Evaluation of the Current Status
In my four years in the school library, my attention has been pulled in many different directions. The library courses I take usually drive the goals I strive to achieve in the library. Last semester, I was focused on the transition from library to learning commons. Before that, I set goals around the topics of inquiry-based learning and technology integration. I have also been encouraged by my administration to take on a leadership role in new curriculum development and implementing the use of G Suite in the classroom.
While staff development and professional development topics are great leadership opportunities, effective reference services should also be an integral part of the school library program.
Successful reference services for school librarians consist of three components: 1) Knowledge of the library media collection, electronic information resources and tools; 2) Effective conversational skills (communication); and 3) Competence in selecting, acquiring, and evaluating resources to meet students’ needs. Corresponding with these three components are two basic functions of library media center services: 1) The provision of information and 2) Instruction or guidance in the use of information sources. (Riedling, pg 4-5)
When I evaluate the reference services in my school library using the criteria from Riedling (Pg 4-5), I focused on two areas:
- The accessibility and promotion of reference resources
- Collaboration with staff members (inquiry-based learning, research skills)
Accessibility and Promotion of Reference Resources
At the beginning of the school year, students come into the library for an orientation. The grade 8s get a general orientation on library services and the grade 9s get the general orientation and an introduction to EBSCO. Students get a sense of the library and I get to introduce myself and to learn their names. Students usually visit the library more often after their orientation. As to older students, I have little contact with them at the beginning of the school year.
Throughout the school year, the library is the center of many activities and for many, the go-to place for lunch and breaks. Students come to the library to get different types of help with computers including navigating, troubleshooting, fixing and problem-solving. What I rarely have are students that come in to ask for help with their research projects. As most students know how to do a Google Search, they don’t seem to understand that this method of research is not acceptable for all types of assignments. Senior students that plan to do post-secondary education need to learn how to use online databases and to learn how to do inquiry-based research.
Many classes that come into the library have a preset assignment that has the potential to be expanded on to include research skill development. I promote the use of online databases when I come across assignments that would benefit from their use. For example, I recently introduced the following online encyclopedias to students doing research in their French class: Global Road Warrior, Encyclopedia Britannica and Gale Food and Culture.
Collaboration with Staff Members
To be able to collaborate with others, it is important that you build relationships that foster a collaborative working environment. In order to work together, teachers need to develop a relationship built on trust, respect, and understanding. In my time in the library, I have been busy nurturing relationships with my staff and taking opportunities to learn the types of activities and topics teachers do with their classes. In knowing the various curriculums, I can search for resources and activities that complement what is already being done.
Currently, most of the collaboration occurring in the library is centered around Staff Development and Professional Development. I have collaborated with staff to plan and present a school-based professional development day on the use of G Suite and the Google Classroom. I am also working with another teacher to do district funded inquiry project on collecting evidence of the core competencies using MyBlueprint.
Choosing to collaborate with another teacher requires the individuals to relinquish control of the learning situation. It requires flexibility in teaching strategies and lessons and it requires time to plan. At this point, I tend to approach teachers that have a prep in their teaching schedule with specific ideas and resources in mind. In getting to know my teachers, I have learned some of their teaching styles and made a point of connecting with those that are likely to be open to collaboration in the future.
Rationale for Change
The role of the Teacher Librarian should be changing to adapt to the needs of 21st Century students. As stated on the BC New Curriculum website:
Conditions in the world are changing greatly and rapidly. Today’s students will grow into a world that is very different from and more connected than that of generations before.1
Although my school library has been transitioning into a learning commons, it is not there yet. We still need to make sure that students can locate and use the online databases proficiently and that they develop the critical thinking skills they need to navigate in a digital world.
Although many students are aware of the online databases, teachers in my school rarely direct students to use them. Many of my colleagues do not know how to use the databases and therefore avoid using them. It can also be difficult for people to get into the databases due to a district website with an unfriendly web design. From the district website, it takes four steps to get into most of the online databases and five steps for others.
Creating a collaborative staff where teachers and students work together in various
groupings would allow for greater differentiation for students. Many teachers could use some support in developing inquiry projects and implementing the inquiry process in their classroom. The inquiry process also differentiates for student learning and gives students the opportunity to engage in research opportunities that use the library reference services. Through collaboration, teachers can create projects that allow students to explore topics of interest, to pose their own questions, and to individualize their learning.
To improve the reference services in my library, I plan to:
- Promote the library reference services and make resources more accessible.
- Create opportunities for collaboration around the inquiry process
Improvement Plan
How the Change will Take Place
Promote the library reference services and make resources more accessible
- Do a presentation for teachers that demonstrates how to access the online databases
- Do a presentation for staff and students that compares online databases and google searches for doing research.
- Create a library website that easily accesses the online databases and highlights other useful websites.
- Make sure teachers and students know the passwords for accessing databases offsite.
- Show students and staff how to use the extra features in the online databases.
- Purchase new non-fiction book sets to match the new curriculum.
- Have prepared lessons to teach students digital literacy and information literacy lessons
2. Create opportunities for collaboration around the inquiry process
- Approach staff with ideas for collaboration.
- Offer help when a teacher expresses a need. For example, offer to take a group when a class has a wide variety of abilities and interests in order to differentiate instruction.
- Do a presentation to staff around the inquiry process. Discuss ways the library can lead or support this process.
- Suggest resources, iPad Apps, G Suite Apps and other digital tools that teachers could use with their classes.
- Suggest a way to have collaboration time happen regularly in the school.
Who Will Be Involved?
Communicating with staff about my vision for the library will give them a greater understanding of how things are changing in the library. The transition from library to learning commons is not something that all teachers are necessarily aware of. Within a school, there is usually a committee of individuals who are there to support and promote the changes that need to occur for the learning commons model to work.
Within my school, I would like my committee to consists of representatives from the administration, teaching staff and technology department. I would also look for support from my Teacher Librarian colleagues at both the elementary and secondary level. I could also join an inquiry group of Teacher Librarians in the district that has a focus on the transition from library to learning commons - they have expressed an open invite to the other TLs in the district who are interested in exploring this topic.
Once I have made my intentions known to staff and administration, I would approach teachers with specific ideas for collaboration and find opportunities to promote resources and the library services.
A timeline for improvement
I would have short term and long term goals for improvement.
Short term: By the end of this school year I would like to have the following in place:
- Create collaboration opportunities with at least two colleagues that I have not previously worked with
- Collaborate more regularly with the staff members I have already worked with
- Make a website for the library that makes library resources more accessible
- Join the Library to Learning Commons Inquiry group currently composed of five elementary Teacher Librarians from across the district.
Longer term: September 2018 - June 2019
- Do a presentation for staff on Library to Learning Commons. Include information on why we use databases, the inquiry process and the benefits of collaborating with a Teacher Librarian.
- Plan information technology lessons on website evaluation, note taking skills, citing sources and plagiarism
- Plan a library orientation for Grade 10 students with a focus on the use of online databases.
- Get all students set up with an Okanagan Regional Library account.
- Get EBSCO Science Center added to the District Online Databases (I am currently doing a trial on this product)
- Discuss with staff committee the possibility of having staff collaboration time built into the time table.
- Establish a committee of teachers and administration that will collaborate to transition the library into a learning commons
- Use Leading Learning: Standards of Practice for School Library Learning Commons in Canada (2014) as a guide
Evaluation of Success
I would consider my plan for improving the library services in my school if the following two criteria were met:
- Library bookings that include teacher collaboration increase.
- Library resources, including the online databases, are used more frequently.
Follow Up
As a follow-up, I would continue to expand the library lessons to include information literacy skills for Grade 11s and then Grade 12s. I would also like to attend the BCTLA Conference to learn more about library learning commons and the goings-on in different libraries around the province. Library services are not just referring to the books and databases, it is also referring to the Teacher Librarian who has the potential to be an essential resource for learning in a 21st-century school.
Bibliography
1 “BC's New Curriculum.” Curriculum Overview | Building Student Success - BC's New Curriculum, curriculum.gov.bc.ca/curriculum/overview.
Riedling, Ann, Reference skills for the school library media specialist: Tools and tips, (Third Edition). Linworth.
This course has provided me with many ideas on how to update my reference section in order to align with the transition from the school library to learning commons model. Although a learning commons is a vibrant hub of activity, it also needs to have space for quiet work and reliable, accessible references for students to use in their learning. In order to provide current reliable references for students, Teacher Librarians can use the guidelines from Evaluating, Selecting and Managing Learning Resources: A Guide from BC ERAC. Once evaluated, it is important to promote the use of the resources and to make them accessible to staff and students. Creating a dynamic library website to display digital resources can help a Teacher Librarian to extend the reach of the library beyond its physical space. To start this process, I am going to explore a Virtual Learning Commons Template from Leading Learning: Standards of Practice for School Library to Learning Commons in Canada 2014 as it provides a framework for building a website with all the important components. 
When developing a well-rounded reference collection, it is important to include both print and digital references for students to use. Although maintaining a current collection of print encyclopedias may be too expensive for many school libraries, a digital collection of online databases from the BC Digital classroom can provide students with the opportunity to learn how to search for information using online databases as well as use its special features to practice information literacy skills such as note-taking and highlighting and making a bibliography. 
