ETL504 - Teacher Librarian as Leader Objective: Be able to relate issues in leadership theory and decision-making to the teacher librarian's role in the school. Submitted by Group 8: Sheila Antal, Kara Lawrence, Carey Leahy, Lauren Nicholl, Fiona O’Rourke

Leading the way: Mobilising stakeholders towards a holistic Information Literacy Policy Purpose: Quality Management and Transformational Leadership skills should be utilized to identify that a Teacher Librarian is best placed to effectively promote a holistic Information Literacy Policy, making them indispensable to the educational environment. Intended Audience: School Leadership and Executive (Principals, Deputies, Faculty Leaders)

Are you a visionary leader or a manager? Bring your school into the 21st C - be transformational. Stakeholders should work together to identify core values, directions and processes. Build community Quality relationships Effective Communication Collaborative decision making Affirmation as a conscious strategy (Goldberg & Cole, 2002)

Achieve Quality changes. A transformational leader can inspire and motivate individuals for the changes needed in an information-rich future. Establish student needs. Create collaborative teams. Pivotal teacher librarian can ‘lead from the middle’. (Ken Haycock, 2010) Continual reflection for improvement in all aspects.

It’s the Principal’s decision! Effective principals are collaborative leaders who facilitate the transformation of school culture in terms of: o vision building, o evolutionary planning, o empowering others, o resource mobilization, o and problem coping and monitoring. (D. Oberg, 2006)

Why Information Literacy? This is an information-rich digital age! We need 'new literacies' (Pam Berger, 2007) Establish Common understandings. Best practice / pedagogy. What is in place now? Where to progress to? Identify opportunity in curriculum. Utilize quality management strategies.

Embed Improvement. Entrust all stakeholders to work on the system. However - Teacher Librarian as information team leader has: Unique position with extensive contact throughout school. Ownership in delivery, process and results. Long term commitment to ensure success. Evaluate - Review system successes for continual renewal.

Change is the norm in education today! Influence by leadership / teacher librarian Information Literacy Goals Collaborative Practice Constructive reflection / discussion Team of teachers Through instructional partnerships the TL can influence the development of an effective school-wide information literacy policy.

Why the Teacher Librarian? Firstly – S/he is a teacher – a colleague who can effect favourable peer interactions through passion and vision. collaborative curriculum planning & implementation. instructional partner for staff & students offering pedagogical guidance. (Hay & Foley, 2009)

Secondly – S/he is a librarian – the person who manages acquisition & access to resources. Chooses print & digital information Ensures equitable & ethical use Builds literary culture Focus is on transforming information to knowledge through inquiry. (Hay & Foley, 2009)

There is a need for sustainable yet dynamic practises to be occurring if your school is to be relevant into the future. Considerable innovation is needed - resulting from all stakeholders working together to create a shared vision of future learning, and then to demonstrate the commitment to translate that into effective action plans. Are you that visionary leader?

Where can one find such a visionary leader to help implement this crucial policy? The answer is within schools and already working towards this… Your TL. KARA

TLs fulfill a number of roles on a daily basis which are pertinent to the success of the implementation of an Information Literacy Policy… KARA

As Instructional partner TLs are… Transformational Leaders within teams – model and assist in developing and implementing good instructional practice. Active leaders/learners within collaborative opportunities – utilise decision-making strategies to collaboratively plan and integrate innovative curriculum tools. (Dees, Mayer, Morin & Willis, 2010) KARA

Bibliography: Berger, P. (2011) Literacy and Learning in a Digital World in Hughes-Hassell, S. & Harada, V. (Ed) School Reform and the School Library Media Specialist. Goldberg & Cole (2002) Dees, D., Mayer, A., Morin, H. & Willis, E. (2010) Librarians as Leaders in Professional Learning Communities through Technology, Literacy, and Collaboration. Library Media Collection, 29(2), Retrieved from ebscohost. Hay, L. & Foley, C. (2009) School libraries building capacity for student learning in 21C. Scan Vol 28 No 2 May 2009 Haycock, K.(2010) Leadership from the Middle: Building Influence for Change. In Coatney, S (Ed) The Many Faces of School Library Leadership Oberg, D. (2006) Developing the respect and support of school administrators. Teacher Librarian, 33 (3),