More than just a pretty face....

and other observations on school libraries and teacher-librarianship


School Libraries in Canada, v.21(2) 2001 pg 32

Innovation!


Several years ago I stumbled on the notion that the school library we had long been advocating was in fact an educational "innovation".  It could be seen as a new concept that had emerged from a less complex idea.  It was a way to explain that the new school library would no longer be merely  viewed as a nice place with nice books complete with a nice person who looks after the desk and tells nice stories! I became aware that that notion would not be able to sustain the school librarian as teacher, nor would it advance the larger educational values we have come to embrace.  But now as I survey the wasteland I wonder if we failed to understand some of the essential qualities of an innovation, and then failed again to properly implement those elements.

Let me be blunt.  I have come to acknowledge that inspite of all the superb reports, impressive research findings and devoted advocates, the school library is still considered by most people to be that nice place with the nice books and the nice person in charge. Most people (and perhaps, most students) think fondly of the school library, not as an incredibly important part of their education, but rather a quiet, quaint diversion.

This blunt perspective is not just the view of this jaded, cranky, former educator.  We only have to look across the country to realize that the premise of the professional driven school library program is in tatters. We cannot ignore that the teacher-librarian is not part of the mainstream educational jargon in most of Alberta and Saskatchewan and Manitoba.  We can see that there are serious cracks in the elementary scene in Ontario.  Quebec still has few teacher-librarians and New Brunswick has even fewer.  Nova Scotia has removed them from most schools acknowledging only grudgingly that professional librarians might be permitted to work in the schools outside the teacher's contract. Newfoundland has lost huge numbers in recent times.  Only PEI has a solid program in its 58 schools. BC is seriously threatened as money for schools and teachers gets tighter.  And I am acutely aware that the school library and its program are not mainstream ideas in many (any?) Faculties of Education!

How can we continue to expand the role of the perfect teacher-librarian in this less than perfect world?  How can we presume to expand and clarify the role of the teacher-librarian when we all know that most children in Canada have never met one?  How can we believe that the teacher-librarian will be crucial to the schools when we are only producing them in a few Universities in the entire country? How can we keep pushing this dream when most of the school libraries in the country are opened and run by clerks and parents?  Clearly the notion that the school library is a nice quiet place filled with books and magazines and that kids go there to get books once a week and perhaps a story is the real standard of school library service in the country.  While it hurts me, as I continue to search for all those "right" qualities, I have to question my own perspective in the face of such overwhelming evidence.

So back top my "innovation" premise.  What are the necessary conditions for such a change? Years ago I learned that the school library was an educational "innovation" according by many theorists.  That if we considered the role and function as part of a change we would be better able to argue its merits and see it fully implemented.  The online dictionary defines "innovation" as a noun:
1. The act of introducing something new.
2. Something newly introduced.

We had an old idea that we changed.  We did not wish to destroy all the qualities of the old school library as we began to implement the ideas that seemed so valid and sensible.  Surely the school library had to take a more active direct role in the education of children. Surely the "teacher" should be part of the role of the school librarian bringing a curriculum direction to the function. Surely the "teacher-librarian" would have to work with teachers to plan real instructional approaches for the best use of resources and the best means to instruct students to utilize them. Surely the school library was more than books and reading, but an important catalyst for learning. But as obvious as it was, there was a serious gap in recognizing that while the new teacher-librarian would be fully inculcated into this innovative enterprise, all the other players remained caught in their view that the school library was "nice".  And nice simply doesn't cut it when the money is down.   And there just weren't enough converts to create that critical mass.  Most teachers and most parents didn't see the proof in the pudding…the library looked and seemed to deliver the same mix -books and reading and overdue notes.  Their kids used it in much the same way.  What innovation?

I have long decried the hopelessness of our advocacy movement as long as we believe that we must show the way.  The fish advise the fishermen?  Surely the educational import of our message has to be part of the social order or it is lost in the babble and rhetoric of all the other lobby groups.  The school library as an educational innovation is a terrific opportunity.  We apparently have to hope for the light of our collective wisdom to reach the top, to reach those who can actually fix the system.  Is it not odd that we have so few friends in high places? No research sponsored by SCHRC.  No mention by the Council of Ministers in their latest paper on Education in Canada. No mention in recent works on educational change by leading Canadian academics. No offices in Ministries of Education for our direct support.

One "innovation" that was supposed to change our schools was television. It is ironic that it seems to have affected the social structure of our homes but not our educational structure.  On the other hand it may be that the idea of change in the schools is completely at odds with a notion of "innovation".  Perhaps it is impossible to change the schools.  Surely we have tried.

Donald Hamilton