Part
C- Personal Reflection
My
profession is a children’s librarian in a public library. I am undertaking this
subject as part of my Masters of Information Studies (Children’s
Librarianship). At the start of the subject I was optimistic about what I would
learn. In my first blog
post I expressed my hopes of becoming an enthusiastic professional and
confident children’s librarian. I imagined I would learn skills which would
help me in my day to day interactions with children and teachers in my
workplace. I hoped to learn more about developing age appropriate collections
and undertaking effective reference interviews with children. However, I did
not expect to find a completely new understanding of the role of a teacher
librarian, information literacy, learning styles and collaboration.
Delving
into the course content, I was taken aback by the number of qualified teachers
that seemed to be enrolled in the unit. I found myself asking for clarification
when people used acronyms on the forum, and panicking slightly about the amount
of assumed knowledge in the course. Topic three confused me, and I spent a lot
of time worrying over the different terms used, writing
on the blog certainly helped me clarify things, although the forum posts
were still intimidating. In retrospect, after reading Kuhlthau’s (2004)
information search process, I assume that I was likely at her experimentation
stage of the process, experiencing confusion, doubt and frustration
(Information Search Process, para. 9). I needed to persevere and keep researching
and writing.
I
continued reading post after post on the forum with interest. One of the
benefits of the forums was the fact that I was allowed a unique insight into
the lives of teachers within schools. I can transfer these new insights into my
work in a public library, as I have a grasp of the pressures classroom teachers
and teacher librarians work under. I can better understand their motivations
and the myriad of hats they wear each day. Obstacles and frustrations were
vented on the forums, including time spent with students, time for planning and
time spent at meetings. This was a great opportunity for me gain awareness of
the pressures of the role, which informed my communication with teachers and
teacher librarians in my job.
In
all honesty, I skimmed over module one and dived straight into module two, as I
thought I knew the best research skills practices, how to use library databases
and to search for articles. In retrospect I should have taken more time to
explore topic one, as I have discovered that we are all “lifelong learners” and
we are all constantly developing information literacy skills. When I started
researching for the first assignment, I revisited module one with renewed
vigour, which was an extremely useful part of the unit in the end.
My
understanding of the role of the teacher librarian was developed keenly during
research for the first assignment. I understand now the importance of
professional networks, staying up to date in developments in technology and in
marketing yourself and your job to the school community as a whole. If I was in
a teacher librarian role, I would have been overwhelmed by the possibilities of
the job, but also excited. During her webinar in topic 3, Judy O’Connell
suggested that we are studying teacher librarianship at the best time, and I
tend to agree with her. The Manifesto for 21st Century School Librarians (Valenza,
2010) was a key article which informed my thinking about the role of the
teacher librarian. It was clear, bold and optimistic. The article put the
various aspects of the role into perspective, which I reflected on in my blog. Collaboration was a big focus for my
studies in this unit. I investigated the importance of collaboration, barriers
to collaboration and strategies to overcome the barriers. Reading personal
anecdotes on the forums offered a great insight into the experiences of my
course coordinators and fellow students.
This
course has changed my understanding of the role of the teacher librarian in an
immeasurable way. Theories about learning styles, information literacy models
and collaborative practices have informed my learning. Reading forum
contributions, and my fellow student’s blogs have offered a unique insight and
perspective to draw understanding from. I am frequently printing out articles
that I can refer back to in the years to come. Writing on the blog helped to
focus my understanding and served as an interesting way to track my learning.
