Role of the school library

The school library is fundamental to the mission and teaching and learning goals of the school. Providing a wide range of facilities and services it facilitates the work of the classroom teacher and ensures each student has equitable access to resources, irrespective of home opportunities or constraints. It requires strategic support and systematic processes, to maximise its effectiveness in resourcing the curriculum and supporting the learning environment within the school. Research demonstrates that well-resourced, properly staffed school libraries have a positive impact on student achievement.

While the role of the school library remains constant, its design, digital platform, strategies and tools change as pedagogy and technology changes.

Appropriate professional and support staff are essential for the effective functioning of this potentially dynamic learning centre and for the achievement of the school’s teaching and learning goals.

School library programs and services seek to:

• Create and develop motivating, flexible physical and digital learning spaces.
• Run independent learning programs, which integrate information resources and technologies, to equip students with the skills necessary to succeed in a constantly changing technological, social and economic environment.
• Collaborate with classroom teachers to plan, implement and evaluate inquiry-based programs that will ensure students acquire skills to collect, critically analyse and organise information, problem-solve and communicate their findings.
• Provide and promote quality fiction to develop and sustain in students the habit and enjoyment of reading for pleasure and to enrich students' intellectual, aesthetic, cultural and emotional growth.
• Cater for differences in learning and teaching styles through the provision of, and equality of access to, a wide range of curriculum resources – fiction and non-fiction, digital, print, audio and video.
• Provide teachers with access to relevant curriculum information and professional development materials within and outside the school; and opportunities to cooperatively plan implement and evaluate learning programs.

Why school libraries?  What the research shows.

Research studies continue to show that an active school library program makes a significant difference to student learning outcomes.

Australian research

International research

Australian

• Inquiry into school libraries and teacher librarians in Australian schools
  Report, tabled in Federal Parliament on 23 May 2011, by the Australian government’s House Standing Committee on Education and Employment on the Inquiry into School Libraries and Teacher Librarians in Australian Schools. Available for download in PDF format in full or in individual chapters.
• School libraries building capacity for student learning in 21C 
  Overview of research and professional literature about ways school libraries enhance student learning and achievement. Available for download in PDF format. [Scan Vol 28 No 2 May 2009]
• School libraries 21C 
  Report of the online discussion School libraries 21C commissioned by School Libraries and Information Literacy Unit, Curriculum K-12 Directorate, NSW Department of Education and Training as part of the School libraries future project. (2010) Available for download in PDF format.

International

• How Pennsylvania school libraries pay off: Investments in student achievement and academic standards.
  October 2012 study found students with access to a better-staffed, funded, equipped, stocked and accessible school library are more likely to score advanced and less likely to score below basic on the state reading and writing tests.
• Center for International Scholarship in School Libraries. School libraries, now more than ever
  A CISSL position paper argueing the importance of school libraries, based on five decades of research and explores inquiry as the framework for learning and reading as the key to understanding.

• Center for International Scholarship in School Libraries. The New Jersey study of school libraries: One common goal – student learning 
  The findings of this 2010-11 study at Rutgers University, and led by Dr Ross Todd, explore the nature of a "good" school library and the role New Jersey school libraries play in student learning.

• Not your grandmother's library
  Examples of exemplary programs by progressive American teacher librarians who incorporate 21st century online tools. Available for download in PDF format. [Learning and leading with technology, v38 n6 p16-19 Mar-Apr 2011. ERIC database]
• The impact of New York's school libraries on student achievement and motivation: Phase III
  Abstract of the report of the final phase of a two-year research study on the impact of New York State's school libraries on student achievement and motivation. Available for download in PDF format. [School library media research, v13 2010. ERIC database] 
• School librarians continue to help students achieve standards: "The third Colorado study (2010)." A closer look
  Report on the third Colorado study of the impact of school libraries and librarians on academic achievement, and the second study to examine their impact on student performance on the Colorado Student Assessment Program (CSAP) tests. Available for download in PDF format. [Colorado State Library, Library Research Service.  ERIC database]
• Linking school libraries and literacy: Young people's reading habits and attitudes to their school library, and an exploration of the relationship between school library use and school attainment
  Supports the Clark and Douglas (2010) report, Young people's reading and writing: An in-depth study focusing on enjoyment, behaviour, attitudes and attainment. Explores patterns of student use of school libraries and the impact on reading enjoyment and academic attainment. Available for download in PDF format. [National Literacy Trust 2010. ERIC database]
• New York comprehensive centre. Informational brief; impact of school libraries on student achievement
  An October 2011 study demonstrating the positive imact teacher librarians and school libraries have on student learning. Executive summary available.
• CSLA journal. An analysis of the PIRLS ((Progress in international reading literacy study))(2006) data: can the school library reduce the effect of poverty on reading achievement?
  Published 2010,this article examines important predictors of reading achievement based on the testing of fourth graders in 40 countries (Mullis, Martin, Kennedy, and Foy, 2006). The authors conclude "the research shows that the library is a better investment than heavy skills-based reading teaching".

• School libraries work! (2008)  
  Research paper (updated from the 2006 edition of School libraries work!) comprising statements from a variety of organizations and a summary of two decades of American research on the measurable impact of school libraries and teacher librarians on student achievement. Available for download in PDF format.
• Guided inquiry: school libraries in the 21st century   
  Kuhlthau's principles of guided inquiry and the role of teacher librarians in promoting them. Available for download in PDF format. [School libraries worldwide, January 2010, Volume 16, Number 1, 17-28] 

Staffing roles

Designated library staff include:

• Teacher librarians
• Librarians
• Library technicians
• Library officers

Teacher librarians:

• Are qualified teachers and qualified librarians
• Have knowledge of library and information management principles and practices, and library systems, collections and services.
• Have expertise and skills in curriculum knowledge and teaching and accessing and managing information in all its forms
• Create dynamic learning spaces – real and virtual
• Identify and select resources for the curriculum across all learning areas, ensuring currency, accuracy and balance of information and that all levels of development, needs and learning styles are met
• Provide peer support for teaching colleagues in integrating the principles of information literacy and in using web tools and other media software
• Provide input into school planning sessions
• Collaboratively plan and teach units of work with subject and classroom teachers to develop multiple literacies
• Recommend great reads to meet personal interests and abilities
• Manage the library and its staff and budget

For further information on the role of the teacher librarian see:

Standards of professional excellence for teacher librarians (2004)

Statement on teacher librarian qualifications (2009)

Entrepreneurial librarianship - 36 suggestions

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 Librarians:

• Are qualified professionals with knowledge of library and information management principles and practices.
• Have expertise in library systems, collections and services
• Create dynamic learning spaces – real and virtual
• Identify and select resources for the curriculum across all learning areas, ensuring currency, accuracy and balance of information.
• Assist teachers and students in finding information resources and recreational reading, and in using web tools and other media software but do not participate in teaching programs
• Provide input into school planning sessions
• Manage the library and its staff and budget
   

For further information on the role of the librarian see:

ALIA: Contemporary salary standards 2009-2011 (Scroll down to Librarian grade 3 for management component)

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Library technicians:

• Are qualified para-professionals with knowledge of information management principles and practices.
• Have expertise in the technical aspects of running a library: - operating and maintaining information services and systems such as the library OPAC (Online Public Access Catalogue) and maintaining web platforms
• Can train library users in the use of Web tools and other software
• Perform tasks as outlined for Library Officer
• For further information on the role of the library technician see:

ALIA: Contemporary salary standards 2009-2011 (Scroll down to Library Technician grade 1 and 2)

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Library officers:

• Perform routine tasks in accord with clear standards, procedures and practices.
• Operate library system to ensure records are up-to-date (upload SCIS catalogue records and provide circulation service)
• Process and maintain resources ensuring ready access
• Assist teachers and students in finding resources and provide them with technical assistance in the use of equipment
• Mount/create displays as required

For further information on the role of the library officer see:

ALIA: Contemporary salary standards 2009-2011 (Scroll down to library assistants)
 

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Future directions for the school library?

Strategic directions for school libraries
Judy O’Connell, Course Director (Teacher Librarianship) at Charles Sturt University opens an ongoing discussion as to the role of SCIS and library system providers in serving school libraries 2015 and beyond.