At the heart of the school library is the goal for teacher librarians and educators to develop the reading ability and literacy of students to set them on a path to lifelong success (Saikaly, 2019). There are extensive benefits stemming from students reading for pleasure including developing superior general knowledge, increasing scores on reading tests and other subject matter tests, developing better thinkers, increasing reading speed, and becoming motivated and interested in reading (Allington et al., 2012; Krashen, 2004). Teacher librarians play a central role in collection development resourcing the curriculum for teaching and learning, in addition to fulfilling the recreational reading interests of students.
Throughout the course, it became apparent that allowing students to choose their own books can be a powerful motivator in getting children to read (Scholastic, 2019). It is concerning with the advent of high stakes literacy testing, the joy of reading can be eliminated in the classroom, students potentially viewing reading as a boring skill to master. Schools should consider re-evaluating pedagogical approaches ensuring the outcomes from maximising test results does not come at the cost of removing the pleasure from reading and halting the development of lifelong recreational readers (Gallagher, 2009). Teacher librarians promote books of all types and formats, showing students that unless they have the right book in their hand, it won’t be enjoyable.
After researching genrefication, I embarked on this project with the young adult fiction collection. It has generated greater student interest in the collection and has created a new opportunity to better assess the quality of the collection and future improvements (Galimi, 2022).
ETL402 Literature Across the Curriculum (8) (Charles Sturt University, n.d.) and Jennie Bales armed me with the knowledge of how literature can be applied to help students learn in ways I had never thought of, giving me a toolkit for the use of literature to facilitate teaching and learning. Reading fiction supports emotion concepts through exposure to these emotions in context (Schwering et al., 2021, p.178), developing understanding of point of view and perspective assisting with the development of empathy in children (Mar et al., 2009). Literature acts as both windows and mirrors for students (Bishop, 1990); seeing yourself and seeing others within resources.
Teacher librarians can make a positive impact through proactive collection management policies that mirror the diversity within their own communities (Booth & Narayan, 2018). Diversity covers many areas including race, culture, ability, sexual preference or identity, religion, gender, and class. School libraries need books with characters who look like the diversity present in the student population, but also need books with relatable characters who are like students elsewhere in the world (Jorgenson & Burress, 2020). I reintroduced the Premier’s Reading Challenge (NSW Department of Education, 2023) to the College and has been very successful. The challenge encourages students to read widely and the booklist is a useful selection aid for teacher librarians with rich texts appealing to a wide range of readers. Throughout this course I have a gained an understanding of how selection aids such as the Schools Catalogue Information Service (SCIS) (Schools Catalogue Information Service, n.d.) database, Magpies magazine (Magpies, n.d.), and Kirkus Reviews (Kirkus Reviews, n.d.) can inform purchases for the collection. I have greater confidence with deselecting resources and weeding and can provide research and literature to support my decisions. I can seek advice from fellow teachers as part of the decision-making process (Galimi, 2022).
I’ve grappled with a few issues throughout the course. Fiction themes can be potentially triggering due to life experiences or trauma. In the school I work in, students experiences can involve domestic violence, resistance to LGBTQ+, war with neighbouring countries in their homeland causing extreme difficulties with parents/carers and fiction. I have a heightened awareness now, realising the reader response arises from their lived experience, perspective (Galimi, 2023).
While I unequivocally support the IFLA/UNESCO School Library Manifesto 1999 (International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions, n.d.)and Australian School Library Association Bill of Rights (Australian School Library Association, 2018), the faith-based school I work for uses an exemption which limits the library collection. As per my discussion post in the main forum, to determine how faith-based schools were able to censor their collections (Galimi, 2022b), Krystal Gagen-Spriggs stated the censorship occurs based on the ‘values’ of the school’ (Gagen-Spriggs, 2022). Teacher librarians in this predicament can find themselves in a difficult place, following directives yet disappointingly having a collection that is not representative of the real world around them.
I’ve also struggled with the issue of concerns with author authenticity and accuracy (Short, 2018) telling a story that belongs to someone from another culture, can the nuances be correct of someone in that lived experience? Heiss states that writers are writing about people, and they must find the balance between including Indigenous characters and avoiding tokenism recommending strategies such as reading widely, researching thoroughly, open communication and respecting diversity (Case, 2014). However, this article was almost 10 years ago and I wonder if her opinion has changed? Susan Coxsge (2021) highlighted the importance for teacher librarians to continually update their knowledge of best practice, checking shelves to identify how effectively the perspectives of First Nations people were being presented. Looking for the date of publication, dedications on title pages, references to nomadic people, generalisation, and attitudes to resistance identified books to be removed and gaps in the collection to adequately reflect the viewpoints and experiences of First Nations people.
References
Allington, R. L., & Gabriel, R. E. (2012). Every child, every day. Educational Leadership, 69(6), 10x.
Australian School Library Association. (2018). Policy statement—School library bill of rights. https://asla.org.au/resources/Documents/Website%20Documents/Policies/Bill%20of%20Rights_2018.pdf
Case, J. (2014, November 4). “Getting it Right”: Anita Heiss on indigenous characters. The Wheeler Centre. https://www.wheelercentre.com/wlr-articles/221927959a6b/
Charles Sturt University. (n.d.). ETL402 literature across the curriculum (8). Charles Sturt University. Retrieved September 16, 2023, from http://www.csu.edu.au/handbook/subjects/ETL402.html
Galimi, J. (2022, June 6). Reflective practice: ETL503. Teacher + Librarian. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/thelearningteacherlibrarian/2022/06/06/reflective-practice-etl-503/
Galimi, J. (2023, January 20). Reflection etl402. Teacher + Librarian. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/thelearningteacherlibrarian/2023/01/20/reflection-etl402/
Gallagher, K. (2009). Readicide how schools are killing reading and what you can do about it. Stenhouse Publishers.
International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions. (n.d.). IFLA/UNESCO school library manifesto 1999. International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions. Retrieved September 16, 2023, from https://www.ifla.org/publications/ifla-unesco-school-library-manifesto-1999/
Janet Mg [@teacherlibrarianjanet]. (2022, February 23). “Let’s talk genrefication! While it was daunting at first and a huge undertaking, recategorising the young adult fiction section into [Photograph]. Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/p/CaUXYF_BbGn/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
Janet Mg [@teacherlibrarianjanet]. (2022a, March 17). “Let’s talk about the premier’s reading challenge! A great way for students to read widely and participate with students across the [Photograph]. Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/p/CbNHekIh2T0/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
Janet Mg [@teacherlibrarianjanet]. (2022b, November 5). “Why read? Research has shown that students who read for pleasure will most likely have greater overall academic success compared [Photograph]. Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/p/CbNHekIh2T0/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
Janet Mg [@teacherlibrarianjanet]. (2022c, October 25). “Weeding 101 – no, not gardening! It is teacher librarian speak for getting rid of books that meet a criteria such as: 🥀 Factually incorrect [Photograph]. Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/p/CkIi7YhBBzz/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
Janet Mg [@teacherlibrarianjanet]. (2023, January 22). “Where will you go in your next fiction book? 📖
To look in a mirror 🪞through the window 🪟 or sliding door 🚪? [Photograph]. Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/p/CnryAbBB6-z/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
Jorgenson, S., & Burress, R. (2020). Analyzing the diversity of a high school library collection. Knowledge Quest, 48(5), 48–53.
Kirkus Reviews. (n.d.). Kirkus Reviews. Kirkus Reviews. Retrieved September 15, 2023, from https://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Krashen, S. D. (2004). The power of reading: Insights from the research (2nd ed). Libraries Unlimited ; Heinemann.
Magpies. (n.d.). Magpies Magazine – Sample Reviews – Magpies. Magpies. Retrieved September 15, 2023, from https://magpies.net.au/magpies-sample-reviews/
Mar, R. A., Oatley, K., & Peterson, J. B. (2009). Exploring the link between reading fiction and empathy: Ruling out individual differences and examining outcomes. COMM, 34(4), 407–428. https://doi.org/10.1515/COMM.2009.025
NSW Department of Education. (2023, September 16). 2024 premier’s reading challenge. NSW Premier’s Reading Challenge; Department of Education and Training NSW. https://online.det.nsw.edu.au/prc/home.html
Saikaly, J. (2019). Barker College Library: An ecosystem for reading. Access (Caulfield East), 33(1), 12–19.
Scholastic. (2019). Finding their story: Navigate the world (7th edition; Kids & Family Reading Report). Scholastic. https://www.scholastic.com/readingreport/navigate-the-world.html
Schools Catalogue Information Service. (n.d.). Welcome to scis. Schools catalogue information service. Retrieved September 15, 2023, from http://www.scisdata.com/
Schwering, S. C., Ghaffari-Nikou, N. M., Zhao, F., Niedenthal, P. M., & MacDonald, M. C. (2021). Exploring the relationship between fiction reading and emotion recognition. Affective Science, 2(2), 178–186. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42761-021-00034-0
Short, K. G. (2018). What’s trending in children’s literature and why it matters. Language Arts, 95(5), 287–298. https://doi.org/10.58680/la201829584
Susan Coxsge. (2021). Reviewing a school library: Some practical approaches to checking first nations content. FYI (Richmond, Vic.), 25(3), 18–19.
Wu, Y., & Samuels, S. J. (2004, May). How the amount of time spent on independent reading affects reading achievement. Annual convention of the International Reading Association, Reno, Nevada.
Teacher Librarian Janet 
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