Documenting a profession: an exploration of the published history of school libraries and teacher librarians in Australia

The changing role of school/media resource libraries in secondary schools in Singapore and the need to implement mandatory standards, 1946–2010: Issues, challenges and opportunities

The changing role of school/media resource libraries in secondary schools in Singapore and the need to implement mandatory standards, 1946–2010: Issues, challenges and opportunities

In 2023, academics from the School of Information and Communication Studies at Charles Sturt University completed a two-stage project documenting the published output related to Australian and New Zealand school libraries and teacher librarianship from 1900 to the present. The resultant output of the project was the Knowledge Bank of Australian and New Zealand School Libraries. This article discusses a preliminary analysis of the Australian corpus recorded in the Knowledge Bank and what the evidence provided in the corpus can tell us about the history, development and intellectual output associated with teacher librarianship and school libraries in Australia over time. This insight provides opportunities for further research and a broader understanding of the contribution of this sector to both education and librarianship internationally.

Background: Thailand continues to face a serious long-term problem developing effective school libraries, particularly in rural small public primary schools. Even though the Thai government has developed school library standards and supports many projects to help all schools establish effective libraries, most rural small public primary schools still struggle to improve their libraries enough to reach even the minimum criteria of the standards (Thailand Knowledge park 2011). Thai government and policy makers appear to overlook the special management, guidelines and standards challenges for libraries in rural small public primary schools. The lack of expenditure in Thailand on research and development of rural small public primary school libraries has led to a minimum of related primary data and studies, giving very little indication of ways to improve the quality of those libraries effectively. Objectives and Methods: This research, which aims to explore principals' perceptions of public primary school libraries, library characteristics and effectiveness, employs a research method using questionnaires to survey 375 school principals in 6 regions in Thailand. Survey part 1 requested basic information about principals, their schools and their school libraries. Survey part 2 asked principals to illustrate the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and limitations of their school libraries. Survey part 3 was a semantic scale for principals to rate their perceptions about the impact of the school library on students' academic achievement. Both quantitative and qualitative data are used in this research: quantitative data were analysed through 3 analysis techniques including descriptive, cluster and multiple regression; qualitative data were analysed through thematic analysis. Findings: This research found that in general small public primary school libraries lack resources for their collections, physical facilities, and staff. Of the 6 regions surveyed, libraries located in the North and Northeast regions face the greatest lack of resources. Principals participating in this study perceive the necessity for an effective administration, sufficient staff and sufficient library physical facilities to overcome the limitations of their libraries. Most principals understood very well the impact that school libraries have on students' academic achievement, particularly in enhancing students' literacy levels. The research also found that principals aged younger than 51 years tended to have more positive perceptions about this impact of libraries on students' academic achievement. Recommendations: At a policy level, the Thai government should urgently equip the small schools in rural areas with Information and Communications Technology (ITC). It needs to reauthorise and modernise the National Education Act 1999 to mandate the importance of the pedagogical role of school libraries and school librarians. Clear library policies are required for both school libraries in general and for the provision of library services in rural small public primary schools. Moreover, the Thai government should assign the Thai Library Association to develop new national school library standards. The Thai government should also acknowledge the role of parents and local community participation in education development. The Thai government should conduct and support research on existing barriers to developing effective education and learning resources in rural small public primary schools. At a practitioner level, principals, teacher librarians and school library stakeholders are crucial for developing effective libraries. Principals need to know and understand the school library standards and the policy related to learning resources development; they also need to be prepared to convert traditional school libraries into modern libraries by integrating ICT in library administration, collections, services, activities and staff. Importantly, principals need to support teacher librarians and staff, enhancing their knowledge and skills in library and information fields; equally, they need to collaborate with school library stakeholders, in both internal and external school communities, to develop effective libraries and to promote and enhance their capacity. Conclusion: This research identified a much-needed foundation for developing an effective library in rural Thailand. Although principals have an important role in directing and managing change in libraries, collaboration among library stakeholders is also a significant factor leading to the development and enhancement of effective school libraries. In the light of this research, the researcher recommends for the Thai government and school library stakeholders pay more attention to and to prioritise dealing with school library issues. The researcher also expects that this research will help build international cross-cultural understanding beyond the school libraries of small public primary schools in rural Thailand, to developing countries more widely. Such knowledge would be beneficial to the Thai government, and to school library communities and stakeholders, both in Thailand and internationally, to establish and develop effective school libraries that lead to educational success.

KBANZSL, the Knowledge Bank of Australia and New Zealand School Libraries, is an open access knowledge bank collating key documents, collections and other resources for and about Australian and New Zealand school libraries and teacher librarianship. The resource was created in response to recommendations from the Australian Parliament over a decade ago but still highly relevant in today’s educational climate. KBANZSL holds strong potential in supporting advocacy, professional development, and research for school libraries and teacher librarianship in the Oceania region and beyond. This paper shares ways KBANZSL can be used for research and advocacy projects.

Earlier research on school libraries in Singapore has stated that school libraries were established there recently. Lim (1970) wrote that school libraries in Singapore were largely a post-war innovation, and Ho (1998) wrote that published records related to the history of school libraries in Singapore were available only from the late 1960s to the early 1980s. This article presents historical information that shows that an official policy on school libraries was initiated in 1899. It also presents the historical record of the development of schools and school libraries under British colonial rule and related information about the Malay school book production.

Remembering LHRT


 
 
 Igniting a passion for reading and research is core business for school libraries, inevitably placing the library at the center of the 21st century reading and learning experience. It is in this context that digital literature creates some challenging questions for teachers and librarians in schools, while the emergence of digital technology and/or device options also offers a great many opportunities. Collection development in school libraries encompasses an understanding of the need to contextualize these e-literature needs within the learning and teaching experiences in the school. The Australian Library and Information Association’s 2013 statement Future of collections 50:50 predicted that library print and ebook collections in libraries would establish a 50:50 equilibrium by 2020 and that this balance would be maintained for the foreseeable future. This statement from the Australian professional body raised the need to know more about e-collections in school libraries. For teacher librarians in Australian schools, the nature of online collections, and the integration of ebooks into the evolving reading culture is influenced by the range and diversity of texts, interfaces, devices, and experiences available to complement existing print and media collections or services. Management and budget constraints also influence e-collections. By undertaking a review of the literature, a discussion of the education context, and a critical analysis of the trends evidenced by national survey data, this paper presents an overview of the changes and emerging trends in digital literature and ebook collections in school library services in Australia today.
 
 

In this presentation we would like to introduce school library education and training in Japan. The School Library Law closely connects school libraries to the Japanese education system. Enacted in 1953, it covers the core elements of the school system in Japan. The first version of the law regulated school libraries, teacher librarians and the teacher librarians’ training programme. It stated that a teacher-librarian should be 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 did not receive any exemption from their regular duties as classroom subject teachers. In the latest version of the law, amended in 2014, the placement of the school librarians has been documented in addition to the teacher librarians. There is another type of library staff also working in schools: “school librarians” who work as librarians in the school library. There were school librarians in Japanese schools before this amendment, but they were not regulated by the School Library Law.


 
 
 Since 2009, Taiwan's Ministry of Education has begun to add the post of teacher librarians in some elementary schools. Teachers who are enthusiastic about reading education become teacher librarians to take charge of managing school libraries and promoting reading after receiving short professional training. This study aims to probe into whether the system is helpful to the management of libraries in elementary schools and to the establishment of reading environment at school.
 Specifically speaking, this study aims to discuss whether there is any difference in the activities of school libraries and schools' attitudes toward reading between schools with teacher librarians and schools without ones. The study surveyed elementary schools in Taiwan with a questionnaire which was filled out by teacher librarians or general librarians at school. The questionnaire was tested with Cronbach’s α reliability, and a coefficient of 0.975 was obtained, which is considered excellent reliability.
 742 copies of the questionnaire were retrieved, and 741 of them were considered valid after the elimination of one with incomplete answers. Among which, 213 copies were from schools with teacher librarians, and the rest 528 copies were from schools without teacher librarians. In addition, the fill rate of schools with teacher librarians reached 80%. The study found that schools with and without teacher librarians had significant differences in library management of their libraries and behavior and attitudes toward reading.
 
 

A librarian teacher is a school teacher who has received education or training in the field of libraries for a minimum number of hours who is also assigned to the relevant school library. The position of a librarian teacher in a school library is something that cannot be avoided in the face of limited librarian staff, but it is also not a right that is taken seriously. This study aims to provide a deeper understanding of the strategy for developing school libraries managed by librarian teachers from the initial conditions that are not optimal to reaching a more efficient and effective level at the Library of SMA Negeri 5 Bagan Sinembah. The method used in this study is descriptive qualitative, with data collection techniques used in this study are interviews, observations and documentation. In the study, the strategy used by librarian teachers to improve the quality of school library development involves two main aspects: student involvement and collaboration of teaching staff, especially art and culture teachers who play a complementary role in making library facilities and infrastructure. With obstacles including limitations in library supervision due to dual responsibilities, its administration system which is still manual, and limited knowledge about digital-based library management.

Povijest školskih knjižnica u Dalmaciji počinje u 19. st., kada se one formiraju kao diferencirani i definirani subjekti u okviru sustava obrazovanja u Austro-Ugarskoj Monarhiji. U ovom je radu opisano stanje dalmatinskog pučkog školstva do njegove reforme 1869. i institucionalni okvir djelovanja školskih knjižnica pučkih škola nakon reforme, te je konceptualizirana društvena dimenzija njihova djelovanja. Prikazan je društveni, kulturološki i gospodarski sklop u kojemu su provođene reforme, zakoni i pravilnici kojima je uređen rad knjianica, te se pokušalo procijeniti kulturno stanje na dalmatinskom selu prije i nakon reforme. Pošlo se od teze da je škola, a u sklopu nje i školska knjižnica, modernizacijska ustanova. Kao takva, školska je knjižnica osim obrazovnih i odgojnih imala i šire zadaće koje je definiraju u sklopu modernizacijske tranzicije Dalmacije u drugoj polovici 19. stoljeća. Podloga za takav pristup bila je analiza izabranih referentnih tekstova u stručnoj i drugoj periodici i literatura koja se bavi poviješću školstva u Dalmaciji.O reformi pučkog školstva u Dalmaciji objavljeni su mnogi radovi, ali se organizaciji i djelovanju školskih knjižnica, posebice knjižnica pučkih škola, pridavalo malo pozornosti. Ovaj se rad bavi upravo institucionalnim okvirima izgradnje sustava i uspostave školskih knjižnica u Dalmaciji u sklopu reforme obrazovanja koju je Austro- -Ugarska Monarhija provela u drugoj polovici 19. st., tj. zakonskim i organizacijskim okvirima te konceptualizacijom njihova djelovanja u kontekstu tadašnjih socijalnih prilika.

This article is an introduction to some of the most popular Web 2.0 learning tools for teachers and teacher librarians. The authors supplement their discussion of social software by describing the major tools of Web 2.0 and by illustrating how they are being applied in various school settings. Most importantly, the authors (both academic librarians) believe that social software is critical to learning in the digital age, and cite several major educators in this area to bolster their perspectives. A number of these emerging tools impact teaching, learning and creative expression within learning-focused organizations (Horizon Report, 2008) and encourage collaboration, knowledge-building and collective intelligence ('wisdom of the crowds'). In promoting Web 2.0, we argue that teacher librarians can play prominent roles in K-12 schools and raise awareness of relevant pedagogies for the iGeneration (Wikipedia, 2008). Many teachers have already dubbed this trend School Library 2.0 (Harris, 2005). Introduction Today's digital youth are in the process of creating a new kind of literacy... an evolving skill beyond the traditions of reading and writing into a community of expression and problem-solving ...changing [our] world. (Fanton, 2007) In the 21st century, teachers and teacher librarians are charged with providing instruction in information, visual and technological as well as teaching the specific skills of digital literacy for K-12 students using a variety of software tools (Horizon, 2008). By utilizing social software in schools and learning resource centres (SLRCs), teachers and librarians can find ways to demonstrate their knowledge of information and communication technologies (ICTs) (Richardson, 2006) and work to promote digital learning across the lifespan. According to Statistics Canada (2004), teacher librarians have a considerable positive influence in promoting the ideals of lifelong learning. They contribute to the intellectual life of schools by promoting information literacy (AASL, 2008) and integrate information technologies into their work (Kirkland, 2007). In the Web 2.0 era, all educators can use social software tools or social media to promote online participation, digital literacy and lifelong learning for their K-12 students. What is School Library 2.0? Beyond the tools themselves, Web 2.0 is often described as an interactive, highly social digital milieu (Solomon & Schrum, 2007; Richardson, 2006). This media-rich space is conducive to student interaction and collaboration due to an infinite variety of Web 2.0 tools-blogs, wikis, RSS, podcasts and social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook (Kirkland, 2007). As many of these Web 2.0 tools are brought into the classroom, the nature of student work and learning changes. When a student's work is seen, and commented on, and collaboratively enhanced by a larger participative audience, students are drawn into extended educational 'conversations' (Hargadon, 2008). A critical question in this discourse, however, is which Web 2.0 tools are the most useful and which promote learning? Generally, we believe that social media encourages students to interact in new, meaningful ways and engages them in a technological universe that they have grown up in. As Harris (2005) rightly suggests, The digitally reshifted school library draws upon ideas from Web 2.0 and Library 2.0 to create a vision for School Library 2.0. ...School Library 2.0 is about creating a participatory, social, user-centered environment rich with technology that is focused on interactivity and collaboration. This transformation must be based on one primary goal - student success (¶ 28). The social, participatory Web now seems increasingly important to academic success, even integral to building a digital identity for many teens and pre-teens (Boyd & Ellison, 2007). However, compared to their technology-infused lives at home, Prensky (2008) reports that middle- and high-school students state that activities at school are 'boring' between 50-70% of the time. …

“Stone soup” is a reading association formed by over ten primary schools of Baohe District, Hefei, China. Sponsored by Chen Yixin Family Foundation, reading promotion activities of these schools got great effects and attracted wide attention in the recent ten years. The foundation suggested local government to set up the position of “librarian teacher” in the association schools and organized a series of professional trainings for the librarian teachers in order to develop library education in these schools. After the 18- month session training, the librarian teachers gained new understanding in school libraries and kept practicing their knowledge in building pleasant environment as well as item circulation process. They also established “Association of Librarian Teachers of schools in Hefei ” which aims at promoting communication between schools and facilitate development of school libraries. The association has accomplished the textbooks of “Stone soup” reading association and made efforts on setting up the curriculum of the course “Library” in schools. They also developed a program called “Basic Training of Librarian Teachers” to help more schools and teachers to rebuild their understanding in school libraries and make the libraries better with their knowledge, thus giving hope to the future library education in mainland China.

국제 학교도서관 기준에서는 사서와 교사의 자격을 갖춘 학교사서를 학교도서관에 배치하도록 하고 있다. 그리고 교수자로서의 역할 수행을 위하여 보조직원의 지원을 받도록 하고 있다. 국내의 경우 사서와 사서교사의 자격 요건의 차이에도 불구하고 학교도서관에 둘 수 있는 인적자원은 교사의 자격 요건을 갖추지 않은 사서가 포함되어 있다. 또한 사서교사와 사서의 직무가 명확하게 설정되어 있지 않은 실정이다. 도서관 기준과 학교도서관 관련법에서 정한 자격 요건이 상충하기 때문에, 사서직의 전문성과 사회적 위상을 약화시키는 결과를 초래하고 있다. 학교도서관에 사서교사가 배치되어 있지 않다는 사실은 학교도서관 교육 기능의 불완전성, 교육 서비스의 불공평성을 극복해야 한다는 절심함을 안겨주고 있다. 이러한 문제를 해결하기 위해서는 사서교사의 교육주제 전문사서로서의 정체성을 강화할 수 있도록 자격 제도를 더욱 강화할 필요가 있다. 또한 학교도서관에 두는 인적자원의 유형을 사서교사와 준전문가 그리고 자원봉사자로 구분함으로써 자격에 대한 올바른 사회적 인식의 토대를 형성하여야 한다. 특히 '경영자, 교수자, 정보서비스, 리더, 협동, 파트너'의 틀 안에서 자격 유형별 직무 분석이 이루어져야 한다. The international standard for the school library suggests that school librarians qualified for librarian and teacher should run the school library. And library assistants should support the teacher librarian to carry out a role as a teacher. Despite the difference of requirements, librarians without teachers' license are under the human resources for school library administration. Furthermore, the job description between the school librarian and librarian is not well-defined in Korea. The different requirements in the library standards and the school library related laws have led to weaken professionalism and social status of librarianship. The condition that teacher librarians are not in the school library have brought the pressure to overcome imperfect functions of the school library and unfairness of educational services. In order to solve these problems, it is necessary to strengthen teacher librarians' qualification system to improve their identity as educational subject specialist librarians. We ought to also build proper foundations of social recognition about librarianship through classifying the types of human resources in the school library into the teacher librarian, library paraprofessional and volunteers. Especially we should hold the job analysis based on administrator, teacher, service, leader, collaboration, and partner.