The ALA-AASL-CAEP School Librarian Preparation Standards are certainly a great guide for school librarians K through 12 as they put these standards into everyday practice. I am thankful that I was given the opportunity to complete assignments that directly relate to and align with the five standards. This practice surely makes me feel more confident and prepared as I enter the school library profession. The first three standards feel especially important to being a school librarian and what that entails regarding delivering instruction to students and collaborating with other teachers.
Standard 1: The Learner and Learning
This standard is a big one as a school librarian also holds the title of a teacher. While school librarians typically see students across the entire school and not just a set number of students like core content area teachers, librarians still have to be mindful of all type of learners. This looks different depending on the school demographics and even class itself. Thankfully, creating lessons as a classroom teacher and even lessons for my MLIS program have better prepared me to account for things like learner diversity and learning differences. Many students face challenges when given an unmodified assignment and so librarians should be well aware of these challenges and be able to support students and make modifications for them. The lessons I created such as my collaborative lesson: listing liberties or my digital learning assignment were designed so that they could be differentiated if necessary. The digital learning assignment was highly interactive and designed to help engage students as they went through the activity. Creating lessons and activities that are impactful and engaging are also a big part of this standard, “candidates need to be aware of the climate they create in their school library. To ensure a positive learning environment, candidates create intentional, innovative, and engaging physical and virtual learning environments that meet best practices and guidelines for accessibility” (AASL, 2019, pg. 8).
Standard 2: Planning for Instruction
I feel that this standard aligns with the first one in that planning lessons, instruction, strategies, and assessments require the librarian to know their school community, both teachers and students. When planning for instruction the school librarian has to keep in mind what teacher they are collaborating with and then think about what instruction is best for that particular set of students. This standard is reflected in my paired text teachers guide and collaborative lesson. These two assignments required combining library skills and content knowledge/standards of learning. I am certain after working through these assignments that when it comes to planning for instruction, school librarians unequivocally become knowledgeable in many content areas and forms of assessment. I also think that a big part of this standard is feedback from students and teachers. As students are working through lessons and activities planned by a school librarian they can provide feedback at the end of the activity as to how things went throughout. This feedback in combination with some type of assessment will help the librarian to reflect on how things could be improved in that activity or lesson for other groups in the future.
Standard 3: Knowledge and Application of Content
This standard is super important for the 21st century school librarian. Schools have become increasingly dependent on technology and so the idea of information literacy and technology-enabled learning have grown in importance. Teaching students how to be responsible, but still critical users of information is highly necessary. This is a skill that students will take with them across grade levels and content areas. My digital learning assignment was created for sixth grade students to learn more about their digital footprint and how that can impact them. Integrating technology into lessons and activities for students ensures that they are technology literate, but is also a way to make things more engaging and interactive for students. Additionally, creating a digital pathfinder was a great way to put this standard into practice. I was able to curate resources of all types for a certain content area and grade level. Completing my pathfinder was great practical experience and combined many elements from the third standard. I am now confident that if another teacher were to ask me to create a pathfinder for them or even just to curate some print resources I would be able to do a great job.
Standard 4: Organization and Access
Being a librarian is a complex job that requires more than just planning, teaching, and collaborating with content area teachers on lessons. The school librarian also needs to upkeep a library of print resources, digital resources, and various other resources. The school library collection needs to be diverse, up to date, interesting, academic, and many other things while keeping one’s school population in mind. While I will inherit a collection of materials in the fall, it is my responsibility to go through the collection and make sure that I am weeding and adding to it. Not only the collection, but also the policies and goals of the school library will fall on my shoulders. In my particular district there are no district wide policies so I will have to ensure that what policies are put into place are equitable for all users. There are numerous assignments that I completed throughout the MLIS program to help prepare me for the various aspects of this standard, but regarding my portfolio I feel that my needs assessment helped me to better understand access, information resources, and evidence-based decision making (AASL, 2019). When working through my needs assessment I was able to look at the larger community and the school itself to determine what could and should be implemented for better access. Not only better access to books, but better access to programming and other resources and materials.
Standard 5: Leadership, Advocacy, and Professional Responsibility
I think that this standard is paramount in that librarians usually have to be their own biggest cheerleaders and advocates. In order to be the best advocates, school librarians participate in various conferences and professional development sessions much like teachers to ensure that they are staying current with everything happening in the profession. While COVID derailed many of my conference plans during my time in the MLIS program, I was able to attend the VAASL conference online in the spring of 2022. This was such a great experience and made me very excited to attend future conferences in person! I think that by attending these conferences it will keep me informed and make sure that I am staying on top of all that the library world has to offer. Leadership is also a big part of being a librarian. In the case of secondary librarians, fully embracing the leadership role and learning to advocate is crucial, as many secondary librarians have a flexible schedule and do not see students on a specials rotation. As a leader the librarian can guide and support students and staff in areas that they may not be well versed in such as technology and programming. Not only this, but oftentimes there are no more than two librarians per building and it seems as though other staff members may not quite understand all of the duties and responsibilities that do fall on the school librarian. Much like the last standard, I feel I have done numerous assignments throughout the program to help prepare me to be a leader, advocate, and library professional. Featured in my portfolio were assignments like my copyright infographic, stakeholder presentation, facilities redesign, and needs assessment that allowed me to practice the importance of this standard. My facilities redesign assignment in particular allowed me to really dive deeper into this standard and see what it was like to plan for a complete library redesign.
While my portfolio itself only features eight assignments that I completed, I feel very prepared with everything I have learned and practiced through the program to be a school librarian. I fully understand how important the ALA/AASL/CAEP school library standards are and know that they need to be put into practice in a school library.
References:
American Association of School Librarians (AASL). (2019). ALA/AASL/CAEP school librarian preparation standards. Retrieved from https://www.ala.org/aasl/sites/ala.org.aasl/files/content/aasleducation/ALA_AASL_CAEP_School_Librarian_Preparation_Standards_2019_Final.pdf