Battle of Time: Prioritizing Reference Services and Skills
This theme has got me
thinking about a lot about time and schedules. We want to teach reference
skills, library skills, promote our collection and work collaboratively with
staff. This uses time, having students and teachers in the library and using
it! With the temporary money given from the government recently and decisions
were made at a school level what to do with the allotment given… Library time
has been on many TL’s minds. So looking at how we use, teach about, manage,
weed, purchase and promote our reference collection comes back to time. I think we all feel a lack of time, and are creative in ways we try to tackle all of
these aspects around reference collections/materials.
The statement by Katz that “simple questions can take up to 50% of a
reference librarian’s time in a public library setting” really caught my eye
and had me thinking of my own experience. Sometimes I feel those questions take
up a lot of my time as well, when I notice this I begin to reflect on my
practice and think about my program and the way I am teaching those skill.
I find developing a good library skills program difficult, as students
have limited time in the library. Having library skills for students is
important so they can troubleshoot independently and with ease.
I love this video for a library vision: A TL
mentions she wants the library open as much as gym, and it talks about how
online skills to access information needs to be taught to kids, we can not assume
because they can use a computer they capable of accessing reference materials effectively. It also mentions the goal of a TL is having books in students hands.. Moving the idea from Protector to Promotor of resources
To
combat time I have been creative in the use of prep time, for example reducing
French preps to the mandatory requirement while teaching library skills with
the remaining time or while teaching computers integrating reference skills
lessons using the online databases.
Yet, that means there are not two teachers
there for most exchanges, which again limits the one on one time I can give. Reidling
talks about the importance of one on one time and I do agree with
that. Giving our time as teachers to our students is so valuable and
can have a great impact on learning. I have created collaboration
time in my schedule, but it comes at a cost of shortened library times for
exchanges. During collaboration, often teachers have been interested in trying
inquiry projects or doing research projects. This is great because I am able to
introduce library skills in a meaningful context. Yet the teachers only
get two blocks per a term.
Yet so far I have favoured this model because it focuses collaboration time opposed to drop-in in blocks, which in the past have not been as productive.
Fixed collaboration blocks allow me to co plan with the
teacher and have a similar goal in mind for the students learning and focus when we
get together. I feel This model follows the process of co planning and co teaching
with staff as mentioned in Lesson 5 and in the article: Collaborative Relationships
yet the cost is less flexible open times
in the library where I am available and not teaching other subjects as well as shorter exchange times.
References
"Index of /images." Index of /images. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Feb. 2017.
Muller, Aaron. "Theme Two: Lesson 5: The Reference Interview: Cooperative Program Planning and Teaching for Personalized Inquiry." UBC Blackboard Learning . N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Feb. 2017.
Muller, Aaron. "Theme Two: Lesson 7: Evaluating Reference Services " UBC Blackboard Learning . N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Feb. 2017.
Seasholes. "Teacher Librarians at The Heart of Student Learning." YouTube. YouTube, 09 Jan. 2013. Web. 18 Feb. 2017.
"Teachers and Librarians: Collaborative Relationships. ERIC Digest." Teachers and Librarians: Collaborative Relationships. ERIC Digest.N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Feb. 2017.
Hi Amanda,
ReplyDeleteI appreciated your post, it actually hit my gut when you were talking about the extra time given out at school based discretion. Ours went to LST 0.4% because we are truly lacking. I am frustrated that ELL student need trumps other student need. I feel we have a broken system that is failing students. Thats another story!!
I thought to myself, wouldn't it be nice to have more time in Library. Convincing others of this would be challenging. A really good reason to be able to effectively convey the importance of Library time!!!
Great that you have been creative with your schedule to accommodate your students needs in learning information skills. I have been teaching them in Library prep time and have developed about 10 lessons that I take my grades 2-4 through to help them navigate resources better both print and digital. I think It's helping them, and can follow up with some classes when we can collaborate.
I agree, there is always a time loss when accommodating. Lets hope for more next year at the start. I wonder how this will be determined? I know they couldn't reorganize classes half way through the year with the extra teachers given, but how will that look for Library time?
Great Video. I noticed the Library was organized by genre. I kept pausing it to have a look at the stacks :)
Thanks. we were given the same .4 and it felt isolating being the only TL at the table advocating for a chunk of it to go to library. The feeling with TL's in my district is we want the time to be ratio based no school based decisions... What is the feeling in your district? I a lot of us felt like the decision on what to do with the time was soooo rushed.
ReplyDeleteIn my library prep time, I also give skills lessons as well...I would love to hear more about how you teach library skills, I am always looking for new ideas.
I love that video too, it always inspires me when I watch it.
Thanks for your response Carly.
Amanda:
ReplyDeleteI really like that you used two colours of text in your post - it is an attractive and different way!
I also really appreciate your short, informative video. I am a visual learner and like to hear and see information rather than read it.
This was an interesting phrase from your linked article "While media specialists on a fixed schedule spend up to five minutes planning with a teacher, a media specialist on a flexible schedule spends more than 30 minutes (Haycock, 1998). Media specialists with flexible schedules also develop four and one-half times as many integrated units of study than do those on fixed schedules, as well as teaching more information skills lessons integrated with classroom instruction (Tallman & van Deusen, 1994)." I have been thinking about schedules and this gives me some more to think about...thank you!
Yes I agree, it should be ratio based. I didn't even speak up about it. I felt akward asking for more time. Seemed to me the decision was made before I could have had any input. How did you make out in advocating for it? Were you heard? I have been planning on putting together a document to outline the lessons and will send it when I do.
ReplyDeleteGreat post that discusses the essential issues we are all facing. A good point is made in the comments as well about the need to get ratio based funding for T-L time as that is the most equitable for all students. Some good resources referenced and highlighting of new awareness and learning of the importance of reference services.
ReplyDeleteI actually didn't make out that great with getting more time. Similar to you it felt like the decision was already made before the meeting began. I gave my input and later had some staff say that they appreciated the advocating for the library. But the vote was still in favour for resource time. I had a staff ask for more library time a week after the vote, which was frustrating because we just had an opportunity to increase it..... I expressed to my admin, that I didn't like the process and that there were staff in support of giving a bit of time to library but it happened so quick not everyone got the chance to know what other possibilities could have been. I feel like I say my peace and can move on from it, but it does feel so hard/awkward to be like.... hey... library... over here... lol. Its funny cause all the staff talk about wanting more library time.... but resource is also a big concern as well and also a valid one.
ReplyDeleteA lot of running about to appointments, pro-d, etc this week...just got to your blog now.
ReplyDeleteGreat, but sad, discussion of that push/pull false choice-making dilemma that has faced us for so long now in terms of whether or not we gain or lose Library time. Nearly always lose it. Sad when barely clinging to a status quo in TL time is something we should be thankful for.
I can remember when the cuts to T-Ls first started hitting us here in Chilliwack. Some colleagues thought we shouldn't get too vocal because it was worse in many districts...maybe we should just be glad about what we had. I thought sure let's be thankful for what we've retained, but let's voice our deep disappointment and our serious concern for what the cuts mean to the students and the staff in our schools.
Definitely best when TL time is tied to a ratio. More chance that things will stay fair.
Of course when contract shredding removes the ratio...
A deeper dimension to the problem in our district over the last fifteen years was that the school was assigned a chunk of non-enrolling time, say 1.2, 0.8, and administrators were given discretion as to how they divvied it up. No consistency between schools. No standard.
Thank goodness for our recent court ruling. September should look better.
We should gain a little (or a lot, depending on the district, severity of cuts there) of time to accomplish what we need/want to get done without so many convoluted ways of trying to squeeze things in.
Thank you for your insightful post and the video. This is definitely a challenging/anxiety provoking time to be a teacher librarian and now more than ever I think that it is so important to advocate for our libraries and students. I'm lucky to be in a district that loosely followed the provincial ratio of one TL to 702 students in Middle Schools (Grades 6-8) but most of the elementary contracts are .4 or less even in schools of over 500 and there are several high schools that are big enough to have 1.5 librarians! I am really excited and anxious to see what the teacher-librarian landscape will look like in September for my district and across the province. Despite my feeling towards Twitter as just another thing to check, I try my best to post what's going on in my library as an advocacy piece for a wider audience. I am also trying my best to promote myself as the go-to person for the new curriculum in my school.
ReplyDeleteI'm really hoping to see more equity across our province with time for Teacher-Librarians to do the important work that they do.