3 Perspectives Of the Teacher- Librarian

As I was reading about the 3 perspectives on the role of the teacher librarian by Herring,  Lamb and Johnson, and  Purcell it became obvious that they pointed to a T-L with a multifaceted  position. A major difference is where they place their priorities

Herring puts learning 1st and foremost above resources.  He emphasises placing the T-L within the constructivist theory of learning. Teaching and embedding information literacy into the role is imperative.  We are as our title suggests teachers first.

Lamb and Johnson's  model seems to put technology above teaching. They give lip service to focusing on the curriculum, but it is in relation to developing and supporting technology. Even the title of the role has morphed into “school library media specialist". They  also, like Herring  describe someone wearing many hats.

Purcell, again uses the American term media specialist, yet is clear that teaching is an important part of their role. In fact, when she breaks the position down into 5 roles,  Teacher is clearly one of them. The responsibilities that she places on the TLs   are quite thorough.

After the readings it made it clear that the role of the teacher librarian at my school needs to change. Although some of the responsibilities that the authors put forward are being implemented  there is still much to do to keep library viable and relevant. Much of this change may have to wait until the  end of this year's study, but it is an exciting prospect. And daunting!

Overload

Am a couple of weeks into my Teacher Librarian course and finding that there is a plethora of information and resources.
I find it is easy to be engrossed in all the technology. I can no longer just rely on hardcopy. I am having to make decisions on how to take and store notes. Am still using pen and paper, but have also downloaded apps to annotate, convert to PDF and store my notes. Being an incredibly inept user of the keyboard (that is, a slow typer) I have even installed a speech recognition dictation program.
These however are issues that many of our students will also face as they become more involved in this new age of learning. 
It's a steep learning curve.