By Suzette Boyd
http://www.scotch.vic.edu.au/Library/Library.htm

The four teacher librarians at Scotch College are integral to the teaching learning program in the College. This has been achieved through building alliances with individual teachers, with departments, over coffee or Friday night drinks, while attending school functions and through deliberate initiatives, some of which are outlined below.

Orientation for new staff

Library orientation for new staff is the very first step in ensuring that teachers understand information literacy and know what the library has to offer them and their students.  At Scotch College we treat staff orientation seriously and ensure that it is built into the wider orientation program for new staff delivered by the school. Firstly new staff are introduced to the library home page and are given an overview of all the electronic resources it provides access to.  This is then followed by a tour of the physical library and a question and answer session.  At this time, all new staff receive a “Library Handbook for Staff”.  This glossy booklet gives an overview of all library services an is an effective way of capturing the attention and interest of new staff.

Library homepage

 http://www.scotch.vic.edu.au/Library/Library.htm                                                                

The library homepage is the ‘hub’ of student learning within the library. Library staff have created this award winning homepage for the information needs of our students and staff. Teacher librarians encourage students to use the homepage as a starting point for all their research needs: online databases; specially selected web resources for their subjects; guides to writing bibliographies and evaluating resources; and of course, access to the library catalogue!

Pathfinders

Teacher librarians produce pathfinders as guides for students to find relevant and appropriate information for all topics within the curriculum. The pathfinder is not intended as a comprehensive bibliography of every possible resource on the topic, but rather as a guide to useful keywords students may use when searching the catalogue or the internet, selected websites on the library homepage, videos or DVDs on the topic, entries in the various databases, or guides to current issues.

Pathfinders are available in printed format and also online via the library homepage.

Information Literacy Handbook

The teacher librarians at Scotch have produced a handbook for distribution to all teaching staff. It contains:

• Ways teachers and teacher librarians can work together. For further details go to

http://library.scotch.vic.edu.au/teachers/whatwecando.htm

• A guide to effective assignment setting using Blooms taxonomy
• A guide to defining the information process
• A continuum of student learning through years 7 – 12
• An information skills checklist
• A separate section of templates for use with each stage of the information process

Scotch College Teacher Librarians – Suzette Boyd (Head of Library and Information Services), Rachel Kerr, Durga Kamte and Kris Paterson
August, 2006

By Charles Sturt, University in Wagga Wagga, NSW,

Australia offers a Master of Education (Teacher Librarianship)
and a Master of Applied Science (Teacher Librarianship).
These programs are targeted to meet the needs of three or four year trained teachers who are either (a) practising teacher librarians without a specialist qualification or (b) practising teachers who wish to move into the field of teacher librarianship. The programs are designed to encourage and permit critical appraisal of theory and practice in the field of teacher librarianship, improve the educator’s professional competence and enhance the capacity for self development. Both master’s courses are recognised by the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA).  ALIA recognition acknowledges that while our graduates have specific knowledge and skills in the education sector, they are qualified to work in the full range of library and information services.

Teachers holding a Graduate Diploma in Teacher Librarianship may enrol in Stage 2 of the Master of Applied Science (Teacher Librarianship), completing four or five subjects depending on the currency of their qualifications and experience and the amount of credit awarded for their prior qualifications/experience.

Students may also study single subjects as Associate Students. This opportunity allows students to update in a particular area or subsequently apply the subject to a future course, assuming the subject matter is still current.

Those interested in conducting research may complete a Ph.D. or DIM. Higher degree students engage in advanced, critical reflection on and investigation of theory and practice related to teacher librarianship.

Study is through online learning, with no requirement that students meet face-to-face at any time, although a few optional face-to-face opportunities exist for those able to participate. Students typically study one or two subjects per session (two sessions a year), using print and online materials, participating with their classmates in online forums and contacting their subject coordinators via email.

The academic staff are familiar to many people internationally, through their research and publication and/or their participation at international conferences. Lyn Hay, James Herring, Ken Dillon, Ashley Freeman, and Joy McGregor all conduct research and publish in various areas related to teacher librarianship. All are members of the Centre for Studies in Teacher Librarianship, which is active in developing the research base in teacher librarianship in Australia and internationally.

For further information contact:

MEd(TL), PhD, CSTL Joy McGregor
MappSc(TL), Associate Student Program Ken Dillon