Leadership In The Library

5 Key Points About My Role in the School:

From the readings listed below and from my experience as a T-L, I think that these are the five key roles we must assume:

1. Teacher Collaborator. In this role, we are not only supporting our peers with their on-going curriculum prep, but we are integrating information retrieval skills seamlessly into our students’ lessons. Over the long term, students will begin to see that these skills are necessary in all subject areas. It also prevents the same skills from being retaught repeatedly.

2. Instructor. This is perhaps the most critical role, in terms of our students. They need to see us as teachers as well as librarians. By team-teaching with the classroom teacher, or even replacing the classroom teacher for some lessons, the students are reminded that we were all teachers first.

3. Leader/Advocate. Without a strong leadership or advocacy role in one’s school, it is very easy for the library to become overlooked when it comes to budget time. T-L must be vigilant about keeping the library a high profile, dynamic place, so that it can continue to expand, both in terms of resources and usage.

4. Manager. This is the part of the job that most of us dislike, but it too is critical. As we all mentioned, we are the five-armed staff people who must keep this multi-functioned space going on a daily basis. Good managerial skills are vital if one is to juggle all the balls: volunteers, budgets, computers, donations, speakers, technology etc.

5. Welcome-wagon. This last one was not mentioned in my readings, but I have seen the effects when it is missing. I think we all have been to libraries where there is not an atmosphere of welcome. In my own high school experience, I recall the librarian hunkered down behind the circulation desk, bellowing at students in the stacks. It sure did