Saturday, January 9, 2010
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Online privacy
Saturday, November 28, 2009
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Electric LiteratureCreative commons
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Issues facing school librarians
Truly Deeply Insulted
Generally I feel we try to be dispassionate and professional on the school libraries' list serve with maybe the odd outburst of understandable frustration mixed with large doses of humour and humanity;- but over the last few months this coping mechanism has been disturbed by postings and by our continuing frustration with lack of progress in pay and recognition talks through NZEI and in other ways .
While many of the issues that were raised on the list serve are valid some come across as a strong criticism of those professional, adaptable and conscientious people who work at the coal face of our challenging, ever changing and underfunded environment. Those issues have been clarified by other well qualified, expressive and erudite list serve members but I would like to add the following:
Many school librarians, library assistants and tlrs [increasingly rare] are;
Unsupported in their workplace
Struggling to decipher the expectations of teaching staff who are themselves hampered by various conditions within their workplace and the education system,
Have little or no qualifications or experience in the library world
Are employed on limited hours just to process and circulate books
Are employed just to catalogue books
Are employed on a contract basis to sort out various problems
Are employed just to teach information literacy but are drawn into work in other library functions
Are not employed – volunteer many hours
Are expected to perform at a level which they are not qualified to deliver
Don’t know what the curriculum requirements are generally , let alone the prescription for ‘wide reading’ at level 1 NCEA [and apparently nor do many pupils or teachers].
Are not qualified in anything in any shape or form
Don’t belong to a union
Are not paid the correct rate for the job description and /or the subsequent unexpected job requirements
Don’t know there is a list serve
Don’t know SLANZA exists
Don’t know there’s a SLANZA wiki
Don’t know they can access OPACs online
Don’t urge teaching staff to use National Library Reference Librarians or converse with their teaching colleagues
But who generally try to help and are intelligent and conscientious.
They are faced with:
Teachers who have no idea how to use a library search function or catalogue, therefore cannot help themselves even at an elementary level
Teachers who do not realize that there are some librarians who have incredible skills
Teachers who do not express their requirements clearly
Children who need extra levels of help because of the above or because they have inadequate levels of English language or have special needs or didn’t bring the written assignment with them.
High cost of text resources which younger children need
High cost or lack of knowledge of online resources which older children need or do not know how to use effectively
Lack of adequate curriculum support in NZ education system contrasted with that provided by IB or similar education systems
Children who have appalling communication skills
Lack of inclusion of library staff in the school and teaching community
No budgets
Appallingly low budgets
Less help from agencies that were once wonderful i.e. National Library
No longer aided by recognised school library and teacher librarian qualifications
Lack of awareness/commitment by politicians, Ministry of Education of what is needed to support and fund their jobs.
General poverty of resources in the Education sector.
General levels of poverty
Lack of expectations of delivery of needs throughout the system – last week I was given the staff award of thanks for providing a link to National Library’s “Hot topics” which helped staff with work on recycling and kites/wind. I thought that was elementary stuff expected of
I count myself in the [relatively small] group of school librarians who are well qualified, able to weather the economic vicissitudes of part time hours and who have mostly rewarding work in a busy school which has high standards, and an interesting, reasonably well behaved [ sometimes challenging] clientele. I am also able to pleasantly coexist with mostly collegial, supportive, committed and professional colleagues, where PD is offered or insisted upon, and where there’s a more or less adequate budget. I am treated with respect and given a high degree of independence. I meet often with fellow librarians, other school support staff, booksellers, literature enthusiasts, activists, and well rounded aware people.[and probably not often enough in a planning capacity with teaching staff.]
Despite that I often find myself having tearful or worrying moments about the success or otherwise of my work and the pressure it creates.
By contrast, - as pointed out by another contributor, I do not experience that kind of emotional crisis or feelings of isolation in my other part time job with a Public Library. There I have ongoing high quality training,[including Web 2.0 and communication aids], challenges that can be handled - with the help of a team and management; and decent remuneration according to my qualifications [without struggle], and constant recognition that I am doing a good job.
The conditions as outlined above [and no doubt there are a few I have missed ] will not be ameliorated by us , our angst, and activism alone – they need partnership, cooperation, inventiveness and collegiality to overcome; --- kia kaha ---and don’t let negative outlooks beat us down.
My personal conviction is that these difficulties and inequalities will never be assuaged until the Ministry and ERO issue and enforce meaningful plain language guidelines to schools on standards in our libraries and library staff qualifications - and funds are available centrally to pay librarians and provide resources.
Imagine:
- the satisfaction of providing the great service you feel the children and teachers deserve
– if we were given a regular update from the Ministry or National Library on the resources we should all hold [or access online] to support each curriculum area at each age level - and had the money to buy them or they were supplied free of charge without having to put in a request.
No longer:
- the request to support an area of learning that can’t be supplied until another teacher has returned it to National Library
- the unsuccessful, time consuming quest to find an item which is known to exist and is perfect for the topic,
- the annual charges to search School Journal and Connected resources [and a solution to the lack of search guidelines].
- the guessing game about what requests will arrive next term from teaching staff.
- The realization from teaching staff that they should expect excellent support from information professionals – not limited to someone who mends books.
It’s a joke really – in my other life/lives I review books, have a BA in Education, a teaching diploma, an Open Polytechnic Library and Information Studies Diploma, read a lot, have a wider knowledge of life and education than most teachers , have taught under fives, worked in community organizations and taught in gritty areas of London, coordinated 100 plus volunteers for Storylines Family Day in Auckland, coordinate drama groups ditto , work in a public library and casually for School Services National Library , travelled all over the world and now I work in a decile 7 school where I use some of that experience but feel as if I was a teacher aide – it’s a bonus if you’ve got it and that’s how one gets a job, but it isn’t fully recognized. E.g. 58 cents per hour for having a degree.
- ne the prescription for ‘wide reading’ at level 1 NCEA [and apparently nor do the pupils or teachers].
Are not qualified in anything in any shape or form
Don’t belong to a union
Are not paid the correct rate for the job description and /or the subsequent unexpected job requirements
Don’t know there is a list serve
Don’t know SLANZA exists
Don’t know there’s a SLANZA wiki
Don’t know they can access OPACs online
Don’t urge teaching staff to use National Library Reference Librarians or converse with their teaching colleagues
But who generally try to help and are intelligent and conscientious.
They are faced with:
Teachers who have no idea how to use a library search function or catalogue, therefore cannot help themselves even at an elementary level
Teachers who do not realize that there are some librarians who have incredible skills
Teachers who do not express their requirements clearly
Children who need extra levels of help because of the above or because they have inadequate levels of English language or have special needs or didn’t bring the written assignment with them.
High cost of text resources which younger children need
High cost or lack of knowledge of online resources which older children need or do not know how to use effectively
Lack of adequate curriculum support in NZ education system contrasted with that provided by IB or similar education systems
Children who have appalling communication skills
Lack of inclusion of library staff in the school and teaching community
No budgets
Appallingly low budgets
Less help from agencies that were once wonderful i.e. National Library
No longer aided by recognised school library and teacher librarian qualifications
Lack of awareness/commitment by politicians, Ministry of Education of what is needed to support and fund their jobs.
General poverty of resources in the Education sector.
General levels of poverty
Lack of expectations of delivery of needs throughout the system – last week I was given the staff award of thanks for providing a link to National Library’s “Hot topics” which helped staff with work on recycling and kites/wind. I thought that was elementary stuff expected of
I count myself in the [relatively small] group of school librarians who are well qualified, able to weather the economic vicissitudes of part time hours and who have mostly rewarding work in a busy school which has high standards, and an interesting, reasonably well behaved [ sometimes challenging] clientele. I am also able to pleasantly coexist with mostly collegial, supportive, committed and professional colleagues, where PD is offered or insisted upon, and where there’s a more or less adequate budget. I am treated with respect and given a high degree of independence. I meet often with fellow librarians, other school support staff, booksellers, literature enthusiasts, activists, and well rounded aware people.[and probably not often enough in a planning capacity with teaching staff.]
Despite that I often find myself having tearful or worrying moments about the success or otherwise of my work and the pressure it creates.
By contrast, - as pointed out by another contributor, I do not experience that kind of emotional crisis or feelings of isolation in my other part time job with North Shore Public Libraries. There I have ongoing high quality training,[including Web 2.0 and communication aids], challenges that can be handled - with the help of a team and management; and decent remuneration according to my qualifications [without struggle], and constant recognition that I am doing a good job.
The conditions as outlined above [and no doubt there are a few I have missed ] will not be ameliorated by us , our angst, and activism alone – they need partnership, cooperation, inventiveness and collegiality to overcome; --- kia kaha ---and don’t let negative outlooks beat us down.
My personal conviction is that these difficulties and inequalities will never be assuaged until the Ministry and ERO issue and enforce meaningful plain language guidelines to schools on standards in our libraries and library staff qualifications - and funds are available centrally to pay librarians and provide resources.
Imagine:
- the satisfaction of providing the great service you feel the children and teachers deserve
– if we were given a regular update from the Ministry or National Library on the resources we should all hold [or access online] to support each curriculum area at each age level - and had the money to buy them or they were supplied free of charge without having to put in a request.
No longer:
- the request to support an area of learning that can’t be supplied until another teacher has returned it to National Library
- the unsuccessful, time consuming quest to find an item which is known to exist and is perfect for the topic,
- the annual charges to search School Journal and Connected resources [and a solution to the lack of search guidelines].
- the guessing game about what requests will arrive next term from teaching staff.
- The realization from teaching staff that they should expect excellent support from information professionals – not limited to someone who mends books.
It’s a joke really – in my other life/lives I review books, have a BA in Education, a teaching diploma, an Open Poly Library and Information studies diploma, read a lot, have a wider knowledge of life and education than most teachers , have taught under fives, worked in community organizations and taught in gritty areas of London, coordinate volunteers for Storylines Family Day in Auckland, coordinate drama groups ditto , work in a public library and casually for School Services National Library , travelled all over the world and now I work in a decile 7 school where I use some of that experience but much as if I was a teacher aide – it’s a bonus if you’ve got it and that’s how one gets a job, but it isn’t fully recognized. E.g. 58 cents per hour for having a degree.
Generally I feel we try to be dispassionate and professional on the list serve with maybe the odd outburst of understandable frustration mixed with large doses of humour and humanity;- but over the last few days this coping mechanism has been disturbed by Jill Stotter’s post [via Vicki Baas].
While many of the issues raised are valid they come across as a strong criticism of those professional, adaptable and conscientious people who work in the coal face of our challenging, ever changing and underfunded environment. Those issues have been clarified by other well qualified, expressive and erudite list serve members but I would like to add the following:
Many school librarians, library assistants and tlrs [a mostly unpaid and rare breed] are;
Unsupported in their workplace
Struggling to decipher the expectations of teaching staff who are themselves hampered by various conditions within their workplace and the education system,
Have little or no qualifications or experience in the library world
Are employed on limited hours just to process and circulate books
Are employed just to catalogue books
Are employed on a contract basis to sort out various problems
Are employed just to teach information literacy but are drawn into work in other library functions
Are not employed – volunteer many hours
Are expected to perform at a level which they are not qualified to deliver
Don’t know what the curriculum requirements are generally , let alone the prescription for ‘wide reading’ at level 1 NCEA [and apparently nor do the pupils or teachers].
Are not qualified in anything in any shape or form
Don’t belong to a union
Are not paid the correct rate for the job description and /or the subsequent unexpected job requirements
Don’t know there is a list serve
Don’t know SLANZA exists
Don’t know there’s a SLANZA wiki
Don’t know they can access OPACs online
Don’t urge teaching staff to use National Library Reference Librarians or converse with their teaching colleagues
But who generally try to help and are intelligent and conscientious.
They are faced with:
Teachers who have no idea how to use a library search function or catalogue, therefore cannot help themselves even at an elementary level
Teachers who do not realize that there are some librarians who have incredible skills
Teachers who do not express their requirements clearly
Children who need extra levels of help because of the above or because they have inadequate levels of English language or have special needs or didn’t bring the written assignment with them.
High cost of text resources which younger children need
High cost or lack of knowledge of online resources which older children need or do not know how to use effectively
Lack of adequate curriculum support in NZ education system contrasted with that provided by IB or similar education systems
Children who have appalling communication skills
Lack of inclusion of library staff in the school and teaching community
No budgets
Appallingly low budgets
Less help from agencies that were once wonderful i.e. National Library
No longer aided by recognised school library and teacher librarian qualifications
Lack of awareness/commitment by politicians, Ministry of Education of what is needed to support and fund their jobs.
General poverty of resources in the Education sector.
General levels of poverty
Lack of expectations of delivery of needs throughout the system – last week I was given the staff award of thanks for providing a link to National Library’s “Hot topics” which helped staff with work on recycling and kites/wind. I thought that was elementary stuff expected of
I count myself in the [relatively small] group of school librarians who are well qualified, able to weather the economic vicissitudes of part time hours and who have mostly rewarding work in a busy school which has high standards, and an interesting, reasonably well behaved [ sometimes challenging] clientele. I am also able to pleasantly coexist with mostly collegial, supportive, committed and professional colleagues, where PD is offered or insisted upon, and where there’s a more or less adequate budget. I am treated with respect and given a high degree of independence. I meet often with fellow librarians, other school support staff, booksellers, literature enthusiasts, activists, and well rounded aware people.[and probably not often enough in a planning capacity with teaching staff.]
Despite that I often find myself having tearful or worrying moments about the success or otherwise of my work and the pressure it creates.
By contrast, - as pointed out by another contributor, I do not experience that kind of emotional crisis or feelings of isolation in my other part time job with North Shore Public Libraries. There I have ongoing high quality training,[including Web 2.0 and communication aids], challenges that can be handled - with the help of a team and management; and decent remuneration according to my qualifications [without struggle], and constant recognition that I am doing a good job.
The conditions as outlined above [and no doubt there are a few I have missed ] will not be ameliorated by us , our angst, and activism alone – they need partnership, cooperation, inventiveness and collegiality to overcome; --- kia kaha ---and don’t let negative outlooks beat us down.
My personal conviction is that these difficulties and inequalities will never be assuaged until the Ministry and ERO issue and enforce meaningful plain language guidelines to schools on standards in our libraries and library staff qualifications - and funds are available centrally to pay librarians and provide resources.
Imagine:
- the satisfaction of providing the great service you feel the children and teachers deserve
– if we were given a regular update from the Ministry or National Library on the resources we should all hold [or access online] to support each curriculum area at each age level - and had the money to buy them or they were supplied free of charge without having to put in a request.
No longer:
- the request to support an area of learning that can’t be supplied until another teacher has returned it to National Library
- the unsuccessful, time consuming quest to find an item which is known to exist and is perfect for the topic,
- the annual charges to search School Journal and Connected resources [and a solution to the lack of search guidelines].
- the guessing game about what requests will arrive next term from teaching staff.
- The realization from teaching staff that they should expect excellent support from information professionals – not limited to someone who mends books.
It’s a joke really – in my other life/lives I review books, have a BA in Education, a teaching diploma, an Open Poly Library and Information studies diploma, read a lot, have a wider knowledge of life and education than most teachers , have taught under fives, worked in community organizations and taught in gritty areas of London, coordinate volunteers for Storylines Family Day in Auckland, coordinate drama groups ditto , work in a public library and casually for School Services National Library , travelled all over the world and now I work in a decile 7 school where I use some of that experience but much as if I was a teacher aide – it’s a bonus if you’ve got it and that’s how one gets a job, but it isn’t fully recognized. E.g. 58 cents per hour for having a degree.
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Maria Gill event
Come to hear a reading of the book with Rangitoto in the background.
Make a volcano!
Draw a kaka bird!
Eat some volcano cake!
Sip some magma juice!
Meet the author (me again) and illustrator(Heather again) and buy a signed copy of the book with a giveaway.
A free event – bring the parents, siblings and teachers with you...
