Keynote: Invited guest or wedding crasher?: School librarians' involvement in national initiatives

Dr Nancy Everhart
President of the American Association of School Librarians
Associate Professor, Florida State University School of Library and Information Studies, USA

Nancy outlined changes taking place in education in several places

• Hong Kong - New Senior Secondary Curriculum - emphasis on learning to learn
• US - National Curriculum, Common Core Standards - in Language Arts, Maths (Science to come next), National Educational Technology Plan
• Norway - knowledge promotion, digital literacy for all
  

Teacher librarians need to be involved in initiatives such as these but are they invited guests in the process or do they have to be like wedding crashers? We need to show the key areas in which we are already supporting these initiatives.

Teacher librarians' power lies not only in the statutes in place and certification required but also the learning that takes place, the joy experienced in using the library, the legality and legitimacy of our work. Power comes from library programs which are both legal and legitimate. We must do what we say we do.

Teacher librarians must be working in close partnership designing stimulating learning experiences for students.
Access to resources must be 24/7.
Web presence is vital.
There must be an ability to retrieve materials housed outside the library.
Teacher librarians must co-teach with classroom teachers.
Strength comes from the legitimacy of our work and our leadership in ICT.

What might work in advocating?

• Formal communication - tell your story with clean lines, action proposed
• Comments and feedback
• Requests - suggest in a nice way that you'd like to be involved in the process to be undertaken
• Guerilla advocacy - rally, demonstration, email blitz
• Social media - Facebook page

Nancy's aim is for recognition of teacher librarians as indispensable in schools.

Crashing is action.