More than just a pretty face....
and other observations on school libraries and teacher-librarianship
School Libraries in Canada, Vol. 10, No. 1, Fall 1989, pp. 6-7. Reprinted:
Winnipeg School Division Inklings, Oct. 1989.
More than just a Pretty Face
In my constant search for the perfect school library I frequently encounter
the "pretty" school library. This is the library that many principals
think is wonderful, trooping all guests and visitors through to view its
splendid treasures. The "pretty" school library may be an attempt to
disguise a deficient or defective school library program by making the physical
facility particularly attractive. It is my hope to find behind the
"pretty face", substantial beauty of a less visible nature - an effective
program that does make a difference to the children in that school.
There have been some teacher-librarians who have expressed great dismay at
my charges of cosmetic program development. How can I assume that their
beautiful libraries were not vital components of an exciting school library
program? They quarreled that while "pretty" implied a surface veneer
of attractiveness and quality, it could also reflect deep-seated convictions
in which form followed function, that quality touched all aspects of the
program, and the school as a whole projected visible pride in its style and
outlook. After all, they cried, would you have us in ugly libraries,
dirty libraries, should we no attempt to make an available space attractive,
colourful, pleasant to use?
I can go further. Many "pretty" libraries have thousands of "pretty"
books on their shelves. I suppose they are waiting for pretty children
to discover their prettiness. I have long considered the accumulation
of pretty books together with the exquisite cataloguing of those items, to
be an improper use of school funds. But the publishers know how much
we like "pretty" books and, sensing large profits, continue to grind them
out by the thousands so that "pretty" libraries can buy them and put them
on their shelves. These are the "leaves" from the industry tree that
drop onto our library shelves and wither there, until time and perhaps evaluation
move them into limbo. But the pretty library is in limbo. Nothing
much happens there that has much to do with the school, with learning, with
reality.
I overheard a most innocent conversation as I strolled across campus the
other day. One young woman told her friends "I never borrowed a single
book from the XYZ High School Library in the four years I went there."
I know the school. I know the library and its teacher-librarian.
There are probably many other ways to discover that the promise does not
always live up to the premise. We have a tendency in any endeavor to
think the best of the work we do. That young woman may never realize
how much she missed. On the other hand, we must believe that the part
of her education that has been lost (is that why I feel such pain?) may well
be the best part. We are confident that the keys that we carry are
among the most important keys there are. We know! It is our mission
to spread the word! We are the evangelists to that word and we know
it! Is that why I lament the failure of that school library and that
young person. For surely they both lost. In fact I think we all
did. That library is one of the best equipped, most attractive facilities
I have seen.
That high school lost, for it thought that that graduate was more than just
a pretty face. The school made all those resources available and if
the student failed to take advantage of them, well, that is just too bad.
And the school librarian who must shrug and lament...well, I hoped that she
would come to see a need for the materials we assembled for her use.
It is a shame that she never needed them, but then perhaps she never discovered
that we could help her. And her parents must have had some interest
in the resources of the school. They saw the library at each PTA meeting
and must have felt confident that those resources would make a difference
to their little girl. And what about the teachers? Was the library
very important to them and to the teaching they did? Was the whole
idea of the library and its program merely pretty or simply pretty ineffective!
Could it be that all our expectations are remarkably low? Could it
be that the treasures of that library in that school are merely "pretend"
treasures, collected to satisfy the collective mythology of a society that
clings to the appearance of something important. I don't know what
it is, but it must be important for we keep it in our library.
The school library is not the school library program. The school library
may well be the "textbook" for the school library program. Or is the
library the school library program's laboratory - its distinct program space,
not necessarily exclusive, but certainly related. I would expect the
program to demand an attractive, colourful, pleasant space that efficiently
housed materials that had been selected to enhance, expand, develop learning
strategies that emerged for the overall school program.
I would hope that those teacher-librarians who disputed my generalizations
would re-evaluate their views of the school library program and the library.
So what do I look for if pretty offends me? I simply look for evidence
of program. I look for direct relationships between the collection
and the classroom, between the material on the shelves and children in their
studies. I look for the integration of library and research (even learning)
skills into the work of the curriculum. I look for evidence that teachers
see the school library as an essential laboratory for the incubation of ideas,
and processes. Is the teacher-librarian more concerned about the catalogue
that about the next research class? Do the questions I'm asked by the
teacher-librarian have more to do with operational detail than with mission?
Does the principal in the school extol the virtues of his school library
program, his school library or his librarian? Does he/she also search
for evidence of the vitality of the school library program in each classroom?
Does the teacher-librarian take pride in the circulation statistics or in
the number of contacts each child makes with the library as part of their
work (life) in the school? Does the librarian talk about her/his library
or her or his library program? Does the budget for library materials
come from the principal's office or is it developed in a staff committee?
Does the "cooperative" planning in the school begin with the teacher-librarian,
the teacher or the principal?
The school library has to be "more than just a pretty face" to be a
viable educational innovation. I hope that "more" means recognition
that the school library program will be judged not by how the school library
looks but what part it plays in meeting the educational objectives of the
school.
Donald Hamilton