Driving Change: Creating a Policy Brief to Position the School Library as a Hub for Global Citizenship

Abstract

The policy brief is an instrument that can be used both in the workplace and in educational settings to tie knowledge to a call for action. This paper reflects on an MLIS candidate’s experience of creating a policy brief to call on school libraries to become key players in promoting peaceful societies. This paper outlines the context in which the policy brief was created, offers a reflection on the learning experience of writing a policy brief, and includes the policy brief itself. The brief begins by contextualizing a particular public school board, Edmonton Public Schools (EPS) in Canada, as one whose policies aim to serve a diverse population. Canada is a multicultural nation with the highest population growth of the G7 countries and immigration accounting for two-thirds of that growth. This paper argues that the library, with social justice values at its core, is well situated to enable EPS to move toward such a vision, but that current EPS policy has not protected libraries. The brief argues that EPS should commit to ensuring that every school has a library, staffed with an LIS-trained teacher-librarian. The overarching goal of the brief is to demonstrate that school libraries can become a hub for global citizenship that facilitates and spearheads a drive for social justice in Edmonton’s children and youth—the leaders of tomorrow.