1. Internationalizing School Librarianship
Dr. Lesley S. J. Farmer
California State University Long Beach

3. ACRL Cultural Competence Standards
A congruent set of behaviors, attitudes, and policies that enable a person or group to work effectively in cross-cultural situations; the process by which individuals and systems respond respectfully and effectively to people of all cultures, languages, classes, races, ethnic backgrounds, religions, and other diversity factors in a manner that recognizes, affirms, and values the worth of individuals, families, and communities and protects and preserves the dignity of each.
Knowledge, social, ethical

4. Why School Libraries
Physical and intellectual access to broad variety of resources
Access for all students in all subjects
Support for students of various cultures
Curating items that support global literacy
Information and digital literacy instruction
Collaborative instructional design and delivery

5. Why CSULB – and Profession
Campus internationalization initiative
International Education Committee incentive
No existing international school librarianship course
International school librarianship activity

7. Comparative School Librarianship Course Curriculum (1)
School libraries as a universal construct A. The role and mission of school libraries B. International school library professional associations C. International documents supporting school libraries D. International standards for school libraries Task: Analyze a professional association

8. Comparative School Librarianship Course Curriculum (2)
Cultural aspects of school libraries A. Definition of culture B. Cultural contexts of education and libraries C. Impact of culture on school libraries D. Definition of culture competence Task: Self-assess cultural competency

9. Comparative School Librarianship Course Curriculum (3)
Comparative issues and impact of information technologies and media A. Cultural perspective and bias B. Social and political roles C. Equity issues Task: Analyze tech/media social-cultural issues

10. Comparative School Librarianship Course Curriculum (4)
Comparative specific elements of school libraries
Library staffing: education and professional development
Library configuration: facilities and infrastructure
Library resources
Library role and services
Library curriculum and instruction
Task: Compare school librarianship in two countries with US

11. Weekly Online School Librarian
Standards: Canada Dianne Oberg
Staffing: Malaysia Diljit Singh
Facilities: Australia Barbara Combes
Resources: South Africa Busi Dlamini
Technology: Costa Rica Annie Gonzalez
Services: India Madhu Bhargava
Instruction: Jamaica Paulette Stewart

12. Helping International Students
Get to know students and their library experiences
Get help from cultural mediators
Address language barriers: glossaries, non-English resources, simpler English, visuals
Contextualize ideas in terms of students’ reality
Provide current info about first culture
Review resources for bias and currency
Have students share info in own language
Invite speakers, including students

13. Insights
“As teacher librarians in a global community it is our job to help disseminate and support our fellows in other countries.”
“This class allowed me to step out of my comfort zone and see what is like to be a librarian in other parts of the world.”
“One of the biggest take-aways of the class is that despite the cultural differences, we have similar struggles (facilities, budget, staffing), and strive for the same goals (love of reading, literacy -information and digital-, access to information and resources, and critical thinking).”
“It allowed me to see how fortunate we are and that people make it happen with so much less.”

14. Impact
Appreciated efforts by librarians in other countries – and chance to interact with them
Applied knowledge to deal with own international students – and their own international experiences
Realized importance of contextualizing content in terms of students’ cross-cultural reality
Built on students’ realities to help them assimilate new cultural understandings
Joined international professional associations

15. Internationals Coming to CSULB
August 2017: International Association of School Librarianship conference at CSULB
CSULB school librarians as volunteers and speakers
Attendance applied to ETEC course on social and cultural aspects of technology