ISCI 794 School Librarian Interview #2

For my second interview, I spoke with an elementary librarian at a Greenville County magnet school for math and science, where I completed my additional site visit. School enrollment is 674, and it is a Title 1 school. 

Questions I asked her throughout our conversation included (these were mainly prompted by topics that came up throughout my site visit): 

  • Which Shared Foundation would you like to begin with? 
  • How do your book bins fit the Explore Shared Foundation?
  • Could you tell me more about your pacing guide and what you hope to do to improve it? 
  • How do you think elementary library instruction could involve the standards in a more structured way? 

The librarian and I started by discussing the standards as a whole and how she wished that the district had a more specific pacing guide for her library instruction that included the standards. As a former teacher, she missed the details of standards, pacing guides, and lesson plans that characterize teaching documentation. This was interesting to me as I had not encountered pacing guides for library instruction anywhere, either in classes or in my interviews with other librarians. I imagine this is mainly for elementary students who are learning library basics, but it definitely piqued my interest and I will be doing more research into this over the summer. The librarian also mentioned that the district was forming a committee over the summer to explore the library standards and create more detailed documentation for library lessons, and that she had volunteered to be a member. 

From there, we moved into talking about the Shared Foundation Explore. One of the things I noticed when I entered the library was that the school had a huge picture book selection and that many of them were housed in book bins, not shelves. The bins were divided into topics, such as "Feelings," "Sleep," "'Dogs," "Families," etc. We talked about how this helps the students as they're browsing, which the librarian encourages. 

This is exactly what the "School Librarians Lead" commitment of the Explore foundation asks school librarians to do: to create physical spaces that invite wonder and exploration, ensure student choice and agency, and give students the time and space to explore different resources and interests. 

This was one of the most clear examples of how a school library's physical space can change the way students use it, and invite them to spend time with the books that are available. 

It resonated with me because I remember when my own children moved from third into fourth grade, suddenly their regular school library visits ended—instead, they were expected to choose a book through Destiny on their Chromebooks, and then go down to the library during a five-minute period to get the book they'd selected. This is so limiting, and is not at all how most of us choose books when we're looking for something to read, unless we know an exact title that we've been looking for. In my school library, I know that giving students time for browsing will be a value I hold dear, and I intend to make it a priority goal to work toward early on. 


References:

American Association of School Librarians. (2018). National school library standards. ALA Editions. 

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