MERRY CHRISTMAS

http://blogs.qut.edu.au/library/2012/12/20/a-very-library-christmas-tree-and-holiday-opening-hours/

A very Library Christmas tree from QUT

Christmas in the library

Thought we should look at some library Christmas ideas...

this is beautiful.

http://thebronzemedal.tumblr.com/post/37340498086/library-holiday-crafts

A quick, fun project for students and staff of the Brandel Library at North Park University in Chicago was creating small Christmas trees from old paperback .

EER500 Assignment 1b

I have completed assignment 1b - this has been a really interesting experience. At first I questioned how valuable looking at another's assignment might be but in fact it was really useful. Looking at someone else's forces one to confront one's own efforts and also makes one look at another's point of view and construction which in my case lead to a very clear understanding of what is required to develop good arguments for research and what makes a good research question.

new learners

liked this video about rethinking learning - the use of gaming in learning is definitely a field i'd like to explore (possibly when there's not an assignment due!). Also yay to the debunking of the "digital native"

Rethinking learning: The 21st Century Learner

MacArthur Foundation

Todd and Valenza discuss research

As we are looking at research and research questions - o thought maybe i'd share 2 library studies well known personalities discussing research...

YouTube: Ross Todd and Joyce Valenza discuss her research

EER500 Assignment 1

well this assignment certainly came around fast - I get where its going for the next part but shees its certainly straight up and into it.

After posting this one - the next step is to do some reading and then evaluate both my and another students' posting and discuss strengths and limitations of various aspects of these. Its almost like learning in reverse.

eer500 begining

I have begun to delve into the world of educational research through EER. Research is something much touted for librarians by authors such as Todd, particularly in terms of evidence based research and how this can be utilised to promote and refine library practice.

The first assessment for this unit was due just on 2 weeks into the course - which was quite alarming given it usually takes me a few weeks to get into the swing of things. For this we had to locate a report about an issue then choose a research topic linking to the report, find some articles related to this and come up with research questions and statements on who these link and how the research would be of practical importance.

I began with an idea that I wanted to do something about either technology based library practices or about information literacy - both of which are of interest to me and are important facets of librarianship. I also wanted to pick something that might be of practical use to school librarians. In the end i chose information literacy and harking back to an earlier subject decided to look at the use of the ISP in info skills teaching. I think i spent far too long searching for the best articles I could find but one of them made me add to my research idea and that was to integrate the idea of project based learning with the teaching of information skills.

Here's hoping it goes well!


References

Todd, R.J. ‘Evidence based practice: the sustainable future for teacher-librarians’, Scan 21(1), 2002, pp 30-37.

Todd, R.J. ‘Evidence based practice II: getting into the action’, Scan 21(2), 2002, pp 34-41.

60 seconds

It astounding what happens every minute online.....

http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/online-60-seconds_b46813

web 3.0 would it ever be as good as a librarian?

Liked this one ....

http://theaveragepenguin.wordpress.com/2012/10/30/information-overload/

"Libraries really are the gates to the future" - Gaiman

Authors are sometimes the library's best advocates. Neil Gaiman gave a lecture for the Reading Agency
 on the 14th of October in London. Here is just some of what was said.  

Neil Gaiman Image: http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/oct/15/neil-gaiman-future-libraries-reading-daydreaming

“....libraries are about freedom. Freedom to read, freedom of ideas, freedom of communication. They are about education (which is not a process that finishes the day we leave school or university), about entertainment, about making safe spaces, and about access to information.

I worry that here in the 21st century people misunderstand what libraries are and the purpose of them. If you perceive a library as a shelf of books, it may seem antiquated or outdated in a world in which most, but not all, books in print exist digitally. But that is to miss the point fundamentally...

In the last few years, we’ve moved from an information-scarce economy to one driven by an information glut. According to Eric Schmidt of Google, every two days now the human race creates as much information as we did from the dawn of civilisation until 2003. That’s about five exobytes of data a day, for those of you keeping score. The challenge becomes, not finding that scarce plant growing in the desert, but finding a specific plant growing in a jungle. We are going to need help navigating that information to find the thing we actually need.”

For the full article go to the Guardian 

 Finding the plant in the Jungle is what makes the need for qualified teacher librarians so essential for today's world.

Back into it

So after a long absence and a lovely trip round the world I return to the world of libraries ....

and having seen some amazing uses of digital technology in Museums while away I thought I might continue on the digital theme and share this link.....

Fancy.. a whole library without books. Is it the way? Personally I have only just begun reading on a tablet and I confess that I still prefer the real thing. Having said that the convenience of the tablet while travelling was indisputable.

The first bookless library: BiblioTech offers only e-books

Semester 2 drop out?

This next semester i'm to study ETL505 Bibliographic standards in education.

It seems that the modules are going to be released one at a time and must all be completed in order before attempting the assignments. Given this I think i may have to withdraw this semester. Renovations and moving house are happening now and over the next few weeks then i'm off overseas for 6 weeks - I had hoped that maybe i could do the assignment prior to leaving but I think that this will be an impossibility given that the last one is due the day i get back! And i can'e see it getting done while overseas......

project tomorrow

"The school’s monopoly on information, knowledge and world experiences is long gone and yet unfortunately, some education leaders still cling to this old paradigm as it represents their ideal of education."  Project Tomorrow, 2013, p.3.

The Project tomorrow report From chalkboards to tablets: The emergence of the k-12 digital learner Speak Up 2012 - National findings //June 2013, seems to confirm the idea that teachers are behind in the utilisation of digital tools and possibilities.

Its interesting to note the difference between students and teachers in the importance given to different digital tools. Well worth a look at the whole findings.

digital tatoos

Digital footprints or digital tatoos .... scary thoughts. These 2 quick videos are enough to make you reconsider what we do online and how important it is to educate on about young people about the choices they make in terms of online posting and the provision of information. It would be a great test to have a class access a search term and talk about how different their results are .... this could also be done using different search engines as a way of illustrating how different search engines affect what information you are exposed to.

Juan Enriquez: Your online life, as permanent as a tatoo

what facebook and Google are hiding from the world.

digital humanities

Found this an interesting read (albeit a year old). Digital humanities was not a term i'd really come across but the ideas link to those of ideas of learning as being social and connected. Is worth a look..

What Is Digital Humanities and What’s it Doing in the Library?

by Micah Vandegrift

http://www.inthelibrarywiththeleadpipe.org/2012/dhandthelib/

http://www.inthelibrarywiththeleadpipe.org/2012/dhandthelib/

Comprehending the Digital Humanities – from Elijah Meeks at Stanford. Where’s the library?

Books on Bikes

Books on bikes?... well.... Librarians on bikes anyway.

This is an interesting way of taking services to more people -  perhaps public libraries could also go this way for older people too.
For the full article go to:
http://www.latimes.com/features/books/jacketcopy/la-et-jc-a-public-library-on-a-bicycle-seattle-has-one-20130612,0,803544.story

ETL 504 - semester's end

So another unit down....
I was pleased with my last assignment and am glad for a break from study so I can concentrate on other family things for a while. Leadership has been an interesting topic - not the least as it has highlighted how much better myself and colleagues and managers could be not just at leading but at communicating. I'm hoping that armed with this knowledge i'll actually employ some of the techniques and ideas i've read about.

For other studying this unit in the future .... In terms of the last assessment - one thing the marker mentioned was the need for more focus on certain topics in the new curriculum. I found this the most challenging aspect of the assessment in some ways as there has been relatively little direction, guidance or writing on this subject so far (this was not helped by missing the unrecorded chat in which i suspect this was raised). I'd love to hear if others put more specifics in - and if so what? I'm guessing that they would have liked me to refer to specific topic areas or provide examples of topic to highlight/complement what I was saying.

In my section about leadership capabilities and roles, I included a whole school approach and outlined roles, and capabilites of all those who would be involved in the change process - while the marker liked this, they also said that i could have put more detail into the TL section. I had wondered about this at the time of writing but ended up going with fewer specifics to keep to word length.

Hope that helps. feel free to comment on your etl504 experience.

ETL504 Critical Reflection

On commencing this unit, my understandings of the teacher-librarian (TL) as leader were indistinct and included the notion that this leadership required vision, communication and the ability to inspire and enthuse as critical elements (Gillespie, 2013).  This view saw TL leadership as linked to increasing influence across the school to open co-teaching and curriculum development opportunities.

While some notions remain true, my views of TL as leader has been significantly challenged and expanded. On concluding the first assessment, my knowledge of leadership theory developed significantly to appreciate aspects and qualities of TLs as leaders. In particular, the need and use of a vision and goals was confirmed as crucial to leadership (Sergiovanni, 2005; Marzano, Waters & McNulty, 2005).This was extended through the realisation that a purposeful consensus driven mission or moral purpose is required to engage followers (Beliese 2005; Zmuda and Harada, 2008). I now appreciate that the unequal teacher/student relationship (Swaffield and MacBeath, 2009) and intention to make a difference by increasing students’ efficacy of information use (Wizenreid, 2010) or improving student outcomes provide TLs with such purpose.  As such, my comprehension of the relationship between this moral purpose, vision, relationship building, collaboration and effective leadership has been expanded to include the recognition that to create collaborative cultures that allow collegiality to occur spontaneously a cause beyond self is required (Semadeni, 2009).

This course has extended my understanding of the relationship collaboration and leadership have to effective team building and the importance of having a message and articulating it in meaningful ways (Orridge, 2009). This includes realising the need for authenticity and understanding during the change process (Cameron and Green, 2004) and the role in which positive relationships and professional support is essential to leading change (Schifter, 2008; Orridge, 2009).  These ideas are encapsulated in the idea of agency which links both leadership and learning to activities such as co-teaching, curriculum development and professional development. In this way collaboration and inquiry can be viewed as organising concepts for classroom and school leadership (Collay, 2011; Goodnough, 2005).

Through the readings, a greater depth and understanding of professional development opportunities and methods and its relationship to leadership has been developed. Velzen, Volman, Brekelmans  & White’s (2011) 3 step plan where modelling is practical theorising and Semadeni’s the Fusion model (2009) where mentors demonstrate and activate leaners’ mirror neurons to foster qualities, attitudes and behaviours necessary to establish collaborative cultures were particularly enlightening as methods TLs can employ in leading professional develop.

My understanding of the role professional development can play in providing leadership across the school has been developed to recognise that the social nature of learning mean collegiality and co-collaboration are crucial to professional development (Leiberman and Pointer-Mace, 2010). Ongoing professional development, trials and discussions regarding change (Livingstone, 2012; AITSL, 2012) provide leadership opportunities TLs can utilise to manage and lead change.

These notions contributed to an expanded awareness of leading from the middle and blend well with newly acquired ideas of leadership as the potential outcome of interactions between groups of people (Townsend, 2011) where leadership is not synonymous with the individual at the top (Swaffield and MacBeath, 2009). This resonates with the idea of teachers as leaders in their own classroom and the concepts of distributed leadership (Youngs, 2009; Hargreaves, 2007) and leadership for learning (Townsend, 2011) where spaces and opportunity need to be created for teacher experts to demonstrate and share their expertise.

Prior to undertaking this unit, I possessed limited knowledge of change management. This has been significantly extended to include an understanding of steps in the change process (Lewis, 2011). In addition, I have developed an appreciation of the relationship between these steps and the leadership qualities and skills such as problem solving (Adair, 2100; Shearhouse,2011) data-informed leadership (Knapp, Copeland and Swinnerton, 2007) and effective team management (Belbin, 2010, Aguilar, n.d) required to effect change. Likewise, my understanding of the combination of attributes and range of actions required for TLS to successfully lead and undertake strategic planning that is collaborative and responsive to community needs (Nelson, 2008; Allison and Kaye,2005) has been significantly developed.

School leadership is complex and fluid, requiring changes in approaches, styles and techniques dependent on goals and situations. I now appreciate that TL leadership is not one role, skill or action, nor it is the employing of one particular leadership theory or communication method, it is the collective actions and strategies employed to collaborate, advocate, educate and innovate to make the library integral to all learning and teaching in the school.

REFERENCES

Aguilar, E. (n.d.). Effective Teams: The Key to Transforming Schools?  Edutopia. K-12 Education & Learning Innovations with Proven Strategies that Work. Retrieved March 28, 2013, from http://www.edutopia.org/blog/teacher-teams-transform-schools-elena-aguilar

Allison, M., &  Kaye, J. (2005). Phase 3: Assess your situation. Strategic planning for nonprofit organizations a practical guide and workbook. 2nd ed. Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley. Retrieved April 24, 2013, from Charles Sturt University website http://www.csuau.eblib.com.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/patron/FullRecord.aspx?p=228463&echo=1&userid=75%2bPOA257%2f1ZaNWG7TLUwA%3d%3d&tstamp=1358129458&id=4CC408DE2DC85A14B8EB935A93007107B36175B5

Anderson, S. & Oyarzun, B. (2013).  Multi-modal professional development for faculty. In  Keengwe, J. Virtual mentoring for teachers: online professional development practices (pp. 43-65). Hershey, PA: Information Science Reference. Retrieved March 28, 2013 from Charles Sturt University webpage http://www.igi-global.com.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/gateway/chapter/68290

Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership, (AITSL). (2012). Australian Charter for the Professional Learning of Teachers and School Leaders: A shared responsibility and commitment. August 2012. SESEEC: Melbourne. Retrieved May 12, 2013 from http://www.aitsl.edu.au/verve/_resources/Australian_Charter_for_the_Professional_Learning_of_Teachers_and_School_Leaders.pdf

Belbin, R. M. (2010). Chapter 9. The art of building a team. Team roles at work (2nd ed., pp. 97-106). Amsterdam: Butterworth-Heinemann. Retrieved march 28 from Charles Sturt University website http://www.csuau.eblib.com.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/patron/FullRecord.aspx?p=535053

Belisle, C. (2005). The Teacher as Leader: Transformational Leadership and the Professional Teacher or Teacher-Librarian. School Libraries In Canada 24(3). Retrieved May 11, 2013 from Charles Sturt University website http://ezproxy.csu.edu.au/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=16746531&site=ehost-live

Cameron, E., & Green, M. (2004). Individual change. Making sense of change management a complete guide to the models, tools & techniques of organizational change (pp. 12-61). London: Kogan Page. Retrieved March 27 from Charles Sturt University website http://www.csuau.eblib.com.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/patron/FullRecord.aspx?p=433139&echo=1&userid=75%2bPOA257%2f1ZaNWG7TLUwA%3d%3d&tstamp=1360486345&id=CEB8F14A74B4AFB6BC52CD3D0AEEA260A3053CEF

 Collay, M. (2011). Teaching is leading. Everyday Teacher Leadership: Taking Action Where You Are (pp. 75-108). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Retrieved May 11, 2013 from Charles Sturt University website http://www.csuau.eblib.com.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/patron/FullRecord.aspx?p=675256&echo=1

Gillespie, K. (2013, March 8). ETL 504. Confessions of a would be Librarian. Available http://enterthebook.blogspot.com.au/2013/03/etl-504.html

Goodnough, K. (2005). Fostering Teacher Learning through Collaborative Inquiry. Clearing House,79(2), 88-92.  Retrieved May 11, 2013 from Charles Sturt University website http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/ehost/detail?sid=30de8f51-4908-4609-9690-33f3e1b541be%40sessionmgr104&vid=1&hid=118&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=ehh&AN=19323350

Hargreaves, A. (2007). Sustainable Leadership and Development in Education: creating the future, conserving the past.. European Journal of Education, 42(2), 223-233. Retrieved January 24, 2013, from http://www.internationalfuturesforum.com/iffblog_old/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/hargreaves-eje-past-present-and-future.pdf

Lewis, L. K. (2011). Communication approaches and strategies. Organizational change creating change through strategic communication (pp. 144-176). Chichester, West Sussex, U.K.: Wiley-Blackwell. Retrieved May 7, 2013 from Charles Sturt University website http://www.csuau.eblib.com.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/patron/FullRecord.aspx?p=707958

Lieberman, A and  Pointer-Mace, D (2010) Making Practice Public: Teacher Learning in the 21st Century. Journal of Teacher Education 2010, 61(77) DOI: 10.1177/0022487109347319

Livingston, K. (2012): Approaches to professional development of teachers in Scotland: pedagogical innovation or financial necessity?, Educational Research, 54(2), 161-172 Doi:10.1080/00131881.2012.680041

Marzano, R. J., Waters, T., & McNulty, B. A. (2005). Some theories and theorists on leadership. School leadership that works: from research to results (pp. 13-27). Alexandria, Va.: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Retrieved 27 March, 2013 from Charles Sturt University website http://site.ebrary.com.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/lib/csuau/docDetail.action?docID=10089219

Nelson, S. (2008). Part one: The planning process. Strategic Planning for Results (pp. 3-139). Chicago: ALA Editions. Retrieved May 4, 2013 from Charles Sturt University website http://www.csuau.eblib.com.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/patron/FullRecord.aspx?p=474215&echo=1&userid=75%2bPOA257%2f1ZaNWG7TLUwA%3d%3d&tstamp=1358152593&id=64AE3645BDC9E28A3F0FD6520885482CF52A8643

Orridge, M. (2009). 75 ways to help sustain organisational transformation. Change leadership developing a change-adept organization (pp. 35-52). Farnham, England: Gower . Retrieved March 28 from Charles Sturt University website http://site.ebrary.com.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/lib/csuau/docDetail.action?docID=10325965

Schifter, C. (2008). Effecting Change in the Classroom Through Professional Development. In C. Schifter (Ed.), Infusing Technology into the Classroom: Continuous Practice Improvement (pp. 259-274). Hershey, PA: . doi:10.4018/978-1-59904-765-2.ch014

Sergiovanni, T. (2005). The Virtues of Leadership. The Educational Forum, 69(Winter), 112-123. Retrieved March16, 2013, from http://www.scribd.com/doc/7375166/Sergiovanni-Thomas-Virtues-of-Leadership

Shearhouse, S. H. (2011). Reaching agreement: a solution seeking model. Conflict 101 a manager's guide to resolving problems so everyone can get back to work (pp. 195-214). New York: American Management Association. Retrieved April 29, 2013 from Charles Sturt University website http://www.csuau.eblib.com.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/patron/FullRecord.aspx?p=691557&echo=1&userid=75%2bPOA257%2f1ZaNWG7TLUwA%3d%3d&tstamp=1360462543&id=E08CFAAF00F1B6388C96FB67F55B600832467410

Swafford, S & MacBeath, J. (2009)  Leadership for learning. In MacBeath, J. E., & Dempster, N. (Eds.)(2009). Connecting leadership and learning: principles for practice (pp. 32-52). London: Routledge. Retrieved May 2, 2013 from Charles Sturt University website http://www.csuau.eblib.com.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/patron/FullRecord.aspx?p=355852&echo=1&userid=75%2bPOA257%2f1ZaNWG7TLUwA%3d%3d&tstamp=1360490936&id=087020FA33867E19826CBD9075923A9F82493CAA

Townsend, T. (2011). School leadership in the twenty-first century: different approaches to common problems? School Leadership and Management, 31(2), 93-103. Retrieved March 22, 2013, from Charles Sturt University website http://www.tandfonline.com.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/doi/abs/10.1080/13632434.2011.572419

Velzen, C., Volman, M., Brekelmans, M., & White, S. (2011). Guided work-based learning: Sharing practical teaching knowledge with student teachers. Teaching and Teacher Education, 28(2), 229-239. Retrieved May 9, 2013, from http://www.citeulike.org/article/9948660

Wizenreid, A. (2010). Visionary leaders for information. Centre for information studies, Charles Sturt University: Wagga Wagga

 Youngs, H. (2009). (Un)Critical times? Situating distributed leadership in the field . Journal of Educational Administration and History, 41(4), 377-389. Retrieved March 24, 2013, from Charles Sturt University website http://www.tandfonline.com.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/doi/pdf/10.1080/00220620903211588

Zmuda, A., & Harada, V. H. (2008). Librarians as learning specialists: moving from the margins to the mainstream of school leadership. Teacher Librarian, 36(1), 15-20. Retrieved April 24, 2013, from Charles Sturt University website http://ezproxy.csu.edu.au/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=43699042&site=ehost-live

Library policy help and morals (again)

As i was trying to get stuck into this assignment, I came across the UK publication of Primary School Guidelines. See below.

http://www.cilip.org.uk/filedownloadslibrary/groups/ylg/primaryschool_guidelines_2002.pdf

Its quite a good little publication and i wish I had it prior to doing  ETL503 the Library policy.

So, to the question of moral purpose again ... Fullan has suggested that this includes a plan to make a difference - that is, intend to do something 'good' that will improve our 'clients' -  in this instance planning to do something that will increase a persons' ability to use information successfully (Wizenreid, 2010).
So I guess I have to concede that in this context we do have a moral purpose - albeit one that is not used in the traditional sense of "moral".

Wizenreid, A (2010) Visionary Leader for Information. Centre for Information Studies: Wagga Wagga.

What's a library

Have a look at the article below.
What is a Library?

Its interesting that people who don't use libraries feel they can comment on what a library is or isn't. I think more and more libraries are becoming social spaces and community spaces and that what and how they interact with the community is changing as the community changes too.

I watched this utube a while ago where the idea of what a library is and can do is expanded and challenged.
I wish my local library loaned cake tins!

Librarians of the future

collaboration mentoring and fusion.

I've been swamped by the amount of reading in this unit. I don't think any other unit has required so much reading - and sometimes i find it a little disjointed and sometimes some readings are not suffieciently different to have been worth the pain. Yes, i'm grumbling but i'm well behind and the end does not seem to get any closer with these readings. (Fancy just 1 of several being 130 pages long!).

Anyway one of the things i have enjoyed reading about it the different mentoring and collaboration ideas. I think that Leiberman and Pointer-Mace (2010) are right when they suggest that as learning is social is it crusial that professional development reflects collegiality and co-collaboration.

Velzen's 3 step plan where modelling is "practical theorising" is great. I like the idea of the mentor teaching then co-teaching then the 'pre-teacher' teaching. I was also really struck by the Fusion model (Semadeni, 2009). I have been advocating at my childrens' school for more collaboration to improve teacher quality. As with many schools there are power bases and entrenched ideas and prejudices from old/new teachers.  I think this model, where it is based on observation not feedback or critique would be great. I would love it if they put something like this in place, particularity to utilise and share some of the expertise of the teachers, who currenlty don't really have opportunities to share this expertise or learn from others.

Lieberman, A and Pointer-Mace, D (2010) Making Practice Public: Teacher Learning in the 21st Century. Journal of Teacher Education 2010, 61(77) DOI: 10.1177/0022487109347319

Semadeni, J. H. (2009). Professional development. Taking charge of professional development a practical model for your school (pp. 28-48). Alexandria, Va.: ASCD.

Velzen, C. v., Volman, M., Brekelmans, M., & White, S. (2011). Guided work-based learning: Sharing practical teaching knowledge with student teachers. Teaching and Teacher Education, 28(2), 229-239. Retrieved April 29, 2013, from http://www.citeulike.org/article/9948660

Reflections on ETL503 Assignment 1 and musings on moral purpose

so..... my concept map was not liked. I am shocked - i like it. My writing did very well but my concept map didn't. I think it was said it required more interpretation that it should - perhaps if i had added a few more lines on the outside instead of using words to indicate the connection it would have done better.

It occurs to me that a concept map is a very personal thing as is one's visual understanding. I created a concept map using bubl.us but in the end to me it was visually confusing to have so many connected lines all over the place but I understand things visually when they are clearer and less cluttered.

It was also mentioned by the marker that they had attempted this exercise themself. I wonder if they preferred  those concept maps that resembled theirs? Yes, I know its sour grapes!

It was also suggested that I use Covey's 'moral purpose'. As mentioned some time back I can't stand those books - I think I also struggle with the idea of moral purpose. To me moral is good/bad, right/wrong (perhaps it was the Catholic schools i attended). I'm not sure if I agree that education is a moral question. Yes I know that there are implicit morals that we teach and model all the time, but why does our purpose in a leadership sense have to be a moral purpose? Yes, it is said that the moral purpose will engage people more fully because they believe it is the right thing to do. But just cause you think its the right thing to do doesn't make it so. I'm sure many despots believed they were guided by moral purpose even though their actions were decidedly amoral. Or is it that to lead we need to convince others of our moral purpose, so they 'buy in'? Perhaps I should just read Fullan and find out where and how this came into the education debate.

Libraries are cool

I came across this article and thought its a great idea of to engage new people in a library collection. It allows people to use technology to animate digital photographic collections form the library. Its created a stir and hopefully will result in more people utilising this library and its collection.
Click below to read about it.

3-D It Yourself, Thanks to New Library Site

 

Libraries of the Future

UTS in Sydney put together this video. I thought that given our leadership focus this semester and looking at where libraries may go, that some of the ideas raised here are quite pertinent.

LIBRARY OF THE FUTURE IN PLAIN ENGLISH

Children's Libraries of the future .

As I may have mentioned before, I currently work in a Museum. There is many more cross-overs between Museums and Libraries than you may at first imagine. In America there is the Institute of Museum and Library Service - who have some great resources and publications including this great 21 Century skills checklist for museums and libraries.
http://www.imls.gov/assets/1/AssetManager/21stCenturySkills_matrix.pdf

I was further struck by the cross-over when viewing the children's interactive library. Many of the ideas and technologies used here are already in use in museums but could also allow museums to become more interactive, responsive along with making way-finding (like resource finding).

The Children's Interactive Library 

 

ETL 504 Reflective Journal Blog task - Teacher-Librarian as Leader

This post is part of ETL504 Assessment 1 and is designed as a way to reflect on emerging thoughts on the leadership role and practices of the Teacher-Librarian (TL) in the context of recent modules on organisational theory and school leadership.

In order to do this, I’ve chosen to link the TL role to some ideas raised in my concept map depicting school leadership.

Vision and Purpose – this closely links to the practice of developing a vision statement and library goals as articulated in the library policy. This can shape and inform practical things such as resource management and the types of services and engagement that the library can offer the school. Having a vision and purpose can also provide the TL with ammunition to argue funding and direction and increase motivation, commitment and enthusiasm (Sergiovanni, 1984). If developed well it will also link into broader school vision and allow the TL s voice in direction setting. 

The TL like any leader needs to develop communication skills and build relationships.

Communication binds leadership (Marzano, Waters, & McNulty, 2005) this is particularly important as chances to informally interact with colleagues can be hampered by staffing the library during break times. Developing ways of communicating about what and how the library can help with resources and skills will raise the library profile and provide more engagement opportunities for TLs. 

Likewise TL relationships can focus on member-leader exchange (Avolio, Walumbwa & Weber, 2009) and the outcomes of these interactions (Townsend, 2011) can provide opportunities for co-teaching, engagement and sharing expertise.    

These are linked with notions of openness and trust which communication and relationships will facilitate and the TL can utilise to argue and lead for greater participation – of students and colleagues in their library use and of the TL in broader school issues. Likewise TLs need to share expertise with colleagues and welcome the expertise of others into the library to build a learning community (Orridge, 2009) and positively impact change management (Cameron and Green, 2004). 

TLs also need to engage in enabling/empowering colleagues through professional development and learning opportunities which will support change (Orridge 2009) garner support in realising goals (Belbin, 2010).

Information gathering and monitoring is import to TLs – in practice this can mean using data about library use or evaluating and reporting on programs and their impacts as a way of increase effectiveness (Knapp, Copland  & Swinnerton, 200,7  Marzano et al, 2005) and arguing for resources and increased participation. 

Data, problem solving and decision making in can be linked to resource management, developing relationships, enabling and participation (Adair 2010). Resource management is a large part of the TL role where the library, its resources and access to these are fundamental responsibilities.

In undertaking all these leadership aspects a range of leaderships styles including transformational leadership as way of inspiring and activating higher order values (Avolio et al,2009,p.428) transactional leadership and authenticity and empathy (Cameron and Green 2004) along with problem solving techniques and change management (Schifter, 2008)must be employed with an aim to effect leadership for learning (Townsend, 2011) and build a knowledge organisation (Hargreaves, 2007) – which will, in turn require great communication and relationships and a fair amount of perseverance and dedication.

References 

Adair, J. E. (2010). Decision making and problem solvingstrategies (pp. 45-53). London: Kogan Page. Retrieved March 30, 2013 Charles Sturt University website

 Avolio, B., Walumbwa, F., & Weber, T. J. (2009, September 14). Leadership: CurrentTheories, Research, and Future Directions. DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. Retrieved March 21, 2013

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Belbin, R. M. (2010). Chapter 9. The art of building a team. Teamroles at work (2nd ed., pp. 97-106). Amsterdam: Butterworth-Heinemann. Retrieved March 28, 2013 from Charles Sturt University website. 

Cameron, E., & Green, M. (2004). Individual change. Making sense of change management a complete guide to the models, tools & techniques of organizational change (pp. 12-61). London: Kogan Page. Retrieved March 27 from Charles Sturt University website. 

Hargreaves, A. (2007). Sustainable Leadership and Development in Education: creating thefuture, conserving the past.. European Journal of Education, 42(2), 223-233. Retrieved January 24, 2013.

Knapp, M. S., Copland, M. A., & Swinnerton, J. A. (2007). Chapter 4 Understanding thePromise and Dynamics of Data-Informed Leadership.. Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education, 106(1), 74-104. Retrieved March 18, 2013, from Charles Sturt University website. 

KotterMarzano, R. J., Waters, T., & McNulty, B. A. (2005). Sometheories and theorists on leadership. School leadership that works: from research to results (pp. 13-27). Alexandria, Va.: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Retrieved 27 March, 2013 from Charles Sturt University website.

Orridge, M. (2009). 75 ways to help sustainorganisational transformation. Change leadership developing a change-adept organization (pp. 35-52). Farnham, England: Gower . Retrieved March 28 from Charles Sturt University website. 

Schifter, C. (2008). Effecting Change in the Classroom Through Professional Development. In C. Schifter (Ed.), Infusing Technology into the Classroom: Continuous Practice Improvement (pp. 259-274). Hershey, PA: . doi:10.4018/978-1-59904-765-2.ch014

Sergiovanni, T. (1984). Leadership and Excellence in Schooling. Educational Leadership, February, 4-13. Retrieved March 14, 2013.

Townsend, T. (2011). School leadership in the twenty-first century:different approaches to common problems? School Leadership and Management, 31(2), 93-103. Retrieved March 22, 2013, from Charles Sturt University website