Here at long last is my hit. I planned to post it earlier, but I live in the
neighborhood where the rabbi who was killed along with his wife and so many others
in the Mumbai terrorist attacks grew up (our families are friends, and he and his
siblings grew up with our kids). It's been a tough few days, but it's time to move
on and bring some sense of normalcy back into our lives.
I don't think an article on cooperation is going to be your answer. You have some
serious personal PR to do. I would start by going to the principal and gently
explaining to her that you feel "left out of the loop" and request that you be
given notice of events that involve the entire faculty, or that deal with
curriculum areas in which you might contribute some expertise. I wouldn't be
surprized, though, if she replied that you could read the notice in the lounge like
anyone else. Since your working relationship is already less than cordial, It's
going to be very difficult to change her perception of what you do.
Do you have a close friend on the faculty? If so, ask that person to be your eyes
and ears and keep you informed of meetings that you should attend. Once you start
showing up and contributing in a meaningful way, they may start inviting you.It's
also time to do some soul-searching. Is there anything about you or your attitude
that may have contributed to this situation? There must be some reason she feels
the way she does. Maybe she resents the fact that, as a teacher, she had long
hours of lesson preparation and papers to grade, not to mention all the record
keeping teachers are required to do each year. She probably has no idea that your
job requirements are just as strenuous, however different they may be.
Perhaps as a principal she will be involved in evaluating either your library or
your job performance. In either case, she's going to have to become more familiar
with what you do.
I'm lucky to have had a very good situation for the past 15 years and am looking
forward to retiring after this year; however, I've had difficult positions in the
past and this much I can tell you: nothing stays the same. The makeup of the
faculty will change over time, and if your principal is ambitious, perhaps she will
move on to a different position. All you can do is your best and try not to let
the rest bother you too much.
There is a lot of information/data on the topic of collaboration. I took a
graduate course last summer so I have a large binder of information. Here are a
couple of my favorites:
Hartzell, Gary.
Why Should Principals Support School Libraries?
ERIC Digest 11/2002. ERIC Identifier: ED470034
Harrison, Rebecca F.
Administrator's Perspective: The school library: the edducational extension.
Teacher Librarian, February 2004, Volume 31 #3
Do you have access to EBSCO? I've had to read literally dozens ofarticles on
collaboration and the importance of the librarian as amember of the
curriculum/instructional team. I'm perceived as awarehouse manager and someone who
checks out books all day. Even thoughadministrators, teachers and even those in
central administration seethe library program in the old way, I refuse to accept
that perception:). My principal constantly tells me, "I know you're
underutilized".It's difficult to do much else when you don't have a library
aide,though...
There is a really good article in Education Digest Mar2008, Vol. 73 Issue 7,
p17-20, 4p
that discusses what highly qualified librarians should be doing along the lines of
collaboration.
School Libraries in Canada (Online) v. 25 no. 2 (2005) p. 6-71 has aspecial edition
on this issue. It is online so you should be able tofind the articles.
here are two quotes from the two articles i used in a library newsletterlast year
It is often “assumed that because students know how to accessinformation that is
free and electronically available, they also havethe ability to find, select,
organize, and use relevant informationsources.” (Macklin) “High school students,
in spite of their bravado, are not experiencedresearchers. While seemingly rewarded
by the number of hits theyreceive, students often get frustrated and end up
resorting to surfingfrom one site to another in hopes of discovering that one
nugget.”(Scott) Macklin, Alexius Smith. “Integrating information literacy
usingproblem-based learning.” Reference Services Review. 2001: 306-313.Periodical
Abstracts <newfirstsearch.oclc.org>. Scott, Thomas J. and Michael K. O’Sullivan.
“Analyzing studentsearch strategies: making a case for integrating information
literacyskills into the curriculum.” Teacher Librarian. October 2005:
21-25.Expanded Academic ASAP <infotrac.galegroup.com>.
I teach an online course about this subject. Here are some resources:
1. Teachers and Librarians: A Collaborative Relationship
https://uwstout.courses.wisconsin.edu/d2l/lms/content/preview.d2l?tId=3559829&d2l_stateGroups=search~grid~gridpagenum~treestategroup&d2l_stateScopes=OrgUnitSession~GridPageNum~Search~PageNum%5EOrgUnitUser~LCS~TreeStateGroup%5EUser~Grid~PageSize~HtmlEditor~HPG&d2l_statePageId=309&d2l_state_search=contentSearch~false~~~~3%5EcontentSearch_ex~0~3%5EsearchTypeModules~1~True%5EsearchTypeTopics~1~True%5EsearchTopicTypeCourseFile~1~True%5EsearchTopicTypeSCO~1~True%5EsearchTopicTypeQuicklink~1~True%5EincludeWithoutRestrictions~1~True%5EincludeDateTimeRestricted~1~True%5EincludeConditionalReleased~1~True%5EincludeHiddenContent~1~True&d2l_state_grid=gridContent~0~~Asc~~0&d2l_state_gridpagenum=gridContent_pgN~0&d2l_state_treestategroup=gridContent_tree~&ou=717088
2.Why Should Principals Support School Libraries
https://uwstout.courses.wisconsin.edu/d2l/lms/content/preview.d2l?tId=3559829&d2l_stateGroups=search~grid~gridpagenum~treestategroup&d2l_stateScopes=OrgUnitSession~GridPageNum~Search~PageNum%5EOrgUnitUser~LCS~TreeStateGroup%5EUser~Grid~PageSize~HtmlEditor~HPG&d2l_statePageId=309&d2l_state_search=contentSearch~false~~~~3%5EcontentSearch_ex~0~3%5EsearchTypeModules~1~True%5EsearchTypeTopics~1~True%5EsearchTopicTypeCourseFile~1~True%5EsearchTopicTypeSCO~1~True%5EsearchTopicTypeQuicklink~1~True%5EincludeWithoutRestrictions~1~True%5EincludeDateTimeRestricted~1~True%5EincludeConditionalReleased~1~True%5EincludeHiddenContent~1~True&d2l_state_grid=gridContent~0~~Asc~~0&d2l_state_gridpagenum=gridContent_pgN~0&d2l_state_treestategroup=gridContent_tree~&ou=717088
3. Heart of the School by Angela Pascopella, article from District Administrator
Magazine
https://uwstout.courses.wisconsin.edu/d2l/lms/content/preview.d2l?tId=3559829&d2l_stateGroups=search~grid~gridpagenum~treestategroup&d2l_stateScopes=OrgUnitSession~GridPageNum~Search~PageNum%5EOrgUnitUser~LCS~TreeStateGroup%5EUser~Grid~PageSize~HtmlEditor~HPG&d2l_statePageId=309&d2l_state_search=contentSearch~false~~~~3%5EcontentSearch_ex~0~3%5EsearchTypeModules~1~True%5EsearchTypeTopics~1~True%5EsearchTopicTypeCourseFile~1~True%5EsearchTopicTypeSCO~1~True%5EsearchTopicTypeQuicklink~1~True%5EincludeWithoutRestrictions~1~True%5EincludeDateTimeRestricted~1~True%5EincludeConditionalReleased~1~True%5EincludeHiddenContent~1~True&d2l_state_grid=gridContent~0~~Asc~~0&d2l_state_gridpagenum=gridContent_pgN~0&d2l_state_treestategroup=gridContent_tree~&ou=717088
4. The School Librarian Bolsters Achievement by Reaching Out to Teachers and
Students
https://uwstout.courses.wisconsin.edu/d2l/lms/content/preview.d2l?tId=3559829&d2l_stateGroups=search~grid~gridpagenum~treestategroup&d2l_stateScopes=OrgUnitSession~GridPageNum~Search~PageNum%5EOrgUnitUser~LCS~TreeStateGroup%5EUser~Grid~PageSize~HtmlEditor~HPG&d2l_statePageId=309&d2l_state_search=contentSearch~false~~~~3%5EcontentSearch_ex~0~3%5EsearchTypeModules~1~True%5EsearchTypeTopics~1~True%5EsearchTopicTypeCourseFile~1~True%5EsearchTopicTypeSCO~1~True%5EsearchTopicTypeQuicklink~1~True%5EincludeWithoutRestrictions~1~True%5EincludeDateTimeRestricted~1~True%5EincludeConditionalReleased~1~True%5EincludeHiddenContent~1~True&d2l_state_grid=gridContent~0~~Asc~~0&d2l_state_gridpagenum=gridContent_pgN~0&d2l_state_treestategroup=gridContent_tree~&ou=717088
Something for you to read for yourself:
Reaching the Reluctant Teacher by Jamie Mackenzie
http://www.fno.org/sum99/reluctant.html
“The library media centers are truly the ‘hub’ of the school. It is the one place
in school where all students go at some time and the welcome mat is always
out.”—Dr. Steve Wisely, Medford, Oregon School Superintendent
Basya Karp, Librarian
Shulamith High School and Shulamith School For Girls
Brooklyn, New York
basyak10@hotmail.com
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