CILIP’s new Guidelines for Secondary School Libraries takes a fresh look at this sector, providing inspiration along with practical tips, says Lynn Barrett.
The new CILIP Guidelines for Secondary School Libraries offer challenges to the school sector that deserve serious consideration from head teachers, governors, LEAs and government ministers. But even more importantly, the Guidelines address the practical concerns of school librarians and give them a basis for engaging in their profession in new and enthusiastic ways.
What has changed in our sector over the last five years to warrant new guidelines? The working party of the School Libraries Group felt they should be addressing:
- new developments in ICT;
- advances in information literacy;
- new knowledge about how we learn;
- imperatives for being inclusive;
- research findings;
- philosophy behind Start with the Child. [1]
The Guidelines aim to establish the school librarian firmly as a co-educator and the school library as central to learning. The approach of school librarians in the past has largely been to establish sound management practices, in the belief that they will then be treated as professionals, which will, in turn, open the doors to participation in the learning process.
However, it is time to develop a different perspective. Sound management practices are only one element in developing the library’s role. Begin with the assumption that the library is central to learning and see what expertise is needed to get to that position.
The Guidelines address all these areas, offering support, ideas and, it is hoped, a touch of inspiration.
What is CILIP’s vision for school libraries? It sees them as vibrant places that meet the needs of all learners. It believes they are the natural home of technological developments in education and facilities which enhance not only the learning but also the creative spirits of our children. They encourage imagination, independent study and self-directed learning, giving young people a voice – a voice about resources, about activities, about services, even about décor. They are the birthplaces of lifelong learners.
Policy and planning, finance and budgeting, CPD, resource management and human resources are all important aspects of library management featured in the Guidelines. The aim of this article, however, is to highlight some new areas that are having an impact on the development of libraries in schools.
Management of ICT
The rapid development of e-resources, supported by e-learning credits, has meant that schools are acquiring many new resources that may be bypassing the library completely. It is vital that librarians become familiar with what is being marketed and provide a route through the information overload that teachers and students experience. By centrally managing all resources (regardless of where they are housed), the whole school community will benefit by having access to the information that is held.
The plethora of information available from the internet and other e-resources offers huge benefits to learners. However, it also raises questions that librarians need to be able to answer. They should be ready to put forward arguments for maintaining a strong book fund – for example access, differentiation and reader development.
Virtual learning environments and managed learning environments are other developments that schools are exploring. These online frameworks within schools bring together a range of functions, from administration, content, lesson authoring, delivery and assessment, to student/teacher interaction. The library and the library management system should sit at the centre of these developments because this will help students access the resources they need and enable the school to make the most effective use of the considerable investment it has made in its online environment.
The message from the Guidelines is to get in on the ground floor. Librarians must be proactive by seeing the potential of online environments, and then collaborating with those responsible for their development. By contributing expertise and demonstrating the central nature of the library, librarians affirm their role not only as the school’s information specialist, but also as its knowledge manager.
Information literacy changes the role of the librarian and demands a high level of collaboration with teachers. It requires an understanding of teaching and learning and the ability to apply this in working with teachers to develop information literacy skills in curricular contexts. Information literacy involves a higher level of cognitive activity than the old ‘information skills’ and a change in the way subject content is approached.
To understand information literacy, it is useful to look at Bloom’s Taxonomy, [2] where the differentiation between lower order cognitive skills (knowledge, comprehension, application) and higher order cognitive skills (analysis, synthesis, evaluation) is articulated. Traditionally, the focus in school libraries has been on the former, but now there is a need to develop the latter. These are best developed within the curriculum and so the mandate for librarians to collaborate with teachers in creating good learning experiences for students is stronger than ever. The Guidelines detail steps that librarians can take and the roles that all stakeholders have to play in developing information-literate schools. Leading on information literacy is demanding, but it takes the library out of isolation and places it at the heart of learning.
Facilities management
There is a great deal that librarians need to be aware of in order to create effective learning environments. The Special Educational Needs and Disability Act 2001 [3] obliges organisations to make reasonable arrangements to improve access to the physical environment, to curricular participation and to formats of information. This means looking again at shelving height and layout, space available for easy movement by all, displays and signage. Circulation desks need to be low and small enough to promote interaction rather than being barriers. Start with the Child emphasises the importance of including young people in the planning of services – it’s essential to consult them about the design of all aspects of the physical environment to make sure it is going to meet their needs.
The need to be inclusive means that librarians have to know about how children learn and how to make even small changes that can provide a better learning environment for them. For instance, colour and lighting can both have an impact on learning. Should music, or even food, be encouraged at certain times of the day?
‘Reader development describes the pro-active way libraries work to create the best possible reading experiences for everyone.’ [4] The results of the Key Stage 3 strategy evaluation [5] and the new Ofsted guidelines [6] for inspection both emphasise its central role in schools. The former document, in particular, spells out how the involvement of the librarian and the use of the library can have a significant impact on reader development, and an important piece of research from the OECD [7] shows the importance of reader engagement in relation to performance.
There are new and exciting ways to create readers that all school libraries should be exploiting. Interactive websites dedicated to reading will spark interest with games, puzzles, author contacts, peer reviews and much more. Again, Start with the Child has stressed that young people should be involved in selecting, displaying and promoting stock. They can build their own websites and help to organise reading events. Mobile phones, video-conferencing and email can all play a part in communicating the excitement around new titles or shortlisted award books.
The Guidelines offer many suggestions for engaging readers, and stress the need for librarians to become familiar with current educational thinking and research about how we learn. Understanding our own learning styles and preferences will help in developing effective reading programmes for all students, not just the ones we are already reaching.
School librarians are often very good at promotion, but the skills involved in marketing and advocacy are new to many. Marketing certainly involves promotion, but it is a much broader tool that provides a framework for understanding demand, analysing and predicting future user needs and planning and promoting appropriate services and resources to satisfy existing users and attract new ones. Without a clear understanding of the needs of the whole school community and where the strengths and weaknesses of the library lie, it is difficult to forecast demand and plan effective programmes and services. The Guidelines explain the processes involved in effective marketing and provide tools to implement them.
Advocacy is all about speaking out and winning influence. It is about recording success and sharing it with others, both internally and externally. Advocacy can lead to improved status, additional funding, new partners, and recognition of the library as central to the school’s mission. It involves identifying a target audience, specifying a message, developing a strategy for communicating the message and selecting evidence to support the message. There are a number of excellent advocacy tools available to which the Guidelines refer.
Evaluation
Evaluation is not only looking back at what has happened, it is essential to planning the way forward. As Ofsted places greater emphasis on self-evaluation and an important new tool for that process is launched, [8], [9] the advice in the Guidelines is particularly important. It covers:
- the management of evaluation and the different types of evidence to be gathered;
- the difference between inputs, outputs and outcomes;
- the main approaches to evaluation;
- how to use the results of evaluation;
- the benefits of evaluation.
It is vital that librarians develop portfolios of outcome evidence because it is through results that the impact of the library can be demonstrated. The key question is ‘What difference does the library make to teaching and learning?’ While evidence of collection levels, and of who uses the library and when, is all part of the picture, it is necessary to get a grasp of how to evaluate outcomes. The process of gathering evidence is more difficult than for inputs and outputs.
School librarians need to examine how they can expand their contacts and develop new ways to co-operate with traditional partners. For partnerships to work effectively they need to be managed well, and the Guidelines offer important advice.
The Learning Librarian
Increasingly, research is showing school libraries can have a positive impact on student attainment, [10], [11] and that a major factor in the success of a library within a school is the individual school librarian.
This means that school librarians have a major responsibility to develop themselves in all the areas outlined in the Guidelines. They need to become leaders in schools by serving on key committees, by developing a vision and by sharing that vision with others. They need to be co-educators by understanding learning, collaborating with teaching colleagues and participating in staff training. They need to be information navigators by bridging the gaps between students, teachers, online information and the curriculum. They need to be managers by creating effective learning environments, and by planning, implementing, evaluating and advocating their service.
It is a tall order, but the Guidelines have been written to offer practical support and to set out the future direction of this sector of our profession.
References
[1] Start with the Child: report of the CILIP Working Group on Library Provision for Children and Young People. CILIP, 2002 (www.cilip.org.uk/advocacy/startwiththechild/
startwiththechild.pdf).
[2] Bloom. ‘ Major categories in the taxonomy of educational objectives.’ 1956 (http://faculty.washington.edu/krumme/guides/
bloom.html).
[3] Special Educational Needs and Disability Act 2001. The Stationery Office, 2001 (www.hmso.gov.uk/acts/acts2001/20010010.htm).
[4] Their Reading Futures, 2002 (www.theirreadingfutures.org.uk/def02.cfm ).
[5] The Key Stage 3 Strategy: evaluation of the third year. Ofsted Publications, 2004.
[6] Handbook for Inspecting Secondary Schools. Ofsted Publications, 2003.
[7] Reading for Change : performance and engagement across countries. OECD, 2002 (http://pisa.oecd.org/Docs/Download/
ReadingExeSumary.pdf [broken link, not found on 14 April 2004]) .
[8] Improve your Library: self-evaluation process for secondary school libraries and learning resource centres. Available from SLA, Schools Library Services and CILIP. May be downloaded from www.teachernet.gov.uk
[9] Sharon Markless and David Streatfield. Evaluating the Impact of Your Library: a practical model. Facet Publishing, October 2004.
[10] The Difference We’re Making: library provision in Birmingham secondary schools. Birmingham Advisory and Support Service, 2002.
[11] D. Williams, C. Wavell and L. Coles. Impact of School Library Services on Achievement and Learning: critical literature review. The Robert Gordon University, 2001
(www.resource.gov.uk/documents/impactsl.pdf).
Lynn Barrett is Information Services Manager, Dixons City Technology College, Bradford (lynn@dixonsctc.org.uk).
Updated: 04 January 2006