Joy, Contradictions, Complexity: A Day In the Life of a Teacher-Librarian

A Photo Essay by Diana Maliszewski

Media are everywhere in the school library. The challenge is for students to name and notice these media texts and experiences, and think critically about them. These letters were made by a kindergarten student to help the teacher-librarian review the definition of media. This school uses the Early Years definition of media as outlined by the Association for Media Literacy.

Being a teacher-librarian is a multi-faceted job. Instruction, management, and leadership are the three pillars of the position. Balancing the requirements for all of these is complicated. For instance, when library volunteers fall behind in shelving the returned library books, it can get a bit messy.

Complicating matters on this particular day is the presence of the Book Fair. Hosting a book fair can be both valuable and disruptive. With the reality of shrinking school budgets, supplementing funds with a book fair can be potentially lucrative. However, a lot of work is involved in essentially setting up a pop-up business in the middle of a teaching area.

We live in contradictions when there’s a book fair in a school library, especially a “media-aware” school library. Libraries are one of the few public spaces where people can congregate without being expected to spend money. Technically, all a user needs is a library card to be able to access all sorts of resources, free of charge. Yet, when the Book Fair comes, teacher-librarians and library technicians are encouraged to sell books with inflated prices to allow them to make a small profit to help increase budgets. The challenge is how to act as a bookseller while trying to make our students aware of rampant consumerism and spending wisely.

Honestly, it’s not the books that draw the students in. It’s the trinkets and tchotchkes, the gimmicky pens and fancy erasers that children really want to buy. Many times, I hear myself saying “Are you sure you want to buy that? Do you really think it’s worth it?” The trinkets are enticements, “book adjacent” items that are related to reading and writing that literally appeal to all the senses (from the scented erasers to the squishy pens). They are not quite toys but they still hold allure for young shoppers who enjoy the novelty of spending money on their own. Neil Andersen points out that book fairs are media literacy opportunities, because “spending independently is a form of agency; for younger students, it might be their first or earliest money management experiences, and librarians might use this opportunity to help students understand value, exchange, management, and extrinsic / intrinsic rewards, among other things.”

In addition to the media literacy moments that the book fair provides, another benefit is that the book fair provides an authentic experience for students to practice their literacy and numeracy skills. Do they have enough money for their selections? What’s the best choice? If there were more time, the discussions could be even more probing and “rich”. Why is there a difference between the Canadian and American price? What about this object makes it appealing to you as a consumer? Why do people want or need to own books when there are libraries? What is the significance of owning a book? So many ideas, so little time!

There are a variety of texts and students need experience and guidance to understand them, both on an “information literacy” and “media literacy” level. Sometimes it’s as basic as interpreting the price list.

Even as the book fair consumes the space and focus of many, the lessons carry on. Depending on the school, the teacher-librarian is sometimes responsible for teaching other subjects in addition to their library duties. In the morning, kindergarten students came for their dance and drama time. It may not be the information literacy as seen in a research project or a tutorial on how to ethically and properly cite sources, but through conversations and observations at an age-appropriate level, these activities connect to books, reading and communication. For instance, the students sorted the puppets to make it easier for them to find similar creatures. When this particular pair of learners got together, they branched out from the “Are You My Mama” mini-plays others were mimicking and made reference to “The Three Little Pigs” instead.

In the afternoon, a Grade 3-4 class came for social studies instruction. There are so many potential media texts to incorporate and different information literacy lessons to learn. Maps are fruitful literacy tools. Maps can range from personally relevant …

… to nationally significant. Maps have political and social meanings. The week that this lesson was taught coincided with Orange Shirt Day, or the Day for Truth and Reconciliation in Canada. Schools are responsible for teaching many things. It is quite a juggling act.

The choices that educators make in terms of the media texts they use to help students become more literate are important. Reading a map on paper differs significantly from using Google Maps on an interactive white board. (Students were fascinated by this specific place because of  memes they’ve encountered that name-drop Ohio.) The reading strategies differ. The technology allows multi-layered investigations, as users can narrow their focus, switch from a more abstract view to different layer types (satellite, terrain, traffic, etc.). There’s never enough time to delve as deeply as we’d like.

The key is to be responsive and culturally relevant. Dr. Rudine Sims-Bishop talks about literature as serving as both windows and mirrors for students, so they can see themselves and others in society. The library is a place of wonder and sometimes the best laid plans can go out the window – literally!

And this can be a good thing, for good reasons.