General Management

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  Twenty-first-century kids, twenty-first-century librarians by Virginia A. Walter (ALA, 2009, 104 p., $_____, ISBN: 9780838910078)

  The title of this book is a misnomer. It should be aimed at children’s librarians, mostly for those serving in public libraries. Since this reviewer has spent the past three years coming to grips with the current foundational ideas of school libraries and their future, I was interested to read a major author’s analysis of what needs to happen now with an eye forward. Walter recognizes major trends are happening around us but pursues the path of incremental change and instructing the reader to develop management and leadership skills. Such a message, I think, ignores the major change in the clientele of both school and public libraries and the need to march boldly into the world where the client is rather than responding slowly and carefully. In another decade, it will be interesting to see which philosophy has been sustainable over time. It may be true that the more things change, the more they remain the same. For libraries, like General Motors, I don’t think the incremental change position is an appropriate one. The bottom line is, of course, the teacher librarian on the front lines and that fork in the road which w all seem to be facing.

   

• A Teacher's Guide to Change: Understanding, Navigating, and Leading the Process by Jan Stivers and Sharon F. Cramer (Corwin Press, 2009, 154 p., $_____, ISBN: 1412964474)

  It is fascinating to watch a consensus begin to develop about how things need to change, but when the reality comes the reality. It is easy to watch others change as long as things don’t change for yourselves. Such is the topic of this book and the various chapters discuss the various theries out there and then offer a plan for building the organization step by step toward the development, acceptance, and the realities. These authors provide practical tips, but if you really want to preced an anticipated major shift, then read Michal Fullan’s The Six Steps of Change. As schools and school districts engage with Pres. Obama’s challenge of Race to the Top, the central element of that program is change. In any event, whether pursuing that goal or any other, these titles are important for the teacher librarian who envisions transforming the school library into a client-side organization. Doing 180 degree thinking is one thing, making it happen is quite another.

   

• Connecting young adults and libraries : a how-to-do-it manual by Michele Gorman and Tricia Sullentrop (Neal-Shuman, 2009, 389 p. plus CD, $___, ISBN: 9781555706654)

  Two excellent teen public librarians have combined their talents to produce a major and practical guide for interesting teens in libraries and their programming. The pair begin with the major ideas of teen services and understanding the teen as a human being (is that an oxymoron?) then covering ideas for working with the group, the collections to build, teaching them information literacy, booktalking, programming, space and promotion, using technology, involving the teens themselves in the services,  and ending with a chapter on issues that one is likely to encounter. This book is a likely candidate for a teen course in graduate library school and its value to teacher librarians is to understand ways that public librarians are likely to design their services so that the school library media program can fold into and address a comprehensive approach to this age group. The CD contains many usable forms and ideas for reproduction.

   

   

• The library PR handbook : high-impact communications edited by Mark R. Gould (ALA, 2009, 113 p., ISBN: 9780838910023)

  PR is terribly important in tough financial times well, at all times, but in the face of sweeping cuts, folks need to know and understand clearly what they are giving up. This collection of ideas and principles are good for the general library and are a part of the PR picture for teacher librarians. However, there is nothing here about the documentation of our impact on teaching and learning. The AASL resources on their web site make a start at this and the larger role of acvocacy. So, if you want to see some important general principles, this is a suitable approach. For teaching and learning, look elsewhere.

• Empowering learners : guidelines for school library media programs, by AASL (ALA, 2009, 65p., $39.95, ISBN: 6780838985199)

  Speaking of transitioning school library media programs, AASL has recently issued the companion document to its Learning Standards document published in 2007. Empowering Learners replaces the 1998 Information Power guidelines and has been in preparation for over two years. For a half century and over a number of editions of guidelines, teacher librarians have been constructing and reconstructing a role that they believed would place them at the heart of teaching and learning in the school. Such documents attempt not only to clarify but predict and outline a role that can be carried out in a decade or so into the future. This edition has some important foundational ideas that will make many professionals uncomfortable but must be faced if the profession is to survive. The first is the awareness that every teacher librarian must come to terms with the vast change in technology that must be mastered if professionals are going to remain relevant. We are impressed that the focus on technology is not the glitz of systems, tools, and networks, but squarely meeting the idea that teacher librarians must be experts in maximizing quality teaching and excellence in learning by exploiting the capabilities and opportunities technology tools provide. The second major notion is that collaborative co-teaching with classroom teachers is the ONLY way to deliver on the promise of impact of student achievement. No bird units, please. No quick library lessons taught in isolation of the classroom. No separate curriculum of just information literacy/research skills. No more teaching the location of information to a class and then sending them back to the classroom to complete their assignments and projects. Concentrating only on the joy of reading and research skills is not the point of view here. There are larger considerations of expanded literacy; an expanded role in the full process of inquiry from the planning clear through the assessment. Many are likely to read this expanded role as super human. The reader comes face to face with the idea that daily routines are not the routines of collection organization, maintenance, and circulation. The guidelines recognize that the virtual collection now surpasses exponentially the print collection making it possible to serve teachers and learners 24/7/365. There are major worries about equity, intellectual freedom and responsible use of information. The guidelines focus on the leadership skills necessary to move from outside the circle of teaching and learning that is so common, to the skills needed to pierce through the locked door of the classroom. We applaud the writing team for solidifying the centralized role of literacy, inquiry, and technology. We would have liked to see more radical thinking and an urgency to pursue change, but we think these guidelines stated the obvious message that this profession, if it is to survive, must aim for a central target and then let nothing get in the way of hitting the bull’s eye of excellence. Read and re-read this document over the summer. Think about its relationship to other major documents such as the Iste NETS, Route 21, IRA’s positions on expanded literacy, and 21st century learning skills. The vision is there and if we don’t meet it, others will take our place. That may seem a threat, yet it is the most fabulous opportunity this profession has had. As Vi Harada said in her recent book, “It is a journey worth leading.” Bottom line: Buy two copies; read and study one; have your principal read the other; and, sit down for a heart to heart talk.

   

• Write grants, get money, 2nd ed., by Cynthia Anderson and Kathi Knop (Linworth Books, 2009, 128 p.  plus CD ROM, $_____, ISBN: 9781586833039)

  A school administrator, former teacher librarian, and a teacher librarian team here to provide a very practical and targeted guide for obtaining grants for the school library/learning commons. Their approach is much more practical than Proposal planning & writing by Jeremy T. Miner and Lynn E. Miner reviewed in this same column. The Millar contribution is more general and actually more sophisticated than Anderson and Knop. The Millers have long experience and success at grant writing; we are uncertain about the success of the Anderson/Knop team. That said, the later guide is probably for beginners; the former for the more experienced but unsuccessful grant writer seeking to hone skills. Both would be even better, since the reader begins to understand the central ideas and can contrast conflicting advice. The CD accompanying the book contains sample grant proposals, sample funded grants, and a PowerPoint presentation by Gail Dickenson. Bottom line: Get all the advice you can and get writing!

   

• Closing the innovation gap : reigniting the spark of creativity in a global economy by Judy Estrin McGraw-Hill, 2009, 254 p. $27.95, ISBN: 9780071499873) Read this book immediately! Estrin is a major player in Silicon Valley and has taken the time to reflect on what innovation is, why our country is in trouble, long-term sustainability, and the factors that build and stimulate the innovation needed to push real progress. Yes, she is talking about the corporate world, but if you substitute education and school for national policy and innovative organization, then she does make a great deal of sense if you are trying to transform the school library and computer lab into a learning commons. She begins with an important model that describes the ecosystem of innovation as being: research development, and application. Can you see these three factors in inquiry where old bird units are replaced by high-think learning experiences?  Estrin sees the thre core processes as surrounded by education, policy, funding, leadership, and culture. In other words, for great learning experiences co-taught by teacher librarians and classroom teachers including teacher technologists or other specialists, an environment must be in place that encourages the central core of research, development, and application to take place. Thus, the recommendation that the learning commons of the school have an experimental learning center where innovation is not only encouraged but is developed and tested before it is applied to the school in general. Underlying all of this, Estrin explores six core values that must be held by innovators. These include: questioning, patience, trust, openness, and risk – all of which depend on each other to spur what she terms sustainable innovation – the kind that looks across years and decades, not at next week’s state test. This is one of the most important reads we have seen this past year – a major tool in our own reinvention as a school library and computer lab entity in any school.

• Creating the customer-driven academic library by Jeannette Woodward (ALA, 2009, 195 p., $58.00, ISBN: 9780838909768)Woodward concentrates on making the library a pleasant place with lots of professional assistance to visiting patrons. Little connections here to curriculum, instruction, collaboration or activism in teaching and learning. Not our cup of tea in an era when both school and academic librarians must reinvent themselves.

• A guide to co-teaching with paraeducators : practical tips for K-12 educators by Ann I. Nevin, Richard A. Villa, and Jacqueline S. Thousand (Corwin Press, 2009, 132 p., $_____, ISBN: 9781412957649) Paraeducators is a term used here for support personnel who participate under the direction of teachers in classroom instruction. In libraries, they often replace a professional and are supervised by a credentialed teacher librarian at the district level. In this model, mostly from the special education perspective, classroom teachers and paraeducators form a team to work together in a multi-adult classroom environment. Drawing on the native abilities of a paraeducator such as language fluency, subject knowledge, or human relations abilities, these paraeducators are included in professional development activities in order to become as contributive as possible to the teaching and learning going on in the classroom as possible. Many teachers appreciate help in the classroom and school districts that can afford them are attractive places to work. The major issues of parity in responsibility but disparity in wages, the temptation to raise class size/add paraeducators to the mix as a way of reducing costs, and conflect in roles are not addressed in this volume in sufficient detail but the authors do take a practical and best-case plan to maximize the talents of every adult as they work together. For teacher librarians who have support personnel, conflict over role is too common, particularly when both are working in warehouse tasks. This volume is worth reading for teacher librarians to re-assess how their own paraeducators, where present, are contributing to the idea of the emerging learning commons. We worry, of course, about paraeducators being substituted for professionals as a const cutting strategy and the general public not being sensitive to the difference if there really is one. Recommended background reading for professionals who supervise paraeducators.