Last week I attended a conference, 'Reading for Pleasure', a joint venture by The Guardian Education and The British Library. You can see tweets at #GdnBLreading
Two enthusiastic people from a school in Marylebone, explained how they had transformed an underused library into a thriving hub of the school. I must admit, I found many parallels with my own school library - though we call it a Learning Resource Centre (LRC) and I am the LRC Manager. I was feeling rather pleased with myself as, like them, over a few years I had increased loans of books from under 200 to over 5000 - using many of the same techniques.
I then heard someone nearby comment that these people weren't really librarians and had only done what any self respecting 'real' librarian would have done.
Someone also tweeted a similar sentiment. Dander nicely 'got up', I tweeted to say that I wasn't a qualified librarian but had achieved similar results. I added that an NVQ level 3 (there is no 4) in Library and Information Services, common sense and a passion had seen me through. I added that Librarian snobbery was not for me.
A tweeter then said that it wasn't snobbery to lament the de-valuing of her profession and students deserve qualified librarians as much as qualified teachers.
Umbridge? I took more than my fair share! I have never de-valued professional librarians, however, these tweeters and any who have retweeted their comments, have certainly tried to de-value my, and many others, contribution to libraries within schools; and more importantly, our service to the teachers and students who use them.
For the record - as well as my own NVQ, I have assessed NVQs at degree level and delivered training to NVQ candidates. I have honed my display skills with my cardmaking hobby and written and delivered Information Literacy at KS3. I have copywrited my Information Skills mnemonic and it has been presented as good practice by - you guessed it, someone writing their thesis on Librarianship.
Is that it? No, I have a CIPD certificate in Training Delivery and a CLAIT PLUS ICT qualification, (100% accuracy required to pass).
Surely that's it - no - wait, I completed 18 months of a B.Ed., before deciding against teaching as a career, however, it included two teaching practices and a whole year studying children's literature; that sits very nicely with my A Level English Literature. Did I mention I like reading?
All this to brag? Not really, but I do want to show that a degree in librarianship is not necessary to run a successful school library. You don't need to know Dewey to the nth decimal place, or study conservation to make your library or LRC, the hub of a school.
I actually replaced a qualified librarian who left a cupboard full of uncatalogued books, a fiction section where books were not sorted by genre or author, (or any other way - a nightmare to find anything), and who shelved non-fiction by school subject not Dewey, the result being that; where to put books on volcanoes - science? geography? - caused quite a dilemma.
Graphic fiction was restricted to some sad b/w drawings in some of the classics, and six shelves of Everyman Library books were placed in such a way to put off the most avid reader. She helped run the reading group - I run the reading group.
I'm not even going to start listing the initiatives I have introduced to make our LRC the lively and buzzing place it is today, but maybe you would like to visit during National Storytelling week, introduced three years ago and now a permanent fixture on the school calendar.
I have tweeted before about not being a qualified librarian, asking for opinion, and it all went quiet. I thought no-one was interested but I see now that some thought I wasn't worth responding to.
A bit of a rant? You bet! The reason? I would not de-value the profession of librarian working in a school or anyone else, but I would thank you very much, not to devalue my skill set, qualifications or professionalism, because they have served me, and my school very well.
