collaboration and leadership, “it is the arena of personal interaction between school librarians and students that may be most influential in affecting student outcomes” (Schultz-Jones 2011, 72). Educators of school librarians must prepare teacher librarians to guide, inspire and nurture future citizens throughout their educational journey. And, assessing the achievement of these complex roles “enables an evolving educational climate that transforms and influences student lives and achievement” (72). The development of this new book, Global Action on School Library Education and Training, began with a Call for Chapter Proposals. The proposals were vetted by members of the IASL/IFLA School Libraries Joint Committee. Thirteen proposals were accepted, and these authors were invited to write full chapters based on their proposals. The book is organised in four parts: Part I Guidelines and Standards for School Library Education and Training; Part II Educating the School Library Professional; Part III Changing Pathways in School Library Education and Training; and Part IV Continuing Education and Professional Development. Part I of the book on the use of international and national guidelines for developing school library education and training begins with an overview of the https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110616163-001

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development of the 2015 IFLA School Library Guidelines 2nd edition and of the workshop modules designed for supporting the implementation of the international guidelines. Chapter 1 concludes with the implications of the guidelines for school library planning and evaluation as well as for both in-service and pre-service education and training of school library professional staff. Chapter 2 of Part I presents an overview of the new U.S. national school library standards, The National School Library Standards for Learners, School Librarians, and School Libraries. The chapter outlines the relevance of the standards for school librarian education and suggests implementation strategies that will enable meaningful pre-service application. Chapter 3 looks closely at how national and state library programme standards were leveraged to revise a university-based school library education programme. Participation in external factors, such as standards development and systematic assessment in higher education, informed the programme-level efforts. Part II of the book addresses approaches taken for initial preparation of school librarians offered in formal educational settings and designed to develop dually-qualified professionals holding both teaching and librarianship qualifications. Chapter 4 presents the argument that preparation for teacher-librarianship should begin with an education degree, followed by classroom teaching experience and further education in librarianship. The authors contend that teacherlibrarians who wish to be school leaders should have the same qualifications as other school leaders, usually a graduate degree. Chapter 5 describes the education of professeurs documentalistes, teacher-librarians who work in secondary schools in France, through the example of the training provided by the École supérieure du professorat et de l’éducation (ÉSPÉ) (Superior School of Teaching and Education (ÉSPÉ)) of the Académie de Limoges (Academy of Limoges). ÉSPÉ emphasises building the skills and the professional identity required to position novice professeurs documentalistes within a professional context that assigns an unclear role to them. Chapter 6 describes a nationally recognised Master of Education in School Librarianship programme in the United States in which courses are offered in hybrid format through a cohort model. A major focus of the programme is the development of a professional learning community of colleagues that provides support for graduates throughout their careers. Part III of the book addresses alternate approaches to providing initial preparation for school librarians, including programmes offered by professional associations or government ministries and programmes in transition due to changing external forces or internal understandings. Chapter 7 describes efforts to change school library education and training in Japan. Schools in Japan have two types of school library staff, teacher-librarians and school librarians. The authors illustrate school library issues in Japan related to role definition, staff titles, and the



Preface 

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education and training of school library staff by describing three programmes of school library education and training, offered by Kyoto Notre Dame University, by Kyoto Sangyo University, and by the Kyoto City Board of Education. Chapter 8 examines the education and training of teacher-librarians in Botswana from its origins in the early republic to the present and suggests both short- and longterm interventions to rejuvenate it to meet the needs of the twenty-first century. Chapter 9 addresses two key problems in China: the shortage of professional school librarians and the lack of specific programmes to prepare professional school librarians. This chapter describes the strategies used by the iSchool at Sun Yat-sen University (SYSU) to respond to the education needs of the school library field. Part IV of the book considers programmes offered to in-service school librarians by professional associations, by government ministries, by school library networks, and by collaborative ventures. In Croatia, school libraries exist within a well-organised legal framework; every school is required to have a school library managed by a professional school librarian with a master’s degree with teaching competencies. Chapter 10 describes the opportunities for continuing education and professional development provided for school librarians in Croatia, by the Centar za Stalno Stručno Usavršavanje Knjižničara (CSSU/Training Centre for the Continuing Education of Librarians), by the county library research and development departments, and by the Agencija za Odgoj i Obrazovanje (Education and Teacher Training Agency), as well as by the three professional library associations. Chapter 11 describes how one U.S. state, Pennsylvania, provides statewide leadership development programmes for its school librarians through collaborative professional development from the University of Pittsburgh and the Pennsylvania School Librarians Association. Information provided about the collaborative model includes programme development and partnerships, rationale and goals, leadership content and delivery methods, role of mentors, programme assessment and outcomes to date, and lessons learned. Chapter 12 explains how teacher librarians’ professional development has been occurring in Portugal since 2009 when the position of teacher librarian was legally created. To apply for the position, it was not required to have initial instruction in school librarianship; professional development was therefore essential. Rede de Bibliotecas Escolares (School Libraries Network) annually elaborates and carries out a professional development plan. The content of that plan is also determined by the weaknesses that are made evident through school libraries’ evaluation, by the need to implement new guidelines or projects, and by the changes that occur in the educational system. The final chapter of the book, Chapter 13, presents an overview of regional workshops conducted for school librarians in South Carolina, USA, for the past three years. The free workshops are the result of a three-

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way collaboration between the School of Library and Information Science at the University of South Carolina, the South Carolina Department of Education, the South Carolina Association of School Librarians, and Follett. This new book, Global Action on School Library Education and Training, will be launched twice, at the annual conferences of the two sponsoring associations, the International Association of School Librarianship (IASL) and the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA). Several of the authors will present their work at the Open Session of the School Libraries Section at the IFLA World Library and Information Congress in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in August 2018. We celebrate the new book with you! Barbara A. Schultz-Jones and Dianne Oberg Editors

Part 1: Guidelines and Standards for School Library Education and Training Part 1 addresses the use of international and national guidelines for school library education as frameworks for designing school library education and training.

Barbara A. Schultz-Jones

1 I nternational Guidelines for School Library Education and Training Abstract: The IFLA School Library Guidelines, 2nd Edition were first introduced in 2015 to support the foundational principles expressed in the IFLA/UNESCO School Library Manifesto 1999 and interpret those principles in practical terms. The revision to the 2002 edition of the Guidelines was deemed necessary to reflect current research, practice and conditions of twenty-first century school librarianship. The background to this process of revision and development of workshops for implementation of the guidelines involved a wide network of international contributors, guided by the Joint Committee from the International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA) School Library Section and the International Association of School Librarianship (IASL). Highlights of the workshop modules along with a discussion of significant content areas, challenges and lessons learned during this undertaking are provided. The Guidelines and workshop modules are intended for use in school library planning and evaluation as well as in both in-service and pre-service education and training of school library professional staff. Keywords: IFLA/UNESCO School Library Manifesto; IFLA School Library Guidelines; Standards; International Association of School Librarianship; Training;

Evaluation; School librarians; Library education.

Background The International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA) School Libraries Section (SLS) has engaged and supported school libraries around the world since its inception. The SLS was formed in 1977 as one of the 44 sections within IFLA, the leading international body representing the interests of library and information services and their users since it was established in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1927. As stated on the IFLA SLS website, “The Section of School Libraries concerns itself with the improvement and development of school libraries and resource centres worldwide, especially advocacy for their qualified and adequate staffing. It provides an international forum for exchanging ideas, experiences, research results and advocacy.” This allegiance to the school library field reflects the understanding and belief in the role of school libraries in “teaching and learning for all” (IFLA 1999, 1). https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110616163-002

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Two primary publications produced by the SLS provide fundamental principles of school library service: the IFLA/UNESCO School Library Manifesto 1999 IFLA 1999) and the IFLA/UNESCO School Library Guidelines (IFLA 2002, 2015). During the 2013 SLS review of these documents, the IFLA/UNESCO School Library Manifesto 1999, translated into 37 languages and one of only three IFLA manifestos to garner UNESCO ratification, was endorsed as still relevant in its current edition without the need for revision. The School Library Guidelines 2002, on the other hand, intended to “inform decision makers at national and local levels around the world, and to give support and guidance to the library community” (IFLA 2002, 2) and written to help schools implement the principles expressed in the manifesto, didn’t reflect current research, practice and conditions of twenty-first century school librarianship. The revision of the 2002 School Library Guidelines became part of the SLS Action Plan for 2013–2014, updated in April 2013 at the Standing Committee midyear meeting in Oslo, Norway. Joining these efforts was the IASL membership, represented by members on the IFLA/IASL Joint Committee, chaired by Dianne Oberg (Canada). The revision of the 2002 edition of the international guidelines extended over two years, including six drafts developed and revised through a consultative and energetic process: international workshops in Singapore, Lyon, and Moscow; Joint Committee facilitation and feedback; and international feedback through listservs and email contacts. The international audience consistently provided meaningful and timely responses that enabled the construction of a final draft document for submission to the IFLA governing board in mid-January 2015, with final confirmation by the IFLA Governing Board received in Spring 2015. The IFLA/IASL Joint Committee introduced the IFLA School Library Guidelines, 2nd Edition at the IASL 2015 annual conference in June at Maastricht, Netherlands and at the IFLA WLIC 2015 in Cape Town, South Africa (Schultz-Jones 2015). With this accomplishment, the focus of the IFLA/IASL Joint committee turned to dissemination and implementation of the Guidelines.

Content of the IFLA School Library Guidelines, 2nd Edition The purpose of significantly revising the Guidelines was “to inform decision makers at national and local levels around the world, to give support and guidance to the library community, and to help school leaders implement the principles expressed in the manifesto” (IFLA 2015, 12). To address the current and future condition of school librarianship worldwide the Guidelines, 2nd Edition are intended to be:



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both inspirational and aspirational. The many contributors to this document were inspired by the mission and values of the school library, and they recognized that school library personnel and educational decision-makers, even in countries with well-resourced and well-supported school libraries, must struggle to be relevant to the learning needs of the whole school community and to respond thoughtfully to the changing information environment within which they work. (IFLA 2015, 12)

The evolving nature of the context for school libraries provides a challenging environment for creating and implementing guidelines that can be used to guide practice and also to advocate for future improvements in the local situation. And while meeting the proposed standards is important, What is more important is the way that the members of the school community think about school libraries: working in service of the moral purpose of school libraries (i.e., making a difference in the lives of young people) and of the educational purpose of school libraries (i.e., improving teaching and learning for all). (IFLA 2015, 13)

The Guidelines, 2nd Edition emphasises the features of a school library based on an empirical foundation and rationale of more than 60 years of international research.

Context of the IFLA School Library Guidelines, 2nd Edition The Guidelines, 2nd Edition are meant to apply to school libraries of many different kinds and the importance of local context is addressed frequently throughout the document. All school libraries, regardless of context or placement in developed or developing countries, exist on a continuum of practice. They exist “as learning environments that provide space (physical and digital), access to resources, access to activities and services to encourage and support student, teacher and community learning” (IFLA 2015, 16). The guidelines have no force of law, only the force of persuasion or inspiration; they need to be implemented through legislation and professional practice. It is possible, and hoped, that the international guidelines will inspire the development of national or regional standards and/or legislation where there are none at present. Regardless of the context, school libraries ultimately embody the basic concept expressed in the IFLA/UNESCO School Library Manifesto 1999 of “teaching and learning for all” (IFLA 2002, 1).

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Highlights of the IFLA School Library Guidelines, 2nd Edition Highlights of the Guidelines, 2nd Edition include the definition of a school library as a “school’s physical and digital learning space where reading, inquiry, research, thinking, imagination, and creativity are central to students’ information-to-knowledge journey, and to their personal, social and cultural growth” (IFLA 2015, 16). The definition of a school library now includes significant distinguishing features: “a qualified school librarian with formal education”, “targeted high-quality diverse collections (print, multimedia and digital) that support the school’s formal and informal curriculum” and “an explicit policy and plan for ongoing growth and development” (IFLA 2015, 17). By including the school librarian as an integral part of the definition the role of the school librarian as an educator is emphasised. Not all school libraries may currently have a “qualified” school librarian, while many countries do not yet have a specialised way of educating school librarians, but this is an aspirational feature that research demonstrates will have an impact on student learning. The school librarian’s role in teaching and learning is central to the school library programme. The role is recognised by several terms (school librarian, school library media specialist, teacher librarian, professeurs documentalistes) but the role itself includes: “instruction, management, leadership and collaboration, and community engagement” (IFLA 2015, 28). Instructional models for inquiry-based learning are included in Chapter 5, where the emphasis on the importance of reading and information literacy is also included. The inclusion of a set of recommendations provides a focused set of primary themes from the guidelines. These could be used for advocacy purposes and to focus efforts to evolve the development of a school library. Another important addition to the Guidelines is the inclusion of various examples of school library practice from around the world, used to illustrate salient points within the document. The inclusion of examples was inspired by the first edition of the IFLA/ UNESCO Public Library Guidelines and the international response to provide these examples was gratifying. Currently, the Guidelines, 2nd Edition is available in nine languages: Chinese, English, French, Hungarian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Romanian, Swedish and Turkish. Each new translation is posted under Publications on the School Libraries area of the IFLA website (https://www.ifla.org/publications/ node/9512?og=52).



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Implementing the IFLA School Library Guidelines, 2nd Edition The successful completion of the revision process was a testament to the commitment of dedicated school librarians and school library educators worldwide. Contributing time and energy to the process demonstrated the interest and belief that school libraries, however they are configured and wherever they are situated, are instrumental in supporting and advancing student learning. There is a well-established pattern of international collaboration and shared interest in the need to keep our guidelines relevant to our rapidly changing learning environments: “These school library guidelines envision a world of inclusion, equity of opportunity and social justice. They will be implemented in the context of the 21st century, characterised by change, mobility, and interconnection across different levels and sectors” (IFLA 2015, 13). Now, the responsibility and challenge to bring the IFLA School Library Guidelines, 2nd Edition and its meaning to life lies with each and every educator. The IFLA/IASL Joint Committee, chaired by Karen Gavigan (USA), provided leadership for this challenge by using a consultative process to develop workshops for implementation of the guidelines. Members of the Joint Committee were charged with developing a training module for each of the six chapters of the Guidelines (see Table 1.1). This process involved gathering feedback from workshop participants at: the 2016 IASL annual conference in Tokyo, Japan; the 2017 Swedish Library Association meeting in Stockholm, Sweden; the 2017 IASL annual conference in Long Beach, California; and the IFLA WLIC 2017 in Wroclaw, Poland. Table 1.1: IFLA School Library Guidelines, 2nd Edition chapters. IFLA School Library Guidelines Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6

Mission and Purposes of a School Library Legal and Financial Framework for a School Library Human Resources for a School Library Physical and Digital Resources of a School Library Programs and Activities of a School Library School Library Evaluation and Public Relations

The resulting workshop materials are freely available for use on the Projects page of the IFLA School Libraries Section website (https://www.ifla.org/publications/ node/36978). The Guidelines and workshop modules are intended for use in

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school library planning and evaluation as well as in both in-service and pre-service education and training of school library professional staff.

Workshops for Implementing the IFLA School Library Guidelines, 2nd Edition The workshops are directed towards teams who come together to build an approach for implementing all aspects or a specific aspect of the Guidelines in their location. The full workshop consists of an Introduction and six modules that correspond to each of the six chapters of the Guidelines, 2nd Edition. Presenting the chapters as fully contained modules enables participants to identify a specific area of focus and access the materials as they are needed, not necessarily in sequential order. For example, a team may choose to prioritise the physical and digital resources of a school library, as presented in Chapter 4, before they tackle the human resources associated with school libraries, as presented in Chapter 3. The workshop material is provided at no cost to whoever is interested: “The material can be used freely and adapted to local needs” (IFLA 2018). Each module includes: a list of potential resources for the chapter, a PowerPoint that introduces all or part of the chapter, an excerpt from the executive summary for the chapter, an excerpt from recommendations for the chapter and activities for engaging with the content of the chapter. The direction to freely use the materials and adapt them to local needs reflects the purpose of the IFLA SLS but also the recognition that these materials, as with the Guidelines, 2nd Edition, can be used and adapted depending on the local context and situation. This approach to using the materials supports the vision to “think globally and act locally in our efforts to provide the best possible school library services in the support of ‘teaching and learning for all’” (IFLA 2015, 13). It also reflects the reality of school library evolution along a continuum of practice. Regardless of the stage of development, all school libraries benefit from conscious assessment of progress towards meeting established goals for school library service.

Introduction The Introduction Module provides materials to set the stage for the six modules. A copy of the executive summary (IFLA 2015, 7) of the Guidelines is provided for easy consultation and focus, which can be duplicated for distribution as neces-



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sary. The Overview PowerPoint included addresses the history and purpose of the Guidelines. This is particularly useful for setting the stage for a participant workshop, or communicating the Guidelines to administrative stakeholders and local or national leaders. Equally important is the discussion of local context. As the introduction reminds workshop leaders and participants, “there is no one exemplary design for school library services. Even in one country or one local area, exemplary school library programs will emphasize different aspects of teaching and learning, depending on how teaching and learning occurs in that country and/or that local area.” (IFLA 2015, 1) The introductory module also provides an activity to guide the approach to using the modules: Deciding Where to Start. This is an important consideration for workshop leaders and team participants. Two strategies are suggested: one asks participants to clarify and think about aspects of school library best practices, while the second strategy builds on the first to help participants decide which areas of best practice should be addressed through professional development or planning and conducting implementation plans.

Module 1: Mission and Purposes of a School Library The module focuses on the reasons for developing a clear mission and purpose for the school library, including providing a clear direction for patrons and collection development. Examples of a mission statement are included as well as directions for writing or revising the mission statement and purpose: purpose is the why, whereas mission is the how. Participants are guided to record notes regarding what they hope to achieve in their school libraries in the school year, five years from now and in the future as a whole.

Module 2: Legal and Financial Framework for a School Library The activity for exploring Chapter Two is designed to engage workshop participants in analysing the possibilities and actualities of legislation as well as guidelines related to school libraries in their area (local, regional or national). Their analysis should help them to focus on critical areas for action and then to begin to consider what actions might be possible to take in order to improve school libraries in their area.

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Module 3: Human Resources for a School Library This module explores the core roles of the professional school librarian and how they are expressed: instruction, management, leadership and collaboration, and community engagement as well as promoting library programmes and services. Participants are asked to rate the level of preparedness (where I am now, where I want to be) as well as the level of activity and/or involvement (where I am now, where I want to be). Plans can then be made to implement a higher level. An activity in the module also invites participants to explore the concept of “leadership” in school librarianship.

Module 4: Physical and Digital Resources of a School Library The participants are tasked with identifying issues related to school library facilities and school library collections. For practical purposes, participants would be divided into two groups. After listing 10 or more ideas, each group would collapse the ideas into no more than four broad issues and record these for group review (e.g. wall charts, whiteboards, laptop and projector). Time would be allowed for questions, comments, clarifications and discussion. The groups could then be “flipped” so the “collections” group is now responsible for identifying potential strategies or solutions related to school library facilities, with the “facilities” group now responsible for identifying potential strategies or solutions related to school library collections. Flipping the groups enhances opportunities for creative and innovative problem-solving.

Module 5: Programmes and Activities of a School Library The two activities for exploring Chapter Five are designed to engage workshop participants in analysing the possibilities and actualities of their instructional role in the school library, as well as delivery of programmes and activities in their school library. Participants are asked to consider their instructional role and possible approaches to co-teaching: supportive teaching, parallel teaching, complementary teaching and team teaching. Emphasis is placed on core activities, including: literacy and reading promotion; appreciation of literature and culture; media and information literacy (e.g. information literacy, information skills, information competences, information fluency, media literacy, transliteracy, transmedia literacy); inquiry-based learning (e.g. problem-based learning, critical thinking); technology integration; and professional development for



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teachers. Their analysis should help them to focus on critical areas for action and then to begin to consider what actions might be possible for them to take in order to improve their own school library.

Module 6: School Library Evaluation and Public Relations In this module participants address evaluation of school library programmes and services as well as advocacy. Individually, participants would make a list of three to five purposes for evaluating school library programmes and services so as to then designate the desired outcome of each (A-Accountability or T-Transformation). Then, with a partner or small group, they compare and compile a “master list” of purposes for evaluating school library programmes and services. For each reason, several examples could be provided of possible evaluation strategies or methods. Finally, the outcome/s that each strategy or method could achieve (A-Accountability or T-Transformation) would be designated. Each partner or small group would share one reason and one related strategy or method and its potential outcome with the whole group before inviting comments and questions. In terms of advocacy, participants are asked to select an issue for which the school library community in their area and/or country desires improved understanding and support. Participants decide on one target audience for the planned and sustained advocacy programme (e.g. classroom teachers, school administrators or elected officials). For this activity, participants can work individually or, if they have identified the same issue and target audience, with a partner or small group. They are then asked to apply Cialdini’s (2006) six universal principles for influencing others to the school library issue and target audience: scarcity, consistency/commitment, authority, social proof, reciprocity and liking. Next, they generate one or two strategies for each principle/question that could be a part of a planned and sustained advocacy programme. Finally, they share one principle/question and one related strategy with the whole group, before inviting comments and questions.

Challenges and Lessons Learned The process of constructing an international workshop that addresses all aspects of the IFLA School Library Guidelines, 2nd Edition was time-consuming and not without challenges. There are many different perspectives on school libraries around the world as well as different terminology used to describe these per-

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spectives and practices. It was also challenging to create a set of workshops that would produce results that are meaningful to educators in many different roles (e.g. librarians, teachers, educators of librarians and teachers, principals, superintendents, ministers of education, ministers of culture and so on), working in very diverse economic and sociocultural environments. Delivering the modules in draft versions to international audiences in Japan, Sweden, USA and Poland was essential so as to provide a wide array of feedback and experiences that strengthened the final product. Including a range of workshop participants proved invaluable to a process that intends to serve an international audience. The education of a school librarian was an area that proved controversial. While the preparatory training was contested, the Guidelines (2015) recommendation is well supported: more than 50 years of international research, collectively, (see, for example, Haycock, 1992; LRS (2015) School Libraries Impact Studies www.lrs.org/data-tools/school-libraries/ impact-studies) indicates that a school librarian requires formal education in school librarianship and classroom teaching that provides the professional expertise required for the complex roles of instruction, reading and literacy development, school library management, collaboration with teaching staff, and engagement with the educational community. (25)

School librarians are professionals who stand alongside teachers to plan and use innovative teaching strategies. With knowledge of the school curriculum and an understanding of teaching practices, school librarians develop collections that support the curriculum. Successful teaching experience is necessary for school librarians to fulfil the range of responsibilities envisioned for an exemplary school library. While many people often think of the library as a place, albeit a welcoming space and a place of learning, “the richness and quality of a school library programme primarily depends upon the human resources available within and beyond a school library” (IFLA, 2015, 25). At the heart of the school library programme, the professionally qualified school librarian brings the library to life, instilling a breadth and depth of learning based on professional learning and competence. Exemplary school librarians demonstrate their professional expertise through the prism of teaching and learning. Also controversial was the idea of a school librarian taking on leadership activities within the school. The leadership aspect of the role of a school librarian is supported through the expression of that role, by recognising that the school librarian regularly acts as a resource person for teachers and is expected to co-plan and co-teach with colleagues. Where this may not be happening, this would be recognised as a goal, an aspiration, on the continuum of evolving school librar-



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ian practice. Beyond the role of a resource contact and colleague, the research is clear that in-service training for colleagues needs to be provided by the school librarian. Lessons related to information literacy and competence, digital literacy and citizenship as well as the integration of technology can be provided by a school librarian. In-service programmes that support professional development may be provided at the school or district level, where colleagues learn together. These programmes require leadership skills and demonstrate the school librarian’s ability to create and share in pursuit of new knowledge.

Using the IFLA School Library Guidelines and Modules for Assessment The Guidelines and workshop modules can be used in school library planning and assessment. Both provide a framework for evaluating the current organisation and use of the school library in a local, regional or national area. As an example, Zhang, Lin and Zhang (2016, 2017) conducted a pilot survey of how the Guidelines could be applied to the status of eight school libraries in Guangdong Province, China. The survey instrument for elementary and secondary schools was structured using the Recommendations from the Guidelines along two lines: “Since it is intended to be both aspirational and inspirational, the applicability of the Guidelines is measured first by its applicability for current status assessment and second by its applicability for future development guidance” (IFLA 2015, 3). Although the Chinese translation of the Guidelines was not available at the time, and respondents weren’t familiar with the Guidelines, the concepts and ideas proved to be useful as a means of assessment. However, many respondents said they got much inspiration from the Guidelines through the investigation. Several new ideas come up to solve problems in their daily work. Some aspects which they never thought of before now go into their future planning. Of course, this reflects the significance of the Guidelines’ future guidance function, but on the other hand, also reflects the needs and possibility to promote the Guidelines and other IFLA standards through investigation and other ways (Zhang, Lin and Zhang 2016, 11). Continual assessment and evaluation based on the results of assessments lead to an effective school library that meets the needs of its learning community. Considering each of the components in the Guidelines, or the individual recommendations, as a checklist for evaluation, enables a school librarian to assess areas of strength alongside areas that need further development, all in pursuit of an effective school library that impacts student learners and advances student

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achievement. Taking this assessment from a singular school library to a network and potentially country of school libraries elevates this learning environment within the educational context. The process of continuous improvement begins with an objective and reflective assessment of strengths and areas for development against a framework of the attributes of an effective school library, as evidenced in the Guidelines.

Using the IFLA School Library Guidelines and Modules for Education The education and training of school library professional staff is another area where the Guidelines and the workshop modules can be used, for both in-service and pre-service professional development. While the Guidelines were not intended as a curriculum, they can be used to frame both the content of educational programmes for pre-service librarians and continuing-education offerings. In educator programmes, coursework revisions for both pre-service and in-service librarians can incorporate aspects of the Guidelines or deliver content correlated to the Recommendations, individual chapters or key dimensions such as Instructional Models for Inquiry-Based Learning (IFLA 2015, 64). Continuing professional development for practicing school librarians could include development and refinement of professional skills to meet learning community needs, as articulated in the Guidelines. Educating our administrators as well as local and national leaders is an important aspect of utilising the Guidelines. Through the modules, participants are consistently asked to identify the current state of their school library and identify the future state to which they aspire. This could involve identifying the recommendation or a statement from the Guidelines as a goal along with the steps needed to accomplish the goal. Making the transition to the future state often involves more than individual effort; using the Guidelines to engage supporters can be an essential part of advocating for change and developing support for those changes. Regardless of how they are used for education, the Guidelines and modules provide excellent resources to align school library practices with global standards of excellence.



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Future Plans School libraries continue to evolve and new educational challenges constantly emerge. Establishing a strong foundation of skills and strategic direction, along with adequate funding and political support, can seem out of reach. By reflecting on best practices and prioritising steps to reach achievable goals, school librarians and educators can move the programmes and services they offer along the continuum of practice to address the current and future condition of school libraries. All guidelines represent a compromise between what we aspire to achieve and what we can reasonably expect to achieve. Taking those first steps to examine local practice alongside the international guidelines is a means of activating progress. It is hoped that the experience of implementing the Guidelines will inspire and educate others on the value of enacting an approach grounded in local context that aspires to far-reaching goals. Sharing the results and impact of these experiences will be the next phase of assessing the impact of the IFLA School Library Guidelines, 2nd Edition. Author’s Note: A longer account of the development of the IFLA School Library Guidelines, 2nd edition was published in a chapter by the author in the book, Global Action on School Library Guidelines (2015). Special thanks go to all contributors to the Workshops for Implementing the Guidelines, in particular Albert Boekhorst (Brazil), Leslie Farmer (USA), Karen Gavigan (USA), Valerie Glass (France), Dianne Oberg (Canada), and Carol Youssif (Taiwan).

References Cialdini, R. B. 2006. Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, revised edition. Harper Business. International Federation of Library Associations. 1999. IFLA/UNESCO School Library Manifesto. https://www.ifla.org/publications/ifla-unesco-school-library-manifesto-1999?og=52. Accessed March 26, 2018. International Federation of Library Associations. 2002. IFLA/UNESCO School Library Guidelines. https://www.ifla.org/publications/node/916?og=52. Accessed March 26, 2018. International Federation of Library Associations. 2015. IFLA School Library Guidelines, 2nd Edition. Written by the IFLA School Libraries Section Standing Committee. Edited by B. A. Schultz-Jones, and D. Oberg, with contributions from the International Association of School Librarianship Executive Board. https://www.ifla.org/files/assets/school-librariesresource-centers/publications/ifla-school-library-guidelines.pdf. Accessed March 26, 2018. International Federation of Library Associations. 2017. About the School Libraries Section. https://www.ifla.org/about-school-libraries. Accessed March 26, 2018.

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International Federation of Library Associations. 2018. School Libraries Projects. “Workshop ‘Implementing the IFLA School Library Guidelines’”. https://www.ifla.org/school-libraries/ projects. Accessed March 25, 2018. Oberg, D., and B. Schultz-Jones. “New International School Library Guidelines.” National Education [published by the Turkish Ministry of Education] 44, no. 208 (2015):121–139. Schultz-Jones, B. 2015. “Development of the new international school library guidelines.” In B. Schultz-Jones, and D. Oberg, eds., Global Action on School Library Guidelines. Berlin/ Munich: De Gruyter Saur. Zhang, J., L. Lin, and Y. Zhang. 2016. “A Pilot Survey on the Applicability of the IFLA School Library Guidelines in South China: Eight School Libraries Cases in Guangdong Province.” Paper presented at: IFLA WLIC 2016 – Columbus, OH – in Session 144 - Committee on Standards. http://library.ifla.org/1442/. Accessed March 26, 2018. Zhang, Jing, L. Lin, and Y. Zhang. “Investigation on the Applicability of IFLA International Standards in China: Take the School Library Guidelines for Example.” Documentation, Information & Knowledge 1 (2017): 29–39. http://manu03.magtech.com.cn:81/Jweb_tsqb/ EN/volumn/volumn_1160.shtml#. Accessed March 26, 2018.

Elizabeth Burns, Marcia A. Mardis, Mary Keeling and Kate Lechtenberg

2 T  he New U.S. National School Library Standards: Integrated Learning and Growth for Innovative School Librarian Preparation Abstract: The American Association of School Librarians (AASL), the national professional association for school librarians in the United States and a division of the American Library Association (ALA), establishes professional standards that guide professional conduct. These standards have been updated on an ongoing basis to reflect changes in education policy, and advances in technology and pedagogy as well as dynamic shifts in professional role and place. The most recent version of the standards was released in November 2017 as The National School Library Standards for Learners, School Librarians, and School Libraries. This chapter presents an overview of the Standards, outlining their relevance for school librarian education and sharing implementation strategies that enable meaningful pre-service application. Keywords: American Association of School Librarians; National School Library Standards; Education – Standards; School librarians; School libraries; Library education; School library educators; United States.

Overview of the National School Library Standards Authored by an AASL-appointed Editorial Board (EB) that included practicing school librarians and established educators of school librarians, the two-year standards revision and writing process was grounded in research from the field as well as an environmental scan of the profession’s needs. In the creation of the National School Library Standards, the EB employed a research and policy synthesis as well as community input process to make informed decisions on how to best update what were already well respected and used professional guidelines in the field (AASL 2018, 9). Using findings from field surveys and focus groups, the EB developed an integrated competency-based framework for learners, school librarians and school libraries that includes shared foundations (i.e. central ideas) as well as key commitments (i.e. essential explanations) and expresses https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110616163-003

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current educational priorities, trends and language. Table 2.1 illustrates the shared foundations and their key commitments. As Table 2.1 suggests, the shared foundations begin with the central idea of inquiry and progress to intellectual as well as social engagement. As the AASL Standards document is not designed to be used exclusively in a linear manner, users may topically enter the National School Library Standards at any shared foundation. Past iterations of the AASL standards focused on learners and were subsequently accompanied by guidelines for school library programmes as well as, eventually, implementation recommendations. The National School Library Standards align the learner and school librarian competencies with school library programming and strategies to implement creative as well as exciting activities and opportunities. Users operationalise the shared foundations and key commitments by working toward learner competencies as well as school librarian competencies and school library alignments, which are grouped into four domains: think, create, share, and grow (shown in Table 2.2). Table 2.1: National School Library Standards’ Shared Foundations and Key Commitments. Shared Foundation

Key Commitment

Inquire

Build new knowledge by inquiring, thinking critically, identifying problems and developing strategies for solving problems. Demonstrate an understanding of and commitment to inclusiveness and respect for diversity in the learning community. Work effectively with others to broaden perspectives and work toward common goals. Make meaning for oneself and others by collecting, organizing and sharing resources of personal relevance. Discover and innovate in a growth mindset developed through experience and reflection. Demonstrate safe, legal and ethical creating and sharing of knowledge products independently while engaging in a community of practice and an interconnected world.

Include Collaborate Curate Explore Engage



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Table 2.2: Integrated framework of the National School Library Standards. Shared Foundation I. Inquire Key Commitment: Build new knowledge by inquiring, thinking critically, identifying problems and developing strategies for solving problems. Learner Domains and Competencies

School Librarian Domains and Competencies

A. Think: Learners display curiosity and initiative by: formulating questions about a personal interest or curricular topic.

A. Think: School librarians teach learners to display curiosity and initiative when seeking information by: encouraging learners to formulate questions about a personal interest or curricular topic.

School Library Domains and Alignments The school library facilitates the key commitment to and competencies of Inquire: A. Think: The school library enables curiosity and initiative by: embedding the inquiry process within grade bands and disciplines.

As Table 2.2 shows, each learner competency is reflected in a school librarian competency and supported by a school library alignment. This structure ensures that learner and professional growth are interdependent as well as facilitated by school library programming and facilities. The AASL Standards document also includes several components designed to support and enhance professional learning for school librarians at various stages of practice, from those just entering the profession as pre-service professionals to advanced career professionals. In this way, the structure assists in guiding the school library professional throughout the standards. At multiple entry points, the school library professional is guided by best practice, encouraged to reflect on personal performance and provided opportunity for future growth. This interconnected approach to ongoing improvement is unique among standards documents and was intentionally designed to ensure that school librarians’ education and practice modeled best practices of professional growth, leadership and development.

The National School Library Standards for School Library Educators School library educators will be called upon to serve a vital role in leading National School Library Standards understanding and application, as well as continuing the conversations about effective pedagogy and best practice suggested within the AASL Standards document. Implementation should be structured in

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a way that pre-service candidates and practicing librarians have several opportunities to learn and demonstrate the competencies put forth in the standards. The standards reflect several opportunities for integration with school library programme materials. There are multiple points within the standards that specifically lend themselves to coursework one might encounter in school library programmes. School library educators will be the facilitators of implementation, interrogating the standards and infusing their understanding into course design. To support school library educators’ work, the National School Library Standards include several unique elements to support pre-professional learning: –– Professional Learning Scenarios: a series of case studies illustrating authentic scenarios through which school librarians at any level, including district-level supervisors and building-level school librarians, can envision putting the AASL Standards into action. –– Evaluation and Assessment Strategies: assessment approaches for measuring learner, school librarians and school library success in a National School Library Standards learning environment are included. While the AASL Standards are not intended to address or articulate performance expectations for beginning school librarians, the standards do provide a powerful lens through which to examine expectations and set future professional goals. –– Questions for Reflective Practitioners: questions help National School Library Standards users examine the standards, explore what may be different or new in the document or think about situating the standards in a specific educational context. The National School Library Standards also include an extensive bibliography, glossary, professional accomplishment evidence catalogue and helpful verb list that have great potential for pre-service coursework application.

School Library Educators as Faculty School library educators derive the coursework content required for school librarianship preparation from K-12 curricular and instructional practices as well as the core principles of library science. Teaching is a central role for school librarians and, in many U.S. states, school librarians are required to have teaching licensure. The National School Library Standards provide school librarians an opportunity to connect with their fellow teachers by linking the shared foundations to other national education standards, so as to create an integrated scope and sequence that includes integrating information practices into every learning context.



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School library educators also have a responsibility to ensure that course content aligns with preparation standards, such as the programme of study for school library preparation based on the AASL/CAEP Standards for the Initial Preparation of School Librarians (AASL/ CAEP 2010). Currently, AASL is updating these standards to reflect National School Library Standards content; even in the absence of updated preparation standards, school library educators are able to introduce the National School Library Standards into their current course content and teaching materials to assist their school librarian candidates to meaningfully interrogate, understand and apply the standards. As school library educators increasingly embrace the National School Library Standards and align them to coursework, each programme can generate a curriculum map to illustrate areas in which course content and preparation standards link to the AASL Standards.

School Library Educators as Researchers School library educators fulfill a dual role, teaching those who will lead K-12 students in practice as well as conducting and disseminating the research that will inform best practice in the field. This is an iterative process; through examination of library practice initiated by the new standards or school settings impacted by their implementation, school library educators as researchers will continue to educate the field on the impact or implementation of these standards in practice. The National School Library Standards have a sustained relevance for pre-service students who are exposed to them in their preparation. The National School Library Standards are designed to facilitate in-service learning experiences, where theory meets practice in an applied setting. As school librarians assess the application of the standards in their local setting, they can identify gaps in their own preparation programmes and suggest more appropriate means to integrate the AASL Standards into practice. Use of supplemental materials within the text contributes to effective use and understanding of the National School Library Standards. School librarians may find some of these materials beneficial to their practice. The guidance of school library educators demonstrating use and effective means to document collection of evidence in practice or conduct action research strengthens standards application. The integrated frameworks and flexible entry point structure present a unique educational and professional learning expectation for school librarians and school library educators. While school librarians use professional standards to guide professional actions such as instruction, curriculum-focused planning, integrated collaboration and cultivating programme support among stakeholders

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(AASL 2018, 42), school library educators are at the forefront of instruction, introducing new educational policy and promoting innovative pedagogy; they ensure pre-service school librarians become school library professionals poised to be learning leaders, prepared to engage with innovative developments in the school library profession. Educators of school librarians set the tone, pace and content for practitioners’ initial and continuing development as well as operationalise the profession’s research agenda.

Implementation Support for School Library Educators In anticipation of the fresh approach reflected in the National School Library Standards, AASL also assembled a complementary separate Implementation Task Force (ITF). The ITF was assembled to disseminate and garner support for the National School Library Standards among all of its stakeholders, including school library educators. Convened six months after the editorial board began its research, the ITF began planning for the AASL Standards implementation activities. The ITF grounded their work in change management research, adult learning theory and marketing principles. Their conceptual approach was blended with National School Library Standards content to shape implementation priorities, provide resources for a variety of users and ensure multiple entry points for personalised learning. The ITF members understood that different users would approach the standards differently; to facilitate implementation, the ITF used a personas approach (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services n.d.) to create seven key types of National School Library Standards audiences. Each audience’s representative persona was named and accompanied by a description of their priorities, needs and concerns. The personas are: –– Noah who Needs Support (Middle School Librarian); –– Inez the Innovator (High School Librarian); –– Margot the Mentor (District Library Supervisor); –– Athena the Academic (School Library Educator and Researcher); –– Leon the Lead Learner (Principal); –– Tony the Teacher (Grade 6 Teacher); –– Patty the Parent (Parent). With the needs of these personas in mind, the implementation plan consists of the four broad goals of explain, engage, equip and evaluate to be realised over three years (AASL 2017), as summarised in Table 2.3. These intentionally broad



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goals and objectives succinctly summarise the implementation plan, work that will be done through 115 action steps that address the learning and communication needs of the National School Library Standards audiences. Table 2.3: Implementation plan goals, objectives and personas served. Goal 1. Explain the structure, purpose and value of the AASL Standards to school librarians, stakeholders and partners beyond the school community. Objectives 1.1 Develop consistent, sharable branding and messaging for the standards to be used across traditional and social media (all personas). 1.2 Introduce AASL standards to key stakeholders, including state and regional school library leaders, national educational organizations, state departments of education and school administrator organizations (all personas). 1.3 Create and sustain excitement and conversations about the AASL Standards (all personas). Goal 2. Engage innovators in developing tools to explain the structure, purpose and value of the AASL standards to school librarians, stakeholders and partners beyond the school library community. Objectives 2.1 Identify and engage with “movers and shakers” in the school library profession (Inez, Athena, Margot). 2.2 Encourage practitioners to develop and share implementation models and metrics for AASL Standards (Athena, Inez, Margot, Noah). 2.3 Engage with stakeholders outside the profession (all personas). Goal 3. Equip practitioners to understand, apply and use the AASL standards in their educational settings. Objectives 3.1 Design professional development opportunities for practitioners (Athena, Inez, Margot, Noah, Leon, Tony). 3.2 Foster the building of personal learning networks and crowdsourcing of resources related to the AASL standards (Athena, Inez, Margot, Noah, Leon). 3.3 Ensure implementation support through AASL publications, websites and online tools (Athena, Inez, Margot, Noah). 3.4 Prepare library and information science continuing education faculty members to integrate the AASL standards in university programs of study (Athena). Goal 4. Evaluate progress toward implementing AASL standards and adjust for changing conditions. Objectives 4.1 Document effectiveness of AASL standards implementation efforts (all personas). 4.2 Review and adjust implementation strategic plan for continued relevance.

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As Table 2.3 shows, the objectives of Goal 1 are designed to ensure the National School Library Standards release was accompanied by clear messaging, materials and sustained conversations for all stakeholders across a variety of platforms. After determining goals and relevant messages for each persona, the ITF planned for a variety of learning experiences and media types, including face-to-face professional development, print, video, online learning and social media. The objectives of Goal 1 were to support school library educators’ efforts to teach pre-service school librarians to connect with a variety of stakeholders and model a way to consider their differing needs. The focus on multiple media types also mirrors what school librarians teach about multiple literacies and differentiating for different learning styles. Materials developed to explain the National School Library Standards fulfill school library educators’ needs to understand the standards and tools for their instruction as well as professional development. For example, several brief explanation videos and one-page documents give a broad overview of the National School Library Standards. For school library educators these also frame the rationale for this iteration of the standards within AASL’s history and current LIS trends, introduce the National School Library Standards organisation structure and situate the AASL Standards within the larger context of standards-based education. Other one-page documents created for administrators, teachers and parents can be used to guide pre-service and in-service librarians in their growing understanding of how these groups relate to the larger school library community. The implementation plan also recognises that the early stages of learning are not just about consuming information but also collaborating and moving toward application in order to solidify understandings. The ITF specifically targeted school library educators to honour their need for social learning and collaboration on their path from explanation toward engagement and implementation. Goal 2’s objectives are focused on engaging the vast network of school library innovators through recruitment, crowdsourcing and relationship-building. The participation of school library educators and other innovators will ensure that the National School Library Standards transform practice. School library educators will play a vital role in developing a body of school librarian leaders and allies through sustained relationships as well as mentoring in and beyond the LIS community. Both pre-service and in-service librarian learning can be clearly tied to nationwide implementation efforts as conversations continue about best practices and innovations in school libraries. For example, AASL has created and will continue to promote a variety of message boards to support online conversations and resource sharing related to the AASL Standards. By encouraging pre-service and in-service students to participate in these national message boards on the National School Library Standards portal, school library educators



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can both extend their course conversations and support their students in developing lasting professional learning networks that are tied to the national conversations about the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), assessment, equity and other issues in school libraries. School library educators will also find message boards tailored to their own concerns about curriculum development and alignment to the National School Library Standards. AASL also recognises the unique role that school library educators play in research about the school library profession. The implementation plan includes an action step in which the Educators of School Librarians Section (ESLS) of AASL will take the lead in developing calls for research focused on the National School Library Standards, beginning in late 2018, as well as encourage researchers to submit research to AASL’s research journal, School Library Research. Such a research call may encourage a range of research including, for example, how students and faculty initially respond to the standards, how faculty adapt existing curricula to integrate the new standards, how pre-service libraries respond to implementation efforts in their field experiences or how in-service librarians use implementation resources to implement the standards in their local contexts. Goal 3’s priority, to equip practitioners to use National School Library Standards, includes access to professional learning opportunities through a variety of media. The extent to which LIS educators prepare pre-service school librarians to participate in networked and virtual communities will ensure that new school librarians have the tools to continue their professional growth in any circumstance. AASL is planning a lesson plan database as a crowd-sourced resource to promote community engagement and a school library programme evaluation rubric with subsidiary tools; this will facilitate national data collection, comparison against similar school types and creation of graphical data presentations. Development of these resources will begin in year one, with both resources ready to launch on the National School Library Standards web portal (http://standards. aasl.org) in the 2018–2019 school year. School library educators can easily include activities that involve the lesson plan database and programme evaluation rubric in their course activities. In addition, the implementation plan includes steps to compile dynamic lists of suggested resources, discussion prompts and performance tasks that cover a variety of LIS topics commonly included in pre-service coursework. Goal 4 enables school library educators to express their needs and reaction to the implementation plan as they move to integrating it into pre-service education.

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Conclusion In this chapter, the content and development process of the National School Library Standards in the United States was introduced. The National School Library Standards implementation plan and its relevance for school library educators were also reviewed. Since the release of the AASL Standards, the school library field has begun the process of integrating these new standards into practice. The National School Library Standards were recently released and implementation is in its early stages. School library educators across the nation have only begun to integrate the National School Library Standards into courses and revise curricula to reflect changes in materials presented to pre-service students. The many materials included within the National School Library Standards as well as the early and targeted action plan developed by the implementation task force set the course for innovative school library preparation. As school library educators continue to unpack the AASL Standards, their continued engagement in teaching and research will assist the effective implementation for school librarian practitioners and pre-service candidates.

References American Association of School Librarians. 2017. Implementation Plan. http://standards.aasl. org/implementation/. Accessed July 23, 2018. American Association of School Librarians. 2018. National School Library Standards for Learners, School Librarians and School Libraries. Chicago: ALA. American Library Association/American Association of School Librarians. 2010. ALA/AASL Standards for Initial Preparation of School Librarians. Approved by Specialty Areas Studies Board of the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education, October 24, 2010 http://www.ala.org/aasl/sites/ala.org.aasl/files/content/aasleducation/ schoollibrary/2010_standards_with_rubrics_and_statements_1-31-11.pdf. Accessed July 23, 2018. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Personas. https://www.usability.gov/how-toand-tools/ methods/personas.html. Accessed July 23, 2018.

Lesley S. J. Farmer

3 D  eveloping and Using Standards to Improve School Library Education Abstract: This chapter focuses on external factors that impact teacher librarian preparation programme improvement. National and state library programme standards were leveraged to revise school library programmes. State, higher education and college emphases on systematic assessment supported ongoing improvement of effective school library programmes. Participation in these external factors informed the programme efforts. Keywords: School libraries; Standards; Library education; School librarians; Educational technology; Cooperation; Collaboration; California State University Long Beach; California; United States.

Introduction The school librarianship field has been reconceptualised because of the internet and related social media, as well as issues of globalisation. New school library standards in the United States and more locally in California reflected those dynamics. Participation in crafting the California state standards informed the reconceptualisation of the California State University Long Beach (CSULB) Teacher Librarian programme. New models of technology-enhanced instructional design and data analytics drove programme continuous improvement. This chapter discusses the processes behind these initiatives and the outcomes of such work.

School Library Standards Standards serve as a guide to operationalise goals and set the bar to benchmark performance. Standards are usually developed and monitored by governments and professional associations. Government-based standards often have the power of law, while professional standards serve more as a peer review process. CSULB’s Teacher Librarian programme is guided by both types of standards.

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 Lesley S. J. Farmer

National School Library Standards in the United States School library programmes support the school’s mission and espouse their own specific mission that aligns to the school’s: to help students and staff become effective users of ideas and information (American Association of School Librarians (AASL) 1998). While the underlying mission has not changed, the means to implement that mission have adjusted in response to educational and societal changes. Therefore, AASL reviews their school library standards regularly. The 2007 AASL standards transcended the concept of information literacy to provide guidance for twenty-first century skills for learners (AASL 2007). To that end, the AASL standards included inquiry and critical thinking, application and creation of knowledge, ethical and productive sharing as well as the pursuit of personal and aesthetic growth. Each standard was composed of skills, dispositions, responsibilities and self-assessment strategies. AASL’s 2009 guidelines for school library programmes, Empowering Learners, stipulated the competencies of teacher librarians and the conditions of school library programmes that would optimise the support for student learning (AASL 2009).

California Standards Supporting School Library Programmes Three legal documents undergird California school library programmes: the state’s education code, model school library standards and teacher librarian programme standards (Farmer 2015). The California state Education Code defines school library services. It also provides for the establishment of school library content standards. However, it was not until 2010 that specific school library standards were developed. The State School Library Consultant Barbara Jeffus recruited a steering committee of volunteers, consisting largely of California School Library Association (CSLA) members, to develop student learning outcome standards and school library programme standards. Basing their work on the AASL and International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) 2008 standards for teachers (International Society for Technology in Education 2008), the steering committee established four overarching competencies: access information, evaluate information, use information and integrate information literacy skills into all areas of learning. The group also developed grade-by-grade indicators (this author helped review



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the indicators and provided the research basis for determining benchmark criterion). Draft versions of the standards were reviewed by other CSLA members and stakeholders (educators, librarians and community members) in public forums and via online surveys. The Model School Library Standards for California Public Schools were developed in 2009 and approved by the state legislation in March 2010 (California State Department of Education 2010). Effective school library programmes require certificated teacher librarians. In California, the qualifications of teacher librarians fall under the jurisdiction of the state’s Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CTC). To ensure that programmes prepare candidates to meet these challenging expectations, the CTC has developed rigorous standards based on research findings, national and state professional documents, expert opinion and accepted best practices in the field. California’s teacher librarians must first earn and hold an initial teaching credential (multiple subject elementary, single subject secondary school, special education, designated subject, or adult education). The Teacher Librarian Services Credential is designated as a supplementary credential and typically consists of 27 to 32 graduate credit units of coursework, including field experience. At the time that California’s Model School Library Standards were being developed, the CTC was operating under 1991 Teacher Librarian Credential Program standards. The Model School Library Standards provided the impetus for revising the California State Teacher Librarian Credential Program standards. An advisory panel revised the California standards for teacher librarian preparation programmes; members of the advisory panel included teacher librarians, academic librarians, teacher librarian educators, CSLA leaders and administrators. Information about the AASL, National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) as well as International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) school library/librarian standards and guidelines informed the advisory panel. To prepare teacher librarians, six programme standards areas were identified: teaching for learning, multiple literacies (such as reading, technology and information), information and knowledge, leadership and advocacy, programme administration as well as equity and diversity. The last area was particularly important to include because of California’s increasingly diverse student population. Each area became the focus for a standard, with specific indicators developed by the advisory panel for each standard. The panel also developed a special class authorisation (SCA) which enabled teacher librarians, for the first time, to be instructors of record for information and digital literacies. Prior to this authorisation, teacher librarians could develop and deliver curricula only for student library aides. This SCA significantly expanded the teaching role of such librarians and also recognised the importance of digital

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preparedness and responsibility, which are state and federally mandated. It should also be noted that this authorisation was the first in the state that explicitly addressed pedagogy in online learning environments, which the commission praised. These legal documents were approved by the state legislation in 2011.

California State University Long Beach (CSULB) Teacher Librarian Programme CSULB’s Teacher Librarian programme serves as a model of programme development and continuous improvement.

Programme Merging CSULB’s revised Teacher Librarian programme was the first programme in California to be approved by the CTC under the new standards and for the new class authorisation that is embedded in the core credential. The programme was reconceptualised to provide California teacher librarians the ability to teach K-12 students digital age skills. In the process, the existing tenured librarianship faculty members worked with the three Educational Technology (ETEC) faculty members to merge the existing librarianship programme with the ETEC programme to now offer an Educational Technology and Media Leadership programme, which leads to a master’s degree and the teacher librarian services credential. The programme included six required core courses taken by all ETEC and teacher librarian students; all students then chose two electives. The teacher librarians took a cataloguing course and a youth literature course, which were required for the credential and served to meet the electives portion of the master’s degree. Master’s degree students also took at least one research methods course and a culminating experience (comprehensive examination, thesis or project). The teacher librarian credential students also took field experience at two school levels. As many of the librarianship and education technology existing courses overlapped at the time, it made sense to optimise curriculum and teaching capacity by blending the two programmes. The merger first required revising the programme student learning outcomes (SLOs) to align with state and national standards. The master’s degree had six SLOs (which also met the credential standards) and the credential track included the last two additional SLOs: –– Apply knowledge of multicultural, ethical and legal issues pertaining to using educational technologies and communication within the global community.



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–– Synthesise leadership principles within the practice of information and educational technology. –– Apply instructional design principles to locate, evaluate and develop instructional materials. –– Integrate theoretical perspectives to review, interpret and apply research in learning technologies. –– Demonstrate effective written, electronic and oral communications that reflect critical thinking and information literacy. –– Design, develop, implement and assess learning experiences. –– Promote reading for learning, personal growth and enjoyment. –– Organise collections according to standard library cataloguing and classification principles. Each course was analysed in terms of the SLOs. In some cases, course changes mainly consisted of including school library as well as non-school library resources and making sure that assignments addressed the variety of settings that students would encounter in their eventual workplaces. Sometimes the existing library courses had to be reconfigured to better align with the ETEC courses; for example, collection development was split into digital selection and print selection, with the latter woven into a youth literature and reading promotion course. Signature assignments for each course then had to be revised or overhauled to meet the mutual SLOs; these programme redesigns took three years of collaboration and were cited by the College of Education Dean and Associate Dean as an effective way to address the needs of small programmes. As a result of the merger, teacher librarians and education technologists learned about each other’s functions and worked together, which modelled professional collaboration. While each faculty member has his or her core courses to teach, all faculty share their experiences and sometimes teach each other’s courses, which strengthens their knowledge of the programme’s details and has improved coherence of the programme. As for the students, not only do they learn more from each other and share their perspectives, but as education technologists learn about digital age teacher librarians, several have decided to pursue the teacher librarian services credential. The workplace and profession as a whole benefit from this process, as do the school communities that our students serve.

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Monitoring, Assessment and Continuous Improvement The programme was approved–and is monitored as well as evaluated–at the college, campus, state and national levels. The programme also reflects current instructional design practices.

Periodic Assessment and Evaluation Each semester the courses are evaluated by students, with improvements based on their feedback and the instructor’s own data analysis. Exiting students are interviewed individually and in focus groups; alumni are also surveyed to check that the programme has prepared them sufficiently. As an example, course evaluation revealed that students preferred a blended approach as it enabled them to study some concepts at their own convenience, as well as participate actively in in-person class sessions. Furthermore, based on feedback, faculty experiences and a literature review, a one-unit course was developed, ETEC450 Introduction to Hybrid and Online Teaching and Learning, which can be taken by students and faculty. Each year the programme is also assessed by the faculty and advisory board, largely based on signature assignments to meet programme learning outcomes. Each signature assignment includes a rubric with several criteria; data analysis drills down to the criterion level in order to target interventions. Data from the prior year are also analysed to see if each prior intervention was implemented and if it made an impact on student learning (see Table 3.1). This signature assignment approach to assessment and programme improvement was developed by the programme’s college and reflects the university’s emphasis on assessment for continuous improvement. Based on the findings, course concepts, assignments and rubrics are refined. For instance, the reading promotion assignment melded a prior digital storytelling assignment and an author study. In another case, faculty had integrated active classrooms as part of the course experience, but had forgotten to also use Mac-based labs to complement PC labs. They agreed to include a device sharing opportunity in one of the courses, especially in light of the growing diversity of mobile tools.



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Table 3.1: Teacher Librarian Programme data analysis. #

Issue/Topic of Focus

Data Sources Strengths (i.e. Signature Assignments and/or surveys)

Areas for Improvement

Changes from past findings and why

1

Lessons

Signature assignments

Consistent well designed and delivered lessons

Improve evaluation element of lesson

Other lesson elements improved because of better structuring; evaluation aspect emerged as only remaining element to improve

2

Hardware

Faculty discussion

Equipment assignment done well

Practice more with various devices and platforms

More devices are now available

3

Action research

Signature assignments (required digital society course)

Higher quality research

Need more exemplars

Action research improved because of discussion between educational technology and teacher librarian faculty early on and timely targeted intervention

4

Resource Signature development assignments

Consistent high-quality products

Need more efficient scaffolding

Product switched from Flash to Apps

5

Reading promotion

Signature assignments

Increasingly good promotion products

Need more story Assignment details were arc examples changed

6

Cataloguing

Signature assignments

Generally high-quality cataloguing

Do not offer course online

7

ePorfolio

Signature assignments

Good Reflections artefacts; need to be more usually good substantive technical skills

Offered course online one time, but reverted to hybrid delivery Technical skill criterion was added to rubric so that students paid more attention to that element

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The advisory board, which consists mainly of local teacher librarian practitioners’ employers, provides a reality check on teacher librarian graduates’ competencies and changing school library demands. For example, the advisory board identified the students’ need for professional involvement and students subsequently in their information and digital literacy course updated the California School Library Association’s online tutorials as an assignment. The university has also incentivised faculty to plan programmes which systematically relate to providing hybrid and online courses. In spring 2017 two ETEC faculty members (one teacher librarian faculty member and one educational technology faculty member) applied for and received a small grant to develop a threeyear programme delivery plan, which was adopted by the entire ETEC faculty. A good example of data analysis was the issue of students with exceptionalities. The ETEC faculty performed a gap analysis where this topic was addressed in the courses. The reading course had an existing literature circle and so the books from which to choose had to address youth with exceptionalities. The information and digital literacy course added a section on universal design for learning. The same two faculty members who developed the three-year delivery plan received stipends to make at least one of their courses completely compliant with ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) and train their department to create accessible documents; they also added an assignment to train students in making accessible documents with the expectation that their coursework would seek to be ADA-compliant. A teacher librarian faculty member who helped develop a cross-disciplinary Applied Disabilities Studies certificate, providing the field experience aspect, now coordinates that certificate programme. Some of the ETEC students take the additional courses and focus on serving students with exceptionalities in the field experience to earn that certificate.

Field Experience Data Analysis Field experience is another area that showcases programme analysis. Students have two placements at different school levels. At each site they need to: –– Conduct an ethnographic study of a class or group of students using the library; –– Instruct a class of students in two sessions, based on collaborating with a classroom teacher and informed by the ethnographic study; –– Engage in a technology-enhanced activity that supports information/knowledge and equity/diversity; –– Engage in an activity that extends beyond the library itself to identify its role within the school.



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Data points include a student log of activities and relevant standards, eportfolio of evidence demonstrating competency in the programme SLOs, pre- and post-self-assessment, lesson evaluation and written evaluations by the site teacher librarian. Data points are tabulated, criterion by criterion, to be analysed for patterns in performance. In this way, areas for improvement can be identified and acted upon. As an example, the following figure shows student outcomes performance trends over three years.

Figure 3.1: Student learning outcome trend comparison.

The data showed a decline in communication skills (SLO 5), which required further investigation. The programme enrolled more international students over this period, which accounted for the trend, while communication skills could also impact SLO 4: Research. The finding resulted in the programme giving more support to student writing through more referrals to the campus writing centre, peer reviews of draft papers and more portfolio reflection examples. As a result, this trend has been reversed. The ethnographic studies confirmed that candidates could apply information behaviour theory to a novel setting as well as make valid conclusions and feasible recommendations. Analysing the ethnographic studies led to the recommendation that field supervisors should encourage students to conduct their study early

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in their field experience to inform their collaboration with classroom teachers in planning lessons.

Programme Outcomes As a result of these efforts, the CSULB Teacher Librarian programme better prepares teacher librarians for the digital age. The educational technology programme also improved by broadening its base and perspective. Educational technology students collaborate with teacher librarian students, which informs both disciplines, while several educational technology students have changed their career path to become teacher librarians. Overall, the number of students in the programmes has also increased. Organisationally, the programme achieved college, university, state and national recognition. Programme graduates have become site, district, state and national leaders.

Challenges The biggest challenge was collaborating with educational technology faculty to merge the programme. Prior to the merger, the two programmes had developed not only independently but also consciously not mentioned each other’s field. The process required mutual understanding of each curriculum, as well as negotiation of curriculum elements and instructional design. Progress was easier once the two programmes’ faculty understood the mutual advantages of collaborating and redesigning their programmes. Course-planning for the students during the transition planning was sometimes challenging; the university’s enrolment services also had a glitch in providing the right course information for scheduling, a problem which was slowly resolved. Data analysis can also be challenging, especially if assignments and rubrics change. It is sometimes hard to keep track of all details over time and those changes can affect the data collected. Therefore, the faculty have to analyse the findings carefully, keeping in mind the timeline of programmatic interventions. In that respect, continuous improvement is truly a moving target.



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Lessons Learned The programme redesign and monitoring efforts show how standards and programme development is an interactive and collaborative process at several levels. The work is hard but rewarding. It also highlights the impact of standards and systematic assessment to optimise student learning experiences. The teacher librarian faculty member was fortunate in being able to help develop the state model school library standards and update the teacher librarian credential preparation programme standards. These professional experiences provided an insider perspective on credentialing, which helped in redesigning the CSULB Teacher Librarian programme to align with the standards and identifying the kinds of evidence needed to demonstrate student competence. Participating in the standards development also helped advance the needs of teacher librarian students and practitioners, while teacher librarian students also had opportunities to weigh in on the standards’ drafts. The students and faculty are also encouraged to participate in such professional activities to help shape the future of the profession. Analysing the data across students and terms helps to identify performance and programme trends, which can then be investigated more deeply through interviews, focus groups and content analysis to determine possible reasons for the trends, as well as help faculty to create targeted interventions for student success and programme improvement. Now that AASL has published new standards (launched November 2017), CSULB’s teacher librarian programme will need to be reviewed systematically to make sure the SLOs still align with the standards, and that the resources and assignments also align with the updates. The new standards will also be cross-referenced with the state model school library standards, and the CSLA curriculum committee will spearhead that task. Creating the crosswalk may lead to revisions of the state library standards, which will then impact the teacher librarian programme once again. Nevertheless, participating in these standards initiatives offers an inside advantage in programme relevance and systematic improvement. The result? Better prepared teacher librarians and K-12 students.

References American Association of School Librarians. 1998. Information Power: Building Partnerships for Learning. Chicago, IL: American Library Association. American Association of School Librarians. 2007. Standards for the 21st Century Learner. Chicago, IL: American Library Association.

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American Association of School Librarians. 2009. Empowering Learners: Guidelines for School Library Programs. Chicago, IL: American Library Association. American Association of School Librarians. 2017. National School Library Standards for Learners, School Librarians and School Libraries. Chicago, IL: American Library Association. American Library Association. 2009. ALA’s Core Competencies of Librarianship. http://www.ala. org/educationcareers/sites/ala.org.educationcareers/files/content/careers/corecomp/ corecompetences/finalcorecompstat09.pdf. Accessed August 8, 2018. California. Commission on Teacher Credentialing. 2011. Teacher Librarian Services Credential and Special Class Authorization in Information and Digital Literacy Program Standards. Sacramento: Commission on Teacher Credentialing. https://www.ctc.ca.gov/docs/ default-source/educator-prep/standards/teacher-librarian-service-credential-pdf.pdf. Accessed August 8, 2018. California State Department of Education. 2010. Model School Library Standards for California Public Schools: Kindergarten Through Grade Twelve. https://www.cde.ca.gov/be/st/ss/ documents/librarystandards.pdf. Accessed August 8, 2018. Farmer, L. S. J. 2015. “The Symbiotic Relationship Between Standards and Programmes in School Library Education: California’s Experience.” In B. Schultz-Jones, and D. Oberg, eds., Global Action on School Library Guidelines, 209–219. Berlin: DeGruyter Saur. IFLA/UNESCO School Library Guidelines. 2002. T. Pemmer Sætre, and G. Willars, International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions, School Libraries and Resource Centres Section. The Hague: International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions. International Society for Technology in Education. 2008. National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers. Eugene, OR: International Society for Technology in Education. National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. 2000. Library Media Standards. Arlington, VA: National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education. 2010. Standards for Teacher Librarian Programs. Washington, DC: National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education.

Part 2: Educating the School Library Professional Part 2 addresses approaches taken for initial preparation of school librarians, offered in formal educational settings, as well as designed to develop dually qualified professionals holding both teaching and librarianship qualifications.

Jennifer Branch-Mueller and Joanne Rodger

4 F rom Teacher to Teacher-Librarian: Building Knowledge, Skills and Attitudes for School Leadership Abstract: This chapter argues that preparation for teacher-librarians should begin with an education degree, followed by classroom teaching experience and further education in librarianship. An education degree provides teacher-librarians with the beginning competencies in instructional planning and assessment. Classroom teaching experience enables the teacher to learn to teach as well as practice skills in planning and assessment. Further library education provides competencies in resource selection and management as well as an ability to promote literacy, reading, information literacy and the ethical use of information. Teacherlibrarians who wish to be school leaders should have the same qualifications as other school leaders, usually a graduate degree. Keywords: Education; Competency-based education; Leadership; Instruction; Teacher-librarians; Educational tests and measurements.

Introduction We grew up in schools with teacher-librarians. Both of us went to elementary school in Ontario, Canada, Jennifer in the 1970s and Joanne in the 1980s. Looking back to a seminal document, Partners in Action (Ontario Ministry of Education 1982), we find this clear description: Teacher-librarians, because of their educational qualifications and their experience as classroom teachers, share with their colleagues a common understanding of students and how they learn and teachers and how they teach. In addition, their training and experience with learning resources provide them with expertise that can contribute to the design of resource-based programs. (34)

More than 35 years later, that description holds true for us. We believe that teacherlibrarians are teachers first; they share common understandings and experiences with their teaching colleagues because they were classroom teachers first. Additional qualifications in librarianship add to their foundational education and classroom experience as teachers. The IFLA School Library Guidelines (International Federation of Library Associations 2015) state, “because the role of school libraries is to facilitate teaching and learning, the services and activities of school https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110616163-005

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libraries need to be under the direction of professional staff with the same level of education and preparation as teachers” (7). What’s in a name? Jurisdictions around the world use terminology such as school librarians, school library media specialists, or librarians to describe the people working in school libraries. In this chapter, we will argue that, to meet the expectation that school libraries facilitate teaching and learning, they need to be staffed by teacher-librarians with specialised training. As a result, we believe that education for teacher-librarians should begin with an education degree, followed by practical classroom teaching experience and then further education in librarianship.

What are the Professional Qualifications of Teachers? Many countries and jurisdictions around the world engage in discussions and create policies related to professional standards for teachers. In Canada and the United States, state and provincial/territorial governments create policy for professional standards of teachers. For example, close to home for us, Alberta Education (2018) released an updated Teaching Quality Standards document for all teachers in the province. Examining several standards, we notice there are many commonalities that all address the central question: what do teachers need to learn to be effective classroom teachers? All of the standards we examined (Australia, Scotland, New Zealand and Alberta) include the following core competencies: –– Meet professional ethics and responsibilities as well as comply with legislative, administrative and organisational requirements (Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership 2011); –– Support the cognitive, emotional, social and physical wellbeing of learners (General Teaching Council for Scotland 2017); –– Promote a collaborative, inclusive and supportive learning environment (Education Council New Zealand 2013); –– Demonstrate, in practice, knowledge and understanding of how students learn (Education Council New Zealand 2013); –– Respond effectively to the diverse language and cultural experiences, as well as the varied strengths, interests and needs of learners (Education Council New Zealand 2013); –– Plan and design learning activities that: –– Address learning outcomes in curriculum documents;



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–– –– –– ––

––

–– –– ––

Meet all learners’ needs and abilities; Reflect short, medium and long range planning; Are varied, engaging and relevant to students; Ensure that learners continuously develop skills in literacy and numeracy; –– Consider local and national as well as international contexts and issues; –– Build student capacity for collaboration; –– Incorporate digital technology and resources to build digital and information literacy skills; –– Use diverse resources that motivate, support and enhance learning (Alberta Education 2018). Apply student assessment and evaluation practices that: –– Accurately reflect the learner outcomes within curriculum documents; –– Generate evidence of student learning through a balance of formative and summative assessment experiences; –– Provide a variety of methods through which students can demonstrate their achievement of the learning outcomes; –– Provide accurate, constructive and timely feedback to students about their learning; –– Support the use of reasoned judgment about the evidence used to determine and report the level of student learning (Alberta Education 2018). Know and understand how to communicate with all members of the school community (students, parents, teachers, administrators and support staff); Collaborate with other teachers to build individual and collective professional capacities and experiences (Alberta Education 2018); Engage in ongoing professional learning and development of personal professional practice (Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership 2011).

There is great consistency across standards in terms of the key competencies teachers need to begin their teaching practice. However, pre-service teacher education is not enough to learn how to teach. Feiman-Nemser (2001) stated: New teachers have two jobs – they have to teach and they have to learn to teach. No matter how good a preservice program may be, there are some things that can only be learned on the job. The preservice experience lays a foundation and offers practice in teaching. The first encounter with real teaching occurs when beginning teachers step into their own classroom. (1026)

Research about the first years of teaching tells us that teachers bring to classrooms their previous experiences (Birrell 1995), personal qualities (Tait 2008), pre-service learning (Towers 2010), beliefs (Grossman and Thompson 2008) and

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needs (Cook 2009; Farrell 2003). We also know that socialisation into the profession happens in the first few years of teaching (Cochran-Smith et al. 2010). Strom (2015) argues that we need to “advance the field’s understanding of teacher learning as continually transforming in relation to the teacher’s own experiences, her students, the classroom and school context, and the broader state and federal policies that bear down on her teaching” (329). While the first years of teaching can be overwhelming for teachers, they do provide the opportunity to learn to teach, and build the resilience needed to persist as a teacher (Tait 2008). We argue that experience as a classroom teacher brings the “street cred” needed to be an instructional partner with other classroom teachers.

What are the Professional Qualifications of Librarians? The American Association of School Librarians (AASL), a division of the American Library Association, recently launched the National School Library Standards for Learners, School Librarians and School Libraries (2018). These new standards, combined with the ALA/AASL Standards for Initial Preparation of School Librarians document from 2010, outline the specialised knowledge, skills and attributes (KSAs) that teacher-librarians require in addition to their teacher training. The ALA/AASL Standards for Initial Preparation of School Librarians (2010) suggests that as teachers move into teacher-librarian roles, they need to be taught how to: –– Support teaching for learning by –– Having knowledge of learners and learning; –– Being an effective and knowledgeable teacher; –– Being an instructional partner; –– Integrating twenty-first century skills and learning standards. –– Support literacy and reading by –– Being familiar with a wide range of literature in multiple formats; –– Promoting reading; –– Respecting diversity of formats and reading choices; –– Integrating a variety of reading instructional strategies. –– Support and promote the use of information and knowledge by –– Supporting efficient and ethical information-seeking behavior; –– Providing access to information; –– Facilitating the effective use of information technology; –– Using evidence to share new knowledge and improve practice.



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–– Advocate for and provide leadership around the value of school libraries by –– Networking with the library community; –– Engaging in ongoing professional development; –– Articulating the role of the school library and its impact on student academic achievement; –– Identifying stakeholders who can help advocate for the school library programme. –– Plan and implement school library programmes and services by –– Developing and managing a quality collection that meets the diverse needs of students and teachers; –– Promoting the ethical principles of the profession, including intellectual freedom, digital citizenship and privacy; –– Using evidence and data to plan, implement and evaluate library programmes and services (ALA/AASL, 2010). These competencies help ensure that new teacher-librarians are prepared to work in dynamic school libraries that embody the Common Beliefs identified as central to the profession: 1. The school library is a unique and essential part of a learning community. 2. Qualified school librarians lead effective school libraries. 3. Learners should be prepared for college, career and life. 4. Reading is the core of personal and academic competency. 5. Intellectual freedom is every learner’s right. 6. Information technologies must be appropriately integrated and equitably available. (AASL 2018, 3) These Common Beliefs anchor six Shared Foundations which highlight the new National School Library Standards for Learners, School Librarians and School Libraries’ core educational concepts: Inquire, Include, Collaborate, Curate, Explore and Engage.

Becoming a Teacher-Librarian Preparing teachers to become teacher-librarians requires specific training and education. Teacher-librarian education should focus on the competencies identified in the standards listed above, but also build professional dispositions. Katz (1993) defines a disposition as “a tendency to exhibit frequently, consciously, and voluntarily a pattern of behavior that is directed to a broad goal” (para. 3).

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Jones and Bush (2009) suggest that the foundational dispositions for teachers-librarians would include “caring equally about each student, believing that each student can learn, and understanding the equitable access to resources that translates to fairness for all students” (12). Kimmel, Dickinson and Doll (2012) continued this examination of dispositions by conducting research with three focus groups of 71 practicing school librarians. They found through their analysis the Dispositional Continua as seen below: –– From Expertise to Advocacy; –– From Library-based to Community-based; –– From Affable to Open; –– From Cooperative to Collaborative; –– From Ethical to Modelling Ethics; –– From Love of Learning to Professional Growth; –– From Facilitative to Flexible (Kimmel, Dickinson and Doll 2012, Findings, para. 1). The authors concluded that, “in the context of school library education, we see the need for faculty to model dispositions and also for faculty to create experiences that challenge and scaffold students as they practice behaviors that are evidence of dispositions and to reflect on those behaviours” (Kimmel, Dickinson and Doll 2012, Conclusions, para. 2). As teachers become teacher-librarians, they move along each of the continua: “This offers a way for [new teacher-librarians] to think about themselves in a process of change and these professional dispositions as emerging and incomplete” (Kimmel, Dickinson and Doll 2012, Conclusions, para. 2). These continua provide for a professional growth framework where it is “not a matter of having or not having a particular disposition but of degree and process” (Kimmel, Dickinson and Doll 2012, Conclusions, para. 4). There is much research about teacher identity and pre-service preparation to help inform the experiences of new teacher-librarians (see, for example, Battey and Franke 2008; Florio-Ruane and Williams 2008; Horn et al. 2008; Olsen 2008; Thomas and Beauchamp 2007). Thomas and Beauchamp highlight that the success and well-being in a new profession is dependent on a strong sense of professional identity. Horn et al. (2008) tell us that “teaching identities are an ongoing project and this identity construction is a productive place to connect to novice teachers’ own learning goals” (70). Battey and Frank remind us that “we do not develop our identities in isolation” (2008, 128) and that “local communities limit the variety of practices that teachers have access to” (2008, 129). Forio-Ruane and Williams (2008) encourage us to examine “the stories of our own paths and the stories of the paths taken by others ... as a significant part of



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the development of one’s identity not only as a teacher – but as a member of the larger teaching profession” (8). Enyedy, Goldberg and Welsh (2006) remind us that teachers may struggle with “multiple conflicting beliefs, goals and knowledge” (91). Olsen encourages the inclusion of learning and teaching autobiographies, conversations about contradictions and paying formal attention to personal as well as emotional effects of identity transitions (2008, 38). Teacher-librarians require formal learning experiences to move them from the classroom to the school library. This formal education is key to preparing teachers to be teacher-librarians, but also connecting the teaching profession to the library profession. The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) identifies the key qualifications of the professional school librarian, which combine the two roles. According to IFLA, the qualifications of a professional school librarian include: –– teaching and learning, curriculum, instructional design and delivery; –– programme management – planning, development/design, implementation, evaluation/improvement; –– collection development, storage, organisation, retrieval; –– information processes and behaviours – literacy, information literacy, digital literacies; –– reading engagement; –– knowledge about children’s and young adult literature; –– knowledge of disabilities that affect reading; –– communication and collaboration skills; –– digital and media skills; –– ethics and social responsibility; –– service for the public good – accountability to the public/society; –– commitment to lifelong learning through continuing professional development; –– socialisation to the field of school librarianship and its history and values (IFLA 2015, 26). The development of a teacher-librarian’s professional competencies and dispositions can be achieved in a variety of ways, usually through a diploma or degree programme or through continuing professional development completed after initial certification in teaching or librarianship. The goal of teacher-librarian education is actualisation of teaching and librarianship skills.

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The Leadership Role of the Teacher-Librarian For some teacher-librarians, taking on a school leadership role may be controversial. Oberg (2018) noted that: though a school librarian commonly acts as a resource person for teachers and is expected to co-plan and co-teach with colleagues, the idea of a school librarian taking on leadership activities within the school found less acceptance. However, the research is clear that a school librarian needs to provide in-service training for colleagues. This is because many of the activities that contribute to successful learning and teaching have not been emphasized in teacher education in the past, and because schools are bombarded with changes in curricula, pedagogies, resources, and technologies. Supportive professional development is often best provided at the school or district level where teachers and school librarians learn together; such in-service programs require leadership skills. (29)

According to IFLA (2015), “where a school librarian is expected to take a leadership role in the school, the school librarian needs to have the same level of education and preparation as other leaders in the school such as school administrators and learning specialists” (25). Dotson and Jones (2011) reported three major trends about leadership development in their survey research of 149 recent school librarian graduates (“graduates of a southeastern US university over a five year period)” (Method, para. 2). The first trend reported by the researchers was that school librarians continued “to be very traditional in their approach to teaching and learning” (Dotson and Jones 2011, Findings, para. 1). A second trend found that “less than 30% of participants indicated that they served on Media and Technology Advisory Boards or committees” and findings showed school librarians “to be somewhat static in their approach to the role of technology leader, a role for which ideally they should be prepared to fill” (Dotson and Jones 2011, Findings, para. 2–3). The third trend reported by Dotson and Jones indicated: Approximately 70% reported serving on a Leadership Team or School Improvement Team. These encouraging figures, looking specifically at librarians serving on teams or in groups, purposely directing the programs and administration of their schools, highlight the presence of the librarian in leadership of the school community and indicate the significance of preparation of school librarians for leadership upon graduation and entrance into the field. (Findings, para. 5)

Research about the unique professional learning needs of teacher-librarians indicates that “interaction with other school library professionals is not a regular occurrence” (Mardis and Hoffman 2007, Online Focus Groups as a Motivator for Decreasing Educator Isolation Section, para. 2). Providing opportunities for teacher-librarians to reflect and connect resulted in both “a sense of shared cir-



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cumstances (I am not the only one like this) and the opportunity to learn of successful strategies for school librar[ies] that had immediate relevance (I want to try that out here)” (Mardis and Hoffman 2007, Online Focus Groups as a Motivator for Decreasing Educator Isolation Section, para. 2). This study showed the importance of allowing new teacher-librarians to reflect on their experiences, make connections between previous formal and information learning as well as their new role and think about their new identities. Johnston and Green (2018) noted that: As the need for leadership skills in school librarianship grew, several research studies zeroed in on preparation programs to determine if these were changing to meet the increased demand (for example, Dotson and Jones 2011; Everhart and Dresang 2007; Hanson-Bauldauf and Hughes-Hassell 2008; Hughes-Hassell and Hanson-Bauldauf 2008; Johnston 2012; Johnston et al. 2012; Mardis 2013; Moreillon 2013; Moreillon, Kimmel, and Gavigan 2014; Smith 2011). Results of these studies indicated that practicing school librarians did not believe that their coursework and internship prepared them for leadership roles. School librarians reported being involved in a variety of leadership activities in their schools but not moving beyond traditional leadership activities, such as building-level leadership teams (Dotson and Jones 2011; Everhart, Mardis, and Johnston 2011; Johnston et al. 2012) (13).

More work needs to be done to prepare teacher-librarians to take on leadership roles in their schools, districts and beyond.

Conclusion The role of the teacher-librarian is complex and demanding. Teachers, administrators and students look to teacher-librarians to be knowledgeable about resources (such as children’s literature and curriculum-support materials). Qualified teacher-librarians, however, do so much more. They support the whole school by focusing on reading and literacy, modelling instructional practices, integrating technology, promoting information and digital literacy, fostering inquiry and advocating for intellectual freedom. Teacher-librarians are uniquely positioned to be school leaders because of their knowledge, skills and experiences. Therefore, we believe that teacher-librarians need a teaching degree, experience as a classroom teacher and then further education (diploma or degree) to develop competencies in librarianship.

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References Alberta Education. 2018. Teaching Quality Standard. Edmonton, Canada: Author. https:// education.alberta.ca/media/3739620/standardsdoc-tqs-_fa-web-2018-01-17.pdf. Accessed August 17, 2018. American Association of School Librarians. 2018. AASL Standards Framework for Learners. http://standards.aasl.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/AASL-Standards-Framework-forLearners-pamphlet.pdf. Accessed August 17, 2018. American Library Association & American Association of School Librarians 2010. ALA/AASL Standards for Initial Preparation of School Librarians. http://www.ala.org/aasl/sites/ala. org.aasl/files/content/aasleducation/schoollibrary/2010_standards_with_rubrics_and_ statements_1-31-11.pdf. Accessed August 17, 2018. Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership. 2011. Australian Professional Standards for Teachers. https://www.aitsl.edu.au/teach/standards. Accessed August 17, 2018. Battey, D., and M. L. Franke. “Transforming Identities: Understanding Teachers across Professional Development and Classroom Practice.” Teacher Education Quarterly, 35, no. 3 (2008): 127–149. Birell, J. “Learning How the Game is Played: A Beginning Teacher’s Struggle to Prepare Black Youth for a White World.” Teaching and Teacher Education 11, no. 2 (1995): 137–147. Bransford, J., L. Darling-Hammond, and P. LePage. 2005. “Introduction.” In Preparing Teachers for a Changing World: What Teachers Should Learn and be Able to do, edited by L. DarlingHammond and J. Bransford. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Cochran-Smith, M. “The Unforgiving Complexity of Teaching: Avoiding Simplicity in the Age of Accountability.” Journal of Teacher Education 54, no. 1 (2003): 3–5. Cochran-Smith, M., M. Cannady, K. P. McEachern, P. Piazza, C. Power, and A. Ryan. 2010. “Teachers’ Education, Teaching Practice, and Retention: A Cross-Genre Review of Recent Research.” Journal of Education 191, no. 2: 19–31. Cook, J. ““Coming Into my Own as a Teacher”: Identity, Disequilibrium, and the First Year of Teaching.” The New Educator 5, no. 4 (2009): 274–292. Dotson, K. B., and J. L. Jones. “Librarians and Leadership: The Change We Seek.” School Libraries Worldwide 17, no. 2 (2011). http://www.iasl-online.org/publications/slw/index. html. Accessed August 17, 2018. Education Council New Zealand. 2013. Practising Teacher Criteria. https://educationcouncil.org. nz/content/practising-teacher-criteria-0. Accessed August 17, 2018. Enyedy, N., J. Goldberg, and K. M. Welsh. “Complex Dilemmas of Identity and Practice.” Science Education 90, no. 1 (2006): 68–93. Farrell, T. “Learning to Teach English During the First Year: Personal Influences and Challenges.” Teaching and Teacher Education 19, no. 1 (2003): 95–111. Feiman-Nemser, S. “From Preparation to Practice: Designing a Continuum to Strengthen and Sustain Teaching.” Teachers College Record 103, no. 6 (2001): 1013–1055. Florio-Ruane, S., and L. G. Williams. “Uncovering Paths to Teaching: Teacher Identity and the Cultural Arts of Memory.” Teacher Education Quarterly 35, no. 3 (2008): 7–22. General Teaching Council for Scotland. 2017. Professional Standards. http://www.gtcs.org.uk/ professional-standards/professional-standards.aspx. Accessed August 17, 2018.



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Grossman, P., and C. Thompson. “Learning from Curriculum Materials: Scaffolds for New Teachers?” Teaching and Teacher Education 24, no. 8 (2008): 2014–2026. Horn, I. S., S. B. Nolen, C. Ward, and S. S. Campbell. “Developing Practices in Multiple Worlds: The Role of Identity in Learning to Teach.” Teacher Education Quarterly Summer (2008): 61–72. International Federation of Library Associations. 2015. IFLA School Library Guidelines, 2nd Edition. Written by the IFLA School Libraries Section Standing Committee. Edited by B. A. Schultz-Jones, and D. Oberg, with contributions from the International Association of School Librarianship Executive Board. https://www.ifla.org/files/assets/school-librariesresource-centers/publications/ifla-school-library-guidelines.pdf. Accessed August 17, 2018. Johnston, M., and L. S. Green. “Still Polishing the Diamond. School Library Research over the Last Decade.” School Library Research 21 (2018): 1–63. http://www.ala.org/aasl/sites/ ala.org.aasl/files/content/aaslpubsandjournals/slr/vol21/SLR_StillPolishing_V21.pdf. Accessed August 17, 2018. Jones, J., and G. Bush. “What Defines an Exemplary School Librarian: An Exploration of Professional Dispositions.” Library Media Connection 27, no. 6 (2009): 28–30. http:// www.librarymediaconnection.com/lmc/. Accessed August 17, 2018. Katz, L. G. 1993. Dispositions as Educational Goals. http://www.ericdigests.org/1994/goals. htm. Accessed August 17, 2018. Kimmel, S. C., G. K. Dickinson, and C. A. Doll. “Dispositions in the Twenty-First Century School Library Profession.” School Libraries Worldwide 18, no. 2 (2012). Lynn, S. K. “The Winding Path: Understanding the Career Cycle of Teachers.” The Clearing House 75, no. 4 (2002): 179–182. http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/vtch20#.VT_uPWakVhA. Accessed August 7, 2018. Mardis, M. A., and E. S. Hoffman. 2007. ““Getting Past “Shhh:” Online Focus Groups as Empowering Professional Development for Teacher Librarians.” In Proceedings of the International Association for School Librarians Annual Conference. 16–20 July, 2007. National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, Taiwan. National Education Association. Center for Great Public Schools. 2017. Great Teaching and Learning: Creating the Culture to Support Professional Excellence. Washington, DC: National Education Association. http://www.nea.org/assets/docs/Great%20Teaching%20 and%20Learning%20Report.pdf. Accessed August 17, 2018. Oberg, D. “New International School Library Guidelines.” Knowledge Quest 46, no. 5 (2018): 24–31. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. 2013. Teachers for the 21st Century: Using Evaluation to Improve Teaching. OECD Publications. http://www.oecd.org/site/ eduistp13/TS2013%20Background%20Report.pdf. Accessed August 17, 2018. Olsen, B. “How Reasons for Entry into the Profession Illuminate Teacher Identity Development.” Teacher Education Quarterly Summer, 23–40 (2008). Ontario Ministry of Education. 1982. Partners in Action. Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Queen’s Printer. http://accessola2.com/data/6/rec_docs/partners.pdf. Accessed August 17, 2018. Strom, K. J. “Teaching as Assemblage: Negotiating Learning and Practice in the First Year of Teaching.” Journal of Teacher Education 66, no. 4 (2015): 321–333. Tait, M. “Resilience as a Contributor to Novice Teacher Success, Commitment, and Retention.” Teacher Education Quarterly 35, no. 4 (2008): 57–75.

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Thomas, L., and C. Beauchamp. “Learning to Live Well as Teachers in a Changing World: Insights into Developing a Professional Identity in Teacher Education.” Journal of Educational Thought 41, no. 3 (2007): 229–243. Towers, J. “Learning to Teach Mathematics through Inquiry: A Focus on the Relationship Between Describing and Enacting Inquiry-oriented Teaching.” Journal of Mathematics Education 13, no. 3 (2010): 243–263.

Pascale Peurot, Cécile Chabassier, Anaïs Denis, Valérie Glass and Magali Bon

5 T  he Initial Training of Teacher Librarians in France: Towards the Construction of a Faceted Professional Identity

Abstract: France is one of the few countries to have created a unified professeur documentaliste role, with responsibility, within secondary schools, for both information literacy instruction and management of a documentary information system for educational purposes. As a result of professeurs documentalistes’ double anchorage within the teaching profession and the librarianship profession, their educational background should allow them to build scientific knowledge and professional competencies at the intersection of two usually distinct fields. The specificity of their mission within middle high schools and high schools requires that they have a strong capacity to position themselves within a professional context that assigns an unclear role to them. Building professionalism in initial training must therefore emphasise the affirmation of professional identity, which is multi-faceted and not free from tensions. The example of the training provided by the École Supérieure du Professorat et de l’Éducation/ Superior School of Teaching and Education (ÉSPÉ) of the Academy of Limoges describes the implementation of the educational strategies as well as roles of different actors that are important in building the skills and professional identity of novice professeurs documentalistes. Keywords: Library education; School librarians; Teacher-librarians; Academy of Limoges; France.

Centres de Documentation et D’Information (CDIs): The National Framework The dynamics of pedagogical innovation initiated by the French educational system starting from 1968 centred in particular on the pupil’s work and cultural activities and led to the creation of CDIs in 1973. All secondary schools were gradually provided with these documentary structures, with educational and pedagogical functions clearly stated. The documentalistes-bibliothécaires who managed them were trained by means of continuing education: they attended national teacher-training courses organised by the Institut National de Recherche https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110616163-006

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Pédagogique/National Institute of Educational Research (INRP). Then, in the 1980s, the regional education authorities in turn organised continuing training courses. The 1977 and 1986 mission statements published by the national Ministry of Education progressively affirmed the role of the staff in charge of the CDIs working at the crossroads of three approaches: (1) educational, anchored in educational sciences, teaching professions and focused on active pedagogical values and approaches; (2) documentary, anchored in information sciences, information professions and focused on informational processes and (3) cultural, anchored in librarianship, library professions and centred on reading mediation. From the beginning, the professional culture characterising this “third profession” (Fabre 2011) was marked by a hybridity which highlights its richness but contributes to its difficulty in gaining understanding from other stakeholders in the educational system. The activism of the teachers or librarians appointed in CDIs, who were not yet called professeurs documentalistes, as well as more specifically that of the Fédération des Associations de Documentalistes et Bibliothécaires de l’Education Nationale (FADBEN), the professional association founded in 1972, played an important role in the construction of this professionalism centred on pedagogical duty. It led to the creation of the certificat d’aptitude pour l’enseignement secondaire/secondary school teaching certificate/ (CAPES) in documentary techniques and sciences in 1989, acknowledging the status of professeurs documentalistes in the teaching profession. The name change of the association to Association des Professeurs Documentalistes de l’Education Nationale (APDEN) in 2016 marks the consensus reached on their identity as teachers. In an information society, the missions of professeurs documentalistes have evolved towards a more assertive specialisation in the field of information and communication sciences as well as an increased responsibility within the school. This is attested by two recent official texts: the Référentiel des Compétences Professionnelles des Métiers du Professorat et de l’éducation/Reference System Attached to the Teaching Professions (Ministère de l’Éducation Nationale, de l’Enseignement Supérieur et de la Recherche 2013) which concerns teachers of all subjects with a specific section dedicated to professeurs documentalistes, along with a new mission statement which states that the professeur documentaliste is “enseignant et maître d’œuvre de l’acquisition par tous les élèves d’une culture de l’information et des medias” (teacher and master of the acquisition by all students of a media and information culture); he/she is “maître d’œuvre de l’organisation des ressources documentaires de l’établissement et de leur mise à disposition” (master of the management and the provision of documentary resources of the school) and “acteur de l’ouverture de l’établissement sur son environnement



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éducatif, culturel et professionnel” (stakeholder of the opening of the school to the educational, cultural and professional environment) (Ministère de l’Éducation Nationale, de l’Enseignement Supérieur et de la Recherche 2017). Nevertheless, the expectations of the educational institution regarding professeurs documentalistes’ pedagogical mission lack consistency. Professeurs documentalistes are teachers without a school curriculum and assigned classes; they have to define a precise curriculum, with elements they will teach to students in the field of information literacy, and seize strategies to ensure effective learning. Hence, their institutional mandate continues to raise questions; for this reason, school librarianship forms a divided field and beginners in the profession must quickly identify its protagonists and standpoints. Since 2013, teachers’ initial training in France has been the object of a renewed framework with the creation of the master’s degree MEEF (Métiers de l’Enseignement, de l’Éducation et de la Formation/Master of teaching, education and training) (Ministère de l’Éducation Nationale, de l’Enseignement Supérieur et de la Recherche 2013) delivered in 32 Écoles Supérieures du Professorat et de l’Éducation/Superior Schools of Teaching and Education (ÉSPÉs) throughout France. The ÉSPÉ provides an academic structure that brings together university lecturers and researchers, instructors-practitioners and practitioners (secondary teachers, chief education advisers, headmasters, and inspectors) to train professionals in reflective practices (Schön 1994). Each participant masters the knowledge of his/her speciality and anchors actions in a common culture shared by all educational system actors. Future professeurs documentalistes follow a two-year training programme that prepares them for the CAPES (the secondary school teaching certificate) and supports them in the construction of their professionalism while training them in and through research, along with future teachers of other subjects. After successfully passing the national competitive examination (the CAPES), which can be obtained during the first year of master’s studies or later, the approximately 150 successful candidates are interns for one year before becoming permanent civil servants on completion of the master’s degree and internship.

The University Training at the ÉSPÉ of the Academy of Limoges The school district of Limoges is rather small, situated in the centre of France, with its university numbering 16,000 students. The ÉSPÉ, which is part of the university, welcomes each year around 700 students each year wishing to be chief

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education advisers, primary school teachers and subject teachers in middle high schools and high schools as well as about 20 students who wish to be professeurs documentalistes. For those students wishing to be professeurs documentalistes, whether they are in initial training, returning to school or in professional reorientation, this is very often a late choice in their academic or professional path. A very small proportion of them come from the field of information or documentation; most come from social and human sciences, literature, languages, art or other fields. The master’s pedagogical team therefore has a real challenge: building, in two years, the motivation, competencies and professional identity of students entering training without specific prerequisites.

The Content of the ÉSPÉ Training The current training course model is consistent with the framework recommended by IFLA (International Federation of Library Associations): “the curriculum should include, in addition to the core competencies of librarianship, an understanding of education (learning, curriculum, teaching), of digital technology and social media, and of youth, culture, and literacies” (IFLA 2015, 27). It combines specific teaching on information literacy and its implementation in the school context (707 hours), with the common teaching for groups of students from all subjects about the practical context and teacher’s posture (108 hours); it includes an educational and pedagogical approach for digital tools, validated by certification (Ministère de l’Éducation Nationale, de l’Enseignement Supérieur et de la Recherche 2015). This intense theoretical training, focused on three days per week, is completed through internships in which students are on supervised practice and then take on full responsibility when becoming graduates of the national competitive examination. Regarding information and documentation, the first academic year emphasises scientific knowledge and documentary techniques from the perspective of the competitive tests (Maury 2014), but also provides students with the means to stand among the actors of a professional field strongly invested in an activist dynamic. The first semester is dedicated to epistemology and concepts as well as fundamental models of information and communication sciences. There is a focus on the discovery of the research field related to information instruction, while a more technical approach to the documentary function is progressively directed towards the specific context of the school through a one-week internship. The second semester focuses on a deeper understanding of information economics and law, as well as reading mediation, while the preparation, implemen-



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tation and analysis of pedagogical sessions are conducted by means of a 60-hour accompanied internship. During the master’s second year, the training essentially deals with the construction of contextualised teaching projects as well as management of the documentary information system of the school, library policy and collaborative practices. Regarding the common core, students exchange and cooperate with students from other subjects to develop the common culture and mutual knowledge necessary for professional collaboration: “collaboration is an essential part of a school librarian’s work” (IFLA 2015, 28). In the first year, the common core focuses on the context of practice including the history of the education system, school values, compulsory schooling objectives, teachers’ rights and obligations, and the school public with reference to sociology and psychology of teenagers, students with special educational needs and school inclusion. In the second year, the common core deals with professional acts involving voice work, teamwork, authority and confidence in the class, differentiated instruction, student’s path guidance and common transdisciplinary teaching, including media and information literacy, artistic and cultural education and education in sustainable and environment development. The common core is complemented by modern language lessons.

The Pedagogical Approaches The master’s teaching staff includes a dozen qualified professeurs documentalistes, most of them also working in middle high schools or high schools, seven university lecturers and researchers in information and communication sciences and other subjects like education sciences, psychology, sociology, history of sciences and literature, as well as about 20 professionals from other fields including education staff, headmasters, inspectors and librarians, who occasionally intervene. Lecture courses are most frequent at the start of the study programme but are gradually replaced by training approaches emphasising activities and collaboration. Students’ assessment gives a central place to continuous assessment; from the first semester, professional and formative tests form part of the gradual learnings. In the first year, student pairs share their text readings on information and communication sciences or information instruction research in a workshop (on the notion of transliteracy in 2016); students also learn how to use such readings to build collectively a substantiated point of view on the elements of professional practices observed or implemented during internships.

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Instructional workshops focused on media and information literacy (MIL), assigned over the two years of study, aim at the construction and analysis of pedagogical interventions that the professeur documentaliste conducts alone with a group of pupils or jointly with a subject teacher. These workshops enable students to become familiar with the constituents of an instructional sequence included in a progression, settling in over several weeks, a year or perhaps the time of pupils’ schooling. They collectively think about the definition of pedagogical objectives, pupils’ activities, materials used, monitoring learning and assessment procedures. Students are required to take charge of a set of professional tools produced by the educational institution: a common core of knowledge, competencies and culture (Ministère de l’Éducation Nationale, de l’Enseignement Supérieur et de la Recherche 2015); subjects in the school curricula; and working documents relative to MIL objectives. The key role of others, primarily APDEN, as well as researchers, in the delineation of the instructional field and construction of tools is understood through several key publications concerning information literacy notions (APDEN 2015) and the instructional programme implementation strategy (APDEN 2014). The professeur documentaliste’s training for the implementation of information literacy progressive learnings meets IFLA recommendations: “a school librarian should take a leadership role in ensuring there is a systematic approach to teaching an inquiry process that is guided by a school-based continuum of media and information skills and strategies” (IFLA 2015, 43). Students thus think about the way they can lead pupils to master progressively a set of structured notions such as informational space, documentation, information, resources, authority, information research and assessment, media, information economics and law, digital identity, ethics of information, misinformation and so on, gathered within four fields: informational and digital environments; process of information and documentation; critical approach to media, information and communication technology; and legal and ethical responsibility related to information. Students learn to link together notional knowledge and skills in the definition of their learning objectives, as well as identify the prerequisites and possible extensions in a logical progression of learning. Finally, thanks to these workshops, students are trained for cooperation with teachers of other subjects with whom they will have to co-construct some of their teaching sessions. This will require from them firmly established capacities to identify expressed or non-expressed needs, communicate their objectives and design relevant and creative proposals as well as implement them within a shared pedagogical project. Case studies led by students from other subjects complement these workshops, in particular work teams and the legislative environment of the school.



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Online collaborative work contributes to a professionalisation based on a thorough knowledge and an expert practice of digital environments. For their assessment, students are put in a position where they have to contribute to Wikipedia and monitor as well as curate collaboratively themes belonging to the professional and scientific field in which they enrol. These activities contribute to developing their competencies in co-training and interactions within an open network (Thiault et al. 2013). During the second year, the exchange of professional practices in multidisciplinary workshops gives a central place to the student experience in the training. Reflection on the action progressively puts the student in a capacity to conduct a reflection in action, from a perspective of continued professional development. Volunteer students are filmed during their internships. Co-supervised by a teacher-researcher in education sciences specialised in professional development as well as a practitioner instructor, the workshops take place twice: the self-reflection of the volunteer student, who is encouraged to have a reflexive view on her/his practice, is followed up by a collective analysis time focused on selected excerpts, within a group of about 30 students from all subjects (for more on this training method, see Gaudin and Chalies 2015). The choice of situations experienced by students at the beginning of their professionalisation, rather than designed situations collected from experienced teachers, makes it easier to identify with the observed young professionals and start the reflection, while toning down difficulties encountered. The collective nature of reflection contributes to the awareness of differences between the professional type (the set of institutional requirements and implicit codes) and professional style (the implementation of gestures proper to everyone) (Clot and Soubiran 1998), which enriches the directory of professional gestures or behaviours that can be used by each student. Meeting with various representations of the profession leads students to refine their professional postures and identities in a formative and safe framework. Finally, students take on an introductory research course over two years, in the form of a seminar, to produce and defend a research article of around 10,000 words about a question concerning professional practice. Subjects are of different kinds: firstly, documentary mediation in the school context, information and media instruction, as well as more generally the analysis of the uses and representations of media; secondly, youth literature and reading promotion in the CDI involving teenagers’ kinds of reading and reading practices, notions such as cross mediality, seriality and peer influence. This work, supervised by two teacher-researchers and emblematic of the link built between scientific knowledge and professional practice, can pave the way to curricular innovation.

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Internships Within Schools The school constitutes a second training field. Knowledge gained at the ÉSPÉ contributes to the professional practice implemented during internships. Practice questions and experiences the knowledge base by confronting it with the field experience realities. By contrasting theoretical and experiential knowledge, students build their capacity to take professional decisions provided by the mobilisation of expert knowledge. During the preparation phase for the national competitive examination, the student follows a 90 hours yearly accompanied-practice internship with a full week in the first semester, eight days spread over the second semester and then, when appropriate, 90 hours spread over four months in the second year. In first year, the internship enables the student to build an exact representation of the profession in which s/he is engaged and tests their motivation to exercise it. The internship helps the student systematically to grasp the institution in which s/he will evolve, while also possibly raising questions about the school audience and its specific needs. It contributes to the preparation for the national competitive examination admission tests and professional practice. The student is supported by a professeur documentaliste who is welcoming, helps collect useful information and documents, conducts relevant observations and provides guidance in the first steps performing various duties. The selected temporality helps the student become involved in all missions and think about strategies to implement in the specific contexts. In second year, the student is more actively committed and involved in the different missions. When students pass the national competitive examination, they become paid civil servants under the integrative alternation regime. They provide 18 hours per week of service during the beginning of the week with full responsibility in a CDI and then follow their academic training within ÉSPÉ during the rest of the week. A mixed tutoring system supports them as young professionals by means of complementary inputs. The practitioner tutor plays an accompanying role on a daily basis. An experienced professeur documentaliste shares experience and expertise by proposing practical and relevant solutions in response to the challenges encountered by the intern in professional practice. The tutor supports students in their new jobs, guides them in managing the CDI and designing instructional sessions or projects. Assistance is offered on making realistic choices adapted to the needs of the pedagogical team and pupils, as well as how to settle into the work team and the identification of training needs. The ÉSPÉ adviser belongs to the master’s pedagogical team and acts as a link between university training and traineeships. Advisers give theoretical support and help interns adopt a reflective stances rooted in their scientific knowledge.



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The preparation, follow up and assessment of internships are provided by the ÉSPÉ. The internships are built on each intern’s portfolio, which encourages the intern to be objective about their work. Interns are asked to produce a critical analysis of their practice through a commentary on data collected during the internship and organised around a professional issue.

Perspectives The pedagogical team works to reinforce the integrative dimension of the training by improving the protocol of choice of internship fields or placements and finessing the triad of intern-teacher, experienced mentor and ÉSPÉ adviser. However, there can be significant disparities between internship placements, selected without real awareness of their enabling features. Consequences can be notable when interns are entering the profession, while some situations can be perceived by interns as sources of inequalities, especially at the beginning. Based on the analysis of these disparities and the feelings of eight competitive examination laureates (graduates) appointed as interns in the Academy of Limoges in September 2017, four key criteria can be highlighted about the choice of internship placements. The novice professeur documentaliste must be fully recognised in their pedagogical role by the school head and whole educational community and accompanied by a mentor who works in the same CDI or close to the intern’s placement and has experience in the same type of school. The intern, who works part-time in the school, must have their assignment in the school completed by another professeur documentaliste who must be qualified. A CDI does not have to be systematically run by an intern each year in order to avoid the lack of continuity in the management of the school library as well as the lack of collaboration with the educational team due to turnover of staff. A dialogue is initiated with the academic authority that appoints interns for this purpose. The plurality of inputs from the mentor and ÉSPÉ adviser can prevent a co-constructed dynamic, due to the lack of a shared tracking tool for skills acquisition and a common culture of mentoring. At the ÉSPÉ of the Academy of Limoges, a tool was developed based on the Reference System attached to the teaching professions: the “Personal Path of Professionalisation of the intern-teacher” (PPP), a structured directory for professional acts. The “professional acts matches with the way in which professional community, at a given moment, agrees with the definition of what is the profession… The ambition of the training is that the novice teacher seizes it and builds his professional style, that is to say, a singular way he will use these gestures when practicing” (Gaudin et al. 2014, 38). Focused

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on the teacher’s activity in its pedagogical, instructional and ethical dimensions, this tool partially covers the professional acts of professeurs documentalistes. To fill the gap, a “reflection and research team,” formed by 11 professeurs documentalistes experienced in mentoring or ÉSPÉ advisers or instructors, has been established by the researcher Cyrille Gaudin in 2017. From video images of their practice, the researcher engages participants in discussion about their work: controversies enable each participant to reach out to professional styles proper to each one and identify shared professional acts. Among classified acts, specific to the professeur documentaliste, we can find for example the following item: “To conduct a reading policy.” For each item, a list of constitutive elements, observable by the mentor or adviser during the intern’s visit, was built. In the case mentioned above, the elements are: to enhance/ promote the collection; to engage students in a socialised reading activity; to differentiate actions according to readers’ or non-readers’ profiles; to legitimate all reading practices; to adapt the reading space; to make the link with external structures and actors from the book sector. Once formalised and faced with a larger sample of professeurs documentalistes, this directory of professional acts is going to be disseminated nationally for the benefit of the Documentation instructors’ community working in ÉSPÉ. The training of professeurs documentalistes considers of capital importance the development of reflexive capacities for a profession anchored in the second modernity. Challenges are crucial because the professeur documentaliste’s work engages students in the construction of a media and information culture enabling them to realise, think and resist (Serres 2009) in the knowledge society: “A second mandate of a school library is developing students who can locate and use information responsibly and ethically for their lives as learners and citizens in an ever-changing world” (IFLA 2015, 40). For all training activities of this professional type, two elements seem to be significant. On the one hand, training is anchored in research: research conducted in information instruction offers a field of investigation particularly fruitful for instructors and students. Elsewhere, the constant articulation of professional and scientific dimensions equips students with skills for analysing and managing the inherent complexity of the profession. On the other hand, the broad composition of the pedagogical team allows an embodied approach to the different facets of the profession and entry into an expanded professional network, composed of resource persons and potential partners. Thus, beyond developing targeted competencies, it is possible to support students in the emergence of a professional identity appropriate to the affirmation of an evolving and engaged profession.



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References Association des Professeurs Documentalistes de l’Education Nationale. 2014. “Vers un Curriculum en Information-Documentation”. http://www.apden.org/Vers-un-curriculumen-information-346.html. Accessed December 20, 2017. Association des Professeurs Documentalistes de l’Education Nationale. 2015. Wikinotions Info-Doc. http://apden.org/wikinotions. Accessed December 20, 2017. Clot, Y., and M. Soubiran. “‘Prendre la Classe’: Une Question de Style?”. Société Française; Cahiers de l’Institut de Recherches Marxistes 62–63 (1998): 78–87. Fabre, I. 2011. Professeur Documentaliste, un Tiers Métier. Dijon: Educagri Éditions. Gaudin, C., F. Perrot, S. Chaliès, G. Escalié, and J. Raymond. 2014. “La Visite de Stage: De L’Observation au Conseil à Partir des Règles de Métier”. EPS: Revue Éducation Physique et Sport 363: 38–41. Gaudin, C., and S. Chaliès. “Video Use in Teacher Education and Professional Development: A Literature Review”. Educational Research Review 16 (2015): 41–67. International Federation of Library Associations. 2015. IFLA School Library Guidelines, 2nd Edition. Written by the IFLA School Libraries Section Standing Committee. Edited by B. A. Schultz-Jones, and D. Oberg, with contributions from the International Association of School Librarianship Executive Board. https://www.ifla.org/files/assets/school-librariesresource-centers/publications/ifla-school-library-guidelines.pdf. Accessed December 20, 2017. Maury, Y. 2014. “SIC et Documentation Dans la Formation Initiale des Professeurs Documentalistes: Entre Attendus Institutionnels et Déclinaison Dans les Masters D’enseignement”. In M. Frish, ed., Le Réseau IDEKI: Objets de Recherche D’ Éducation Émergents, Problématisés, Mis en Tension, Réélaborés, 157–168. Paris: l’Harmattan. Ministère de L’Enseignement Supérieur et de la Recherche. 2013. Arrêté du 27 Qoût 2013 Fixant le Cadre National des Formations Dispensées au Sein des Masters “Métiers de L’Enseignement, de L’ Education et de la Formation”. http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/jo_pdf. do?numJO=0&dateJO=20130829&numTexte=48&pageDebut=14627&pageFin=14628. Accessed December 20, 2017. Ministère de L’Éducation Nationale, de L’Enseignement Supérieur et de la Recherche. 2013. Référentiel des Compétences Professionnelles des Métiers du Professorat et de l’éducation, Arrêté du 1-7-2013 – J.O. du 18-7 2013. http://www.education.gouv.fr/pid25535/bulletin_ officiel.html?cid_bo=73066. Accessed December 20, 2017. Ministère de L’ Education Nationale, de L’ Enseignement Supérieur et de la Recherche. 2015. Les Compétences du C2i2e. http://c2i.enseignementsup-recherche.gouv.fr/employeur/ les-competences-du-c2i2e. Accessed December 20, 2017. Ministère de L’Éducation Nationale, de L’Enseignement Supérieur et de la Recherche. 2017. Les Missions des Professeurs Documentalistes, Circulaire n 2017-051 du 28-3-2017. http://www.education.gouv.fr/pid285/bulletin_officiel.html?cid_bo=114733. Accessed December 20, 2017. Schön, D. A. 1994. Le Praticien Réflexif: à la Recherche du Savoir Caché Dans L’Agir Professionnel. Montréal: Les Editions Logiques. Serres, A. 2009. “Une Certaine Vision de la Culture Informationnelle”. Skholè. http://skhole.fr/ une-certaine-vision-de-la-culture-informationnelle. Accessed December 20, 2017.

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Thiault, F., J. Kerneis, R. Rouillard, and R. Peirano. “La Veille: Un Élément Structurant de la Construction d’une Professionnalité Pour les Étudiants en Master Documentation?” Revue de l’Université de Moncton 44, no. 1 (2013): 87–109. http://dx.doi. org/10.7202/1029304ar. Accessed December 20, 2017.

Audrey P. Church, Karla B. Collins, Carl A. Harvey II and Jenifer R. Spisak

6 P  reparing School Library Professionals Using a Hybrid Instructional Model Abstract: This chapter describes a Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation/American Association of School Librarians (CAEP/AASL) nationally recognised Master of Education in School Librarianship programme in Virginia, U.S.A., in which courses are offered in hybrid format through a cohort model. The programme combines online instruction with face-to-face class sessions in order to provide the best possible learning experience for students, the majority of whom are non-traditional adult learners. A major focus of the programme is development of a professional learning community of colleagues that provides support for graduates throughout their careers. Keywords: Blended learning; Library education; Education – Standards; School librarians; Virginia; United States.

Background The Commonwealth of Virginia’s Standards of Quality require a full-time certified school librarian when enrolment at a public school reaches 300 students and a second full-time certified school librarian at the middle and high school levels when student enrolment reaches 1,000 (Commonwealth of Virginia 2017a). During the past two decades, Longwood University has partnered with over 20 of Virginia’s 132 school districts to offer courses on-site to prepare teachers to be school librarians. Courses meet from one to five Saturdays across the semester at a location within the respective school system where the cohort is held, with the remainder of work for the course completed online. The mission of the programme is to prepare school librarians to be reflective citizen leaders who are grounded in content and best practice and who will positively impact student achievement and the educational environments of their schools. As a programme nationally recognised by the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation/American Association of School Librarians (CAEP/AASL), coursework is fully aligned with the ALA/AASL Standards for Initial Preparation of School Librarians (American Association of School Librarians 2010), which align with the IFLA School Library Guidelines (Dickinson and Church 2015).

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Location, Demographics and Scope Longwood University is a comprehensive public co-educational university located in the United States in Southside Virginia. The school librarianship programme, housed in the Department of Education and Special Education within the College of Education and Human Services, is also supported by the College of Graduate and Professional Studies. Since the programme is located within a college of education, as opposed to a college of library and information studies, its singular focus is librarianship in PreK-12 school settings, with all course content presented through a school library lens. As the University’s largest graduate programme, current enrolment is approximately 100 students ranging in age from early twenties to mid-sixties.

Resources Utilised To facilitate instruction and delivery of coursework, the University provides a learning management system, Canvas, online conferencing software, WebEx, and recording capabilities, Panopto. The Digital Education Collaborative (http:// www.longwood.edu/dec/) on campus provides instructional technology support for faculty and students while Information Technology Services provide IT support. University library resources are available for all students including access to online databases, print resources via interlibrary loan and an embedded librarian. Funding support for faculty travel to off-campus course sites is provided by the College of Graduate and Professional Studies. The school librarianship programme has four full-time, tenure-track faculty members. These faculty members teach all of the courses in the school librarianship programme without the use of adjunct instructors. The collegiality of the faculty members allows for consistency across courses in the programme; each cohort has classes with each of the four instructors and through this process relationships with students are built. The cohort model allows students from the same locations to form relationships with each other while they take their classes together. Many choose to work as school librarians in the same geographic areas after graduation and find they already have a community of resources within each other. Through the personal connections made during face-to-face instruction with each of the faculty members and each other, students begin to feel part of a larger library community, which prepares them for creating a community-driven library programme in their own schools and districts upon graduating.



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Each faculty member brings many years of practical experience working as a school librarian. Currently, the four faculty members have a combined total of 66 years of experience as practicing PreK-12 school librarians. Experiences in the school library provide rich anecdotal elements to the lessons taught, activities planned and assignments given. Lessons, activities and assignments are designed for practical use so that students can take and use them in their own school libraries. The faculty model a community of collaboration. Curriculum and content for courses are developed through collaborative conversation among the entire faculty. Most courses are taught by several of the faculty during different semesters. As courses are revised, all faculty contribute to ideas for instruction, discussions and assignments. For those courses not shared, conversations still lead to ideas and suggestions for making the course stronger. The collaborative planning allows the programme to be consistent as well as comprehensive and allows all courses in the programme to develop from the strengths of the entire faculty.

Duration Throughout the 1970s and 1980s Longwood offered an undergraduate minor in library science. When the American Library Association determined in 1988 (American Library Association 2013) that appropriate preparation in the field was at the graduate level, the university phased out the undergraduate courses and began to offer a Master of Science in Education with a concentration in school library media. In 2014 the State Council of Higher Education in Virginia (SCHEV) approved a separate stand-alone degree, the Master of Education in School Librarianship.

Features The programme is offered in partnership with local school districts at various locations around the state. As school districts see their pool of candidates for open librarian positions shrinking, they contact Longwood about offering school librarianship courses on-site in their district. Instructors travel to the students by driving to the various cohort sites, located all across the state. The hybrid course format combines the convenience of online work with the opportunity to connect with and get to know faculty and fellow students in Saturday face-to-face class sessions. Courses range from one to five Saturday classes depending on the

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content. Each new site forms into a cohort which allows the students to complete the entire programme together, creating a close bond among the students. They rely on each other for support as they go through the programme. The Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) requires that school librarians hold a valid teaching licence with an endorsement in school librarianship. The master’s degree programme consists of two tracks: Licenced Teacher (Track 1) and Initial Licensure (Track 2). Students who already hold a teaching licence enter Track 1 and complete 33 school librarianship content credit hours, two credit hours of clinical experience and a one-credit hour professional portfolio. Students in the initial licensure track complete 15 credit hours of education coursework required by the state, 30 school librarianship content credit hours, five credit hours of supervised experience in school libraries and a one-credit hour professional portfolio. Coursework in both tracks includes traditional content (foundations of school librarianship, collection development, children’s and young adult literature, information sources and services, organisation of information and programme administration) as well as coursework in instructional design, emerging trends in the field and research methodology (Longwood 2017). The majority of the students in the school librarianship programme at Longwood are practising teachers seeking an additional state endorsement as a school librarian. These students have the option of either completing only the courses and field experiences required by the state for endorsement (24 content credit hours plus a clinical experience) or the entire Master of Education degree, as described above. Students in Track 1 choose one elective course to complete their programme. Courses offered as electives include: Promotion and Marketing of the School Library; Features and Functions of School Libraries PreK-12; and a course taught in conjunction with the annual Summer Literacy Institute sponsored collaboratively by the School Librarianship programme and the Reading, Literacy and Learning programme at Longwood University. Since students in Track 1 already hold a teaching licence, they are not required by the Virginia Department of Education to complete a full-time experience for the additional endorsement. Instead, they complete 150 clock hours of clinical experience in school libraries. Students must complete one full school day at each level (elementary, middle and high) as part of the 150 hours. The remainder of the hours may be completed in schools of their choice as approved by the partnering school districts. Students work with their school districts and partnering librarians to arrange the placements and work out times for the library experiences. Students may complete the two credit hours over two consecutive semesters to allow more time to fit the library work into their schedules. In the last semester of their clinical experience, students are observed teaching a collab-



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orative lesson. School librarianship faculty serve as the supervisors and observers for the students in clinical experiences. Some students enter the programme without a teaching licence. All individuals seeking a teaching licence must complete general coursework in education (curriculum and instructional procedures, classroom and behaviour management, reading in the content areas, foundations of education as well as human growth and development) (Commonwealth of Virginia 2017b). Initial licensure students often do not have the practical classroom experience of licensed teachers, even if the initial licensure student was employed in a school in a non-instructional role. To address this, a required course was added to the initial licensure track that covers best practices in education to include classroom and school library observations. This curriculum and instruction class provides knowledge and experiences in current, common teaching strategies used in classrooms PreK-12. Students examine these practices (differentiation, Universal Design for Learning, questioning, management and transition techniques as well as planning) and discuss how they translate to the school library. This class is completed before the semester of supervised experiences in school libraries, allowing students to identify and prepare for the instructional responsibilities of the school librarian. Students in the Initial Licensure Track are required by the Virginia Department of Education to complete a full-time library experience that includes elementary and secondary placements. In this programme, students are required to complete 300 clock hours (100 clock hours at each level: elementary, middle and high). Students are placed with partnering school librarians at each level to complete these hours, typically spending approximately three and a half weeks full-time in each placement. Due to the intensive nature of the experience and the full-time requirement, some students, if employed, might have to take a leave of absence or work out other options to be free for the entire experience. Students are observed teaching a collaborative lesson at each level, with school librarianship faculty serving as the supervisors and observers for the students in their supervised experience semester.

Monitoring, Evaluation and/or Assessment Assignments across courses, many of which are project-based, are designed to be rigorous while, at the same time, practical. Students identify how national school library standards for learners align with Virginia’s content curriculum Standards of Learning, while they also develop collaborative lessons that address

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both sets of standards. They perform an analysis of a specific area of an existing school library collection and then prepare an annotated multimedia bibliography of resources to purchase to update and enhance the collection. In a rejuvenating children’s literature assignment, they are required to select an old favourite in children’s literature, one that teachers consistently use in their classrooms, so as to suggest alternative resources published within the last five years that address the same topic or issue. In the area of information sources, they not only become familiar with subscription databases available for PreK-12 but also create professional development plans to use with classroom teachers to facilitate database usage. They are required to attend the Virginia Association of School Librarians’ conference and, as a follow up, write a one-page letter to their administrator, not only thanking them for support to attend the conference but also emphasising sessions attended and lessons learned that will be shared with school faculty. Throughout the programme, students submit many of their assignments in a common space, creating a repository of ideas and resources that they can then use as practising school librarians. All students in the School Librarianship programme must create and defend a professional portfolio at the end of their time of study. The portfolio is designed around the ALA/AASL Standards for Initial Preparation of School Librarians (American Association of School Librarians 2010) and serves as documentation of programme alignment with the national preparation programme standards. The purpose of the professional portfolio is to provide students with a reflective evaluation experience in which they review and share artefacts that document their growth throughout the programme and their preparedness to be school librarians. The professional portfolio is developed in consultation with school librarianship faculty over the course of one semester but may include work created throughout the programme. At the end of the semester, students travel to campus for their portfolio defence. During this presentation, students show their digital portfolios to faculty as well as fellow students and explain their learning and growth. Many programme alumni report using their professional portfolios during job interviews and as continued documentation of professional activities once they are practising school librarians. The Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) is the licensure-granting agency for the state; therefore, the School Librarianship programme is required to demonstrate alignment of its courses to the Virginia Regulations Governing the Review and Approval of Education Programs in Virginia, Library Media PreK-12 (Commonwealth of Virginia 2017b). The programme director prepares a matrix for submission to the VDOE which documents the courses in which each of the required VDOE professional competencies for school librarians is met. To maintain national recognition status, a programme report demonstrating student



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mastery of the ALA/AASL Standards for Initial Preparation of School Librarians (American Association of School Librarians 2010) is submitted to the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP) and the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) for review every seven years. Data from eight key assessments across the School Librarianship programme document student mastery of the standards while additional components of the programme report address how the programme is using this and other related data for continuous programme improvement. Additionally, to supplement course evaluation data collected by the University at the end of each semester, faculty members regularly collect feedback from students at the completion of the professional portfolio course as well as from alumni and employers of alumni via survey.

Outcomes Often a school librarian may be the only librarian in their school. The cohort model provides students the opportunity to build a support network of other librarians to rely on when they need help, have questions and/or simply want to connect with colleagues. In order to stay connected after graduation, cohorts have used email, Facebook and other forms of social media as well as periodic dinners or other in-person gatherings to maintain their relationships. Participation in the cohort model fosters the development of a community of learners as well as the dispositions associated with being a professional and contributing to the field as a whole. Longwood programme alumni consistently excel in the field. They are honoured as Teachers of the Year at the school building level, Librarians of the Year at both the regional and state levels in the state professional association and award winners at national level (ALA Emerging Leader, AASL Frances Henne Award, AASL Collaborative School Library Programme). They frequently write articles for professional journals and have authored books in the field. They are active in state and national professional associations, serving both as elected officers and as members of committees and task forces. As practising school librarians, they remain connected to the programme at Longwood through regular email communications, conference events and social media. Students also are well connected with the faculty. They share their good news as they find positions, write articles and become active in the field. They come back for support and help when needed. Graduates enter the field not only with a solid background from their coursework and experience but also with a strong

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foundation of people from their cohort and professors willing to help support them in their new positions.

Challenges The major challenges for faculty are the time and travel required to offer courses at various cohort sites in different areas of the state; however, faculty are committed to the hybrid nature of the programme and the culture of professional community that it fosters. Faculty may travel up to four hours one way to teach in various cohort locations around the state. Additional travel is required when students are observed by School Librarianship programme faculty during the completion of the clinical experience (Track 1) or supervised experience (Track 2). A few of the courses in the programme are offered in a fully online format. The face-to-face experiences embedded into the programme model mean it can be a challenge to have a fully online course. This is especially apparent when the professor teaching the course has not had the opportunity to teach the cohort in person prior to the online course. The professors work hard to foster an active, engaging online course with multiple opportunities for discussion between students as well as the instructor and the students. Live online video sessions are often utilised as a forum for synchronous interaction. Online courses are designed to include a space for informal conversations similar to what would happen during breaks in a face-to-face class. In this space students share ideas, questions and thoughts with each other, often without instructor intervention. Building community within the fully online environment is supremely important with a group of students who are accustomed to spending full days together as they learn and discuss the course topics. It is a challenge to establish this environment without the in-person connection.

Lessons Learned The School Librarianship programme emphasises not only content but also lifelong learning, continued networking and professional growth. This emphasis enables the graduates to meet the programme’s mission of preparing school librarians who are reflective citizen leaders grounded in content and best practice as well as who positively impact student achievement and the educational environments of their schools. Students graduate with a solid understanding of



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their instructional role as well as the importance of advocacy and leadership in the field. Graduates are the best advertisement for Longwood University’s School Librarianship programme. They consistently support as well as encourage their colleagues and friends to join as new cohorts begin. The programme hosts a student/alumni event at the annual state school library conference, which is regularly attended by 125–150 students/alumni. Graduates have been taught the importance of being involved and the event is a time for everyone to come together with their colleagues and professors to share what is happening in their libraries; it is very much a family reunion. The Longwood School Librarianship programme maintains a solid presence on social media and most recently began sponsoring a virtual book club to keep connected with students and graduates. In addition to providing a solid foundation in content, the faculty work constantly to build and support an ongoing professional learning community that will last long after the students graduate. Content coursework in Longwood’s programme is fully aligned to the 2010 ALA/AASL Standards for Initial Preparation of School Librarians. Assignments across courses are purposefully designed to be practical. The biggest strength of the programme, however, is the hybrid instructional cohort model. Being a school librarian is a “people job” that requires strong interpersonal skills. It is through the face-to-face interactions with each other and professors that students develop a true professional learning community.

References American Library Association. 2013. Policy Manual B9. Library Personnel Practices, “B.9.2.2 School Librarians.” http://www.ala.org/aboutala/governance/policymanual/updatedpolicymanual/section2/54libpersonnel#B.9.2. Accessed October 17, 2017. American Association of School Librarians. 2010. ALA/AASL Standards for Initial Preparation of School Librarians. Approved by Specialty Areas Studies Board (SASB) of the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE), October 24, 2010. http://www.ala. org/aasl/sites/ala.org.aasl/files/content/aasleducation/schoollibrary/2010_standards_ with_rubrics.pdf. Accessed October 17, 2017. Commonwealth of Virginia. 2017a. “Chapter 13.2. Standards of Quality.” http://www.doe. virginia.gov/administrators/superintendents_memos/2017/222-17a.pdf. Accessed December 12, 2017. Commonwealth of Virginia. 2017b. “Regulations Governing the Review and Approval of Education Programs in Virginia.” https://law.lis.virginia.gov/admincode/title8/agency20/ chapter542/section360/. Accessed December 12, 2017.

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Dickinson, G. K., and A. P. Church. 2015. “Guiding the Preparation of School Librarians in the United States, 1984–2014.” In B. A. Schultz-Jones, and D. Oberg, eds., Global Action on School Library Guidelines, 180–189. Berlin: De Gruyter. Longwood University. 2017. “School Librarianship M.Ed.” http://www.longwood.edu/schoollibrarianship/#d.en.58965. Accessed October 17, 2017.

Part 3: Changing Pathways in School Library Education and Training Part 3 addresses alternate approaches to providing initial preparation for school librarians emphasising programmes offered by professional associations or government ministries and programmes in transition due to changing external forces or internal understandings.

Rei Iwasaki, Mutsumi Ohira and Junko Nishio

7 P  athways for School Library Education and Training in Japan Abstract: Since 1953, Japan has had a school library law regulating school libraries and the training of teacher librarians. In Japan, teacher librarians are members of the teaching staff who work as educators in the school library. However, there is another type of library staff also working in schools: school librarians, who work as librarians in the school library. Recently, the national Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) issued a model curriculum for school librarians that included courses from teacher education, teacher librarian education and school library education. This chapter describes three programmes of school library education and training offered by Kyoto Notre Dame University, Kyoto Sangyo University and the Kyoto City Board of Education. These programmes illustrate school library issues in Japan related to role definition, staff titles as well as the education and training of school library staff. Keywords: Teacher-librarians; School librarians; School libraries; Kyoto Notre Dame University; Kyoto Sangyo University; Kyoto Board of Education; Japan.

Introduction This chapter introduces school library education and training in Japan. In Japan, two types of library professionals work in schools (Nagakura 1991). One is the teacher librarian, a member of the teaching staff engaged in the school library as an educator. The other is the school librarian, an administrative staff member engaged in a school library as a librarian. The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) is responsible for the education system in Japan and issues educational policies. The Ministry issues teacher librarian licences through the universities. School librarians also work in school libraries, but their licences are not specific to school libraries. In November 2016, MEXT issued a model curriculum for educating university students as school librarians. This model programme does not provide a licence upon completion (Horikawa 2017) and, since only a few universities began their courses in 2017, no students have completed it yet.

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The School Library Law in Japan Legislation closely connects school libraries to the Japanese education system; a special School Library Law was enacted in 1953 and covers the core elements of the school system in Japan. The first version of the law regulated school libraries, teacher librarians and the teacher librarian’s training programme. It stated that there must be a teacher-librarian in a school library if the school has more than 12 classes, which is the case for about half of the schools in Japan. However, most teacher librarians do not receive any exemption from their regular duties as classroom subject teachers. According to the survey results of MEXT in 2016, 68.5% of schools in Japan have a teacher librarian, but about only 12% of these teacher librarians have enough time for school library work. The latest version of the law, amended in 2014, has seen the placement of school librarians documented in addition to the teacher librarians, the first time the law has mentioned school librarians and training for such individuals. There were school librarians in Japanese schools before this amendment, but they were not regulated by the School Library Law.

Training for Teacher Librarians and School Librarians in Japan One of the important points to remember for school librarian training is that, currently, school librarians and teacher librarians are educated with the same curriculum. This curriculum is regulated in the Implementing Regulations of the School Library Law (Rules for Training Affairs of Teacher Librarian, last revised March 30, 2007). The curriculum consists of both the courses of the teacher training programme and those of the teacher librarian programme. This means that teacher librarian students first must get a teacher’s licence and then complete five courses in the teacher librarian programme which are specified in the implementing regulations: School Management and Libraries; Managing School Library Media Resources; Education and School Library Services; Theories of Reading and Personal Development in Schools; and Using Multimedia Information Resources. MEXT commissioned universities to open the teacher librarian programme, with the qualification (credential) available to teacher librarian students accepted as the national certification. The certification of school librarians is an extremely recent development. In 2016, a model curriculum for school librarian’s training was officially announced by MEXT. However, the model curriculum was not authorised by the government,



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so the certification will be given by each university individually. While the licence of teacher librarian is the national licence, the certification of school librarian is not. Additionally, the school librarian programme does not have an original curriculum of its own: the courses in the curriculum for school librarians consist of some of the subjects from the teacher training programme, teacher librarian programme and school librarian programme. As this course has just begun, it is hoped that there will be discussions on the curriculum content in the future.

Curriculum Guidelines and Government Authorised Textbooks The teacher librarian training course for Japanese teachers is conducted based on the premise that it is part of the school education system in Japan. In this section, the Japanese school education system and other matters related to the school libraries are introduced. The school education system in Japan is under the jurisdiction of MEXT, who deals with various policies concerning education, including curriculum guidelines and authorised textbooks. School libraries are a part of and connected to school education. The Ministry’s curriculum guidelines are revised every ten years, with authorised textbooks changed every four years by each municipality, meaning that school libraries have to change their plans accordingly. Before the standards in the guidelines for teaching were clarified in 2003, the format of teaching in public schools was decided in the course of study, making it difficult to utilise school libraries as a part of classroom activities. “Integrated Studies (Sogoteki na Gakusyu no Jikan)” was introduced when the guidelines for teaching were revised in 1998. Since 2003, teacher librarians have been allocated to schools with 12 or more classes, facilitating the active usage of school libraries. With the improved situation, libraries have since become a place where not only reading but also other various activities, such as research studies, are held.

Current Trends and Issues The Teacher Librarian Programme: Course Contents This programme provides the five subjects as required by the Rules for Training Affairs of Teacher Librarian. The subjects for a teacher’s licence, required for

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teacher librarian certification, are regulated separately. The courses required for teacher librarian certification are as follows: (1) School Management and Libraries: the aim of this course is to help students understand the general matters about a school library. The course contents include: mission and educational significance, development and problems of a school library, school administration and a school library, library administration and management, the role of a teacher librarian and collaboration with other staff members in a school, employee training, collection development and management, programmes and activities of a school library as well as library cooperation and networking. (2) Managing School Library Media Resources: the aim of this course is to help students understand collection management and complete a practicum. The course contents include: types and characteristics of school library resources, collection development and management, school library material organisation as well as diverse learning environments and collection management. (3) Education and School Library Services: the aim of this course is to help students understand how to use physical and digital resources in the curriculum. The course contents include: curriculum and a school library, collection development in consideration of children’s personal development, training of media literacy of school children especially for using school library materials, the case study of practical use of a school library in the learning process, practical use of a school library in classes, information services as well as support for and advocacy to teachers. (4) Theories of Reading and Personal Development in Schools: the aim of this course is to help students understand the theory of reading promotion according to children’s personal development. The course contents include: significance and purpose of reading, reading and mental development, reading instruction and programme in accordance with personal development, types and practical uses of books for school children, the ways of reading instruction, including reading aloud, storytelling and book talks, collaboration with families as well as community and public libraries. (5) Using Multimedia Information Resources: the aim of this course is to help students understand how to use various resources of a school library. The course contents include: advanced information society and human beings, characteristics of digital resources and selection, practical uses of audiovisual resources, practical uses of computers as well as school library resources and copyright.



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The School Librarian Programme: Course Contents This programme delivers the 10 subjects according to the model curriculum proposed by MEXT. (1) Introduction to School Librarianship: the aim is to help students understand the basics of running a school library, including its theory and laws. The contents include mission and educational significance, school administration and the school library, the school library under school management, management of the school library, facilities of the school library, the role of the school librarian and collaboration with other staff members in the school and employee training, collection management, programmes and activities of the school library as well as library cooperation and its network. (2) Introduction to Library Service Technology: the aim of this course is to help students master the technology necessary for library services and complete a practicum. The contents include: a basic knowledge of computer and digital networks, information technology and society, the present state of practical use of technology in a library, library systems, structure of databases, structure of search engines, management of digital resources, management of a computer system, digital archives as well as current information technology and the library. (3) Introduction to Library and Information Resources: the aim of this course is to help students know the basic knowledge about physical and digital resources of a school library. The contents include: printed and non-printed materials, digital materials, local materials, administrative documents and gray literature, publication and distribution, knowledge of library materials, theory of collection development, methods of collection development, materials about humanities and social science, materials about science and technology as well as management of materials. (4) Introduction to Library Material Organisation: the aim of this course is to help students understand library material organisation and collection management. The course contents include: significance and theory of library material organisation, bibliographic control and standardisation, bibliographic description, significance and points of view of thematic analyses, thematic analyses and classification, thematic analyses and indexing, creation and processing of a bibliographic information system, providing a bibliographic information system, organisation of network information resources and metadata as well as a variety of library material organisations. (5) Practicum on Library Material Organisation: the aim of this course is to help students complete a practicum about material organisation. The course contents include: creating bibliographic data, thematic analyses and classifying, thematic analyses and application of controlled vocabulary, creating bibliographic

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data by centralisation, bibliographic data control and data mining as well as creating metadata for network information resources. (6) Introduction to School Library Service: the aim of this course is to help students understand school library services for school children and teachers. The course contents include: mission of and framework for a school library, organisation of space and circumstances, management of a school library, library-use instruction, information services, reading support for school children, learning support for school children, service for school children with special needs, services for teachers and other staff members as well as public relation and community engagement. (7) Introduction to Information Services in School Libraries: the aim of this course is to help students master information services for school children. The course contents include: significance of information services in a school library, theory and case study of information services, reference collection development, evaluation of materials, reference services for school children and teachers, information services for inquiry-based learning as well as information services and copyright. (8) Introduction to School Education: the aim of this course is to help students understand the basic knowledge about school education and personal development of children. The course contents include: significance and purpose of school education, school administration and education, significance of curriculum and curriculum guidelines, school education and textbooks, personal development and the learning process, understanding school children with special needs and contemporary problems of school education. (9) Education and School Library Services: same content as (3) Education and School Library Services in the Teacher Librarian Programme. (10) Theories of Reading and Personal Development in Schools: same content as (4) Theories of Reading and Personal Development in Schools in the Teacher Librarian Programme.

Case Studies of the Teacher Librarian Programme in Two Universities Kyoto Notre Dame University Kyoto Notre Dame University has had the teacher librarian programme since 2003. This university, which is only for women, has two teacher training programmes:



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the programme for elementary school teachers (including special support education school teachers) and the programme for middle school teachers (Japanese, English and Homemaking). The students who complete these programmes can take the teacher librarian programme. Kyoto Notre Dame University does not have the school librarian programme that has just begun in Japan, largely because students seldom get a full-time job as a school librarian. Classes are provided according to the Rules for Training Affairs of Teacher Librarian and put emphasis on several areas as follows: –– School Management and Libraries: the most important part of this subject is to understand school management and school libraries, and high priority is given to the significance and role of a school library, the function of a school library and the mission of a teacher librarian. –– Managing School Library Media Resources: this course covers acquisitions as well as cataloguing and is one of the most practical subjects about school libraries. However, teacher librarians usually take part only in acquisitions; they are not concerned with cataloguing as school librarians handle this area. Students therefore learn the basics of cataloguing and are prepared to be coordinators of school libraries. –– Education and School Library Services: the most important area of this course is to learn the approach to making the best use of school libraries in the curricula of elementary and middle schools. An appropriate involvement in such curricula is indispensable to the effective function of school libraries, so high priority is given to learning theory as well as the relation between learning processes and information seeking behaviour, providing practice in information services (e.g. providing reference services and making pathfinders) that have a crucial relevance to school classes, recognising the importance of collaboration with other teachers and addressing ways to collaborate. –– Theories of Reading and Personal Development in Schools: the most important area of this subject is to learn methods to support students in forming reading habits in elementary and middle schools. High priority is given to learning the theory and the effect of reading on language development and mental development of children, undertaking the practice of reading programmes such as book talks and reading animals, as well as the administrative policy for forming children’s reading habits, such as the Act on Promotion of Children’s Reading in Japan and other countries. –– Using Multimedia Information Resources: the most important area of this subject is for students to acquire information skills as a future teacher librarian. High priority is therefore given to ensuring students are more familiar with library materials including databases and knowing how to utilise information acquired as a future teacher librarian to teach students.

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Kyoto Sangyo University In Kyoto Sangyo University, the chief faculty member in charge of the teacher librarian programme teaches four subjects and the university’s original subject, Seminar on School Libraries. Using Multimedia Information Resources has become an alternative subject, along with Audio-Visual Education and Audio Visual Education and Media which are taught by researchers in information technology. The major topic of the chief faculty member is educational technology. Based on the basic policy of MEXT, the aim is to improve the learning of students qualitatively by utilising diverse media for learning guidance, with a particular focus on cooperation between learning activities and school libraries. –– School Management and Libraries: after studying school management theoretically, questions are raised and students discuss how school library management is linked with school educational goals. In order to help them think about school management closely, students prepare a draft plan for materialising the contents of discussion. Students prepare plans in groups and make presentations as well as mutual evaluations. –– Managing School Library Media Resources: students learn that there are various media as well as books in school libraries. Most students imagine libraries are the place to read books and are encouraged to change their attitudes in class, which many experience as long distance learning. Students also learn about classification methods and catalogues used in school libraries. Based on the contents learned in School Management and Libraries and Education and School Library Services, students learn to prepare necessary media, select and develop the collection and carry out preservation of resources. –– Education and School Library Services: first, students prepare a teaching plan that utilises school libraries with subjects specifically targeted to their own interests. Next, they conduct simulated lessons based on the teaching plan and conduct mutual evaluation. In the teaching training and simulation lessons, since the specialty is from the same major subject, simulated lessons in the teacher librarian programme are opportunities to experience different specialised classes. As a teacher librarian, the aim is to experience an opportunity to support classes of other specialty teachers. –– Theories of Reading and Personal Development in Schools: students learn theories about children’s growth and reading tendencies in developmental psychology. After that, based on what they have learned, students choose a theme and read books on the selected area. In the next lesson, one student chooses a book that is read by all others; the student acts as a chairperson who will hold a reading session. Repeating this process, students come to



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increase their quantity of reading, learn to express what they have learned from books and serve as a chairperson of the reading session. –– Seminar on School Library: this course is original and unique to the programme. The use of school libraries in classes varies depending on the teacher. The experience of using school libraries by students who attend teacher librarian training courses is also different. This course therefore consists of theory, teaching plan preparation and practice. The school library exercise involves developing new practical uses and applications of school libraries, such as, for example, the introduction of AI to school libraries, a new history learning method in junior high school, development of school library games (circulation of Kyoto library) and so on. These activities have a good reputation from school sites and library-related organisations. Students who wish to take the course review the course report; the class is limited to 20 or less to maintain the motivation of students and the quality of lessons.

The Kyoto City Board of Education The Kyoto City Board of Education includes 166 elementary schools, 73 middle schools, seven combined junior high/high schools, 10 high schools and eight comprehensive support schools. In the basic policy of school education in Kyoto City, the school library is positioned in the curriculum as a Learning Information Centre and Reading Centre. The policy also says that “using the newspaper systematically as a source of learning information will broadly enhance public interest in society.” The new role of the school library is stipulated as a Learning and Information Centre where the necessary information is gathered and stored for easy use. The role of the Reading Centre is to form the habit of reading to nurture a rich mind. Teacher librarians are allocated to all schools that have more than 12 classes. Some teacher librarians work full-time in their schools, while other teacher librarians serve concurrently as subject teachers. As the teacher librarians work as classroom teachers and teach subjects, the time they can spend on activities related to school libraries is limited. All teachers in elementary schools and junior high schools are expected to participate in a specialised research committee and publish a research paper once a year. Most teacher librarians belong to a school library research group, where they attempt to solve problems by exchanging information with others based on practice at their school. Kyoto City has allocated two full-time teacher librarians in two school libraries that are part of the research programme to help

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teachers and students make proper use of the libraries. They will work full-time for two years and then go back to their regular teaching jobs. The Board of Education also wants to place a school librarian in all elementary and junior high schools. However, due to budget limitations, a school librarian has only been placed in each junior school district (serving a number of elementary schools and one junior high school), where they support all school libraries in this region. Unfortunately, because the school librarian’s time at each school is extremely limited, there is still not enough learning support. As the qualifications of the school librarian were not yet established, the Kyoto City Board of Education set the qualification requirement for school librarians in this project as having a basic knowledge of the library, with a librarian or teacher librarian qualification preferred. The Board of Education regularly conducts training for school librarians including: preparation of the school library, book talks, reading aloud, Bibliobattle (a competition to introduce a book), preparation of the school training (utilisation of the school library), advice on selection and disposal of books and preparation of book lists. Future training topics include updating selection and disposal of materials to ensure suitable learning content as well as coordinating teaching guidance to class students by the class teacher and school librarian. The Board of Education conducts joint training for teacher librarians and school librarians once a year. School libraries are expected to be utilised in learning activities, but it is difficult for teacher librarians to do two jobs, in the classroom and in the school library. In fact, school librarians are often responsible for the operation of school libraries, with the roles of school librarians and teacher librarians not clearly distinguished. It is important to create an environment where teacher librarians, who are also teachers, are able to make use of their expertise in teaching as well as where school librarians are able to utilise their expertise in offering information.

Future Prospects At present, there is standardisation of the teacher librarian’s training and the school librarian’s training in Japan, because these professional systems are enacted according to the School Library Law, with the subjects covered by the courses regulated. However, this present situation does not guarantee expertise of the professionals in school libraries in Japan. The problem seems to occur because of the following causes:



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–– Education of school library staff: universities cannot afford to offer a large number of new courses. This circumstance at the university level hampers the changes needed for school librarian education. There are not enough courses in the teacher librarian’s programme; the school librarian’s programme has more courses but no new ones. –– Roles and duties of school library staff: there are two professional titles, teacher librarians and school librarians, in Japan. However, the duties of each position are not clearly specified in the school education setting. Moreover, the contents of the curriculum in universities are not keeping up with the needs of schools. The study of school libraries is progressing well in Japan. Research on the professional’s expertise in school libraries has flourished in recent years (see, for example, articles by Kamata 2015 and Shiomi 2015). There also have been some symposiums and workshops, such as 『学校図書館員の将来像：求められるコ ンピテンシー』, a symposium on the Future Image of a School Library: The Competency Expected”, organised by Mitsuhiro Oda and Yuji Hirakue in December 2017. As a school library is one of the school functions, it is necessary to define its role in the school and advance research related to that in pedagogy. The key factor in improving the expertise of the professionals in school libraries is interdisciplinary studies and the application of such in school education. Interdisciplinary studies between library and information science as well as pedagogy or developmental psychology would contribute to the development of a school library. The application of such studies would help address the gap between the school’s need for a school library and the reality of the school library as well as improving the school library services offered to school children and teachers.

References Horikawa, T. 2017. “「学校図書館の整備充実に関する調査研究協力者会議」に関す る報告 [Report on the Council of Research and Study Collaborators on Enhancing School Libraries, organised by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology].” Toshokan Zasshi [The Library Journal] 111, no. 7 (July). Japanese Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. “ 学校図書館法 [School Library Law]”. Last modified June 24, 2015. http://elaws.e-gov.go.jp/. Accessed August 8, 2018. Kamata, K. 2015. “学校図書館法の改正とこれからの学校図書館専門職の役割をめぐって [Amendment of School Library Act and Future Roles of School Library Profession]”. Gendai no Toshokan 53, no.1 (March).

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Kyoto Notre Dame University. “Syllabus.” https://mutsuki.notredame.ac.jp/syllabus/top. Accessed July 29, 2018. Kyoto Sangyo University. “Syllabus.” https://syllabus.kyoto-su.ac.jp/syllabus/html. Accessed July 29, 2018. Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. “学校司書のモデルカリキ ュラムについて /About the Model Curriculum of School Librarian’s Training Course”. Last modified November 29, 2016. http://www.mext.go.jp/a_menu/shotou/dokusho/ link/1380587.htm. Accessed August 8, 2018. Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. “司書教諭講習規程 /Rules for Training Affairs of Teacher Librarian”. Last modified March 30, 2007. http://www.mext.go.jp/component/a_menu/education/micro_detail/__icsFiles/afieldfile/2015/ 08/05/1360328_01.pdf. Accessed August 8, 2018. Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. “司書教諭の講習科目のねら いと内容 /The Aim and Contents of Teacher Librarian’s Training Course”. Last modified March 18, 1998. http://www.mext.go.jp/a_menu/shotou/dokusho/link/1327211.htm. Accessed August 8, 2018. Nagakura, M. 1991. “Japan.” In J. E. Lowrie and M. Nagakura, eds., School libraries: International Developments. 2nd ed. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press. Shiomi, Noboru. 2015. “学校図書館専門職員制度化の課題 /Issues for the Institutionalization of School Library Professionals.” Toshokankai 66, no. 6 (March).

Boemo N. Jorosi and Margaret Baffour-Awuah

8 M  arching Forward, Marching in Circles: Education for Teacher-Librarians in Botswana: 1962–Present Abstract: Although teacher-librarians are recognised as crucial to twenty-first century students’ learning and teaching, research focusing exclusively on their preparation is relatively rare. The need for research in this area is stressed by many scholars who agree that programmes which educate teacher-librarians need to be responsive to the needs of both students and the profession. This chapter aims to examine the education and training of teacher-librarians in Botswana, chronologically tracking the history of teacher-librarian preparation from its origins in the early republic to the present. It concludes by noting that while teacher-librarian preparation in Botswana boasts a history of three decades its impact on the library scene has been marginal. Finally, both short and long-term interventions are suggested to rejuvenate the education and training of teacher-librarians for Botswana’s twenty-first century education. Keywords: Teacher-librarians; School libraries; Library education; School librarians; Botswana.

Introduction Teacher-librarians are important to students’ education, and this is demonstrated by a substantial body of research correlating students’ test scores and library media centre quality. As programme administrators, teacher-librarians enable students and teachers to use the library’s resources and spaces to the fullest. As specialist teachers, they draw upon dual qualifications in education and information science that enable them to respond to diverse learner needs and the challenges of evolving technologies. A teacher-librarian is defined by the American Association of School Librarians as an individual who holds both recognised qualifications in teaching and librarianship (American Association of School Librarians 2007). Teacher-librarians are important in education due to their combined knowledge of teaching curriculum and library and information management. Information is the foundation of all education, and teacher-librarians play a pivotal role within the school arena. They specifically perform three major roles, as curriculum leaders, information specialists and information service managers. Teacher-librarians are important https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110616163-009

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to students’ education, as demonstrated by a substantial body of research on school library impact on scholastic achievement (Library Research Service 2016; Menefee 2009). According to Shannon (2002), the role of the teacher-librarian and the competencies needed to succeed have changed and expanded over the years. To be effective and adaptive, teacher-librarians need a range of skills and competencies in addition to professional education. Troutner (2012) stresses the need to update the common core knowledge standards, while Baker (2016) suggests that to keep pace with today’s digital world teacher-librarian preparation programmes must equip students with skills to become transformational leaders and instructional partners. Surprisingly, in contrast to the vast body of research focusing on various aspects of school libraries, limited research addresses the training of teacherlibrarians, especially in developing country contexts like Botswana. This has unfortunately limited a fuller understanding of how teacher-librarian education is provided, and the objective of this chapter is therefore to track the training of teacher-librarians in Botswana.

Botswana: Geo-political and Socio-economic Cultural Situation To understand how teacher-librarian education has evolved over time, it is necessary to first gain a fuller appreciation of the environment in which school libraries inhabit. The history of teacher-librarian preparation is inextricably linked to developments and events in the broader educational arena. Before its independence in 1966, Botswana was a British Protectorate known as Bechuanaland, one of the poorest and least developed states in the world. The country is named after its dominant ethnic group, the Tswana (plural: Batswana). Since independence, the Republic of Botswana has gained international stature as a peaceful and increasingly prosperous democratic state. It is a member of the United Nations, the Commonwealth of Nations, the African Union and the Southern African Development Community. Roughly the size of France or Texas in the United States of America, Botswana is bounded by Namibia in the west and north, Zambia and Zimbabwe to the north-east as well as South Africa to the south-east and south. Much of the country’s land surface is dominated by the Kgalagadi Desert, while recent population estimates stand at 2,326,000 (Statistics Botswana 2017).



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Botswana is a resource-rich middle-income country, praised for its prudent economic management. The country’s real GDP, mostly supported by increased mining production, grew by nearly 10% annually from 1960–2008, thereby enabling Botswana to graduate from a least developed country status in 1992 to a middle-income level country. Botswana’s GDP per capita income has risen from USD80 at the time of independence to USD7,750 in 2014 (Statistics Botswana 2017). Botswana is a constitutional multi-party democracy and its political scene has remained remarkably stable. Political stability, mature democratic processes, excellent policies and strong institutions have underpinned effective economic management for over five decades. Having inherited a largely illiterate population at independence in 1966, post-independent Botswana had to invest heavily in education and training in its first three decades. To this end, Botswana undertook two major educational reforms, both of which were carried out by presidential commissions and had far-reaching impact on the country’s whole education sector in general and the training of teacher-librarians in particular. The first major reform report, issued in 1977, was titled Education for Kagisano (Social Harmony) (Botswana Ministry for Education 1977) because its main focus was on ensuring basic education for the majority of the semi-literate population. The second presidential commission on education was appointed in 1993 and again produced a far-reaching agenda for the entire educational system. This commission’s report was adopted by the government as the Revised National Policy on Education (RNPE) (Botswana Ministry of Education 1993). The RNPE laid the foundations for expedited progress towards the training of teacher-librarians. For instance, in pursuit of quality education, the commission recommended a radical shift from teacher-centred learning to resource-based learning. However, the success of resource-based learning can be best accomplished through the contributions of qualified teacher-librarians (Association for Teacher-Librarianship in Canada 1997). Consequently, the training of teacherlibrarians received a major boost.

Era 1: The Dark Ages of School Libraries (1962–1967) As indicated earlier, Botswana was a British Protectorate from 1886 but was granted independence in September 1966. In the intervening period, the country was underdeveloped as it was considered a barren desert and not worthy of

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much investment. The Bechuanaland Protectorate Development Plan 1963/68 mentioned the inadequacy or the total lack of libraries in secondary schools and stated that provision would be made for adequate libraries (Baleseng 1989; Dale 1971; Dankert 1994). During the colonial era there was no training whatsoever provided for teacher-librarians. The librarian in charge of the school library was normally a teacher of English or some volunteer, often with a special interest in the library but with no credentials in library and information work and only trained on the job. By the dawn of independence, there were only ten secondary schools with libraries in Botswana (Tallman, Metzger and Jorosi 2000). In the true sense, some of these were not really school libraries. They were mere collections of books, maps, reprographic equipment as well as other essential supportive teaching and learning resources (Baleseng 1989).

Era 2: Ad Hoc Training for School Libraries (1968–1987) Formal professional teacher-librarian education in Botswana, which started with the Certificate in School Library Studies at the University of Botswana, owes its origins to developments in the Ministry of Education and the Botswana National Library Services that took place between 1968 and 1987. Both merit discussion due to their direct and huge impact in the evolution of both ad hoc training and later professional training. Immediately after Botswana’s independence, the Ministry of Education took over all secondary schools and provided both stock as well as staffing for school libraries (Baleseng 1989). In 1977, the Ministry set up a commission to look into the state of the education system which made a major impact on education and school libraries in the country. The Report of the first commission (Education for Kagisano) (Botswana Ministry of Education 1977), among other developments, recommended that school librarianship courses be offered at the University of Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland (now University of Botswana); that schools give a lighter teaching load to untrained school librarians; that the Ministry of Education consider establishing a library assistant post parallel to that of a laboratory assistant; and that the Ministry create a school library coordinator post as well as work towards the establishment of full-time librarian posts in all secondary schools (Botswana Ministry of Education 1977). In brief, the Commission’s work set in motion events that became major landmarks in school library development. For example, following the recommendations of the Commission, a country-wide network of Commu-



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nity Junior Secondary Schools (CJSS) with libraries had been built by 1985, while existing CJSS that did not have libraries had been provided with them. The National Library Services Act was passed in September 1967 (Act No. 29) and required the provision of an effective library service nationwide (Laws of Botswana, Cap 58, 1967). The Act states that: it shall be the duty of the Minister of [Labor and Home Affairs] acting in consultation with BNLS Board to provide a comprehensive and efficient library service for all persons desiring to make use thereof, and for that purpose to provide and maintain such buildings and equipment … as may be required (Laws of Botswana Cap 58.2, 1967).

According to Stiles (1973), the Education Libraries Division of the Botswana National Library Services (BNLS), initially called the School and Colleges Division, was set up specifically to address educational library needs of the country. A close examination of the history of the BNLS reveals that its establishment marked a new era in the development of school libraries. Following a report of a survey undertaken by Made (1972), the BNLS set up a school library service dedicated to all schools in the country. Other salient activities that the BNLS undertook or accomplished were: –– Collaborating actively with the Ministry of Education on school library matters. –– Developing a manual for CJSS libraries. –– Setting up a working party to advise on CJSS library development. –– Pursuing the adoption and implementation of the 1985 report of the Lonsdale Consultancy especially on staffing of school libraries. –– Establishing the Mobile Library Service and providing books to both primary and secondary schools. –– Initiating The Book Box Service to primary schools (Baffour-Awuah 2011). –– Organising workshops to equip teachers with necessary reference and basic skills for managing book boxes. –– Conducting training advocacy workshops for head teachers. –– Incorporating school library visits and practical skills sharing into the BNLS supervision strategy. –– Conducting the first ever four-day training course for school librarians. During the “ad hoc training” era, there was no professional teacher-librarian education provided in Botswana. However, the salient activities of both the Ministry of Education and BNLS amply demonstrate that by working in concert they created optimum conditions for a formal training education programme to emerge later. For example, the BNLS provided training via workshops on an ad hoc basis,

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while the first training course organised in 1969 in collaboration with the then University of Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland was the precursor to the current University of Botswana library education (Baffour-Awuah 1997a). In the “ad hoc training” era, there were many schools with libraries which were run by volunteers or teachers of English with no prior library training. To incentivise teachers to work in the library, they were allocated reduced teaching loads, though much depended on the disposition of the head teacher or prevailing circumstances.

Era 3: Emergence of Professional Training (1988–2000) The first professional programme for teacher-librarians was initiated in 1986 as a result of the government’s desire to ensure quality teaching in schools. The certificate in school library studies programme at the University of Botswana in 1986, jointly sponsored by the Ministry of Education, the World Bank and the British Council, was commissioned to devise an appropriate training programme for teacher-librarians. This consultancy was awarded to Ray Lonsdale, a British citizen and at the time lecturer in library and information studies at the College of Librarianship in Aberystwyth, Wales. He was assisted by a reference group consisting of representatives of stakeholder organisations, the Ministry of Education and BNLS (Lonsdale 1986). Central to the consultant’s terms of reference was the development, in collaboration with the Department of Library and Information Studies (DLIS) at the University of Botswana, of an in-service training programme to equip CJSS teachers with basic skills and competencies desirable to effectively operate school libraries in Botswana. The end product of this exercise was the introduction of a Certificate in School Library Studies (CSLS) programme configured on the American library science model. In May 1988, the programme admitted its first students and the curriculum they followed was divided into two parts, with a total of 10 core compulsory courses: –– Part 1: Five courses during the first semester from May–August (14 weeks) –– Part 2: Five courses during the second year from May–August (14 weeks) In addition, an eight-month practicum of experiential learning in a school library between the end of the first semester and beginning of the second semester constituted an integral part of the programme. Cognisant of the American bias in the configuration of the programme, DLIS reviewed the programme and used the



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resultant feedback to align the course to local realities. Consequently, in 1989, the number of courses offered was reduced to eight (see Table 8.1), with the programme name changed to Certificate in School Library Studies (Jorosi 2001). The programme admitted candidates in possession of a Diploma in Secondary Education from the university or its equivalent from any other recognised institution, with at least one year’s teaching experience (Metzger 1992). Graduate teachers with science, humanities and education backgrounds were also eligible for admission. Table 8.1: Curriculum of the School Library Studies programme. SEMESTER 1

SEMESTER 2

CLS 011: The Role of Librarians in Education

CLS 015: Practical Placement (Practicum)

CLS 012: Information on Resources for Teaching and Learning

CLS 016: Selection and Evaluation of Information Resources

CLS 013: Organisation of Information Resources

CLS 017: Using Information Resources

CLS 014: School Library Administration and Management

CLS 018: Development of Information Products

From August 2000, DLIS at the University of Botswana ceased admitting candidates for the Certificate in School Library Studies as part of the university-wide decision to have all certificate programmes moved to the Colleges of Education. According to Metzger (2000), at the time of its cessation, the programme had trained an estimated 181 teacher-librarians, far less than the existing demand from 209 junior and 34 senior high schools. A second track in the formal preparation of teacher-librarians in Botswana was the introduction of Library Studies as a subject in the teacher education diploma programme (Baffour-Awuah 1997b). In 1996, both Molepolole and Tonota Colleges of Education, whose joint mission is to prepare teachers for the Community junior secondary schools, began to offer library studies as a minor subject. The aim of the courses was to produce teacher-librarians with skills to manage school libraries in particular and any similar information resource centres. The subject has been offered at both colleges since then, with the first group of 20 students graduating in 1998. Upon completion of the programme, graduates receive a diploma in secondary education (DSE) and are qualified to teach in their chosen subject(s) as well as run a school library in CJSS. However, enrolment statistics show a steady decline in admission rates for the DSE with a minor in library studies since 2009, with the lowest number of six students recorded in the August 2012 cohort.

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Era 4: Decline of Professional Training (2001–Present) When the CSLS (Certificate in Library Studies) programme at the University of Botswana ceased in 2000, the Library Studies course at the colleges of education (Baffour-Awuah 1997b) remained the dominant track of organised teacherlibrarian education, although enrolment figures for the programme had been on a steady decline from as far back as 2009. However, two other tracks of training soon emerged: the Bachelor of Library and Information Studies as well as the Bachelor of Arts, Library Information Studies, both offered by DLIS at the University of Botswana. The former programme is a single subject (library studies) fouryear programme while the latter is a dual subject four-year programme involving a subject taught in secondary schools plus library studies. Upon completion of either programme, graduates possess additional professional qualifications in library and information studies, thus enabling them to work as teacher-librarians in junior schools. Enrolment statistics show that both programmes have successfully trained only 34 teacher-librarians, sponsored by the Ministry of Education, over a 15-year period (2002–2017). Anecdotal evidence suggests that in-service teachers from the Ministry of Education nominated for training in either of these programmes are discouraged by prevailing entry requirements which overlook prior qualifications. A candidate who has a threeyear DSE qualification might be required to join either programme at year two, which would mean he or she would then take another three years to complete the programme. In other words, graduates of these two programmes are not eligible to be classroom teachers because they do not possess teaching qualifications. Table 8.2 below shows the curriculum of the minor course in school library studies at the colleges of education. Table 8.2: Curriculum of minor course in school library studies at colleges of education. Year 1 Term 1 The Importance of School Libraries in Secondary Schools The Role of Librarians in Education, Libraries, Knowledge and Information School Library Support Systems And Service

Year 2

Year 3

Classification and Reference Sources Cataloguing References Developing and Maintaining Services a Library Catalogue



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Table 8.2: (continued) Year 1

Year 2

Year 3

Term 2 Understanding Bibliographic Information Selection of Information Sources for the School Library Acquiring Information Sources

Classification and Cataloguing Preparing Materials for Shelves

School Library Administration and Management Production of Basic Library Manual

Term 3 Introduction to Library Technical Services Basic Library Routines Public Relations Repair and Conservation of Library Material

Establishing a Multimedia Collection Organising Non-Book Materials Design and Production Of Library Material

Publishing and The Book Trade Information Technology in Libraries Evaluating School Library Resources and Services Practical Placement

Conclusion This chapter has presented the progression of teacher-librarian preparation in Botswana through four eras. Upon gaining independence, Botswana swiftly moved to reform its education in order to steer economic development. In doing so, it set in motion a process leading to the emergence of structured teacherlibrarian preparation. However, while the journey towards teacher-librarian preparation took roughly a quarter of a century from 1962 to 1987, the resultant professional training in earnest lasted for only 12 years from 1988 to 2000. After 2000, professional training declined considerably as evidenced by low enrolments statistics for both the library studies programme at colleges of education as well as the BA LIS and BLIS programmes at the University of Botswana.

Lessons Learnt on the Training of Teacher-librarians in Botswana Despite substantial investment in the training of teacher-librarians by the government of Botswana, school libraries continue to face many challenges, including but not limited to:

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–– Absence of policy and legal instruments for establishing school libraries. –– Lack of a dedicated department/unit in the Ministry of Education in charge of school libraries. –– Inadequate funding for library resources. –– Lack of standards and data/research on school libraries. –– Inadequate staffing (both in terms of numbers of staff and professional training). –– Inadequate infrastructure and furniture (furniture, electronics, hard/software). –– Lack of incorporation of the library in the overall school programme. It is evident from the myriad of challenges above that the impact of the training programme for teacher-librarians was short-lived and insignificant. Today, less than a quarter of Botswana’s public primary schools, estimated to be around 700 in number, have purpose-built libraries, while hardly any have trained teacherlibrarians. As for the 209 junior and 34 senior secondary schools, less than half have trained teacher-librarians. The dawn of the information and digital ages has altered the traditional role of the teacher-librarian. The government, more than ever before, needs to develop a comprehensive policy for the design of twenty-first century school libraries as an integral part of primary, junior and senior schools. Recent initiatives to introduce outcome- or competency-based education provide compelling evidence for the need for a school library policy that would cater for credentialed teacher-librarians (SoftLink 2016). In short, a new comprehensive policy for school libraries would address, among other things, school library standards, collections, technology infrastructure and funding; otherwise, fixing teacher-librarian preparation alone will not yield impactful and long-lasting results. In the interim there is an urgent need for a continuing development programme to equip existing trained teacher-librarians with both digital and professional skills.

References American Association of School Librarians. 2007. Standards for the 21st Century Learner. https://www.worldcat.org/title/standards-for-the-21st-century-learner/ oclc/970588938?referer=di&ht=edition. Accessed August 18, 2018. Association for Teacher-Librarianship in Canada. 1997. Students Information Literacy Needs in the 21st Century. http://www.atlc.ca/publications/competent.31-38. Accessed November 17, 2017.



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Baffour-Awuah, M. 1997a. “The Role the National Library Service plays in the Development of Botswana’s Teacher Training Institutions”, paper presented to the Meeting of Principals and Librarians of Teaching Institutions at Thapama Hotel, Francistown, October 1997. Gaborone: Botswana National Library Service. Baffour-Awuah, M. 1997b. The National Library Service’s Support to Education. A Report Prepared for the Curriculum and Development Section of the Ministry of Education. Gaborone: Botswana National Library Service. Baffour-Awuah, M. 2011. “Botswana’s Book Box Service to Primary Schools.” In L. Marquardt and D. Oberg, eds., Global Perspectives on School Libraries: Projects and Practices, 168–176. The Hague, Netherlands: DeGruyter Saur. Baker, S. “From Teacher to School Librarian and Instructional Partner: A Proposed Transformation Framework for Educators of Preservice School Librarians.” School Libraries Worldwide 22, no. 1 (2016): 143–159. Baleseng, O. 1989. The Role of School Libraries in Botswana: Diploma in Library Studies Project. Gaborone: University of Botswana. Botswana Ministry of Education. 1977. Education for Kagisano: Report of the National Commission on Education. Gaborone: Government Printer. 2 volumes. Botswana Ministry of Education. 1993. Report of the National Commission on Education. Gaborone: Government Printer. Botswana National Library Service. 1996. Seminar on Library Services to Education held at the Gaborone Sun, 29–30th April 1996. Gaborone: National Library Service. Dale, D. C. “National Libraries in Developing Countries: The Case of Botswana.” Journal of Library History 6, no. 3 (1971): 195–211. Dankert, B. 1994. “We Learn a lot From School but From Life’: School Librarianship in Europe.” Journal of Librarianship and Information Science 26, no. 2: 99–103. Jorosi, B. N. “The Training of Teacher-Librarians at the University of Botswana: An Educator’s Perspective.” Education Libraries Journal 44, no. 1 (2001): 23–30. Library Research Service. 2016. School Libraries Impact Studies. https://www.lrs.org/ data-tools/school-libraries/impact-studies/. Accessed January 2, 2018. Lonsdale, R. 1986. Report on the Development of Training Programs for Teacher-Librarians in Community Junior Secondary Schools in Botswana. London: British Council. Made, S. M. 1972. The Secondary School Libraries in Botswana, Lesotho, and Swaziland. (BOLESWA): A Survey Conducted in April 1972. Luyengo: UBLS. Marcoux, E. B. “Wise use of Technology.” Teacher-Librarian 39, no. 1 (2011): 67–68. Menefee, M. “The Changing Library.” American School Board Journal 196, no. 8 (2009): 32–35. Metzger, A. J. B. 1992. “The Development of School Libraries in Botswana.” A paper presented at the National School Library Conference. In School Library Proceedings University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg. Information Studies/Read School Library Conference, 25–26th June. Durban: University of Natal, pp. 36–51. Metzger, A. J. B. “Community Junior Secondary Schools Libraries in Botswana.” School Libraries Worldwide 6, no. 2 (2000): 30–44. Shannon, D. “The Education and Competencies of School Library Media Specialists: A Review of the Literature.” School Library Media Research 5 (2002): 1–19. SoftLink. 2016. Australian School Library Survey. https://www.softlinkint.com/assets/img/ banners/2015softlink.AZN SchoolLibrarySurveyReportPDF. Accessed December 19, 2017. Statistics Botswana. 2017. Estimated Population Growth. http://www.statsbotswana.org.bw. Accessed August 9, 2018.

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Stiles, D. E. 1973. Botswana National Library Service. Report on the National Library Service for the Period April 1971 to March 1973. Gaborone: Botswana National Library Service. Tallman, J. T., B. N. Jorosi, and A. J. B. Metzger. “Community Junior Secondary School libraries: A Case Study of Their Programs and Needs for Teacher-Librarians.” School Libraries Worldwide 6, no. 2 (2000): 45–65. Troutner, J. “Professional Development.” Teacher-Librarian 39, no. 5 (2012): 54–56.

Jing Zhang, Jingqi Cheng, Han Xie, Weinan Zheng and Zhiwen Kuang

9 R  eforms in Education for School Librarians in China

Abstract: Recent investigations on the applicability of IFLA School Library Guidelines in China highlighted a key problem: the shortage of professional school librarians. This problem has affected the development of libraries in primary and secondary schools. The education of school librarians relies mainly on continuing education because of the lack of specific programmes to prepare professional school librarians. The iSchool at Sun Yat-sen University (SYSU) is one Chinese LIS Education institution responding to the education needs of the school library field. Five strategies were used to develop school librarianship education at the iSchool in SYSU: the utilisation of the professional master’s programme of LIS which has a closer relationship with the real world than other programmes; a step by step process for preparing teachers to design courses and then develop the programme; developing teaching under the system of discipline construction; collaborating closely with the practice field and the authority; and following international developments from the outset. Keywords: School librarians; Continuing education; Professional development; Career development; Sun Yat-sen University; China.

Overview of Library Science Education in China In 1920, Miss Mary Elizabeth Wood (1864–1931) and Mr. Samuel T. Y. Seng (1884– 1977) founded the library science programme at Boone University in Wuchang, Hubei province, which marked the beginning of formal library science education in China. Today, library and information science (LIS) education in China is carried out in 46 universities, 12 of which provide PhD programmes and 39 of which provide master’s programmes. Among these universities, four LIS Schools (Wuhan University in Hubei province, Nanjing University in Jiangsu province, Sun Yat-sen University in Guangdong province and Renmin University of China in Beijing) have joined the iSchools organisation. Sun Yat-sen University (SYSU) is one of the earliest of the four institutions to provide library science education in China, with its master’s programme starting in 1980. Today it offers LIS education at successive levels: undergraduate, master’s (an academic degree and a professional degree) and PhD. Its library https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110616163-010

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science undergraduate programme has been funded by Guangdong province as a special programme in 2012 and a key programme in 2017. Five million Yuan will be invested to support the further development of this programme from 2017 to 2019, while four specialties will be emphasised in this programme: Library Management and Service; Preservation and Conservation; Public Cultural Service Management; and Data Literacy and Service. In June 2017, three undergraduate programmes of the School of Information Management at Sun Yat-sen University (Library Science, Archival Science and Information Management and Information Systems) were successfully accredited by the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP) in the United Kingdom.

Lack of Academic Education for School Librarians However, while great achievements have been made in general LIS education in China, degree or formal education for school librarians has failed to keep up with the overall development of library education and development of school libraries. The school library is the largest and most widely distributed category within China’s library system. As of 2015, China had 65,645 secondary schools and 190,525 primary schools (National Bureau of Statistics of China 2016), most of which have libraries. As there is no LIS programme specifically targeted at school librarians in universities or other education institutions, the professional development of school librarians has relied mainly on continuing education.

Continuing Education for School Librarians Continuing education for primary and secondary school librarians in China is mainly conducted by two professional associations: the Library Society of China (LSC) and especially the school library committees under LSC, and the school library management committees under the local Society of Education. The local education equipment centres, which are responsible for the school library in the education system, also offer continuing education. The continuing education organised by the LSC covers all school library practitioners in China; the continuing education activities organised by local Society of Education or education equipment centres cover school library practitioners in specific regions only.



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Activities of LSC in Recent Years Founded in 1925, LSC is a legally-registered national, academic and non-profit social organisation voluntarily incorporated by science and technology workers in libraries and related industries or institutions. It is responsible for 12 professional activities, including to “carry out continuing education and vocational training for members and library practitioners” (Library Society of China 2009). According to the information from the Continuing Education column of the official website of the LSC (Library Society of China 2012a), from 2006 to 2016, the continuing education activities conducted by the LSC covered the following topics: volunteer action, library service for children and young people enhancement programme, propaganda and promotion of ancient books protection, training for librarians, Reading Programme nurturing action, the national country library curator training, digital library construction and service promotion. Primary and secondary school librarians can choose to participate in one or more of these activities based on their professional needs. Among these activities, the Library Service for Children and Young People Enhancement Programme launched in April 2012 has the most direct relationship with school libraries. This programme aims at promoting the development of Chinese children’s libraries and helps all Chinese libraries serve the children and young people actively and properly. This programme can directly benefit between 200 and 300 people at a time (Library Society of China 2012b). In 2013, the LSC launched the National Library Service for Children and Young People Forum, aiming to set up an exchange platform for the research and practical experience in the service of the children and young people. The forum was held in 2013 and 2016 with two sessions and each had a show of best practice (Library Society of China 2012c). The School Library Committee, founded in 1990, is a branch of the LSC. Its major tasks are to “conduct continuing education and training for members and library teachers, popularize the basics of library science, information science and information technology.” Currently, continuing education activities are mainly in the forms of online training with nine required compulsory modules for primary classes, national training classes for school librarians (14 sessions have been completed by the end of 2017) and staff training for reading promotion (seven sessions have been completed by the end of 2017) (National School Library Constitution 2014). Each provincial library society also provides continuing education activities. For example, the Library Society of Guangdong Province conducted a total of six lectures with different themes and four scheduled short-term trainings in 2015. These lectures and trainings were held mainly in the Sun Yat-sen Library of Guangdong Province with about 150 trainees for each.

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Although all school librarians in China can sign up for participation in continuing education activities organised by the LSC, only a small proportion can actually benefit from these activities due to resource restrictions. For more school librarians to participate, continuing education needs to be based on the local library society and local societies of education or education equipment centres.

Continuing Education Activities in Guangzhou in Recent Years Guangzhou is one of the largest cities in China. Continuing education for school librarians in Guangzhou is generally organised by the Secondary School Library Management Committee of Guangzhou Society of Education or the Guangzhou Education Equipment Centre. There are four kinds of continuing education activities organised (Table 9.1). Table 9.1: Continuing education activities in Guangzhou in 2017. Kinds of Activities Regular training Irregular training with theme Full-time short-term training Competition-oriented training Total

Times

Learning hours

Number of participants

6 1 1 1 9

3 (per time) 3 (per time) 42 (per time) 3 (per time) 66

150 (per time) 150 (per time) 40 (per time) 150 (per time) 1240

Regular training focuses on local teaching and research activities. This kind of activity is held once every semester and arranged in 11 districts in the city of Guangzhou, mainly for secondary school librarians. Irregular training with a special theme such as “Scholarly Campus Construction and Reading Promotion Training” and “Library Carrying Skills to the Countryside” is mainly for primary and secondary school librarians. For full-time short-term training, the Guangzhou Education Equipment Centre will choose an appropriate training institution every year, based on certain requirements, to carry out training for school librarians recommended by districts or schools. In 2017, the School of Information Management of Sun Yat-sen University hosted the Senior Training Class for Guangzhou School Library Professionals. Competition-oriented training, such as the annually organised Professional Skills Competition, is focused on library science knowledge and library management skills. Participants are school librarians recommended by districts.



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Survey of Librarian Participation in Continuing Education To understand the participation of librarians in continuing education activities, the author joined a Guangzhou irregular training session, “Integration of School Libraries and Subject Reading”, with a total of 200 participants hosted in Sun Yat-sen Library of Guangdong Province, November 16, 2017. 180 copies of questionnaires titled “Survey of Primary and Secondary School Librarians Participating in Continuing Education Activities” were given out and 116 returned; the complete findings will be described in another paper. Of the 116 participants who responded, 71.56% were secondary school librarians, 26.61% were primary school librarians, 1.83% were librarians from integrated primary and secondary schools, 0.85% were principals, 13.68% were curators; 47.01% were full-time librarians and 30.77% were part-time librarians; 35.04% of the respondents had an education background of library science and related disciplines, 25.64% had studied pedagogy, 71.93% had a bachelor degree and 5.26% had a master’s degree. had a master’s degree. Regular training (74) and irregular training with theme (70) were the most widely attended by school librarians (see Figure 9.1). Most of the survey respondents (73.2%) participated in between one and six continuing education activities in 2017 (see Figure 9.2). Most respondents decided to participate in a continuing education activity according to its time and place (see Figure 9.3). About one third of the respondents rated their continuing education activities as having little relevance to their work and of little use to their work or personal development (see Figure 9.4).

Figure 9.1: Participation in different kinds of continuing education activities.

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Figure 9.2: Number of times librarians participated in continuing education in 2017.

Figure 9.3: Influencing factors for participation in continuing education.

Figure 9.4: The effectiveness of continuing education for the improvement of professionalism.



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Study of School Librarians’ Needs for Professional Education The authors also conducted an investigation on the applicability of the IFLA School Libraries Guidelines, 2nd Edition (2015) in China from April 2016 to April 2017, using a sample of 50 primary and secondary school libraries in three cities (Zhang, Lin and Zhang 2017, 29). The findings related to school librarians’ needs for professional education are from the two studies.

Findings from the Investigation on the Applicability of IFLA Guidelines Firstly, the IFLA Guidelines are only partly applicable in China. Secondly, the IFLA Guidelines are more applicable to secondary school libraries than primary school libraries. Thirdly, the IFLA Guidelines are more suitable for future development than for current situations. Fourthly, different types of recommendations have different levels of applicability, depending on whether the recommendations are idea-based, condition-based or management-based (Zhang, Lin and Zhang 2017, 29). The IFLA Guidelines are more applicable to secondary school libraries than primary school libraries because there is a full-time librarian position in secondary schools but not in primary schools. When assessing applicability of recommendations related to the professional school librarian, respondents specifically mentioned that school libraries are in urgent need of professional librarians. With professionally trained staff, school libraries can satisfy teachers’ and students’ needs, conduct the core education activities recommended by the IFLA Guidelines, fulfil the responsibilities recommended by the IFLA Guidelines, have more say in their own work and participate in the formation of library policies. However, at present, there is no specific degree education programme for school librarians in China’s library education system; courses and teaching materials for school librarians are rare. The respondents expressed the hope that relevant agencies can provide professional continuing education for school librarians (Zhang, Lin and Zhang 2017, 29).

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Findings from the Survey on Participation in Continuing Education Respondents participated in continuing education for a variety of reasons: improvement of professional skills (96.33%), improvement of comprehensive qualities (75.23%), improvement of daily work (72.48%) and promotion of professional titles (53.21%), while some respondents also hoped to broaden their horizons and thinking. The respondents identified improvement of professional skills and comprehensive qualities as their most urgent needs. Ten themes of continuing education were listed in the questionnaire, with the respondents’ feedback shown in Table 9.2. Column two shows the percentage of respondents who think the theme is helpful, while column three shows the percentage of respondents who think the theme is within the top two most helpful themes. The themes relating to library science and reading promotion were selected as the most helpful themes for most respondents. Table 9.2: Respondents’ feedback on their needs for continuing education. Themes

Helpful

Top two helpful

Library (science)

78.4%

35.1%

Education (science) Management (science) Psychology (science) Literature ICT Reading promotion

42.3% 43.2% 39.6% 46.9% 40.5% 74.8%

9.9% 8.1% 5.4% 9.0% 5.4% 41.1%

Programming Literacy Research methodology Others

45.1% 43.2% 37.8% 1.8%

15.3% 5.4% 2.7% 0.0%

Note Most helpful theme for those without LIS background.

Most helpful theme for those without LIS background.

Respondents indicated which kind of teachers were most helpful: 53.93% of respondents indicated that experts from the practice field are most helpful, 28.09% prefer professors, 1.12% prefer administration staff from an education department, 13.45% see no differences in the helpfulness of teachers while 3.37% believe librarians and curators are most helpful. The respondents also indicated which kinds of continuing education were most helpful to them: 36.94% believed regular training was most helpful, 27.93% preferred irregular training with a theme, 21.61% chose full-time short-term training and 0.90% preferred compe-



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tition-oriented training. Four teaching methods were listed in the questionnaire and ranked by the respondents according to the level of helpfulness, from high to low: case analysis, library visiting, theory lecture and teacher-student discussion.

Summary: School Librarians’ Needs for Professional Education Based on the two studies, the following are needed for the professional education of school librarians in China. The themes of continuing education can be more practical. About onethird of school librarians responding to the survey on continuing education thought that the area was of little relevance to their school library work and of limited helpfulness to their work or personal development. Considering the scarcity of continuing education resources, organisers should make full use of existing resources. Therefore, the themes and content of continuing education should be more in line with the work of school librarians. A comprehensive and continuous investigation of the practical work of librarians is needed. The continuing education activities can be well designed for different types of librarians. Surveys show that librarians in different positions, with different working years or different education backgrounds, have different expectations for continuing education. For example, secondary school librarians are interested in programming, literature and ICT, while primary school librarians are more focused on education, management and literacy. Also, professional librarians believe case analysis is most helpful for their learning, while part-time librarians think visiting the library helps most. At present, these needs are unmet because continuing education is not provided for specific subjects or specific groups. More online continuing education can be provided. Currently, most kinds of continuing education are conducted offline. However, for school librarians, time and place are the most important factors that affect their participation in continuing education. Also, assuming there is one librarian in each of the secondary schools (514) and primary schools (953) in Guangzhou (Bureau of Education of Guangzhou Municipality 2017), continuing education in Guangzhou in 2017 reached only 1,240 persons, which is far from the full number of school librarians and does not allow systematic training for these individuals. The coverage of continuing education is low, but online education (such as MOOCs) could potentially solve the problem.

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The headmasters and curators should support and participate in continuing education. The different power structure of school libraries in different contexts has an impact on the applicability of the IFLA Guidelines. For example, as suggested in Recommendation 3 of the Guidelines, the three features necessary for the success of a school library are a professional school librarian, a collection that supports the curriculum of the school and an explicit plan for ongoing growth and development of a school library. However, in the interviews, all curators agreed that the success of a school library in China may rely more on having a headmaster who supports its development (and even better, whose performance evaluation is related to that development). Also, Recommendations 10 and 14 of the Guidelines mention collaboration in developing the library’s collection, programmes and services, but in Chinese schools such decisions are dominated by school managers and headmasters; librarians and teachers seldom play a role in the process. In the survey of school librarians participating in continuing education, several respondents proposed, first, that the headmasters and curators should encourage school librarians to participate in continuing education and, second, that the headmasters and curators should also participate in continuing education so they can better understand the library work and its professional requirements. Degree courses should pay more attention to school libraries. According to the IFLA Guidelines, a professional school librarian should focus on core instructional activities, including literacy and reading promotion, media and information literacy instruction, inquiry-based teaching, technology integration and professional development of teachers. A professional school librarian should be responsible for instruction, library management, school-wide leadership and collaboration, community engagement and promotion of library services. These recommendations put forward explicit requirements for the degree courses of library science: first, the current programmes in Library Science should include school library-related modules and, second, special programmes to prepare school librarians should be provided when conditions allow.

School Library Education Reform at Sun Yat-sen University The School of Information Management of Sun Yat-sen University is a LIS School in China that has noticed the continuing education needs of school librarians and taken responsive action. Its major actions will be introduced sequentially and some strategic experiences will be summarised further.



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In early 2015, the School of Information Management proposed that the area of school library education should be strengthened with personnel (faculty) training. One teacher was sent to an LIS School in the United States for further studies on the subject of Library and Information Services for Children and Young People. During the six-month study, the teacher completed a number of postgraduate courses related to library and information services for children and young people. In the same year, the school added an elective course on Information Service for Children and Young People to its newly revised Professional Master Programme of Library and Information Science; an elective course of Research on Children and Young People’s Information Needs, Behaviour and Service was added to the newly revised Academic Master Programme of Library Science. In 2016, after returning from the United States, the teacher opened the Information Service for Children and Young People course. With the university’s funding, American professors were invited to the school for joint teaching of the course, with 15 postgraduates participating. In 2017, the course was open again and a total of 22 postgraduates attended. In 2016, a research team of the school began to promote the IFLA Guidelines. Firstly, the paper of “A Pilot Survey on the Applicability of the IFLA School Library Guidelines in South China: Eight School Libraries Cases in Guangdong Province” (Zhang, Lin and Zhang 2016) was presented at the 2016 IFLA Annual Conference, with the second-phase applicability investigation conducted on this basis. Secondly, the team completed the Chinese translation of the IFLA Guidelines (Zhang and Lin 2017), with the Chinese version officially launched on the IFLA website on June 14, 2017. From March to April 2017, the school was commissioned by the Guangzhou Education Equipment Centre to hold the Training Programme for Guangzhou Primary and Secondary Professional School Librarians. A total of 53 curators or key teachers from primary and secondary schools in Guangzhou attended the programme at the School of Information Management, Sun Yat-sen University. The eight-day training had a total of 48 learning hours, with all teachers from the School of Information Management specialising in Library Science. The training topics included: the development of school library collections, application of information technology in the school library, mission and action strategy of school libraries, evaluation of school libraries and a reading project, transformation and development of school libraries, students’ information needs and behaviours, programming in school library, international development trends of school libraries, IFLA Guidelines and their applicability in China, the reading promotion project, management of school libraries as well as students’ information literacy education in the digital age. It was the first time in Guangzhou that an LIS School undertook continuing education for school libraries.

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 Jing Zhang, Jingqi Cheng, Han Xie, Weinan Zheng and Zhiwen Kuang

In 2017, a research team of the School started to compile two academic books which were expected to be published in early 2018, Interpretation of IFLA School Library Guidelines and the Application in Chinese Context and Professionalization of Library and Information Service for Children and Young People: International Experiences and China’s Paths. The first book analyses the overall situation of professional standards developed by international organisations related to the school library. Based on the detailed introduction of the contents and development purposes of school library standards and referring to the relevant standards of library and information service for children and young people, this book interpreted the IFLA Guidelines from the perspective of China’s context. The second book uses the five features of professional occupations, that is, (1) composed of experts who master and use advanced professional knowledge and skills, (2) a systematic professional knowledge system, (3) a formal professional education system at the university level, (4) a formal association and (5) professional ethics, to discuss the international as well as domestic conditions of library and information services for children and young people. The book also presents the strategies and paths for China to improve the professionalism of library and information service for children and young people. In 2017, one teacher of the school was elected to the IFLA School Libraries Section Standing Committee (IFLA School Libraries Section Standing Committee 2017). The school is also expected to hold an IFLA Mid-Year Conference of the IFLA School Libraries Section Standing Committee and an international academic conference on library and information service for children and young people in 2019.

Reform Strategies and Lessons Learned These are the strategies that the School of Information Management at Sun Yat-sen University used in developing LIS education for school libraries. Start with the Professional Master Programme of Library and Information Science. The Professional Master Programme of Library and Information Science, started in 2011, is closely related to practice, while other LIS programmes for bachelor, masters and doctoral degrees emphasise research. The Professional Master Programme of the LIS Programme targets part-time students from the LIS field and full-time students with a career interest in library. The need for LIS education for primary and secondary school libraries comes from the practice and the response to this need naturally should be based on the realm of practice. Continue step by step from instructor training to developing courses and then programme development. Module development is the initial response



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to the degree education needs of the practice areas. To further address this need, it is necessary to provide a programme specifically for school librarians. However, the development of a programme needs to be supported by a series of modules as well as sufficient teaching staff and cannot be achieved overnight. Therefore, the school starts with training faculty and developing modules, hoping to achieve the ultimate objectives step by step. Develop teaching and research at the same time. In addition to teachers and modules, under the context of China’s higher education, teaching design must be integrated with disciplinary development to obtain sufficient sustainable resources. The most important part of discipline development is research, leading to relevant faculty members of the school actively launching scientific research on related subjects. Since 2016, five research projects on information services for children and young people have been established, with a total funding of over 500,000 Yuan. Work closely with the practitioners and the competent authorities. Throughout the process of module development, continuing education and scientific research, the school paid special attention to strengthening cooperation with the field of practice and competent authorities, with the importance of the connection with practice described above. As for the competent authorities, the survey on the applicability of the IFLA Guidelines indicates that the different power structure is an important influencing factor. For example, in the interview, all curators agree that the success of a school library in China may rely more on having a principal who supports the development of a library. Recommendation 4 of the Guidelines suggested regular evaluation, but since China’s current school library system does not have a unified evaluation mechanism at the national level, in other words the education system has no specific requirements for school libraries, it is impossible to develop an effective regular evaluation mechanism. The development of a school library therefore cannot be monitored in this way. In addition, Recommendations 5 and 9 of the Guidelines mentioned the issue of school library legislation and library policy; the school library, as a third-class department, cannot lead the formulation of the school’s library policy, not to mention school library legislation. Recommendation 10 of the Guidelines also discussed the library collections; however, the survey showed that library collection policies were mainly dominated by school administrators. Recommendation 14 of the Guidelines stated that the services and programmes provided through the school library should be developed collaboratively. However, in China, this also depends on school leaders, not the school library. It can be seen that, in the context of China, the school library does not have the control of its own development, which is the opposite of what is discussed by the IFLA Guidelines.

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Follow the international context closely and hold an open concept of development. Some parts of the world have had extensive experience in professional school library education and school library development. IFLA, in particular the IFLA school library group, provides a good platform for exchanging experiences. The School of Information Management of Sun Yat-sen University has held an open concept of development since the very beginning, having absorbed the world’s most successful experiences to develop LIS Education for primary and secondary school libraries in China.

References Guangzhou Municipal Bureau of Education. 2017. Guangzhou Education Statistics Manual 2016. http://www.gzedu.gov.cn/gzsjyj/sjtj/201710/06063d43ba114b9a94d335c9481972ca. shtml. Accessed August 18, 2018. International Federation of Library Associations. 2015. IFLA School Library Guidelines, 2nd Edition. Written by the IFLA School Libraries Section Standing Committee. Edited by B. A. Schultz-Jones, and D. Oberg, with contributions from the International Association of School Librarianship Executive Board. https://www.ifla.org/files/assets/school-librariesresource-centers/publications/ifla-school-library-guidelines.pdf. Accessed August 18, 2018. International Federation of Library Associations School Libraries Section Standing Committee. 2017. https://www.ifla.org/standing-committee/11. Accessed August 18, 2018. Library Society of China. 2009. “Rules for Library Society of China.” http://www.lsc.org.cn/c/ cn/news/2009-12/25/news_4115.html. Accessed August 18, 2018. Library Society of China. 2012a. “Continuing Education.” http://www.lsc.org.cn/cn/jxjy2012/ jxjy2010.html. Accessed August 18, 2018. Library Society of China. 2012b. “Chen Li’s Speech at the Launching Ceremony of the National Library Service Enhancement Program for Minors.” http://www.lsc.org.cn/c/cn/ news/2012-04/24/news5983.html. Accessed August 18, 2018. Library Society of China. 2012c. “Academic Research. National Library-Service-for-Minors Forum.” http://www.lsc.org.cn/cn/xsyj2012/wcnrfwlt.html. Accessed August 18, 2018. National Bureau of Statistics of China. 2016. “All Types of Schools at Different Levels.” http:// www.stats.gov.cn//tjsj/ndsj/2016/indexch.htm. Accessed August 18, 2018. National School Library Constitution. 2014. www.zxxtwh.com/2014/index.jsp. Accessed July 29, 2018. School of Information Management, Sun Yat-sen University. http://ischool.sysu.edu.cn/. Accessed August 18, 2018. Zhang, J., L. Lin, and Y. Zhang. 2016. “A Pilot Survey on the Applicability of the IFLA School Library Guidelines in South China: Eight School Libraries Cases in Guangdong Province.” https://www.ifla.org/files/assets/school-libraries-resource-centers/publications/ ifla-school-library-guidelines-zh.pdf. Accessed August 18, 2018.



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Zhang, J., and Q. Lin. 2017. Chinese Translation of the IFLA Guidelines. IFLA Library. https:// www.ifla.org/files/assets/school-libraries-resource-centers/publications/ifla-schoollibrary-guidelines-zh.pdf. Accessed August 18, 2018. Zhang, J., L. Lin and Y. Zhang. “Investigation on the Applicability of IFLA International Standards in China: Take the School Library Guidelines for Example.” Documentation, Information & Knowledge 1 (2017): 29–39.

Part 4: Continuing Education and Professional Development Part 4 considers programmes offered to in-service school librarians by professional associations, government ministries, school library networks and collaborative ventures.

Kristina Čunović and Alka Stropnik

10 T  he Continuing Professional Development of School Librarians in Croatia Abstract: This chapter focuses on the continuing professional development of school librarians in Croatia. School libraries in Croatia exist within a well-organised legal framework, supported by both the Ministry of Science and Education and the Ministry of Culture. According to the Law of Education in Primary and Secondary Schools (Ministry of Science and Education 2008b), every school is required to have a school library managed by a professional school librarian with teaching competencies. After completing their formal education, i.e. obtaining a master’s degree with teaching competencies, there are many possibilities regarding the continuing professional development of school librarians. According to the government pedagogical standards of the Primary and Secondary School Education System (Ministry of Science and Education 2008a), school librarians have a right and obligation to continuing education and professional development. Informal education in librarianship for school librarians is provided by the Training Centre for the Continuing Education of Librarians as well as the County Library Research and Development Departments. Professional development in teaching competencies is provided by the Education and Teacher Training Agency. In the continuing education of school librarians, a very important role is played by three professional library associations (the Croatian Library Association, the Croatian School Library Association and the Croatian Network of School Librarians), which often collaborate with the Training Centre for the Continuing Education of Librarians, Education and Teacher Training Agency as well as County Library Research and Development Departments. Keywords: School librarians; Library education; Non-formal education; Career development; Continuing education; Professional development; Bologna Declaration; Croatia.

Croatian Education System The Republic of Croatia is divided into 20 counties in addition to Zagreb County and the City of Zagreb. The Croatian education system is organised into two levels: eight years of elementary education (for children 6–14 years old) in 896 elementary schools and three or four years of secondary education (14–18 years old) in https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110616163-011

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404 grammar schools and vocational schools; 1288 school librarians provide services for these 1300 schools (NUL 2016). According to the Law of Education in Primary and Secondary Schools (2008) and the government pedagogical standards in the Primary and Secondary School Education System (2008c), every school is required to have a school library managed by a professional school librarian with teaching competencies. Every school employs at least one school librarian, with their working hours depending on the number of school classes: in a smaller school, there may be one parttime librarian, while in bigger schools there may be even two full-time librarians. Usually, however, there is one full-time school librarian. All teachers, as well as school librarians, have a right and obligation for continuing education and professional development (Ministry of Science and Education 2008b).

Library Science Education A long history and tradition in librarianship in Croatia have provided an excellent foundation for the sustainability of libraries. In the academic year 1976/77, the library science study programme was organised as a two-year study course at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences (FHSS) at the University of Zagreb. Since the academic year 1986/87, it has been organised as a four-year study programme whereby a degree in information/library sciences is obtained. It is open to all students of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences who are completing another study course, in most cases Croatian or English languages (FHSS 2014). Other library science study programmes were established at the University of Osijek in 1998 and at the University of Zadar in 2003 (Živković 2009, 69). In 2000, the Tuning Educational Structures in Europe project (Tuning Project) began on a university level based on the Bologna Declaration, the main guiding document of the Bologna process (http://www.unideusto.org/tuningeu/). The main aims of the Bologna Declaration were the adoption of a system of understandable and comparable academic degrees as well as the adoption of a system essentially based on two main cycles, undergraduate and graduate. As in many European countries, the graduate cycle leads to a master’s (Master of Science, MS) or doctorate degree (PhD). In 2003, Croatia joined the Tuning Educational Structures in Europe project. Before the implementation of the Bologna Declaration, there were differences among library and information study programmes at universities in Croatia. Since 2005, universities in Zagreb, Osijek and Zadar have offered undergraduate (BA) and graduate study courses (MA) (Živković 2009, 69). School librarians



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in Croatia can obtain further formal education at the aforementioned universities through a postgraduate degree (PhD) or have the opportunity for advancement to a higher professional vocation, mentor or adviser. Upon completing their formal education, school librarians have various possibilities for continuing their professional development, organised by several library professional associations, agencies and a training centre. The legal framework obliges school librarians to have a graduate-level qualification, which ensures their professional status, i.e. MA level degree with teaching competencies (Ministry of Science and Education 2008). Higher education institutions are encouraged to use mechanisms developed through the Croatian Qualifications Framework (ASHE 2013) in order to achieve the national goals of increasing the quality, relevance and transparency of the educational system (Croatia Government 2008). Librarians gain teaching and learning competencies in instruction, methods, pedagogy and psychology while studying for their exams. The school librarian applies and establishes this knowledge during a one-year internship and in working with a mentor. After their internship year and passing the state exam in the Education and Teacher Training Agency (ETTA), the librarian receives a licence to work in a school library. The librarian is obliged to renew this licence every five years.

Croatian Library Oversight Libraries in Croatia belong to one of two types of systems: a system dedicated to science and education or culture (Pehar and Stričević 2015, 679). The Ministry of Science and Education is responsible for the essential functions of universities and other academic institutions in Croatia, as well as each school and school library throughout the country. The Ministry of Culture, on the other hand, is responsible for the administration of public libraries and the enactment of library legislation (acts, policies and standards) related to all types of libraries. The Croatian Library Council is an advisory body that subsumes both ministries and deals with issues that all types of libraries face. Its governing body is comprised of representatives from both ministries, in addition to members from the Croatian Library Association. The National and University Library (NUL) in Zagreb is a public institution of national importance that conducts library activities, provides reference services and serves as the central library of the University of Zagreb. The NUL also undertakes scientific, research and development activities whose primary purpose is to organise and develop the Croatian library system (NUL 2017).

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School libraries in Croatia are supported by specific legislation and policies enacted by both the Ministry of Science and Education and the Ministry of Culture. Founders of school libraries in Croatia are cities and counties which, under the auspices of the Ministry of Science and Education, support and enhance one principle: the educational activity of school libraries. Prerequisites for the quality implementation of educational activities are librarians’ competencies and a state exam taken at the Ministry of Culture. Teaching and learning competencies for school librarians are supported by the Education and Teacher Training Agency (ETTA), which provides professional and advisory assistance within the educational framework. Professional assistance to school librarians in librarianship competencies (reference and research services, library management, collection development and management, organisation and classification library materials) is supported by the County Library Research and Development Departments (Ministry of Culture 2001). This dual support is based on an agreement between two ministries: the Ministry of Science and Education and the Ministry of Culture. The founder of the Education and Teacher Training Agency is the Ministry of Science and Education, while the County Library Research and Development Departments work according to a special act enacted by the Ministry of Culture.

School Library Learning Environments Acquired competencies enable school librarians to implement a programme of library education. For elementary education, the programme is part of the Croatian National Curriculum (Ministry for Science and Education 2006), but there is as yet no official library and information sciences curriculum for secondary school education. Awareness regarding information literacy is changing, turning it into a life skill. It is important to emphasise the significance of the school librarian who, with the help of the library curriculum (or in Croatia’s circumstances, without it) contributes to a pupil’s achievements. A powerful learning environment for pupils in Croatia is achieved through the synergy of librarians and teachers. Librarians provide their resources and expertise in researching information, while teachers contribute their special subject knowledge and skills to the process. In this way, the school library is recognised as a place of learning. The work of school librarians entails promoting information literacy through three aspects: reading, information literacy and public-cultural activities (Šušnjić 2009, 41). Activities which promote reading are a priority when working with first to fourth grade elementary school children (6–10 years old), such as getting to



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know their school library and librarian, children’s magazines, books as a means of motivation, the process and professions related to book publishing, how to use a reference collection and visiting the nearest local public library (Ministry for Science and Education 2006, 20–21). Until pupils complete their elementary education, the school librarian introduces them to a world of information while teaching them to independently use resources of information and knowledge (independent use of collections, subject terms, shelf marks, understanding the term author, literature citations in papers and research for homework, searching online catalogues, understanding the library system as well as the way in which specific libraries in Croatia and worldwide function). Librarians teach pupils how to independently use the school library and try to show them the importance of different types of libraries in their educational, professional and private development. The school librarian teaches one or two sessions a year to every class. This means that in a school with 25 classes, school librarians teach an average of 50 teaching hours (Bedeković 2017, 75). Topics from the library educational programme can be taught in correlation with any subject from the school programme. In this way, the school library can be more successful in coordinating the goals of curricular and extra-curricular activities. In the process of making a plan and programme for learning in the school library, the librarian chooses a topic and area that will be discussed depending on the subjects and goals. Librarians can do this alone or in collaboration with class teachers. They select the teaching resources they will use, depending on the pupils’ age and level of comprehension, prepare questions on a specific subject in accordance with the available information and knowledge resources, alone or in collaboration, select media (books, magazines, AV media, picture materials, internet) and compile instructional material (Lovrinčević et al. 2005, 213). In using the teamwork method, the school librarian generates interdisciplinary connections between school subjects, smaller teaching groups as well as better interaction between pupils, teachers and school librarians. Besides lesson planning and learning, school librarians, with the collaboration of teachers and other members of the expert staff, participate in teaching programmes for gifted students, the prevention of undesirable behaviour, as well as learning social skills and self-worth (Kovačević and Lovrinčević 2012, 113). The Comprehensive Curricular Reform, which has been in the process of development since 2015, aims to transform the Croatian education system. Curricular reform will focus on developing basic competencies for lifelong learning and increasing the functional literacy levels of students. Another expected result of the curricular reform is the transition to nine years of primary school. Documents for comprehensive curricular reform do not include library information education as a cross-curricular subject. However, the proposal for cross-curricular sub-

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jects, Learning to Learn, The Use of Information and Communication Technologies, emphasises that certain activities should be undertaken in collaboration with the school library.

Continuing Education and Professional Development The Croatian Qualifications Framework (ASHE 2013) is an instrument for governing the qualifications system at all educational levels in the Republic of Croatia. It determines standards based on learning outcomes and in line with the needs of the labour market, individuals and society as a whole. One of the most important goals of the Croatian Qualifications Framework is to support lifelong learning and mobility for continuing education or employment. The Croatian Qualifications Framework Glossary describes informal learning as “organised learning activities for the improvement of personal and professional skills and competences ... without a certificate” (Croatian Government 2009, 19). Certificated formal learning is provided in special centres. According to the government pedagogical standards of the Primary and Secondary School System of Education (Ministry for Science and Education 2008b), school librarians have a right and obligation to continuing education and professional development. Librarians have to participate in education on a national level at least once a year, or three times a year on a regional level, to regularly participate in professional education at the school in which they work, as well as to maintain their professional development in accordance with their duties and responsibilities. Continuing education and professional development programmes are offered on a national level by the Training Centre for Continuing Education of Librarians, by the Education and Teacher Training Agency, and by professional associations (the Croatian Library Association, Croatian Network of School Librarians and Croatian Association School Librarians), while the Research and Development Departments in County Libraries offer these programmes on a regional level. Very often, in various combinations, these institutions and associations cooperate in the organisation of school librarian congresses, conferences, lectures, courses, round tables or workshops. In 2001, the National and University Library of Zagreb, Department of Information and Communication Sciences at the University of Zagreb, Zagreb City Libraries and Croatian Library Association established The Training Centre for the Continuing Education of Librarians (TCCEL). The programming board, consisting of representatives from the four institutions’ founders, was appointed and teach-



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ers of individual courses nominated (Maštrović 2009, 14). The goals of the TCCEL are to organise permanent professional development in librarianship as well as monitor and adjust to the information needs of librarians by offering interdisciplinary lectures and workshops for work in different types of libraries (school, university, public and so on). The centre’s courses are intended for librarians and information specialists so they can continue acquiring and improving their professional and generic knowledge as well as skills after obtaining their master’s degree in library science or in library and information science (depending on the university). In its first year, the training centre offered 59 training courses attended by more than 500 librarians from all over the country. At present, the TCCEL is still the most important provider of continuing professional education for librarians in Croatia (TCCEL 2017). Various programmes of continuing education are structured in special modules so as include the latest and most relevant information from the fields of intellectual freedom, as well as legal and ethical issues associated with the library profession. Librarians share knowledge in different domains of library services, e.g. children and young adults, school and public libraries, cataloguing AVE materials, selection and evaluation of e-resources and their usage, new technologies in library services and library advocacy. The TCCEL is mainly funded by Croatia’s Ministry of Culture as part of its programme for cultural development. Courses are held in Zagreb in the adequately equipped halls and classrooms of the founding libraries, as well as in other libraries around Croatia. Central county libraries are obliged by law to organise professional education for librarians and they plan it in their annual budget. There is also the possibility of librarians attending a particular course individually. The developmental project, Lifelong Learning of Librarians: Outcomes and Flexibility, was implemented in 2008 and 2009 and after that the TCCEL set up a continuing education unit system. Librarians receive points and a certificate of participation for every course in the training programme for continuing professional education. The number of educational unit points is different for each course; according to the two regulations on acquiring a senior vocation (Ministry for Science and Education 1995; Ministry of Culture 2011), education unit points earned and collected in a period of five years can be used for professional advancement. Since 2003, the TCCEL has kept a participant register. The 2016 annual programme is structured in nine basic modules and contains a total of 73 courses, with 8 new courses added in 2016. In addition to basic courses, attendees can choose courses from the University Computing Centre and participate in free webinars. From 2001, since being established, the TCCEL has had 323 to 1580 course participants per year. In 2016, 33 courses with a total duration of 147 hours (four-

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or five-hour courses) with 668 participants (41.5 % of these school librarians) were organised. Each course was evaluated by the participants and in 2016, from a maximum grade of 5, the courses received an average grade of 4.67 and the lecturers an average grade of 4.84 (TCCEL 2017). Courses and topics are changed according to evaluation. In accordance with Library Research and Development Department Regulations (Ministry of Culture 2001) and based on the Library Act (Official Gazette 105/97, changes 5/98, 104/00, 69/09), there are 20 Library Research and Development Departments in Croatia. These departments perform basic as well as developmental work for public and school libraries on a county and regional level. The primary tasks of the Library Research and Development Departments are library supervision, continuing education of library staff as well as providing professional and advisory help. The developing tasks of the Library R&D Departments are the development, planning and promotion of library activities in general, development and structuring of library networks as well as evaluating library services and programmes. On a national level, the National and University Library in Zagreb is in charge of research and development tasks (Ministry of Culture 2001). The National and University Library as well as main county public libraries, e.g. the Library R&D Departments, collaborate on projects regarding library design and furnishings, collect statistical data from school libraries as well as supervise and evaluate school library work, in addition to developing and maintaining a collection of library materials. Working on the improvement of libraries is very complex and includes individual advisory work with librarians in the field in school libraries, as well as group work through seminars, counselling sessions and conferences pertaining to different topics. The County Library Research and Development Department, as part of Zagreb City Libraries, has a very long tradition in the organisation of permanent professional education for librarians on a regional level. The Library R&D Department organises many varied educational programmes for librarians working in elementary school in two counties (the City of Zagreb and Zagreb County). In 1955, Zagreb City Libraries established Informative Tuesday, which in the beginning was an internal programme for children’s librarians. Since 1960, Informative Tuesday has been held on the first Tuesday of each month and is intended for school librarians as well as librarians of children and young adults. Librarians in the programme committee invite publishers, writers, illustrators and editors to the meetings, organise reviews for the best editions of books for children and young adults as well as prepare reports from professional meetings and conferences and book fairs, thus organising collaborative activities to encourage reading. They organise special lectures intended for elementary school librari-



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ans as well. From the 17 librarians present at the first Informative Tuesday, the number has now risen to more than 100 participants per meeting (Stropnik 2016). The Education and Teacher Training Agency (ETTA) organises high quality continuing professional education and supervision of school librarians’ work as teachers. The ETTA participates in the creation, development and implementation of the national curriculum while also providing professional assistance in the implementation of educational activities for principals and teaching staff, among whom are school librarians. Furthermore, the Education and Teacher Training Agency organises professional development for teaching staff and principals, implemented by County Professional Councils, at least twice a year. Since 1988, the ETTA has organised an annual national conference, Spring School for School Librarians, which represents the highest level of education for primary and secondary school librarians. It is an intense three-day course where experts in the fields of literature, librarianship and culture hold lectures, workshops or round tables with best practice examples. Every year, the conference takes a current topic from the field of school librarianship and publishes papers either as a printed edition or an e-publication. The professional and pedagogical supervision by the ETTA includes supervision of the implementation of teaching plans and programmes, as well as the organisation and teaching of classes and other forms of educational activities for school librarians. The Education and Teacher Training Agency is obliged to give expert advice and help institutions in administering their obligations as well as preventing or eliminating failure in administering the obligations of the principal, teaching staff and librarians (ETTA 2006). The ETTA implements professional exams for teaching staff in accordance with special regulations. Through giving a presentation or lecture or conducting the workshops, school librarians collect points and can gain a professional vocation mentor or school library adviser.

Professional Associations Professional associations play a very important role in the continuing education of school librarians, with several in the Republic of Croatia. A section of school libraries, as part of the Croatian Library Association (CLA), has been operating since 1973 and consists of a committee for primary education and a committee for secondary school education. The section of school libraries has for many years, either on its own or with other sections in the association, organised conferences, round tables and seminars regarding different topics in school librarianship and libraries in general.

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The Croatian Association of School Librarians was founded in 2002 with the purpose of promoting school libraries and the professional status of school librarians. Since 2011, they have organised an annual conference every year in a different county during International School Library Month so as to support the work of school librarians in that specific part of the country. The Croatian Network of School Librarians has been gathering school librarians since 2009 and formed the beginning of several projects of network cooperation. The most important projects are the Repository of School Library UDK 02 http:// www.knjiznicari.hr/UDK02 and webinars for members as well as other interested librarians.

Conclusion It can be said that Croatia follows many recommendations of the IFLA School Library Guidelines (2015). School libraries in Croatia exist within a well-organised legal framework, from national to local levels, with the support of two ministries: the Ministry of Science and Education and the Ministry of Culture. National policies and standards specify the location, space and organisation of the physical school library, collection development and management, as well as the definition of a school librarian (Ministry for Science and Education 2000). On a national level, the programmes and activities of a school library and the professional development of the librarian are defined. The statement that “the most critical resource of a school library... is a qualified professional school librarian who collaborates with other teachers” (Guidelines 2015, 13) is the greatest advantage of Croatian school librarianship. The Croatian educational system has highly educated school librarians with, in many cases, the broadest and longest education of all of teachers in elementary or secondary schools. Formal librarian education on BA, MA and PhD levels is organised at three universities, in Zagreb, Osijek and Zadar, while informal professional development is supported by two ministries and held at the Training Centre for Continuing Education of Librarians, the Education and Teacher Training Agency, and County Library Research and Development Departments as well as three professional librarian associations. At the moment, Croatian school libraries have the most potential for change in the educational system, although they are still inadequately recognised (European Literacy Policy Network 2016). While investment in librarianship as a public service has been insufficient, Croatian libraries have managed to maintain their



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core operations. The success of this in adverse conditions is as a result of the efforts of school librarians in lifelong learning. The evaluation of school librarian work is twofold. Librarianship work is evaluated by the County Library Research and Development Departments, and teaching activities by the Education and Teacher Training Agency. Evaluation should be more frequent and better targeted to be used for change in the stakeholders’ perception. Evaluation results can show how facilities, collection or library programmes impact pupils’ achievements. School libraries in Croatia are well supported by legislation but not sustained by funding; they need an appropriate budget allocation. The Croatian education system is in need of modernisation and large financial investments in school buildings, especially in library equipment and materials. School librarians remind the public that libraries do not offer solely books and magazines, but contribute to pupils’ achievements. The Croatian library community is becoming more aware of the need for public advocacy for libraries and the need to advocate for the financing of school libraries. Librarians are beginning to appeal more and more to decision makers through explaining the role libraries have in community progress. Librarians cannot acquire public advocacy skills during formal education at university but these can be developed through continuous education (Čunović, Sudarević and Šutej 2017, 138–139). Guided by this, the Training Centre for Continuous Education of Librarians, together with the National and University Library in Zagreb, offers a seminar under the name of Public Advocacy where librarians can learn the basics of public advocating, communication, constructing political support and fundraising (TCCEL 2017a). The strength of Croatian school libraries lies in the well-organised formal and informal school librarian education with government support through two ministries. Collaboration between the County Library Research and Development Departments with other government agencies (TCCEL, ETTA), as well as with library associations, is important for the professional and personal development of school librarians and leads to the continued advancement of student achievement.

References Agency for Science and Higher Education. 2013. The Croatian Qualifications Framework. https:// www.azvo.hr/en/enic-naric-office/the-croatian-qualifications-framework-croqf. Accessed December 6, 2017. Bedeković, D. 2017. “Knjižnično-Informacijska Pismenost u Osnovnoškolskoj Praksi.” In A. Saulačić ed., Kurikulum Knjižničnog Odgoja i Obrazovanja – put Prema Kritičkom

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Mišljenju, Znanju i Osobnom Razvoju, 74–83. Zagreb: Agencija za Odgoj i Obrazovanje. http://www.azoo.hr/images/izdanja/29_skola_knjiznicara.pdf. Accessed October 21, 2017. Bologna Declaration. 1999. The Bologna Declaration of 19 June 1999, Joint Declaration of the European Ministers of Education. http://www.magna-charta.org/resources/files/ BOLOGNA_DECLARATION.pdf. Accessed November 27, 2017. Croatian Government. 2009. Pojmovnik Hrvatskoga Kvalifikacijskog Okvira [The Croatian Qualifications Framework Glossary]. Zagreb: Vlada Republike Hrvatske. https://www. scribd.com/doc/90486831/Pojmovnik-Hrvatskog-kvalifikacijskog-okvira. Accessed October 24, 2017. Čunović, K., A. Sudarević, and G. Šutej. 2017. “Javno Zagovaranje školskih Knjižnica u Karlovačkoj županiji.” In A. Saulačić, ed., Kurikulum Knjižničnog Odgoja i Obrazovanja – put Prema Kritičkom Mišljenju, Znanju i Osobnom Razvoju, 138–146. Zagreb: Agencija za Odgoj i Obrazovanje. http://www.azoo.hr/images/izdanja/29_skola_knjiznicara.pdf. Accessed October 21, 2017. Educational and Culture DG Lifelong Learning Programme. Tuning Educational Structures in Europe. http://www.unideusto.org/tuningeu/. Accessed November 27, 2017. European Literacy Policy Network. 2016. “Key Literacy Policy Areas for Development (Age-Specific and Across Age-Groups)”. In C. Garbe, ed., Literacy in Croatia: Country Report Children, Adolescents and Adults. Cologne: The European Literacy Policy Network. http:// www.eli-net.eu/fileadmin/ELINET/Redaktion/user_upload/Croatia_Long_Report.pdf. Accessed October 21, 2017. Education and Teacher Training Agency. 2006. The Act on the Education and Teacher Training Agency. Official Gazette 85/06. https://narodne-novine.nn.hr/clanci/ sluzbeni/2006_07_85_2020.html. Accessed December 6, 2017. University of Zagreb, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences. 2014. Graduate Study. http:// inf.ffzg.unizg.hr/index.php/en/study-programmes/graduate-study/graduate-study. Accessed November 29, 2017. International Federation of Library Associations. 2015. IFLA School Library Guidelines, 2nd Edition. Written by the IFLA School Libraries Section Standing Committee. Edited by B. A. Schultz-Jones, and D. Oberg, with contributions from the International Association of School Librarianship Executive Board. https://www.ifla.org/files/assets/school-libraries-resource-centers/publications/ifla-school-library-guidelines.pdf. Accessed December 6, 2017. Kovačević, D., and J. Lovrinčević. 2012. Školski Knjižničar [School Librarian]. Zagreb: Zavod za Informacijske Studije Odsjeka za Informacijske Znanosti Filozofskog Fakulteta Sveučilišta u Zagrebu. Lovrinčević, J., D. Kovačević, J. Lasić-Lazić, and M. Banek Zorica. 2005. Znanjem do Znanja: Prilog Metodici Rada školskog Knjižničara [Using Knowledge to get Knowledge: Supplement to the Work Methods of School Librarian]. Zagreb: Zavod za Informacijske Studije Odsjeka za Informacijske Znanosti Filozofskog Fakulteta Sveučilišta u Zagrebu. Maštrović, T. 2009. Projekt “Cjeloživotno Učenje Knjižničara: Ishodi Učenja i Fleksibilnost”. In A. Horvat, and D. Machala, eds., Cjeloživotno učenje Knjižničara Ishodi Učenja i Fleksibilnost, 13–19. Zagreb: Nacionalna i Sveučilišna Knjižnica. http://www.nsk.hr/cuk/ cuk.pdf. Accessed October 24, 2017.



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Ministry of Culture, Republic of Croatia. Pravilnik o Matičnoj Djelatnosti Knjižnica u Republici Hrvatskoj. Official Gazette, no. 43 (2001). https://narodne-novine.nn.hr/clanci/ sluzbeni/2001_05_43_715.html. Accessed December 4, 2017. Ministry of Culture, Republic of Croatia. Pravilnik o Uvjetima i Načinu Stjecanja Stručnih Zvanja u Knjižničarskoj Struci. Official Gazette, no. 28 (2011). http://narodne-novine.nn.hr/clanci/ sluzbeni/2011_03_28_584.html. Accessed October 24, 2017. Ministry of Science and Education, Republic of Croatia. Pravilnik o Napredovanju Učitelja i Nastavnika u Osnovnom i Srednjem školstvu. Official Gazette, no. 11 (1995). https:// narodne-novine.nn.hr/clanci/sluzbeni/1995_11_89_1418.html. Accessed December 6, 2017. Ministry of Science and Education, Republic of Croatia. Standard za školske Knjižnice. Official Gazette, no. 34 (2000). https://narodne-novine.nn.hr/clanci/sluzbeni/2000_03_34_698. html. Accessed December 6, 2017. Ministry of Science and Education, Republic of Croatia. 2006. Nastavni Plan i Program za Osnovnu školu [Elementary School Curriculum], edited by D. Vican, and I. Milanović Litre. Zagreb: Ministry of Science, Education and Sport. Ministry of Science and Education, Republic of Croatia. 2008a. Državni Pedagoški Standard Osnovnoškolskog Sustava Odgoja i Obrazovanja [Government Pedagogical Standard of Primary School System of Education]. Official Gazette, no. 63 (2008). https:// narodne-novine.nn.hr/clanci/sluzbeni/2008_06_63_2129.html. Accessed October 21, 2017. Ministry of Science and Education, Republic of Croatia. 2008b. Zakon o Odgoju i Obrazovanju u Osnovnoj i Srednjoj školi [Act on Education in Primary and Secondary Schools]. Official Gazette, no. 87 (2008). http://narodne-novine.nn.hr/clanci/sluzbeni/340388.html. Accessed October 21, 2017. Ministry of Science and Education, Republic of Croatia. 2010. National Curriculum Framework for Pre-School Education, General Compulsory and Secondary Education (the NCF). Zagreb: Ministry of Science, Education and Sport. https://mzo.hr/sites/default/files/ dokumenti/2017/OBRAZOVANJE/Nacion_manjine/Romi/engleski_dio_Romi/national-curriculum-framework.p. Accessed October 21, 2017. National and University Library in Zagreb. 2016. Izvješće o Stručnom Radu županijskih Matičnih službi u Području Rada sa školskim Knjižnicama za 2016. Godinu [Annual Report from County Research and Development Departments about School Libraries in 2016]. http:// www.nsk.hr/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Republika-Hrvatska-2016.pdf. Accessed November 20, 2017. National and University Library in Zagreb. 2017. Basic Activities. http://www.nsk.hr/en/ basic-activities/. Accessed November 19, 2017. Pehar, F., and I. Stričević. “Libraries in Croatia.” Library Trends 63, no. 4: (2015) 675–696. https://bib.irb.hr/datoteka/713773.Stricevic-Pehar.pdf. Accessed October 24, 2017. Stropnik, A. 2016. All For One, and One For All: Zagreb City Libraries Connect Librarians. (International Federation of Library Associations 2016). http://library.ifla. org/1367/1/080-stropnik-en.pdf. Accessed August 17, 2018. Sušnjić, B. “School Library and the National Curriculum Framework”. Senjski Zbornik, no. 36 (2009): 39–42. https://hrcak.srce.hr/file/87278. Accessed October 21, 2017. Training Centre for Continuing Education of Librarians. 2016. Izvješće o Radu Centra za Stalno Stručno Usavršavanje za 2016. Godinu [Work Report of The Training Centre for

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Continuing Education of Librarians]. http://cssu.nsk.hr/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/ Izvje%C5%A1%C4%87e-o-radu-2016-CSSU-PDF.pdf. Accessed October 21, 2017. Training Centre for Continuing Education of Librarians in RH. 2017. Portal Centra za Stalno Stručno Usavršavanje. http://cssu.nsk.hr/. Accessed October 21, 2017. Training Centre for Continuing Education of Librarians in RH. 2017a. Seminars, Modul I: Intellectual Freedom and Legal and Ethical Questions of the Librarianship. Public Advocacy I. http://cssu.nsk.hr/javno-zagovaranje-i-2/. Accessed October 21, 2017. Živković, Daniela. 2009. “Usporedba Ciljeva Knjižničarskih Studija u Hrvatskoj”. In A. Horvat, and D. Machala, eds., Cjeloživotno Učenje knjižničara: Ishodi Učenja i Fleksibilnost [Lifelong Learning of Librarians: Learning Outcomes and Flexibility], 69–82. Zagreb: Nacionalna i Sveučilišna Knjižnica.

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11 Growing Leaders: Statewide Leadership Development Academies for School Librarians Abstract: This chapter describes how one state in the USA, Pennsylvania, is providing professional development for its school librarians through a sustained collaboration between an ALA-accredited programme at the University of Pittsburgh and the Pennsylvania School Librarians Association (PSLA), an affiliate of the American Association of School Librarians. Five cohort-based programmes have been implemented since 2014, with each addressing the needs of specific groups of school librarians in terms of either years of experience and/or geographic location in the state. The collaborative model between a state or regional professional association and a programme that educates school librarians is potentially viable and valuable for new settings. As such, this chapter offers a look at programme development and partnerships, rationale and goals, leadership content and delivery methods, role of mentors, programme assessment and outcomes to date, as well as lessons learned. Keywords: School librarians; Leadership; Career development; Professional development; Pennsylvania; United States.

Why Do School Librarians Need Professional Development? Continuous professional development is a necessity for school librarians to develop and sustain successful careers. According to the IFLA School Library Guidelines, among the “qualifications for a professional school librarian” is a “commitment to lifelong learning through continuing professional development” (IFLA 2015, 26). Practicing school librarians, who most often serve as the only librarian in their schools and sometimes their school districts, often do not have access to consistent, quality professional development designed specifically for school librarians. One state in the USA, Pennsylvania, is providing needed professional development for its school librarians through a sustained, funded collaboration between an American Library Association-accredited programme in the School of Computing and Information at the University of Pittsburgh and the Pennsylvania https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110616163-012

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School Librarians Association (PSLA), an affiliate of the American Association of School Librarians (AASL). This collaboration between a state or regional professional association and a school library graduate education programme provides a model for leveraging resources from each organisation into an innovative and transferable programme for professional development. Since 2013, the collaborative has been competitively awarded $365,000 in Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) grants from the Pennsylvania (PA) Department of Education to develop leadership competencies in Pennsylvania school librarians through five cohort-based professional development programmes, each a year in length, for practicing school librarians known as “Leaders Academies for PA School Librarians” (the U.S. Department of Education provides funding for LSTA grants to states as block grants; each state determines its priorities and awards competitive grants). Each of the five, year-long academies encompasses a suite of learning components for a cohort of 22–28 participants to build and strengthen their leadership competencies: four multi-day in-person learning experiences with team presentations, monthly virtual video-conferencing sessions, individual mentoring for each participant that includes self-assessment as well as the construction and execution of a Personalized Learning Experience (PLE) and a presentation of the results of the PLE to peer librarians at the PSLA Conference near the end of the school year.

What Are the Purposes of the Leadership Academies for PA School Librarians? The overarching purpose of the academies is to offer targeted leadership development to school librarians in Pennsylvania. “Leadership development” is a complex area of professional learning; as such, the academies facilitate development of a range of skills and competencies (e.g. grant writing, professional ethics) and dispositions (e.g. positive and productive relationships with colleagues and stakeholders). Lifelong learning and a commitment to staying current in the professions of library science and education are consistent, underlying themes, in keeping with professional expectations for school librarians set forth by the AASL National School Library Standards and IFLA School Library Guidelines. In their roles as peer educators, school librarians “lead from the middle” by demonstrating teaching, technology and information expertise in their schools and districts rather than demonstrating leadership via assigned management or supervisory responsibilities, which they are unlikely to be given by administra-



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tors. The AASL National School Library Standards continue to support the five roles of the school librarian (i.e. leader, instructional partner, information specialist, teacher and programme administrator) described in Empowering Learners (AASL 2009). However, with the release of the updated standards in November 2017, these roles are now embedded within the four domains of Think, Create, Share and Grow (AASL 2018). This role of leader is also emphasised in School Libraries Work!: “professional certified school librarians have maximum impact when they provide leadership in the school for achieving school missions, objectives, and strategies” (Scholastic Library Publishing 2016). After being accepted into the academy, each participant conducts an orientation activity of self-assessment and self-reflection with the guidance of his or her mentor. Based on this self-assessment, the participant develops and carries out a Personalized Learning Experience that is shared as a culminating activity. These two learning activities follow national and international professional standards and guidelines. IFLA School Library Guidelines suggest self-study as an approach to school library evaluation, including tracking and analysing scope of instruction and student learning outcomes (2015, 47). The National School Library Standards describe self-reflection as “a fundamental aspect of a school librarian’s Inquire framework, [which] stimulates librarians to seek, embrace, and create new ideas about teaching, learning, and school librarianship” (AASL 2018, 148). As curators (one of the six shared foundations of the National School Library Standards), school librarians seek out research and scholarship about their profession, “formulat[ing] ideas and mak[ing] connections that enhance their practice” (AASL, 149). In keeping with the Explore foundation of the National School Library Standards, school librarians model risk, experimentation and reinvention, which academy participants demonstrate through their active participation in their cohort, relationships with their mentors and pursuit of their Personalized Learning Experiences, a journey that they share not only within the academy but onsite at their respective schools and with their peers in their culminating poster presentation at the PSLA Conference. These four, year-long academies (now five, as a fifth began in January 2018) have been designed to provide leadership development for Pennsylvania school librarians targeted by varying years of school library experience and representing broad distribution across a geographically large state with a population of 12.78 million (World Population Review 2017). The design of each academy is supported by current research on leadership development of school librarians, including professional development and the importance of school librarian peers in helping school practitioners grow and develop the leadership mindset required of today’s school librarians (Everhart and Johnston 2016). The five academies are listed by year in Table 11.1 with the targeted participants and content focus.

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Table 11.1: Leaders academy programmes by year, with participants and areas of focus. Programme Year

Programme Title

Year 1: 2014–2015

Emerging Leaders Academy for –– Early-career librarians PA School Librarians –– 1–6 years of school library experience –– Equip for leadership positions

Year 2: 2015–2016

Participants and Academy Focus

Year 3: 2016–2017

Sustaining Leaders Academy for –– Mid-career librarians –– 6–15 years of school library experience PA School Librarians –– Revitalise and refresh competencies

Year 4: 2017–2018

Regional Leaders Academy for PA School Librarians

Year 5: 2018–2019

Mini-Regional Leaders Academy –– Librarians with between one and 20 years of school library experience for PA School Librarians –– Represent nine geographic districts of PA: North East, Central East, South East; North Central, Central Central, South Central; North West, Central West, South West

–– Librarians from varied levels of school library experience –– Represent three geographic regions of PA: East, Central and West

How Do the Academies Support the Mission of the PSLA? A fundamental rationale for the Academies has been the development of leaders for PSLA. Over a 10-year period, fewer librarians have joined as members and there has been less participation by those members in conference attendance as well as association committee work. These two factors have resulted in a smaller pool of available leaders to sustain PSLA’s mission to “generate conversations and connections to transform teaching and learning” (PSLA 2017). There is also a belief, based on extensive anecdotal evidence, that librarians in their twenties and thirties (millennials) are less willing to allocate their time to participating in the activities of professional associations at national and state levels, as well as local levels, and favour virtual contacts instead. Others attribute this decline in participation to retirements, the hiring of teachers who have obtained librarian certification through testing rather than obtaining a professional degree, reductions in the number of school library positions because



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of severe budget limitations that began in 2011 and only in 2017 have alleviated somewhat, as well as a reluctance of administrators to release librarians to attend professional development outside the school district because of the expense of hiring substitute librarians for those days. The first two Leaders Academies (2014–15 and 2015–16), named Emerging Leaders Academy for PA School Librarians, focused on a target audience of early-career librarians, namely those with one to six years of school library experience. The objective was to create two cadres of participants who could move into positions of leadership early in their careers, whether in their schools and school districts or in PSLA. The third cohort, the Sustaining Leaders Academy for PA School Librarians, targeted mid-career librarians and focused on their revitalisation. These librarians had between six and 15 years of experience and expressed a desire to refresh their competencies as well as re-engage in their school districts and the profession.

Who Are the Participants of the Leadership Academies? Over the first four years of the Leadership Academies, 97 school librarians in Pennsylvania elementary, middle and high schools have participated, with a fifth cohort of approximately 25 school librarians accepted in early 2018. The academies have been designed to meet the unique needs of the state of Pennsylvania, where geographic isolation can be a barrier to librarians participating in faceto-face offerings of continuing education. Pennsylvania’s 67 counties encompass vast farm and forest lands, many small towns, older cities with high unemployment rates and suburbs at all levels of the socio-economic spectrum as well as its two largest cities, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, which anchor the south-east and south-west corners of the state and are separated by 300 miles. Because of this geography, school librarians in the 500 school districts and 2,790 public schools are isolated by distance as well as a lack of opportunity to meet with and learn from other librarians. With the challenge of state geography in mind, the objective of the fourth and fifth academies, the Regional Leaders Academy, is to develop librarians in all areas of the state to serve as leaders in their regions and ensure a network of key communicators reach out to all school librarians across the state to carry out a mission to “connect, communicate, and create community.” The 97 participants of the first four academies represent school districts in 27 of the 29 Intermediate

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Units (93%), which provide educational services for school districts in a single or multi-county geographic area, as well as in 33 of the 67 counties (49%). Participants in the first three academies are clustered in the south-east, south-west and south central regions of Pennsylvania, while participants in the Regional Leaders Academy are more geographically distributed across the state because the Steering Committee made a concerted recruitment effort to secure broader geographic representation. In terms of gender distribution, unfortunately, males constitute a much smaller representation of participants because there are not nearly as many male school librarians in Pennsylvania as female school librarians. In three of the four cohorts there have been two male librarians, for a total of six participants. Recruiting school librarians of colour has been a challenge because very few are employed by school districts, even in urban areas. 12 per cent of PA residents are of colour (Wikipedia 2017) and only five counties have populations of colour greater than 14%. In 26 counties, two per cent or less of the population represents people of colour (World Population Review 2017; IndexMundi n.d.). The number of school librarians of colour in Pennsylvania does not reflect these percentages, however; for example, the Pittsburgh Public Schools employs 38 librarians, only three of whom are of colour (Annette Prezioso, email message to author, December 7, 2017). While recruiting librarians of colour has been and continues as a priority of the academies, only one librarian of colour has participated in an academy to date.

How Did the Leadership Academies Begin? The Leadership Academies came into being because of the success in 2012 of the first LSTA project collaboration between PSLA and the University of Pittsburgh, a professional organisation and an institution of higher education, to develop The Model Curriculum for PA School Library Programs to support information literacy based on the 2010 Common Core State Standards (in Pennsylvania known as the PA Core Standards). The State Librarian at the time, Stacey Aldrich, met with the PSLA President Eileen Kern and Mary Kay Biagini, the Director of the School Library Certification Programme at the University of Pittsburgh, who together had spearheaded The Model Curriculum development. Aldrich challenged the two to prepare a planning proposal to provide leadership development for PA school librarians and to involve members of the newly formed PSLA special interest group, the PA Educators of School Librarians.



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In less than six weeks, Biagini and Kern assembled the Planning Committee of ten practitioners and educators that shaped the leadership academy concept and format at a planning retreat lasting one and a half days. Committee members included three PSLA Presidents and seven PSLA Outstanding Contributors, one of whom was the retired PA school library supervisor. Four were retired from their school library positions, five were educators of school librarians and one was a practitioner. Committee members had worked together professionally in PSLA over years on a variety of projects and thus respected each other’s contributions. This trust allowed the committee to come to consensus over a working dinner on Friday evening and develop the concept of the academy the next morning; the pieces of the proposal were in place by the end of lunch on Saturday. The proposal was granted LSTA funding from the PA Department of Education and the first Emerging Leaders Academy launched in spring 2014.

What Role Does Mentoring Play in the Academies? Of the ten original Planning Committee members, five have continued their involvement in the four Leadership Academies by serving as mentors, and they have been joined by two past PSLA Presidents and two Outstanding Contributors, one of whom received the AASL Distinguished Service Award in 2014. The final mentor is a retired National Board-certified librarian from an urban school district. Two mentors had been librarians in districts that received PSLA Outstanding School Library District Programme Awards, while three mentors had served as district school library supervisors. Six have taught or currently teach in four universities that offer graduate school library education programmes. Mentoring leaders is a feature of the academies that is valued by both mentors and mentees. The breadth of professional experience and depth of expertise of the mentors has provided their individual mentees with counsel, affirmation, and confidence building. Matching each participant with a mentor has strengthened bonds among peers and reinforced participation in the academy activities because each mentor reaches out to his or her mentees via email and telephone regularly throughout the year, participates with them in the monthly virtual academy teleconference and meets face-to-face with them at the PSLA Conference Orientation in May, the Immersion Experience in June, the PSLA Summit in July as well as the Poster Session and Culmination Ceremony the following May. Mentors are committed to providing sought guidance based on their extensive professional experiences and they do this in ways that allow both mentees and mentors to learn from—as well as respect—each other. Mentors give their time

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freely; the grant provides no monetary compensation, only lodging and meals for the in-person sessions of the Immersion Experience and the PSLA Summit Meeting. The decision to match each participant with a mentor was made after Academy 1; in Emerging Academy 1, two mentors worked with a small team of seven to eight participants and mentored informally. For Academies 2, 3 and 4, the Steering Group decided to match each participant with a specific mentor at the time of acceptance to the academy to facilitate a more individualised experience for each participant and to allow each librarian to carry out a project that would be meaningful as well as helpful for their professional growth (each mentor has three or four mentees). Mentors guide their mentees through self-assessment, construction of resumes and ePortfolios, development of Personalized Learning Experiences (PLE) and creation of posters based on PLEs that participants present at the PSLA Conference as a culminating activity. Participating in these individualised participant experiences allows a bond to form between mentor and mentee that strengthens the engagement of both over the year of each academy. Each mentor has expressed deep satisfaction at “passing the torch,” knowing that the next generation of school librarians is well prepared and willing to assume leadership. This desire for continuity of the profession is a critical component of the longevity of sustaining the academies and the linking of several generations of librarians together for a common purpose and the good of Pennsylvania students.

What Are the Innovative Features of the Academy? Are These Transferable? Each grant has had a steering group that includes the Project Director and four other educators of school librarians (who also had previous experience as practitioners and supervisors) to plan and carry out the educational components of the academies. For much of the year, this planning is carried out through weekly conference calls. Steering group members also serve as mentors, team leaders and instructors. As with any long-term project, success depends upon each person believing in the worth of the project, respecting the strengths of each member, contributing to the team effort by assuming assigned responsibilities with dispatch and working collaboratively as a team to carry out the mission and objectives of the project. By the fourth academy, the steering group had solidified its mission: to connect, communicate with and create community among PA school librarians through the outreach efforts of its Academy leaders.



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The steering group is using an innovative, multiple-mode approach to develop participant leadership competencies: creating peer cohorts and teams, designing concentrated face-to-face interaction and reflection through focused instruction as well as analysis of case-studies in a retreat environment, one-toone virtual coaching sessions with mentors, monthly video conference sessions focusing on specific competencies and practice presentations. Advances in technology have greatly facilitated connecting and communicating with participants as well as creating community among participants. For example, monthly virtual academy sessions are conducted using BlueJeans video-conferencing technology (BlueJeans 2017) while documents to be shared from the face-to-face sessions and the virtual academy are mounted on the Academy LibGuide (Kachel 2017; SpringShare 2017). The steering group was able to employ so many different approaches only because of the year-long length of each academy. This length of time also allowed the participants to put the competencies they were learning or sharpening into practice because they had time to test their applications, receive feedback from their mentors, reflect and then demonstrate a competency repeatedly until it became natural behaviour. Mentoring is the single easiest component for adoption or adaptation. The key is finding recently retired librarians or educators who believe in the continuity of the school library profession and who have the time as well as skill to guide participants.

How Have the Academies Been Monitored and Assessed? Each year-long academy has followed a similar structure that has been refined and improved each year through formative and summative group as well as individual assessments from both participants and mentors. From the nominating and application stage to the final poster presentations, each participant learning experience has been evaluated based on how effective it was in engaging participants in their professional growth. The 69 participants of the three completed academies were fully committed and engaged for the year in both face-to-face sessions and monthly videoconferences, while the same pattern holds for the fourth academy. This consistent participation supports the basic need of school librarians for affirmation and sharing. Across the four academies, only one participant has resigned and that was because of a work situation.

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What Are the Outcomes of the Academies? Conducting the virtual academy as a year-long experience using videoconferencing highlighting a different competency each month and virtual sessions with mentors has strengthened the bonds among participants and mentors. By preparing in advance and participating in sessions each month, participants make connections and discuss their progress as well as understand the importance of practicing the competencies, which include, for example, work-life balance and ethical behaviour. Working on competencies in more depth over the year has allowed participants to both practice and reflect on their practice. Participants identified boosting their professional confidence and gaining affirmation of their value to their schools as the most important benefits they gained. Participants from each of the three completed academies have moved into new positions in school districts with outstanding academic reputations, assumed leadership roles on important committees in their schools and school districts, become highly engaged in PSLA activities and supported strong school libraries for all Pennsylvania students. Within PSLA, five participants serve or have served as elected officers (e.g. Secretary and members of the Board of Directors), six co-chair major PSLA committees (e.g. Communications, Operations, Teaching and Learning, Awards), while at least 10 have presented at the annual PSLA conference after they completed the academy. Each of the 28 participants in the fourth Regional Leaders Academy was matched by their ranked requests to one of the five standing PSLA committees and participated in committee meetings at the PSLA Summit in July 2017. 15 academy participants as well as seven mentors and instructors served on another LSTA project, The School Librarian’s Guide to Success in the PA Department of Education’s Educator Effectiveness System (PSLA 2015). The fourth and the fifth academies are designed to develop regional leaders to serve as key communicators to the PA school library community.

What Challenges Arose? The challenges posed were positive and encouraged teamwork, problem-solving and ingenuity from the steering group and mentors to navigate the logistics of scheduling, feeding and lodging 40 people at hotels for the Immersion Experience and the Summit meeting, connect using technology from multiple locations and stretch the budget to cover the widest range of experiences for the participants. The steering group is always aware that taxpayer dollars fund the acade-



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mies and everyone considers ways to save money while having fun. For instance, a walk to a local pizza parlour during the Summit meeting was far cheaper than a served meal in the hotel, illustrating the “we can do it” attitude among staff and participants. The “Brigadoon Breaks” (leave no trace), in which each team was given $75 to buy two snacks for one day, was a team-building exercise and a friendly competition to see which of the three teams could assemble the best tasting snacks and still return change.

What Lessons Did the Steering Group Learn? Lessons learned from the academies will help enhance and enrich the experiences of the following academy. For example, to familiarise participant teams with virtual academy videoconferencing, we set up a virtual orientation with each team before our face-to-face orientation so they could meet their mentors “virtually.” One factor that we anticipated when planning the first academy was how to ensure participants would be willing to commit to participating in a full year of professional development and addressing this factor turned into a lesson learned. Librarians who were already members of professional associations and had attended conferences applied without concern and remained highly engaged throughout their academy year. Librarians who had not engaged in professional association activities needed more attention as well as encouragement from staff to consider applying and participating in the academies. In several instances over the four academies, situations in the personal lives of nominees and applicants (e.g. illness, pregnancy, spouse unemployment, responsibilities of elder care or caring for young children) prohibited these librarians from applying for or accepting admission into the academies. Our hope is to consider these librarians for participation in a future academy. After the first academy, each year we contacted any librarians who met the selection criteria for participating in the academy but who had not been accepted or could not accept admission to determine if they were still interested and wished to be considered for the next academy. We were also careful to say to those who were interested in participating the following year that we could not assume there would be funding for the following year, as federal funding supported the academies. Each year, as we begin to recruit for a new academy, we ask previous participants, as well as board members and committee chairs, to nominate librarians to apply. We also post application information on the PSLA listserv, while the programmes and poster sessions participants have presented at the PSLA Con-

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ference also engender interest in the academies. Academy information, including the names and school districts of the participants, is included on the home page of the PSLA website. Casting the widest net for applicants results in a robust pool of applicants and assures the broadest participation of librarians. Based on the four academies and recent plans for a fifth academy, the steering group believes it has created a multi-modal prototype that professional associations and institutions that educate school librarians can consider for offering ongoing professional development that focuses on developing leadership competencies and has been successful in engaging school librarians. The collaborative model between a state or regional professional association and a programme that educates school librarians is one that offers benefits to both institutions and pools resources that are available in each, but not both.

References American Association of School Librarians. 2009. Empowering Learners: Guidelines for School Library Media Programs. Chicago: ALA. American Association of School Librarians. 2018. National School Library Standards for Learners, School Librarians and School Libraries. Chicago: ALA. BlueJeans. 2017. www.bluejeans.com. Accessed December 11, 2017. Everhart, N., and M. Johnston. “A Proposed Theory of School Librarian Leadership: A Meta-Ethnographic Approach.” School Library Research 19 (2016). http://www.ala.org/aasl/sites/ ala.org.aasl/files/content/aaslpubsandjournals/slr/vol19/SLR_ProposedTheory_V19.pdf. Accessed December 12, 2017. IndexMundi. n.d. “Pennsylvania Black Population Percentage, 2013 by County.” https://www. indexmundi.com/facts/united-states/quick-facts/pennsylvania/black-population-percentage#map. Accessed December 11, 2017. International Federation of Library Associations. 2015. IFLA School Library Guidelines, 2nd Edition. Written by the IFLA School Libraries Section Standing Committee. Edited by B. A. Schultz-Jones, and D. Oberg, with contributions from the International Association of School Librarianship Executive Board. https://www.ifla.org/files/assets/school-libraries-resource-centers/publications/ifla-school-library-guidelines.pdf. Accessed December 12, 2017. Kachel, D., ed., 2017. PA School Library Project [LibGuide]. Updated December 12, 2017. http:// paschoollibraryproject.org/home. Accessed December 12, 2017. Pennsylvania School Librarians Association. n.d. “Mission and Governance.” http://www.psla. org/about-psla/mission-and-governance/. Accessed December 11, 2017. Scholastic Library Publishing. 2016. School Libraries Work! A Compendium of Research Supporting the Effectiveness of School Libraries. http://www.scholastic.com/SLW2016/. Accessed December 12, 2017. SpringShare. 2017. “LibGuides: Curate Resources, Share Knowledge, Publish Content.” https:// www.springshare.com/libguides/. Accessed December 11, 2017.



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University of Pittsburgh and Pennsylvania School Librarians Association. 2016. The School Librarian’s Guide to Success in the PA Department of Education Educator Effectiveness System: Using The Model Curriculum for PA School Library Programs as a Foundation. http://www.psla.org/assets/Documents/Teaching--Learning/Educator-Effectiveness-System/EES-Guide-Final.pdf. Accessed December 11, 2017. Wikipedia. 2017. “Percentage of Black Population in Pennsylvania.” Updated December 6, 2017. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pennsylvania. Accessed December 8, 2017. World Population Review. 2017. “Pennsylvania Population.” Updated November 23, 2017. http://www.worldpopulationreview.com/states/pennsylvania-population. Accessed December 11, 2017.

Isabel Mendinhos and António Nogueira

12 Building and Sustaining a Network of School Libraries in Portugal: The Role of Professional Development Abstract: The purpose of this chapter is to explain the way in which teacher librarians’ professional development is occurring in Portugal, mainly since 2009 when the position of teacher librarian was legally created. Applicants for the position were not required to have initial instruction in school librarianship, meaning that it was necessary to guarantee professional development would provide a solution to the needs thus created. The School Libraries Network (SLN) annually elaborates and carries out a professional development plan, designed to meet the strategic goals and training needs of teacher librarians. The content of that plan is also determined by the weaknesses that are made evident through school libraries’ evaluation, as well as by the need to implement new guidelines or projects and changes that occur in the educational system. Keywords: Career development; Professional development; Evaluation; School Libraries Network (SLN); Teacher-librarians; Portugal.

Context The School Libraries Network Programme (SLNP) was created in 1996 by the Portuguese Ministries of Education and Culture and based on the report of a task force group of five experts in the area of reading and librarianship. That report identified the importance of training the teachers that would be the school libraries’ coordinators: “The training of teacher librarians and other teachers of the library team aims to develop their competences in pedagogical activities, programme management, library science, management of technological resources, information management, literature for children and young adults, illustration of children’s books, reading sociology” (Veiga et al. 1996, 41). The group of Portuguese school libraries integrated into the School Libraries Network (SLN) grew very fast in the first 12 years. In 1997 there were 164 school libraries integrated into the network and in 2009 their number had grown to 2,224. By that time, every middle and high school as well as about one-third of elementary schools were integrated into the network; at the end of 2016, 2,432 school libraries were part of the SLN. There is a school library in each high school and middle school, while https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110616163-013



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almost all elementary schools with more than 100 children also have a library integrated into the SLN. An important feature of this programme is that schools have to apply for their integration; it is not a top-down mandatory process. Schools must have the conditions as well as the will to have a school library and are invited to present their project. Most schools are organised in clusters that cover all K-12 levels, but there are still a number of independent high schools. Each school cluster can have one, two or three teacher librarians, according to the number of libraries integrated into the SLN and number of students. In these school clusters, teacher librarians provide school library services to the schools that don’t have a library, so every student in the public school system benefits from school library services. Until 2009, school libraries were managed by teachers that had part of their schedule assigned to library coordination. In that period, the SLN provided many professional development actions for the school library coordinators, while the growing expertise and proactivity of these teachers led schools to look differently at their school libraries and create better opportunities for students, mainly in the area of reading. With the growing importance of libraries in schools, the SNLP coordination could advocate the need for full-time teachers to manage school libraries; between 2006 and 2009 a pilot project was carried out by the SLN, with full-time school library coordinators. After the positive evaluation of this experience, the Ministry of Education issued legislation (Portugal, Ministério da Educação 2009, 4489) that created the position of teacher librarian and established her/his functions: –– Guarantee a library service for all students of the school or group of schools; –– Promote the articulation of the library programme with the school’s educational goals and curriculum; –– Manage human resources working in the school library/ libraries; –– Manage the space and physical resources of the school library/ libraries; –– Design and implement an information management policy, promoting its integration in the practice of teachers and students; –– Support curriculum activities and stimulate the development of reading habits and literacy, information and digital literacy as well as working collaboratively with other school leaders; –– Support free and extracurricular activities that are included in the school pedagogical programme; –– Establish cooperative networks and develop partnerships with local entities; –– Evaluate the library service and present an annual report to the SLNP office; and –– Represent the school library on the pedagogical board.

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The legislation also established general rules concerning the training and professional development necessary to apply for the position of teacher librarian. School library graduate studies as well as continuing education and professional development correspond to a computation. For instance, doctoral and master studies are valued with 35 points, specialised studies with 25 points and 25 hours of certified continuing education and professional development with one point. To become a teacher librarian, a teacher must belong to the school’s permanent staff, have a minimum of four points in academic or continuing training and at least 50 hours training in Information and Communications Technology (ICT), as well as experience in library coordination or as a member of the library team. The position has a four-year duration. Although it can be interrupted either by the will of the principal or teacher, it can also be renewed for an equal period of time. During those four years, the teacher librarian must complete a minimum of 100 hours of continuing training and professional development. There are three phases in the recruitment process: Phase one: the principal publicises that the position of teacher librarian is available. Teachers of the school’s permanent staff can apply for that position if they meet the above-mentioned conditions. If there are two or more candidates, the principal has to sort the candidates according to their number of points in training and professional development as well as work experience in the school library. The candidate who obtains the highest score is appointed as teacher librarian for a period of four years. Phase two: this occurs if in a school there isn’t any teacher fulfilling the conditions for the position. The principal must start an external procedure, which involves communicating the vacancy to the central services of the ministry and advertising it on the school’s web page. Candidates apply, with the process similar to Phase one; in this case, the teacher librarian belongs to the permanent staff of another school but is displaced for a maximum period of four years. Phase three: this occurs much less frequently, when there are no candidates in the two previous phases. In this case, the principal must designate a teacher of the school’s permanent staff that they think will be able to perform the basic functions of the teacher librarian and is willing to undertake the necessary professional training. All teacher librarians have the support of regional coordinators, but the ones appointed in phase three demand greater attention.



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To fully carry out their demanding functions, teacher librarians need a set of knowledge and competences to enable them to answer the challenges of the information society and digital revolution. In 2013 the SLNP published the Strategic Framework for the School Library Network Programme 2014–2020 which defines a set of 13 quality patterns, one of which (#8) concerns professional training: 8. Structures led by qualified professionals, able to respond to the functional and pedagogical demands of schools Teacher librarians, supported by a team of teachers and clerical staff, play an active role in the management, leadership and innovation processes in schools. They have a determinant pedagogical intervention in the students’ learning evolution and in the instruction for literacy and reading, media and information literacy, with impact on learning school results. They develop cultural actions, in order to promote students’ personal and social competences and to connect the library to the community. They are information managers, mediating access, validation and dissemination of information and content creation. Lines of action Guarantee of institutional procedures to ensure the existence of qualified human resources in school libraries. Continuation of teacher librarian and staff training, establishing partnerships with teacher training centres and other training entities.

Managing Continuing Training and Professional Development In order to meet this quality pattern and the training needs of teacher librarians, the SLN office annually designs a professional development plan. The content of that plan is also determined by the weaknesses that are made evident through the school libraries’ evaluation, the need to implement new guidelines or projects and the changes that occur in the educational system. We will describe two scenarios of continuing education and professional development: until 2009 and from 2009 to the present.

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Training Topics In the first years, the training had to respond to the growing implementation of the SLN and the needs felt by library coordinators. The main topics of training and professional development were: –– School library organisation and management; –– Computerisation of school libraries; –– Processing and organisation of resources; –– Reading promotion in the school library; –– From reading to writing; –– The role of the library in the school; –– Learning with the Internet; –– Web page creation. After 10 years, the SLN training plans showed new concerns related to the digital revolution: –– Digital and information literacy; –– Library 2.0. The creation of the position of teacher librarian corresponded to a quality leap in the SLNP. Collaboration with the curriculum was now mandatory, as was the transition to digital. A complex school library evaluation model had been tested and was generalised. The whole context required an extra effort in organising professional training and the training plan topics grew in complexity: –– The school library and twenty-first century literacies; –– The central role of the school library; –– Digital learning environments; –– The school library involved in learning; –– Reading and literacy; –– Collection management; –– School library evaluation model. In the last four years, along with the already mentioned topics, training had to be aligned with the strategic plan designed by the SLNP. A very important guiding document was released at the end of 2012, Learning with the School Library, a framework of learning standards to integrate reading, media, technologies and working with information in curricular or extracurricular learning situations, through the collaboration of school libraries with teachers. Four critical issues had to be addressed then, which are still the SLNP’s main concerns: collaboration with the curriculum to enhance learning and develop literacies; improvement of



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teacher librarians’ digital and media skills; inclusion of diverse students; and attitudes and values for responsible citizenship. In this context new training proposals were presented: –– Learning with the school library: integrating reading, media and information literacies in learning; –– School library: sharing knowledge to improve quality; –– School library, curriculum and literacies; –– Training + Innovating = Inclusion; –– Reading in digital devices in the school library; –– Books between takes – book trailers as a tool to promote reading; –– Learning Portuguese as a second language with the school library; –– Learning Science with the school library; –– Being a class director. Counting on the school library. Besides the work on the particular content of each course, digital tools and apps have been gradually introduced. Teacher librarians build their digital portfolios and use web-based tools to collaborate in the context of training, motivating them to do the same in their professional practice.

Human Resources and Entities Involved Besides being a network structure, the SLN also works as a pyramid. On the top, there is a central office, responsible for the policy decisions, guidelines and national projects. In the middle, there is an intermediate structure of 45 regional coordinators that act in partnership with municipalities, public libraries as well as other local institutions and articulate the work of teacher librarians (around 1,400). The latter constitute the base of the pyramid. Most of the regional coordinators were, in the beginning of their careers, in school libraries, as library coordinators or teacher librarians, who, at a certain point, felt the need for specialised training and completed postgraduate, master or doctoral studies. Among the functions they perform, regional coordinators are in charge of teacher librarians’ professional development. In the context of the large amount of courses and workshops promoted by the SLN throughout these years, these coordinators have trained teacher librarians, giving a precious contribution to the sustainability of the programme, guaranteeing, as much as possible, a uniform quality level in the action of school libraries throughout the country.

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The SLNP is integrated into the Ministry of Education and, in what concerns teacher librarians’ training, depends on Direção-Geral da Educação (Education Head Office). This entity is certified by the Scientific and Pedagogical Council for Professional Development, based in Minho University and responsible for the certification of trainers and all the teacher training actions. A large proportion of the courses certified by the council are carried out in e-learning or b-learning, through the Learning Management System (LMS) platform of the SLN. In order to optimise the dissemination of this training, the SLN has established a close relationship with the network of Portuguese teacher training centres. So, in general, each action begins to be carried out centrally by the SLN and then the teacher training centres ask for the transfer of the action in order to provide it locally. Trainers are paid only when the courses are covered by European Union funds, or when they are funded by private institutions, such as, for instance, the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. Besides the SLN annual training plan, there are a number of universities that offer postgraduate and master studies in school librarianship. These courses comprise both a specific technical component and follow the IFLA guidelines by also including “an understanding of education (learning, curriculum, teaching), of digital technology and social media, and of youth, culture, and literacies” (IFLA 2015, 27). Particular mention should be given to the Universidade Aberta (Open University) that has very actively coordinated with the SLNP and provides high quality e-learning courses that have been taken by many regional coordinators and teacher librarians.

Professional Development Action Types There are different kinds of professional development actions: short actions, conferences and meetings, as well as courses and workshops. In order to be considered for access to or the maintenance of the position of teacher librarian, these actions must be certified by the already mentioned Scientific and Pedagogical Council for Professional Development. Short actions were considered informal professional development but, according to legislation issued in 2014, some can be certified if they meet the necessary scientific and pedagogical criteria. The same happens with conferences and meetings organised in great number across the country by the municipalities and public libraries in coordination with SLN regional coordinators. The most relevant short actions in terms of the number of teacher librarians involved are



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in the areas of statistical literacy, literature and science as well as technological, media and citizenship projects. The local meetings and conferences have grown in quality. They usually have the contribution of experts and promote the sharing of best practices, in such a way that many of these meetings are solidly established at the national level. They have been taking place annually for the last 10 to 15 years. The duration of courses ranges between 15 and 50 hours, while workshops must have a minimum of 50 hours.

Number of Actions and Teacher Librarians Involved The effect of the creation of the teacher librarian position can be seen in the number of actions performed centrally by the SLN. Between 2005 and 2008 (four years), there were 31 actions and between 2009 and 2017 (8 years) there were 293 actions. Based on the SLN intermediate structure of regional coordinators each action can be, and usually is, multiplied locally through the teacher training centres 45 times. As an example, the course Learning with the School Library: Integrating Reading, Media and Information Literacies in Learning was carried out initially for two classes of regional coordinators and a small number of teacher librarians. At present, virtually all teacher librarians have attended that course. Regional coordinators and teacher librarians have completed several workshops at the request of schools for their teachers. The course is going to be available as a MOOC, so that the small number of those who are teacher librarians for the first time can have the same training as their colleagues. All this has led to an impressive expansion of the actual implementation of Learning With the School Library. Although it is not mandatory, schools using the document to obtain better results in students’ learning grew from 589 in 2015–2016 to 1,328 in 2016–2017, involving 611,273 students (from elementary to high school) and 37,603 teachers (teacher librarians and class teachers).

Monitoring and Evaluation The evaluation criteria for professional development actions are globally defined by the Scientific and Pedagogical Council for Professional Development. Each action is evaluated by the trainers and trainees. The latter present a reflexive

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report and a portfolio at the end of each action; the trainers also present a detailed report on the course or workshop and the SLN office produces an annual report. At the end of each action, trainees obtain a classification on a scale of 1 to 10. The trainers evaluate according to general criteria, each of them having a certain weight: –– Participation/contributions – 50% (5 points) –– Attitudes and values (interpersonal relationship/ sharing capacity) – 15% –– Dynamics (self-direction, initiative, meeting deadlines) – 15% –– Quality of intervention (rigour, relevance, explicitness) – 20% –– Content application – 50% (5 points) –– Scientific and communicative quality – 20% –– Pedagogical relevance – 20% –– Critical thinking – 10% For participation, the specific criteria are usually defined according to the content of the course and the tasks that are supposed to be performed. To get approval in the course the trainee must attend 2/3 of the sessions and achieve at least 50% of the score. Percentage is converted in points and a qualitative indication, as follows: –– 9.0 – 10 points – Excellent –– 8.0 – 8.9 points – Very good –– 6.5 – 7.9 points – Good –– 5.0 – 6.4 points – Sufficient –– 1.0 – 4.9 points – Insufficient Trainees can cease their training at any point during the course, due to unforeseen factors. This is communicated to the training centre and trainer so as to thus avoid being assigned negative or low grades. The certificates obtained in professional development actions mention the score as well as qualitative statement and must be a part of the teacher librarian’s portfolio, whenever he/she wants to apply to an available position, with the number of hours of the course or workshop converted into points. When there are two or more candidates obtaining the same global score, the percentage they obtained in professional development courses can be a way for the principal to differentiate between candidates.



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Outcomes of the Programme This professional development programme has had a significant impact on teacher librarians’ competences in many ways. A very important effect has been their recognition by the schools’ pedagogical boards. Teacher librarians are members of the pedagogical committee and are, in general, highly respected partners. The quality of the school library programmes has also visibly increased.

Challenges Encountered The first major challenge occurred in 2009, due to the creation of the teacher librarian position and launching as well as generalising of a very demanding course on the school library evaluation model in the same year. It was a huge effort that involved all regional coordinators and almost all teacher librarians. This was also the time when school libraries had mandatorily to enter the digital world, meaning teacher librarians were forced to use digital tools, many of them for the first time ever, to build their course portfolio. There were many complaints initially but, shortly after, most recognised this had been very useful. A significant amount of training also had to be undertaken in order to change the vision and practice of school libraries from physical to digital and online. More recently, the effort continues in what concerns the use of digital tools, but mainly in the area of collaboration with teachers to develop reading, media and information literacy in articulation of curriculum matters.

Lessons Learned According to the IFLA School Library Guidelines (IFLA 2015, 25), more than 50 years of international research, collectively, (see, for example, Haycock, 1992, in LRS (2015) School Libraries Impact Studies www.lrs.org/data-tools/school-libraries/impact-studies) indicates that a school librarian requires formal education in school librarianship and classroom teaching that provides the professional expertise required for the complex roles of instruction, reading and literacy development, school library management, collaboration with teaching staff, and engagement with the educational community.

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The same Guidelines (IFLA 2015, 26) consider that The development of a school librarian’s professional competencies and dispositions can be achieved in a variety of ways – usually through a diploma or degree program or continuing professional development completed after initial certification in teaching or in librarianship. The goal of school librarian education is actualization of teaching and librarianship skills.

In Portugal, there was a debate on which model to follow. The idea that, in school libraries, the teaching competences should prevail was stronger. Another argument in favour of this was that, if the network was to grow fast, qualified professionals would need to be trained quickly. If teacher librarian initial studies were to be provided in universities, it would be necessary to wait quite a long time before having the necessary human resources. So the decision was made to require school librarians to have their initial training in teaching and, in parallel, to provide professional development training to cover areas such as librarianship, literacy and reading, media and information literacy, inclusion, citizenship and curriculum collaboration. The success and expansion of the SLNP is due, in a large extent, to this professional development model. If the initial option had been for a basic education in librarianship, there would have been great constraints in reaching such a large quantity of schools and generalising the programme. The fact that many teacher librarians already have studied at a postgraduate level has not led to a decrease in the number of registrations in professional development courses, workshops and short duration actions. According to the feedback, professional development actions give a more agile response to the professional needs of librarians, namely the digital transformation of libraries, collaborative work and inclusion. The present challenge is to enable school libraries to respond effectively to the educational changes that are occurring in Portugal. In 2017, the Ministry of Education published the Students’ Profile at the End of Mandatory Education. This document establishes a new vision for education, considering explicitly the skills and competences for the twenty-first century and designing a humanistic profile for students at the end of K-12 education. This is very much coincident with the SLNP vision and constitutes a greater challenge as well as responsibility for teacher librarians. Portugal has been progressing in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) results, but those of the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) test of 2016 showed a decrease in reading literacy in fourth grade children. These are issues to be addressed by school libraries and, for that, the SLN is already designing new professional training actions.



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References International Federation of Library Associations. 2015. IFLA School Library Guidelines, 2nd Edition. Written by the IFLA School Libraries Section Standing Committee. Edited by B. A. Schultz-Jones, and D. Oberg, with contributions from the International Association of School Librarianship Executive Board. https://www.ifla.org/files/assets/school-libraries-resource-centers/publications/ifla-school-library-guidelines.pdf. Accessed December 15, 2017. Portugal. Ministério da Educação. 2009. Portaria 756/2009 de 14 de Julho. http://www.rbe.mec. pt/np4/file/33/portaria756.pdf. Accessed December 15, 2017. Portugal. Ministério da Educação. Rede de Bibliotecas Escolares. 2013. Programa Rede de Bibliotecas Escolares. Quadro Estratégico: 2014–2020. http://www.rbe.mec.pt/np4/ np4/?newsId=1048&fileName=978_972_742_366_8.pdf. Accessed December 15, 2017. Veiga, I., C. Barroso, J. A. Calixto, T. Calçada, and T. Gaspar. 1996. Lançar a Rede de Bibliotecas Escolares. http://www.rbe.mec.pt/np4/file/94/lancar_rbe.pdf. Accessed December 15, 2017.

Karen W. Gavigan

13 Regional Workshops – Collaborative Professional Development for In-Service Librarians in South Carolina, USA Abstract: This chapter presents an overview of regional workshops conducted for South Carolina (SC) school librarians for the past three years. The workshops, conducted in locations around the state, are free to participants. They are the result of collaboration between the School of Library and Information Science (SLIS) at the University of South Carolina (USC), the South Carolina Department of Education (DOE), the South Carolina Association of School Librarians (SCASL) and Follett. These workshops provided important information from the SC DOE about new statewide initiatives, as well as sessions on current library topics. Keywords: Workshops; Professional development; University of South Carolina; South Carolina Department of Education; South Carolina Association of School Librarians; Follett School Library Solutions; Collaboration; United States; South Carolina.

Introduction Professional development (PD) sessions held in countries around the world provide school librarians with an indispensable system of support for their school library programmes. When school librarians are able to learn best practices regarding resources, pedagogy and curriculum, it benefits their professional roles and library programmes. The training provided through professional development sessions offers an effective way for school librarians to hone their skills to better support the needs of their students, teachers and administrators. Often, however, the professional development provided for educators by schools and school districts is not always relevant for school librarians. Regional workshops provided to school librarians in South Carolina are valuable pedagogical collaborations that help strengthen the role of the school librarian in teaching and learning.

https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110616163-014



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From the South Carolina School Library Impact Study to Professional Development in Action Since 2016, educational partners in South Carolina, U.S.A. have collaborated to provide quality PD specifically designed for school librarians through workshops conducted in the four regions of the state (Low Country, Pee Dee, Midlands and the Upstate). The South Carolina School Library Regional Workshops began as the result of a major SC School Library Impact Study conducted by Keith Curry Lance for the South Carolina Association of School Librarians (Lance, Schwarz and Rodney 2014). SCASL, SLIS and the DOE wanted to inform as many SC school librarians as possible about the impact study, so these first workshops featured a keynote presentation about the findings from the study. Infographics, with findings from the study, were distributed to participants. Links to videos about the study and a PDF file of the infographic were also provided, with the school librarians encouraged to use these resources as advocacy tools in their schools. Publicity for all the workshops is generated through the SCASL listserv, as well as emails from the DOE that go out to all school librarians in South Carolina. School librarians from around the state are invited to attend the workshop in their region, or they can drive to another regional workshop if they have a conflict with their region’s workshop date. Through the years, there have been anywhere from 75–230 school librarians attending each workshop, which are held from 8:30 a.m.–2:30 p.m. Presenters from SLIS, DOE, SCASL and the South Carolina State Library volunteer their time to present professional development sessions at the workshops. The corporate sponsor, Follett School Library Solutions, has provided lunches and breaks for the last three years. In 2017, the lunch sponsor was the Library of Congress, since some of the content of the workshops dealt with a Library of Congress (LOC) Teaching with Primary Sources grant awarded to USC SLIS. Through the LOC grant, awarded from 2016–2018, SLIS faculty presented workshops to pre-service as well as in-service librarians and teachers about civil rights primary resources available through the Library of Congress. An important benefit to workshop participants is the fact that they receive credits toward the recertification of their school library licences. In South Carolina, school librarians are required to earn 120 hours of renewal credit every 5 years in order to maintain their certification. Each school librarian attending the workshops receives 4.5 continuing education credits. They also have the opportunity to network with colleagues from around the state and learn about the latest news related to their library programmes and schools. During the morning, representatives from the DOE present updates and news from their departments. After

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lunch, participants are able to choose from five different breakout sessions offered during three 45-minute periods (from 12:10–2:35 p.m.). The sessions are located in classrooms in the building, with five-minute breaks between the sessions so participants can easily move from one session to another. During these sessions, librarians learn about programmes they can implement as well as resources they can purchase and utilise in their school library programmes. Depending on the topic, some sessions are instructional and others are more interactive. Most presenters allow time for questions and answers at the end of their sessions. The regional workshops are also a great way for school librarians to network with each other and Follett vendors who are workshop sponsors. Follett vendors present sessions about their latest products and how school librarians can use them to assess their circulation and collection statistics. An additional professional benefit of the workshops is that SCASL is able to promote membership in their association as well as promote their annual conference and other resources. Many of the participants have joined SCASL and/or attended the SCASL conference as a result of learning about the association through the regional workshops. Workshop participants complete online surveys (Survey Monkey) after the workshops to evaluate the professional development activities. This feedback and future workshop planning sessions with partners are used to plan for future workshops.

Meet the Partners The DOE Office of Educator Effectiveness and Leadership is the department responsible for school librarians in South Carolina. The department collaborates with SLIS, SCASL and other DOE departments to ensure that regional workshop participants receive the latest updates to take back to their schools. Through the workshop sessions, the DOE and workshop partners are able to reach large numbers of school librarians in face-to-face settings, where they communicate the latest information from their departments that is then communicated throughout school districts. For example, in 2016, the South Carolina Legislature mandated a statewide reading initiative, Read to Succeed (R2S), that impacted all of the state’s students, librarians, teachers and administrators. The R2S department at the DOE presented a session at the 2016 Regional Workshops with the latest details about this literacy initiative, followed by a question and answer session. Participants took this timely information back to their administrators and teachers, thus playing a literacy leadership role in their schools. Such was illustrated by the comment of Regina H. Thurmond, Education Associate, DOE Office of Educator Effectiveness and Leadership Development, who stated about the value of



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the 2017 Regional Workshops: “What an incredible way to empower and support our school librarians across the state with best practices and strategies to help lead their school communities. This unique collaborative initiative offers expertise from some of the best in the field and exemplifies the power of teamwork!” The other educational partners play key roles in the regional workshops as well. An example of SCASL’s leadership role occurred during the 2018 workshops, where SCASL officers presented a keynote session and interactive breakout sessions about the newly released national school library standards of the American Association of School Librarians (AASL). In addition, SCASL arranged for school librarians to receive a special discounted price for the AASL National School Library Standards for Learners (AASL 2018a, 2018b) and participants were able to obtain the AASL books when they registered at the workshops. Finally, SLIS at the University of South Carolina has been a leader in organising the workshops where they also provide a variety of quality professional development sessions. The four members of the SLIS school library faculty have presented sessions, such as those listed below. As outlined in the IFLA School Library Guidelines, several of the Competencies Needed to Provide School Library Programs (Guidelines 3.4) (IFLA School Libraries Section Standing Committee 2015, 26) are provided in bulleted lists below the session titles. –– Becoming a SLIS Intern Mentor –– service for the public good – accountability to the public/society; –– Great Websites for Teaching and Learning –– digital and media skills; –– teaching and learning, curriculum, instructional design and delivery; –– Let’s Talk About…Strategies for Your School Library Program –– programme management – planning, development/design, implementation, evaluation/improvement; –– The Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources Grant –– digital and media skills; –– teaching and learning, curriculum, instructional design and delivery; –– MakerSpaces –– programme management; –– planning, development/design, implementation, evaluation/improvement; –– The Power of a Social Media Advocacy Plan –– communication and collaboration skills; –– digital and media skills; –– The Write Stuff: The School Librarian’s Role in Writing Instruction –– information processes and behaviours – literacy, information literacy, digital literacies;

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–– Using Graphic Novels across the Curriculum –– teaching and learning, curriculum, instructional design and delivery; –– reading engagement; –– knowledge about children’s and young adult literature. The knowledge that the SLIS school library faculty shares with participants helps school librarians play a leadership and collaboration role in their schools. In addition, the networking generated at the workshops has helped SLIS develop a stronger presence in the state and has enhanced relations with USC alumni statewide. Additionally, many of the workshop participants are current SLIS students, which allows school library faculty to get to know their students and advisees better. The ability to discuss SLIS internships with practitioners in the field has also enabled the faculty to find additional school librarians willing to serve as internship supervisors for our students. Finally, the opportunity to network annually with so many students and practitioners has helped to inform instruction in the SLIS school library programme.

Connections to the IFLA School Library Guidelines In addition to supporting the new 2017 AASL National Standards, the workshops support the IFLA School Library Guidelines (IFLA School Libraries Section Standing Committee 2015). The following are examples of how the regional workshops provided by the partners address several of the criteria in the IFLA School Library Guidelines: –– Guideline 2.4: Infrastructure Support for School Library Development –– A system of support for school library implementation and development needs to be established within the administrative unit responsible for education at the national and / or regional / local level… The work of such education service centers can include attention to issues such as: initial and continuing education of school librarians, professional consultations, research studies, collaboration with groups of school librarians and their professional associations, and development of standards and guidelines. (IFLA School Libraries Section Standing Committee 2015, 22). –– Guidelines 3.53: Leadership and Collaboration –– A school librarian may take a role, alone or in collaboration with other specialists in the school, in the integration of technology and in the provision of professional development for teachers and for administrators. (IFLA School Libraries Section Standing Committee 2015, 28)



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–– Guidelines 3.5.3: Leadership and Collaboration –– A school librarian should collaborate with other school librarians to extend and continue their professional development and learning. (IFLA School Libraries Section Standing Committee 2015, 28) –– Guidelines 5.7: Professional Development for Teachers –– The school library supports teachers through providing professional development for teachers, especially related to new materials and technologies, new curriculum, and new instructional strategies. The school librarian often provides informal professional development through working as a partner in learning with teacher colleagues in a variety of ways: providing resources for teachers which will widen their subject knowledge or improve their teaching methodologies (IFLA School Libraries Section Standing Committee 2015, 44)

The Impact from the Workshops The model that the partners use for the regional workshops has served the SCASL’s needs well for the first three years and the organisation continues to enjoy this collaborative initiative for providing annual professional development for school librarians in South Carolina. As Cathy-Jo Nelson, current SCASL President, stated in an email (December 12, 2017), SCASL’s collaboration with USC-SLIS and our SC State Department of Education has been an invaluable experience. It has provided us with many great takeaways including getting library programming represented on the state’s school report card, getting USC-SLIS information directly to our state librarians regarding courses, grants, learning and understanding our evaluation instrument and where we land in the realm of educators at the state level, as well as being able to offer content specifically for school librarians regarding collection and programming best practice for school librarians. Our partnership with the DOE not only serves school librarians well, it also serves to enlighten administrators on the work and role of a school librarian today. Through working with SCASL, the SC Department of Education, and USC-SLIS, we offer the most relevant and timely professional development to our librarians, and have set a model for other organizations to pattern themselves after.

Challenges and Lessons Learned The challenges that the partners faced in implementing the workshops have been primarily venue- and weather-related. There have been difficulties locat-

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ing a venue in some of the four regions. Some facilities wanted to charge a fee for renting the facility and/or they required insurance fees for the rentals. Also, weather (hurricane and snow) has caused a date change or the cancelling of venues in the past. Many school systems were closed for several days in the fall for hurricane-related issues in 2016 and 2017, which meant that they had to cancel previously-scheduled teacher workdays and the regional workshops. Another challenge has been that some principals will not allow their librarians to travel to alternative venues for the workshops. As a result of the high-stakes testing environment in the United States, there are some principals who do not see the benefits of letting their educators travel to alternative venues for professional development activities. It has been possible to improve the professional development sessions each year, based on the feedback received from the evaluations and presenters. For example, it has been learned that, although they value information from the Department of Education, the participants would prefer fewer updates and announcements from the DOE but more professional development sessions that they can actually put into practice in their schools.

Future Plans One of the advantages of the regional workshops’ professional development model is its sustainability. The organisers have developed a strong partnership and are committed to continuing to make the regional workshops an annual event for school librarians in South Carolina. Once the 2018 Workshops end, plans will be underway for the 2019 sessions. Feedback from the surveys and partners reveals that school librarians would like the opportunity to bring their principals with them to the workshops. The agency in the DOE that oversees school principals has already been contacted to ask them about providing sessions at the 2019 workshops that would enhance the collaborative partnerships between principals and school librarians. Finally, this professional development model could easily be replicated in the United States and countries around the world. Collaborating with other educational organisations to provide workshops for school librarians in South Carolina has proved to be a win-win situation for these librarians and their schools. The model is one that would provide similar benefits for school librarians worldwide.



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References American Association of School Librarians. 2018a. National School Library Standards: For learners, School Librarians, and School Libraries. Chicago: American Library Association. American Association of School Librarians. 2018b. AASL Standards Framework for Learners. http://standards.aasl.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/AASL-Standards-Framework-forLearners-pamphlet.pdf. Accessed December 18, 2017. International Federation of Library Associations. 2015. IFLA School Library Guidelines, 2nd Edition. Written by the IFLA School Libraries Section Standing Committee. Edited by B. A. Schultz-Jones, and D. Oberg, with contributions from the International Association of School Librarianship Executive Board. https://www.ifla.org/files/assets/school-libraries-resource-centers/publications/ifla-school-library-guidelines.pdf. Accessed December 18, 2017. Lance, K. C., B. Schwarz, and M. Rodney. 2014. “How Libraries Transform Schools by Contributing to Student Success: Evidence Linking South Carolina School Libraries and PASS & HSAP Results.” Phase II. https://scasl.memberclicks.net/assets/phase%202.pdf. Accessed January 25, 2018.

Afterword This book would not have been possible without the contributions of the authors and the collaborative efforts of colleagues from the two sponsoring associations. We acknowledge, with thanks, the authors of the chapters, the executive members of IASL, the IFLA School Libraries Section Standing Committee, the members of the IASL/IFLA School Libraries Joint Committee, and the editorial team of De Gruyter Saur, especially Series Editor Janine Schmidt. It has been an honour and a privilege to serve the two Associations and the school library community worldwide. Barbara A. Schultz-Jones and Dianne Oberg Editors August 1, 2018

https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110616163-015

Contributors

Contributors

Margaret BAFFOUR-AWUAH, BEd, PGLIS, and MLIS, is a retired Principal Librarian. She worked with the Botswana National Library Service for 21 years, mostly as Head of the Educational Libraries Division. She served as Newsletter Editor and on the Editorial Board of the Botswana Library Association Journal. She was IASL Regional Director for Sub-Sahara, Africa Region and a member of CILIP and of the IFLA Standing Committee on School Libraries and Resource Centres. Currently, she is co-chair of the IASL Advocacy SIG. Margaret has served as a Volunteer in the BONELA resource centre. Her story “Two Frogs Went Wandering” won the 2013 Bessie Head Children’s Literary Award, and she has published several articles in School Libraries Worldwide. [email protected] Mary K. BIAGINI, PhD, is an associate professor and director of the School Library Certification Program in the School of Computing and Information at the University of Pittsburgh. Biagini served on the faculty at Kent State University and worked as a school librarian and English teacher in the Akron, OH public schools. She consulted on the 2011 Pennsylvania School Library Study and the 2012 IMLS-funded Pennsylvania School Library Project. She has served as Project Director of the Emerging Leaders Academies (2014–2016), Sustaining Leaders Academy (2016–2017), and Regional Leaders Academy (2017–2018), joint collaborations of the Pennsylvania School Librarians Association (PSLA) and the University of Pittsburgh and funded by the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA). Biagini also served as the project director and editor of The Model Curriculum for Pennsylvania School Library Programs (2012–2014) and The School Librarian’s Guide to Success in the Educator Effectiveness System (2016), both

funded through LSTA. She was named PSLA Outstanding Contributor in 2007. Magali BON has been a certified professeur documentaliste since 2007. She is currently working at the lycée polyvalent SaintExupéry in Bellegarde-sur-Valserine (France). She leads teaching sessions in Media and Information Literacy (MIL) with different classes of this technical and vocational high school and promotes the teaching of MIL inside the school by training her colleagues. She has been a member of APDEN for several years. Jennifer BRANCH-MUELLER, PhD, is a Professor in Teacher-Librarianship Education in the Faculty of Education at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada. Her research interests include teacher-librarianship education, online learning and teaching, online learning communities, inquiry-based learning, and the Think Aloud Method. [email protected] Elizabeth A. BURNS is an Assistant Professor at Old Dominion University. Her primary research topic is school library education and advocating for effective school library programs. Elizabeth teaches pre-service and in-service school librarians. Elizabeth’s teaching and research contribute a professional vision that situates school libraries as vital to the educational environment. Elizabeth was a member of the National School Library Standards Editorial Board. Cécile CHABASSIER is a certified professeur documentaliste since 2007. She is currently working as a professeur documentaliste at the Collège Maryse Bastié in Nantiat (HauteVienne, France) and she is an associated instructor at the ESPE of Limoges academy

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 Contributors

since 2014. She is a member of APDEN Limousin’s board.

for middle and high school students in Limoges academy.

Jingqi CHENG (Miss) is a master student of the iSchool at Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, China.

Lesley S. J. FARMER, PhD, coordinates the Teacher Librarian program at California State University (CSU) Long Beach, and manages the CSU ICT Literacy project. She earned her MLS at UNC Chapel Hill and her doctorate at Temple University. She serves as CSLA Research Committee Chair and won ALA’s Beta Phi Mu Award for library education. A frequent presenter and writer for the profession, Dr. Farmer’s research interests include digital citizenship, information literacy, assessment, collaboration, and educational technology. Lesley.Farmer@ csulb.edu

Audrey Puckett CHURCH, PhD, has worked as a professor of school librarianship at Longwood University in Farmville, VA, USA, since 2000. Her main research topic is principals’ perceptions of school librarians. Karla Bame COLLINS, PhD, has worked as an assistant professor of school librarianship at Longwood University in Farmville, VA, USA, since 2012. Her main research topic is instructional design and delivery to meet the needs of all learners in the school library. Kristina ČUNOVIĆ graduated in Sociology and Librarianship from the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Zagreb. Since 2002, she has served as reference librarian in City Library “Ivan Goran Kovačić” in Karlovac, where she manages the Library for the Youth. At present, she is Head of Library Research and Development Department for School and Public Libraries in Karlovac County. She also manages one workshop for librarians about library services for babies, children of early age and their parents in libraries in The Training Centre for Continuing Education of Librarians. Her research has been focused on user needs and satisfaction with library services and early literacy. [email protected] Anais DENIS is a certified professeur documentaliste since 2008. She is currently working as a professeur documentaliste at Lycée Jean Giraudoux in Bellac (Haute-Vienne, France) since 2011. Holder of the CAFFA (certificate of aptitude for the functions of instructor in academy), she is an associated instructor at the ESPE of Limoges academy and also a member of APDEN. She also coordinates the Manga’titude price on manga

Karen GAVIGAN is an Associate Professor in the School of Library and Information Science at the University of South Carolina. Her research interests include the use of graphic novels in schools, and the ways in which school library programs and resources contribute to student learning. Dr. Gavigan is a 2017–2020 Fulbright Specialist. She is Chair of the Joint Committee of the International Association of School Librarianship (IASL) and the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions’ (IFLA) Standing Committee for School Libraries. Valérie GLASS is a certified professeur documentaliste since 2011. She is currently working at the Lycée international in Lyon (France) since 2016. She is a member of the national board of APDEN and in charge of international relationships. She currently serves as the Secretary of the IFLA School Libraries Section. Carl Adrian HARVEY II has worked as an assistant professor of school librarianship at Longwood University in Farmville, VA, USA, since 2015. His main research topic is school libraries and leadership.



Rei IWASAKI has worked as a Professor at Kyoto Notre Dame University in Kyoto, Japan since 2000. Her main research/professional topic is school library education and school library programs for children’s reading and learning. She is a member of School Libraries’ Standing Committee of IFLA, the chairperson of Kyoto City’s Library Council, a member of the Osaka Prefecture’s Social Education Committee and a chairperson of Ikoma City’s Council about Promotion of Children’ s Reading. Boemo Nlayidzi JOROSI, BA, PGDE, PGDLIS, MA, and PhD (Information Science), is Senior Lecturer and former Head of Department, Library and Information (2011–2017) at the University of Botswana. Dr Jorosi teaches school librarianship, information seeking behaviours, references sources and services, knowledge economy, and business information. His articles on information literacy, information use behaviour and school librarianship appear in Information Development, LIBRI and School Libraries Worldwide. Dr Jorosi has also served as a member of several high-profile consultancy teams: the ACHAP Study, Sesigo Project, Botswana National Library Policy Study, and the Botswana Railway Administrative History Project. Dr Jorosi has served as Chair (1995) and Vice-Chair (2005) of the Botswana Library Association. [email protected] Mary O. KEELING has worked for Newport News Public Schools since 1996, first as an elementary school librarian, then as Supervisor of Library Media Services since 2004. Her main focus is on developing instructional practices to support inquiry learning in grades K-12. As the Chair of the Implementation Task Force that developed the Implementation Plan, Mary guided her team to synthesize ideas and perspectives into an innovative strategic implementation plan.

Contributors 

 173

Zhiwen KUANG (Miss) is an undergraduate student of the iSchool at Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, China. Kate D. LECHTENBERG is a doctoral student in Language, Literacy, and Culture in the University of Iowa’s College of Education. After fourteen years working in public schools, she now teaches young adult literature and collection development. Her research centers on text selection, young adult literature, educational standards, and equity initiatives. Kate was a member of the National School Library Standards Implementation Task Force, and she is a news editor for the ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom. Marcia A. MARDIS is an Associate Professor and Assistant Dean at Florida State University’s College of Communication (USA). Her main research areas center on research methodologies, school-to-career pathways, and educational informatics. As the Chair of the Editorial Board that authored the National School Library Standards (NSLS), Marcia helped to design and guide the NSLS development process and to edit the Board’s work into a cohesive document. Isabel MENDINHOS has worked as a Teacher Librarian since 2001 and as School Libraries Adviser at the School Libraries Network (SLN) in Lisbon, Portugal, since 2009. Presently she is working in the SLN central office. Her main professional topic is school libraries and literacies. Dianne OBERG, PhD, is Professor Emerita, Faculty of Education, University of Alberta, Canada. Her research focuses on school library education and on the implementation and evaluation of school library programs. She was an early adopter of online technology for graduate-level school library education. She has served on the IFLA School Libraries Standing Committee for 12 years and

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 Contributors

has been an active member of IASL since 1982. She was the founding editor of the peer-reviewed international journal, School Libraries Worldwide, which she edited for 15 years. She enjoys writing and editing and mentoring new school library professionals and academics. Mutsumi OHIRA has worked as a Professor at Kyoto Sangyo University in Kyoto, Japan since 2012. Her main research/professional topic is education technology and school library education programs for children’s learning. She is a chairperson of Izumi City’s Council on Promotion of Children’ s Reading. Rebecca J. MORRIS, PhD, is adjunct professor in school librarianship and instructional technology at McDaniel College (MD) and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She is the Library in Context Editor at School Library Connection (ABC-CLIO). Publications include School Libraries and Student Learning: A Guide for School Leaders (Harvard Education Publishing Group, 2015) and articles in School Library Research, Knowledge Quest, School Libraries Worldwide, Teacher Librarian, and Journal of Research on Young Adults in Libraries. Education: MLIS and PhD, University of Pittsburgh; BS, Elementary Education, Pennsylvania State University. Previous professional experiences: teacher, school librarian, and LIS faculty member. Junko NISHIO has worked as a Lecturer at Ryukoku University in Kyoto, Japan since 2014. Her main research/professional topics are school library education and reference/ information service. She formerly worked as a teacher at a high school and as a reference librarian at the American Center in Osaka, Japan. António NOGUEIRA has worked as a History teacher and as Teacher Librarian until 2009. In that year he joined the staff of the School

Libraries Network in Lisbon, Portugal. His main professional topics are inclusion and teacher librarians’ professional development. Pascale PEUROT is a certified professeur documentaliste working at the ESPE of Limoges academy (Université de Limoges, France) since 2002. She is in charge of the MEEF master degree for professeurs documentalistes, head of the Departement of Documentation and from 2015 to 2017 she was the deputy director of the ESPE. Joanne RODGER, PhD, is a Curriculum Specialist in the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada. She is also an Adjunct Faculty Member in the Department of Elementary Education and teaches in the Master of Library and Information Studies program and the Teacher-Librarianship by Distance Learning program in the Faculty of Education at the University of Alberta. Her research interests include teacherlibrarianship education, online teaching and learning, online learning communities, and summer reading programs. joanne.rodger@ ualberta.ca Barbara A. SCHULTZ-JONES, PhD, has worked as an Associate Professor in the Department of Information Science of the College of Education at the University of North Texas, Denton, Texas, USA, since 2007. She is an active member of IASL and was nominated by IASL to the School Libraries Section of IFLA in 2011. She served as the Secretary of the IFLA School Libraries Section from 2011–2013 and Chair from 2013–2015. Her main research/professional topics are learning environments, social network analysis, and information behavior in context. Jenifer Ramler SPISAK has worked as an Assistant Professor of school librarianship at Longwood University in Farmville, VA,



USA, since 2017. Her main research topic is information literacy in K-12 students. Alka STROPNIK at first has worked as a school librarian, then as a young adult’s librarian. Since 2013, she has been School Library Advisor for two counties in the Library Research and Development Department of Zagreb City Libraries. She also manages two workshops for school librarians and for children and young adult’s librarians in The Training Centre for Continuing Education of Librarians. She is a chair of the Section for library services for children and YA in the Croatian Library Association. In addition to many articles, she wrote a book. Her professional topics are ICT, information and digital literacies, information needs of YA and web 2.0 in the library. [email protected]

Contributors 

 175

Han XIE (Mr.) is the chief librarian of Guangdong Guangya Secondary School Library. He is also the chair of the Secondary School Library Management Professional Committee of the Guangzhou Institute of Education. Jing ZHANG (Dr.) is a Professor and Vice Dean of the iSchool at Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, China. Her research interests include firstly public culture services management and librarianship, and secondly cultural heritage preservation and conservation. She is a member of IFLA Committee on Standards and the School Library Section’s Standing Committee. Weinan ZHENG (Miss) is an undergraduate student of the iSchool at Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, China.

Index

Index

Academy of Limoges 2, 57, 59, 65 ALA Accreditation 137 Alberta (Canada) 46, 47 Alumni 36, 74, 75, 77, 166 American Association of School Librarians (AASL) 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 32, 33, 41, 48, 49, 54, 69, 74, 75, 77, 102, 137, 138, 139, 143, 148, 165, 166, 169 APDEN (Association des professeurs documentalistes de l‘Education nationale) 58, 62 Australia 46, 47 Baffour-Awuah, Margaret 93 Biagini, Mary K. 137 BNLS (Botswana National Library Services) 97, 98 Boekhorst, Albert 19 Bologna Declaration 123, 124, 134 Bon, Magali 57 Botswana 3, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104 Branch-Mueller, Jennifer 45 Burns, Elizabeth 21 CAPES (the secondary school teaching certificate) 58, 59 Cape Town (South Africa) 8 CDIs (Centres de documentation et d‘information) 57, 58 Chabassier, Cécile 57 Cheng, Jingqi 105 China 3, 17, 20, 105, 106, 107, 108, 111, 113, 114, 115, 116, 117, 118, 119 Church, Audrey P. 69 CILIP (Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals) 106 Collaboration 31, 133, 154, 162, 166, 167 Collins, Karla B. 69 Common Core State Standards (USA) 142 Continuous improvement 102 Croatia 3, 123, 124, 125, 126, 127, 128, 129, 130, 131, 132, 133, 134, 135 Čunović, Kristina 123

Data analysis 40 Denis, Anaïs 57 Dispositional Continua 50 Dispositions 50 Diversity 142 Edinburgh (Scotland) 7 Educational technology 31, 40 ESPE (Superior School of Teaching and Education) 2, 57 ETTA (Education and Teacher Training Agency) (Croatia) 125, 131 Evaluation 2, 3, 7, 12, 15, 17, 29, 36, 37, 39, 47, 51, 74, 75, 86, 88, 114, 115, 117, 129, 130, 133, 139, 150, 151, 153, 154, 157, 159, 165, 167 FADBEN (Fédération des associations de documentalistes et bibliothécaires de l‘Education nationale) 58 Farmer, Lesley 31 Follett School Library Solutions 162, 163 France 2, 8, 19, 57, 59, 94 Gavigan, Karen 11, 19 Gavigan, Karen W. 162 Glass, Valérie 19, 57 Guidelines, school library 11, 20 Harvey, Carl A., II 69 Hybrid instruction model 76 IASL (International Association of School Librarianship) 1, 4, 7, 8, 11, 19, 55, 67, 118, 134, 148, 161, 169, 170 IFLA School Libraries Section 1, 11, 19, 55, 67, 111, 116, 118, 134, 148, 161, 165, 166, 167, 169, 170 IFLA School Library Guidelines 2, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 15, 17, 18, 19, 20, 45, 55, 67, 69, 105, 115, 116, 118, 132, 134, 137, 138, 139, 148, 159, 161, 165, 166, 169 IFLA/UNESCO Public Library Guidelines 10 IFLA/UNESCO School Library Manifesto 7, 8, 10, 19



Instruction 7, 9, 10, 12, 13, 16, 21, 23, 26, 34, 45, 46, 51, 52, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 64, 65, 66, 91, 96, 109, 123, 124, 125, 128, 131, 140, 150, 151, 153, 156, 159, 162, 165, 166 International Federation of Library Associations. See IFLA Iwasaki, Rei 81 Japan 2, 11, 16, 81, 82, 83, 87, 90, 91, 92 Jorosi , Boemo N. 93 Keeling, Mary 21 Kuang, Zhiwen 105 Kyoto Board of Education (Japan) 81 Kyoto Notre Dame University (Japan) 3, 81, 86, 92 Kyoto Sangyo University (Japan) 3, 81, 88, 92 Lance, Keith Curry 163 Law of Education in Primary and Secondary Schools (Croatia) 123, 124 Leaders Academies for PA School Librarians (USA) 138 Lechtenberg, Kate 21 Licensing 24, 72, 73, 74 Longwood University (USA) 69, 70, 72, 77, 78 Lyon (France) 8 Maastricht (Netherlands) 8 Mardis, Marcia A. 21 Mendinhos, Isabel 150 Millennials 140 Mission 9, 13, 32, 57, 58, 59, 69, 76, 84, 85, 86, 87, 99, 115, 140, 141, 144, 148 Model School Library Standards (California) 33, 42 Modules 2, 7, 11, 12, 13, 16, 17, 18, 107, 114, 117, 129 Morris, Rebecca J. 137 Moscow (Russia) 8 National School Library Standards (USA) 2, 21 Nishio, Junko 81 Nogueira, António 150 New Zealand 46

Index 

 177

Oberg, Dianne 4, 8, 19 Ohira, Mutsumi 81 Orientation 139, 147 Oslo (Norway) 8 Partnerships 3, 137, 151, 153, 168 Pennsylvania (USA) 3, 137, 138, 139, 141, 142, 144, 146, 148, 149 Personas 26 Peurot, Pascale 57 Poland 11, 16 Portugal 3, 150, 151, 160, 161 PPP (Personal Path of Professionalisation) 65 Professional development 51, 105, 123, 137, 150, 160, 162 Professeurs documentalistes 57 Professional learning community 2, 69, 77 Recruitment 142 Rodger, Joanne 45 School librarians, education 2, 21, 91, 133, 160 School librarians, education 2, 16, 45, 82 School librarians, leadership 34, 45, 46, 47, 52, 54, 137, 138, 141, 142, 143, 148, 164, 166, 167 School libraries, primary 111 School libraries, secondary 111, 116, 118 School library educators 21, 23, 24, 25, 28, 29, 30 School Library Law (Japan) 82, 90, 91 Schultz-Jones, Barbara A. 4, 7 Scotland 46 Self-assessment 32, 39, 138, 139, 144 Self-reflection 22, 39, 63, 66, 139, 145 Singapore 8 SLN (School Libraries Network) 150, 151, 153, 154, 155, 156, 157, 158, 160 South Carolina (USA) 3, 162, 163, 164, 167, 168, 169 Spisak, Jenifer R. 69 Standards for Initial Preparation of School Librarians (ALA/AASL) 30, 48, 54, 69, 74, 75, 77 Standards, school library 2, 31, 32, 41, 73, 102, 116, 165

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 Index

Stropnik, Alka 123 Student learning outcomes 34, 139 Sun Yat-sen University (China) 3, 105, 108, 114, 115, 116, 118 Sweden 11, 16 TCCEL (The Training Centre for the Continuing Education of Librarians) (Croatia) 128, 129, 133 Team-building 147 United States 2, 3, 11, 16, 19, 21, 24, 26, 30, 69, 94, 137, 162, 163 University of Botswana (Botswana) 96, 98, 99, 100, 101, 103 University of Osijek (Croatia) 124

University of Pittsburgh (USA) 3, 137, 142, 149 University of South Carolina (USA) 4, 162, 165 University of Zadar (Croatia) 124 University of Zagreb (Croatia) 124, 125, 128, 134 Virginia (USA) 69, 73, 74, 77 Volunteers 163 Xie, Han 105 Youssif, Carol 19 Zhang, Jing 105 Zheng, Weinan 105