Commentary, Volume 15 Issue 1, March 2001

Anne Lloyd and Marion Bannister

Partners in the educational process or slaves to the date due stamp? Perceptions of the role of the librarian in education.This paper has been adapted for Access from an article published in Australian Academic Research Libraries (1999).

The educational role of the librarian is generally poorly understood or not acknowledged by teachers and management in the educational environment. Particular reference is made to the role of TAFE librarians, although parallels are drawn with university and teacher librarians in the compulsory education arena. The librarian's role is often perceived by these groups to be a service role, which centres on the efficient administration of the library. The failure of librarians to articulate their educational role has marginalised the librarian's contribution to teaching and learning. A future role encompassing re-engineered service and educational roles for the TAFE librarian in the digital age is suggested.

Introduction

Three elements define and constitute the professional role of librarians regardless of which sector they are employed. Broadly defined, these roles may be categorised as the service, management and educational role. These roles are interdependent and a factor in their successful execution depends upon an understanding of how each role interacts with the other.

Two of these, the service and management roles, are generally well understood by librarians, their clients, management and people outside the profession. The service and management roles are understood because they are generally observable and fit personal and professional perceptions of what librarians do. The successes of these roles have tangible outcomes such as balanced budgets, and clients who have been information satisfied.

The educational role is less tangible. Educational outcomes from library based activities are difficult to measure and hard to observe. In an educational context such as a school, university or TAFE college, the value of this role may only be evident to the recipient of the librarian's support. Yet, it is the educational role, which underpins the service and management aspects of librarianship. It is indeed the reason for the existence of libraries in educational organisations. It is this role which is critical to the successful achievement of lifelong learning skills for clients who use educational libraries.

This paper seeks to address three key questions:

1. Does the perception of the librarian's role by our colleagues and people from outside the profession match the reality of what librarians actually do?
2. Why is the educational role of the librarian marginalised, misunderstood, undervalued and generally not acknowledged by our teaching colleagues and those outside the profession?
3. What do we think should be done about these problems?

Perceptions of the educational role of the librarian

Our view is that library clients, teaching staff and educational administrators often have a very different perception of the role of the librarian in educational settings than librarians themselves. Parallels exist between perceptions of the roles of the librarian at schools, TAFE and university. In all these sectors, it is the service role, because of its high visibility and focus of much evaluation, which is acknowledged and better understood by other educational professionals. Perceptions of the teacher librarian's role by the school executive, teachers and administrative staff correlate with perceptions of the librarian's role expressed in other educational sectors. Role clarification and the need to be proactive in promoting the role are issues in the field of teacher librarianship as they are elsewhere.

Teacher librarians

Research conducted by Hartzell (1997), Edwards (1989), and Houghton, Poston-Anderson and Todd (1998) support this view and demonstrates the need for teacher librarians to become professionally visible and vocal in their workplaces, in order to address the misaligned perceptions of other colleagues and clients. Hartzell (1997) attributes lack of recognition of the teacher librarian within schools to the failure of school librarians to articulate and promote the 'value and educational potential of libraries and librarians' and the contribution they make to the educational success of students. As with other educational institutions, the library is not a peripheral resource, but the centre of the educational universe. Librarians must proactively build their profiles and influence with other educational professionals in order to maximise the value of the library, its resources and services to its clients. As Hartzell (1997: 26) puts it, 'You can't win recognition until you convince people that the library is not a peripheral resource that can be done without, but a necessary component of a quality school'.

The perception of the teacher librarian's role by school principals was examined in Edward's survey (1989). The survey concluded that, for change to occur, teacher librarians would have to become more proactive and effective in communicating their role to the principal and the wider school community. In general, principals believed that teacher librarians spent little of their time on library research and information skills development and felt that they should spend more. Teacher librarians, however, responded that they in fact spent half their available time in research and skill development with students.

The method used by principals to find out what the librarian does was observation (Edwards 1989). The visibility and evidence of the service role in materials selection, processing and obtaining resources for teachers rate more highly in the survey results than the apparently less visible role of instruction. Edwards study also identified that teacher librarians who formally communicated with principals were rated more highly than those who did not. Edwards (1989: 31) concludes that:

 

 

Principals' perceptions of librarians and school library programs begin with their first school library experiences as students, and continue with their own experiences in using libraries as teachers and in dealing with librarians as administrators. Good or bad these experiences colour their perceptions and influence their expectation.

The net result of differing perceptions between librarians and their administrators about the role of the librarian is that the role of the librarian, in general, has become marginalised and undervalued. In too many educational organisations librarians are seen to have a lesser professional status in an educational context than other educators within the same institution. Linked to the misalignment of perception problem is one of a perceived image of the librarian.

No solutions to the problem of the negative image that haunt librarians has been posed in the literature despite some 117 items on the topic being examined by Houghton, Poston-Anderson, and Todd (1999). The negative image of librarians (Todd 1999) is tied inextricably to the service ethic and in our view also the wider service role. Concluding his Commentary in Access, Todd (1999: 10) poses some challenges to the teacher librarian:

The challenge relates to both conceptualising the role of the teacher librarian in terms of empowering and transforming learning through connecting with, interacting with, and utilising information, and ensuring this rhetoric is made reality and visible in the day-by-day practice... Our information enablings and information doings have to clearly and explicitly link to empowering learning in all its facets.

We would argue that this challenge should also be extended to librarians in other educational settings.

In the same edition of Access, Hartzell (1999) also suggests excellent initiatives that the teacher librarian should consider to better position the library in the school establishment. Later in this article we take up the challenge Todd extends to the profession by proposing initiatives and behaviours which the TAFE librarian might adopt. This might also be of relevance to our colleagues in schools.

We believe that the perception of the educational role played by librarians in schools as being peripheral and secondary to the service role is not restricted to this sector. Librarians in TAFE colleges suffer the same perceptual fate.

TAFE college librarians

Historically, the role of the librarian within the TAFE college was regarded as having limited value when seen in the educational context of students' learning a trade or applied course. Generally, these courses were not inquiry based and required little critical thinking. Teachers of trade courses filtered and controlled information to students. Consequently, libraries were resourced and staffed at levels, which effectively failed to provide scope for librarians to establish or develop educational programs. However, from the mid-70s on, successive reports (Kangan 1974, Finn 1982, Mayer 1992) focused on the move beyond trade courses towards broader educational fields. These reports provided the impetus for college librarians to move away from a service support role towards a more educational one in order for the new teaching and learning methodologies to be successful.

An educational role for TAFE librarians was clearly identified in the following statement in the Mayer Report (1992) which focused on students developing one of the critical competencies. Mayer (1992: 17) stated that

 

 

The ability to access and organise information is crucial to continuing education and training and development of competence. Competence in collecting, analysing and organising information is central to all acquisition of knowledge and skills.

Within the context of these reports, scope was created for librarians to refocus and balance their roles from service provision to include their professional participation in the educational process.

However our experience shows us that the acceptance of this role is far from established within the TAFE system and the role that librarians play in the development and delivery of information literacy programs is generally considered by teachers and administrators to be outside the educational mainstream. This is largely due to the perception by teachers and administrators of the librarian's role as a resource and service provider, and the failure by librarians to articulate and promote their educational role satisfactorily. These factors inhibit the creation of educational partnerships between librarians and teachers, which further impedes the librarian's involvement in the educational process.

A survey by Miller (1995) of Queensland TAFE teachers and librarians showed that the perceptions of the role of the librarian differed between the two groups and there was no clear consensus between librarians and teachers regarding the librarian's role in TAFE. Generally, teachers viewed the librarian's role as a service role, resource provision and support being the main contribution that librarians could make to learning support in Queensland TAFE. The educational role of librarians in providing information literacy and other educational programs within the context of course delivery was not perceived by teachers to be an important one.

Librarians, on the other hand, viewed their primary role to be centred in education and training with an emphasis on information literacy instruction and curriculum development. The service role of acquiring and maintaining resources was rated last by librarians. Miller (1995: 56) quotes a librarian respondent who identified the principal role as:

 

 

... educational and resource professionals with input into curriculum planning, resourcing and delivery; responsibility for information literacy skills; responsibility for resource provision within budget constraints....

University librarians

The marginalisation of the educational role of the librarian is not solely confined to school and TAFE librarians as is illustrated in studies of university librarians' roles. Librarians in universities also suffer from the failure of academic staff to fully understand this role. This misunderstanding is often compounded by the failure of librarians to fully articulate what their educational role is.

American studies by Cook (1981), and Divay, Ducas & Michaud-Oystrk (1994) on the perception of the librarian's role concluded that the service function of librarianship was perceived as the most important because it was the most visible. In the Divay, Ducas & Michaud-Oystrk (1994) study, librarians were not viewed as contributing to the overall educational process of the university. An interesting result of the survey was the correlation between the level of education of the academic respondents and the degree of the librarian's interaction with academic staff. The study found that as academic status advanced (eg from instructor, lecturer, associate professor, to professor) there were more interactions with the librarian and, accordingly, the perception of the librarian's role changed. Academics with the rank of professor valued the librarian most, instructors the least. What is not clear from this study, however, was whether it was the librarian's educational role that came to be more valued, or the service provision role (Divay, Ducas, & Michaud-Oystrk 1987: 29).

Librarians as partners in the educational process

The above review of research indicates that the perception of the librarian's role does not match the reality of what librarians actually do. This is particularly evident in the education sector at all levels.

The rapid increase and adoption of technology by librarians and the integration of flexible delivery methods as an educational choice has provided librarians with a golden opportunity to redefine their service role and provide a much more proactive client-centred educational role. Certainly TAFE librarians have expanded and will continue to expand their educational role to include active participation in information and technological literacy skill development programs in collaboration with specialist content teachers as they view the development of these skills as vital to the success of flexible delivery programs.

Our own observations indicate that TAFE librarians generally adopt new technology early and will continue to play a significant role in testing new technologies for their colleges. They will extend their role as facilitators or mediators between technology-based resources and students and staff members. TAFE libraries often provide the venue for the first interaction between a technologically non-literate person and the technology in its various forms.

Hence, librarians play a key role in introducing resources to new users through previously unused technology. In this way, new users overcome the barriers presented by new technology through the mediated support of the librarian.

Librarians in course development teams add value to the quality of the resources used in the development of teaching resources and thereby enhance online instruction. This comes from the librarians being skilled in resource selection and evaluation and generally being high-end users of cutting edge information technology. Anderson (1999) argues that librarians should have a distinct role in course development and teaching para-professional library staff in the college. This adds another dimension to the educational role of librarians.

Going, going, gone... the service provider!

Librarians are reacting against the stereotypes of them as solely service providers as research by McLaren (1997) and Murphy (1997) suggests. In a proactive move towards establishing their educational role, librarians throughout the educational sectors are beginning to articulate and promote their skills in information literacy support to students who are studying conventionally as well as those using flexible modes.

Murphy's (1997) study for the LEARN network of South Australia supports this assumption. It focused on the role of librarians in providing information literacy instruction (as a prerequisite) for students who are studying courses online. The results of this survey suggest that the number of VET courses being offered online is increasing and as a consequence it will become increasingly important for librarians to be involved in the support of online users. Murphy identified this support as teaching information literacy skills and developing student's computer literacy skills.

Librarians also need to be more active in collaborating with teachers in curriculum and course planning. A reinvented future service role, which is starting to blur and merge the service and educational role of librarians, will include the development of online instruction and could include self-paced tutorials, Internet guides and vocational education and training subject guides to evaluated Internet sites. An example of this is the TAFE NSW Study Links Web site (http://www.tafensw.edu.au/library/studylinks/), which was developed and is maintained as a cooperative venture by librarians across the NSW TAFE Libraries Network. Librarians are also starting to explore new technologies as a means of teaching remote students information literacy skills.

By organising digital libraries, databases and library catalogues with simple, consistent user interfaces, today's librarian is organising and improving client access to information. Information then becomes available twenty-four hours a day and can be accessed from a range of sites: from the desktop, at home or in the classroom, computer laboratory or library.

It is our view that the future role of librarians does depend on how well librarians are able to proactively market their well-developed and demonstrated professional skills. They must vigorously articulate and promote their educational contribution and enhanced service and technological roles in forums outside the library profession, especially to college management and teaching colleagues.

It's about image

To come back to the questions posed in the introduction to this paper we maintain that the educational role of the librarian is misunderstood, undervalued and unacknowledged by colleagues and those outside the profession.

Consequently, the perception of the librarian's role does not match the reality of what librarians actually do. Librarians can and do play an important educational role. By demonstrating their broad range of skills in the delivery of information literacy and technology programs, librarians provide a platform from which their educational role can be more easily distinguished from their service role.

However, the current stereotype of the librarian role restricts she or he from becoming a stakeholder in new educational initiatives. To gain acceptance and acknowledgement of the educational role from the wider community, librarians must proactively articulate and promote their skills and contribution to the development of students' lifelong learning skills and educational outcomes.

References
Australian Committee on Technical and Further Education. (1974). TAFE in Australia: report on the needs in technical and further education. Volume 1 AGPS (Kangan Report) Canberra.

Australian Education Council Review Committee. (1991). Young people's participation in post compulsory education and training. Canberra: AGPS (Finn Review)

Australian Council Mayer Committee. (1992). Putting general education to work: the key competencies report. Report to the Australian Council and Ministers of Vocational Education, Employment and Training (Mayer Report) Canberra: NBEET.

Cook M. (1981). Rank status and contribution for academic librarians as perceived by teaching faculty at Southern Illinois University. College and Research Libraries. 42: 214-23.

Divay G., Ducas A. and Michaud-Oystryk N. (1987). Faculty perceptions of librarians at the University of Manitoba. College and Research Libraries. 48: 27-31.

Edwards K. (1989). Principals' perceptions of librarians: a survey. School Library Journal. January 35(5): 28-31.

Hartzel G. (1997). The invisible school librarian: why other educators are blind to your value (Part 1). School Library Journal 1: 26.

Hartzel G. (1999). Being pro-active. Access 13(4): 11-15.

Todd R. (1999). On libraries, librarians and the service ethic: old habits die hard. Access. 13(4): 10.

Houghton J., Poston-Anderson B. & Todd R. (1998). From obsession to power: changing the face of librarians. In Adelaide 98 Pathways to knowledge. Australian Library and Information Association 5th Biennial Conference and Exhibition, 25-28th October 1998. Conference Proceedings. Canberra: ALIA pp. 313-318.

McLaren B. (1997). Information skills: the key to tomorrow today. In TAFE NSW Research Association Conference. Papers presented at 1997 Conference held at Sydney Institute of Technology. Ultimo Campus December 1997 pp. 174-181.

Murphy C. (1997). The virtual library: library support for on-line learners in the vocational education and training sector. [online] April 1998.
http://www.tafe.sa.edu.au/lsrsc/learn/learn.html

Miller W. (1995). TAFE teachers' and librarians' perceptions of the role of Queensland TAFE libraries. Unpublished M.(App.Sci.) LIM Thesis. Wagga Wagga, Charles Sturt University.

TAFE NSW Study Links
http://www.tafensw.edu.au/library/studylinks/ [online] September 2000