By Carol Koechlin & Anita Brooks Kirkland
So much to celebrate from coast to coast. Canada’s school libraries are emerging from the pandemic crisis with new purpose. In this edition we celebrate the emerging (albeit cautious optimism that is emerging in so many ways.
Thinking about Inquiry Approaches
We are very pleased to feature the work of Barbara Stripling, leading school library scholar and a past president of the American Library Association. Barbara shares her latest work to develop strategies and processes that ensure students are building deep reading skills.
“By integrating deep reading skills throughout the process of inquiry, teacher-librarians transform the learning experiences of young people into opportunities for mindfulness, critical thinking, questioning, and personal growth.”
Don’t miss this very special feature!
A timely new resource from Quebec provides a framework for librarians and library technicians to support teachers as they integrate information literacy skills – a timely complement to Barbara Stripling’s work on teaching deep reading skills during inquiry. We are very pleased to publish an introduction to the new continuum des compétences informationnelles / information literacy framework in both French and English.
New and Exciting Resources from Canadian School Libraries
We are so very proud to announce the completion and publication of two new CSL projects in this issue. CSL has twice called on the expertise and creativity of school library professionals across Canada to join together in working on important initiatives this year. It is because of the dedication of our growing national school library community that CSL has been able to develop cutting edge resources to support our mission, to assist schools in working toward excellence of school library learning commons teaching and learning approaches and facilities to prepare students in Canada with skills and opportunities for learning today and into the future. Introducing – The Great Canadian Book Project and the Collection Diversity Toolkit.
Two articles in this edition reveal innovative practice to support readers and reading. I Read Canadian Day is coming up in February, and teacher-librarian Marianne Whittaker shares her strategies for inspiring high school students and teachers to read Canadian. And don’t miss learning about a great opportunity for high risk teen girls to join a national book club, A Room of Your Own.
Our national champion of school libraries, Dr. Dianne Oberg brings to our attention the brand new IFLA School Library Manifesto. Dr Oberg points out some important new directions that have been developed in the new manifesto. “These are changes worth consideration, as goals to aspire to and goals to be inspired by.” Please review this document and plan to use it in your advocacy and goal setting efforts.
Members of our Leading Learning Committee were inspired by the continued growth of excellent exemplars that have been collected and shared on the Leading Learning standards website. Judith Sykes and Lila Armstrong have analyzed the latest additions and made some pretty astonishing conclusions that are all the more remarkable given the last two years of challenging pandemic education.
“New exemplars added to Leading Learning / L’Apprentissage en tête throughout 2020 and winter/spring 2021 illustrate not only school library learning commons (SLLC) survival with thriving adaptations, but also shifting trends in SLLC practice across Canada. Some trends have emerged in response to the pandemic as SLLC support for students and teachers necessitated an increased focus on and development of the virtual SLLC. Other trends reflect continued growth in diversity awareness and action, and engaging students in making and doing. What trends prevail?”
Read their article to discover emerging directions for school libraries in Canada.
The emerging trends reveal a sense of optimism and investment in new ideas relevant to our changing society. Several articles in this edition reflect that spirit.
The BCTLA Conference report by Lila Armstrong titled, We Rise: TL Leadership During & Post-Covid holds inspiration for teacher-librarian efficacy.
“As school libraries continue to evolve, we must also, using our existing connections and continuing to forge new paths. Self-reflection, self-evaluation and expanding the lenses through which we see our roles will help us all find our superpowers, and then share them.”
Representatives from the Youth and School Libraries Section of the Association des bibliothécaires du Québec Library Association share some “some heartening ground truth from the school libraries of Quebec” in the new school year. That truth emerged across the country on Canadian School Library Day, and we share the joy in this edition.
Adapting to New Realities
The students are back in the building, or at least most of them are. Are you or staff in your school engaged in teaching hybrid learning? Do you have questions about this evolving approach? Then do check out the recommended list of resources curated by TDSB Professional Library in the Library Learning Resources and Global Education Department of the Toronto District School Board.
As well as celebrations and good news stories we also have some trending ethical issues and cautionary tales for our readers to ruminate over in this issue.
As ever Anita Brooks Kirkland challenges our thinking on critical important issues. In her article first published in Synergy (School Library Association of Victoria, Australia), Anita tackles the concept of school libraries as ‘neutral’ places. Anita argues,
“To many library professionals and scholars, the principle of neutrality in librarianship seems contrary to the larger ethic of promoting inclusion and eradicating discrimination to ensure access to information for everyone. They argue that actively promoting social justice, as the core ethics of librarianship demand, is not a neutral act. Being proactive about developing inclusive, diverse collections is not a neutral act. Actively promoting resources on potentially controversial topics is not a neutral act. Moving from the notion of the school library as a safe space for students who have no other place to seek refuge to a space that makes the full diversity of the student population feel welcome and engaged is not a neutral act. Being an anti-racist educator is not a neutral act. Neutrality cannot be achieved when varying perspectives and cultures continue to be underrepresented or have been historically misrepresented. “
This refreshing article will give you a lot to think about and some actions to consider. Discover Library Neutrality as Radical Practice.
Anita’s article touches on the alarming repression of free speech we are seeing in several of the United States. We are pleased to be able to re-publish a post by CSL board member Richard Beaudry on this very topic. When politics trumps teachers’ professional judgment, students and society lose, was originally published on Ryerson University’s Centre for Free Expression blog.
And finally…
We are very pleased to feature new episodes from the wonderful Read Into This podcast, including the recording of their very special live phone-in on Canadian School Library Day.
We are thrilled to present this rich and varied edition of CSL Journal.