Reading Advocacy

I just ended a whole day seminar-workshop on Reading Advocacy Through Effective School Library Services. The event was sponsored by Scholastic Philippines for school librarians who are subscribers to their Assessment in Education Program (AEP). It's a sustained reading inventory cum reading skills development program and librarians are part and parcel of its implementation. There were fourteen participants from school libraries in Manila and Batangas. In the first part of workshop, we looked at the changing roles of school librarians. For this, I turned to the ever reliable IFLA-UNESCO School Library Manifesto, Koechley (1997), Danielson (2007) and Kuhlthau (1997).

IFLA - UNESCO School Library Manifesto Staff The school librarian is the professionally qualified staff member responsible for planning and managing the school library, supported by as adequate staffing as possible, working together with all members of the school community, and liaising with the public library and others. The role of school librarians will vary according to the budget and the curriculum and teaching methodology of the schools, within the national legal and financial framework. Within specific contexts, there are general areas of knowledge that are vital if school librarians are to develop and operate effective school library services: resource, library, and information management and teaching. In an increasingly networked environment, school librarians must be competent in planning and teaching different information-handling skills to both teachers and students. Therefore they must continue their professional training and development Source: http://archive.ifla.org/VII/s11/pubs/manifest.htm

Roles of librarians (Danielson, 2007):
* Create an inviting physical and emotional environment;
* Promote a culture for the quest of knowledge;
* Coordinate with teachers of the school and serve as resource persons;
* Maintain and extend the library's collection;

THE SCHOOL LIBRARIAN'S ROLE IS COMPLEX AND WIDE RANGING - Danielson, 2007

School librarians are (Koechley, 1997):
* Instructional Consultants - collaborators who assist teachers in instructional design
* Life Long Readers - models of the reading culture and acquisition of knowledge
* Information Gatekeepers - managers, creators and communicators of information and technology Kuhlthau identified the roles a librarian play when conducting information literacy sessions and providing readers services.
* Organizer - arranges and manages resources; creates a user-friendly, self-service environment that leads to independent study.
* Lecturer - provides tours and orientation sessions focusing on the location and access of resources.
* Instructor - provides one or a series of cooperatively planned lessons on information sources and references arising from classroom activities tailored to students' needs.
* Tutor - provides one-on-one session with a student or a group of student on specialized information needs.
* Counselor - confers with the students in the provision of cognitive and behavioral support (Reading Guidance / Bibliotherapy / Research Mentor ) focusing on the process and seeing the product as part of the construction of knowledge and positive well-being.

In the afternoon, we discussed reading, technology and reading advocacy activities. There will be another session next week and, learning form today's session, I will sure make some changes since there will be more participants next week. So, if your school subscribes to Scholastic Philippines' AEP, do attend. See you there!