Distance Education Opportunity Promotes School Librarianship
Lynn Wisniewski
Issue Contents
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Library Technicians are employed by many Canadian school boards. They have commonly worked at the board level providing technical services to schools including the cataloguing and processing of school library materials. More recently, Library Technicians have been called upon to play a role in the provision of library services at the school level. In order to address this change, one community college responded with the creation of an elective course in the Library and Information Technician Diploma Program.
Mohawk College of Applied Arts and Technology in Hamilton , Ontario has been offering the School Libraries course to distance education students since January 2003. The course manual, some 170 pages, was written by Margaret Hodgins and Nancy Porteous in 2002. At the time, Margaret and Nancy both worked as Librarians for the Waterloo Catholic District School Board. As Nancy explains,
“In my experience with the WCDSB, it seemed like there was a real need for a course for library technicians in school settings. Dolores [Program Manager, Mohawk College ] was very enthusiastic about adding such a course to the Mohawk curriculum and so Margaret and I set about pulling it all together.”
Since its first offering, more than 155 students have completed the School Libraries course.
The course’s learning outcomes include:
An understanding of the issues and identification of the unique features of the school library
The exploration of the functional areas of school libraries including collection development, programming and reference services, funding and budgeting, the internet and technology, and human resources management strategies
An awareness of how the school library fits into the larger school institution and how it differs from other types of libraries
The application of the skills needed to fully manage services and collections within the school library
Students who have enrolled in the course live and work in various communities across the country. They bring to the course various levels and ranges of school library experience. From Teacher-Librarians looking to broaden skills and knowledge, to first-time students exploring school librarianship, to seasoned Library Technicians currently working in school library settings; all benefit from the multitude of student perspectives. The breadth and depth of variations in our school libraries across Canada resound in the knowledge and experience these students bring to the course.
According to Harms Penner,
“One of the benefits of the course is that it serves two markets: those who only want to come and take that individual course from the college (since the course has no prerequisites, this is possible), and those who take it as an elective course as part of the full Library and Information Technician Diploma. In my opinion it has served to inspire some students from the first group to take our entire program, as it created interest for them in learning more about the world of library and information work.”
As a distance education course, students taking School Libraries are required to submit various assignments and exercises. Scheduled online “chats” with the course instructor and other students in the class provide a forum for a real-time connection to ask questions, discuss school library issues and scenarios, and reinforce concepts and information covered in the course manual. Students seem to enjoy the online learning environment that basically allows them to study and learn at their own pace, all the while knowing that guidance from the instructor and collaboration with classmates are only an email message away.
Perhaps the waters are murky when considering the role of Library Technicians in school libraries. Many people express concern that Library Technicians are not qualified to work there. However, the fact remains that for some school boards and private schools, Library Technicians, if not parent volunteers, are the only staff they have working in the school library to ensure students and teachers have access to quality resources that support the curriculum. The development of the School Libraries course at Mohawk College was a timely and necessary response to trends in the Canadian workplace. It is hoped that students who successfully complete the course are empowered with skills and information that will help them serve our young learners.
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ISSN 1710-8535 School Libraries in Canada Online
