Personal Reflection

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.