Why do teachers need school librarians? 5 questions to ask yourself.

How often have you walked past your school library and never given a second thought to the person who works in that room? Or you notice that there are students in there reading books and working on the computers and think 'that's nice'. You may even encourage your students to go and choose a book occasionally and think that you are doing your bit.

What if someone suddenly said that your school library was closing and the room was going to become a gym. Would you really be upset by the loss of such a resource or would you secretly not be all that bothered? Do you ever think about the person who is working in there who is desperate to help you and your students? Do you ever wonder why that person is constantly trying to stop you in the corridor when you are busy? Do you understand the opportunities you are missing? 

Photo by Diego PH on Unsplash

You have the power in your hands to open your eyes to change. Is it time to take stock and think about what your school library means to you as a teacher? The school library is there for you as well as your students and are you missing out on something that may make your teaching life easier?


Ask yourself these questions:-

1. When was the last time I went to the school library?
2. When was the last time I talked to the school library staff about my curriculum?
3. Do I know what the library staff can do for me and my students?
4. When was the last time I looked at the resources for my subject or encouraged my students to do the same?
5. Do I know what online resources are available for my subject?

If you don't know the answer to any or all of the above questions then I would encourage you to approach your library staff and start the conversation. Teaching was never meant to be something you do on your own and working with the library staff may just be the thing that is missing from your teaching.

Did you know that the school library:-

• Can provide you with free resources for your subject that will relieve the pressure on your departmental budget and even your own pocket.
• Can provide space for these resources in the library so that your classroom is not full of resources that you only need once a year.
• Can provide resources on request - yes, if the budget is there they will buy books for you!
• Can provide online resources that are subject specific. 
• Can provide a space outside your classroom for you to teach. 

Did you know that the library staff can:-

• teach research skills - referencing, plagiarism etc.
• teach digital literacy - online research, digital tools, Google searching
• teach digital citizenship - social media, online collaboration etc.
• connect you with other educators, schools and professionals around the world
• support and train you in using new online tools

If you need more ideas, don't just take my word for it there are many school library staff out there willing to share ideas with you. Take a look at these amazing blogs 

Read research rest repeat  by Kathleen Curry Smith

Library Media Talk  by Stony Evans

Library Stuff by Barbara Band

Heart of the School  by Caroline Roche

Over the last few years, I have noticed that teachers are being encouraged more and more to use technology in the classroom. There are those that have moved into this world comfortably, who can use Google responsibly and understand how to navigate it well, demonstrating to their students the skill needed to do this properly. Teachers who are comfortable in this digital world are also happy to connect their students through hangouts and online digital tools like Flipgrid and Padlet but there are so many more that are not. 

Are you a teacher reading this that has never heard of Flipgrid or Padlet? Does the thought of having another class from across the world talk to your students fill you with dread? Are you unsure how to teach your students how to access academic resources? Would you like more books in your classroom? Would you like support? If the answer to any of these questions is yes, then next time you walk by your school library don't pass walk in and say hello.

My blog has moved to a new website. If you enjoyed this then head over to take a look https://ehutchinson44.wixsite.com/schoollibraries/blog

School librarians helping children become independent learners with parental support.

Photo by Helloquence on Unsplash

As a parent I have always been able to help my children find good sources of information in order to do their homework. How do I know where to find the best information? Do I have some inside knowledge that most parents don't? Yes! How? I am a librarian...

I have long believed that if parents knew about the resources available from their school library to support their children's homework they would be relieved and happy. They would be able to guide them to use these good tools without worrying about quality or reliability. Many of our resources go unused for two reasons, firstly, many teachers and students do not know about these resources, how easy they are to use and reference and secondly, parents don't know they exist.

I spend a lot of my time talking to teachers about using online reosurces and offering support in the classroom, however, I am beginning to understand the importance of engaging with the parents. By offering support to the parents they in turn can support their children.

Parent workshops

The other evening we were invited to present a parent workshop in one of our secondary schools to inform parents about the online resources available from their school library. We are very lucky to be able to offer books, ebooks, Britannica on-line and many online resources. The idea was to inform parents about where their children could find the best information to do their homework.

Many parents are happy for their children to do a Google search because they do not know where else to go for the information. These parents were brought up before the internet was freely available, where most of the answers came from books from the library or, if you were lucky enough,  from a home set of encyclopaedias. There was never any worry about safety or being caught for plagiarism, The chances of the teacher having the same book, that you had copied the answer from, was very unlikely and at least you had to read it in order to copy it down. There was no 'copy and pasting' in those days.

We guided the parents to access the online library catalogue, talking to them about how their children could access the books. Telling them that if the homework was not for the next day they could help their children to find a book and get them to go to school the following day and borrow it. We talked about how to reference a book and why this was necessary. We showed them how to access the websites linked to the catalogue and talked about why they were better quality because they had been curated by the school librarian.  We then showed them Britannica Online and explained how to find articles, pictures, videos and more websites. We talked to them about the importance of using citation tool and giving credit and how easy it was to do this using Britannica and our other online resources. We showed them how easy it was to access our ebook collection and finally gave them the opportunity to use all of these resources on their own phones or hand held devices.

One parent asked about restricting their child's independence by guiding them to these resources. This gave me the opportunity to explain that independence was not about searching the internet it was about being able to know where to look for the best information to answer their question. Getting lost and bogged down by a Google search was not independence but being able to find quality information quickly was independence at its best.

What did they say?

• Why have we not been told about this before now? 
• Why are more parents not here listening to this? 
• Can we take a leaflet to share with other parents? 

Why do we need to work more closely with parents?

• School libraries can provide the safe searching that parents are looking for but are unaware exists. 
• School libraries can provide resources that are of good quality and age specific. 
• School libraries can provide support to parents looking to help their children. 

Teachers: How important is academic honesty? Essential for digital literacy.

Teachers, do you use information ethically when creating resources for teaching? Do you know when it is ok to take pictures from the internet? Do you know if you are breaking copyright laws? Copyright is a complex subject and here is a guide to what you can and can't do within a school setting. Just because it is ok to use resources for educational purposes, it is an individuals right not a shared right of the school and it is time to understand that as teachers you should be demonstrating best practice at all times. Do you reference all your sources whenever you produce something for school? If not where can this lead and why is this a problem? 

Primary and secondary school students do not create original work. Writing it in their own words is not original.  

Many teachers talk to their students about the importance of giving credit for where they find their information but never expect a reference list. This is a real lack of understanding about information and where is comes from. The information we find has been written by someone else and is not original. This is especially true if you are expecting your students to find the answer to a question or to write a piece of research. This is what research is. Finding the answer and referencing where you got it from. No student is going to write something original when researching because this is not what you are asking them to do. Part of the learning process is understanding that we must give credit for what we find. 

If we don't expect a reference how can you, as teachers, work out where the information is coming from? Why do we need to worry about this? As a teacher if you know they have found the correct answer does it matter where they got it from? Yes it does! Most students go to one website. They may very well get the right answer each time without thinking about the source they are using because they want their homework done quickly. Fake News is huge at the moment and without asking for a reference how do you know if they have chosen a good source?  At least if they had a list of sources teachers would be able to have a conversation about the websites used. Teachers are currently working blind and seem to be happy as long as the right answer is given. It is not something that is a concern but it should be. 

Sharing students work beyond school without references.

In todays world it is common to share students work on our school websites or on social media.  If nothing is referenced we are breaking copyright laws and here is where the problems lie. 

Imagine this. One of your students has produced a wonderful piece of work and you want to use it as a wonderful example of learning outcomes. It is well written, got some great pictures and all the information is correct. You decide to share it on the school newsletter and on twitter as an example of best practice. If none of it is referenced then this is not best practice this is embedding that it is alright to break copyright laws.

Research skills are really important in todays world. It's not just about finding the right information but also about making sure it is true, if there is a bias and knowing who wrote it. If teachers insist on allowing their students to use Google as a research tool they must understand the importance of ensuring that their students give credit for what they find and use. Academic honesty and teaching for integrity is going to become more important with the advancement of digital literacies and teachers need to understand their role in ensuring that our students are taught this correctly. 

It is not alright to take pictures and information and not say where they got it from just because their work is only going to hang on the wall of the classroom. there are so many tools today that make this easy. Free pictures like the ones on this blog are available from places like Pixabay.com so there is no need to just take from Google images. It is a case of teaching it the right way. Just as it would not be alright for anyone of your students to steal someone's sweets, just because no-one will find out does not make it right. As digital competencies become part of the curriculum it is essential that teachers understand why this is important and know how to teach it. We are giving our students skills for life not just for one assignment. It is important that our students learn about the subject that is being taught but it is just as important to make sure they are given the skills and understand the ethical way to do this too. Many people are writing about this, however, I recently read a blog post by Alison Miller on Developing digital learners which also talks about the importance of digital competencies and gives some great idea of how to use it in the classroom which is worth reading. 

Are you confident about teaching referencing? Your school librarian can help.

The excuses that this takes too long or that it will spoil the enjoyment,  just do not add up. Maybe teachers are not confident at teaching or checking references or maybe they are remembering when they had to reference when they were at university and it did take forever. This is just not the case now. Both Word and Google doc have a built in reference generator which is easy and simple to use. 

Your school librarian will be happy to help teach this but here is an easy guide to how it works on Google docs:-

• Find the Easybib add on. 

• Click on EasyBib Bibliography Creator and this box will appear to the right of you document.

• As you find sources you add them to the generator to the right and it creates the Bibliography. From books to websites they are all there. Once the document is finished click on the red box 'add bibliography to doc and it appears at the bottom of the page. 

This does not take long to learn and is essential for our students to understand academic honesty and teachers need to expect it. It should not make any difference whether our headteachers or policy makers are not asking for this. We all know what is right, this is simple to do and teach and teachers should be leading by example.