The Role of the School Librarian in Pandemic Learning Conditions

By Dorcas Hand
Here we are getting ready for a new school year – and COVID19 is still wreaking havoc. There is little clarity around how, when or how little of the time students will be on campus. In all three of those possibilities, HISD’s school librarians should be key players in inspiring and supporting a student’s love of learning, a teacher’s creative teaching methods, and overall literacy skills. During the online instruction phase, you may see librarians present information in conjunction with the classroom instruction, reading stories, sharing ideas for how to search or what to read, and pointing students and staff to the best available digital resources . Behind the scenes, librarians are participating in virtual meetings with school staff to share information about the curriculum or creating and recording instructional videos.  Once schools reopen, the library can help by providing ways that small groups can work together and be supervised to assure social distancing. Librarians can also continue to support online learning experiences with those students that opt to learn from home instead of returning to school. Once schools are back in F2F session full time, the lessons librarians have learned about remote learning will continue to benefit their schools in creative ways.

The American Association of School Librarians recently published an infographic, School Librarian Role in Pandemic Learning Conditions. HISD leadership – elected and in the administrative hierarchy – can learn from this short overview. 

For each of three formats education may take as 2020-2021 begins, five aspects of the school librarian’s job are spelled out – and that’s where I want to focus your attention today.

• School Librarian as Instructional Partner: School librarians work well as collaborators with classroom teachers at every level, offering the teachers additional resources and teaching skills to really engage students.

• School Librarian as Teacher: Certified school librarians in Texas are required to have at least 2 years full-time classroom teaching experience. They come to students and teachers with awareness of curriculum design, teaching methods, as well as an enthusiasm that took them for additional training to know how to locate and organize resources for maximum interest and accessibility by students on a specific campus.
• School Librarian as Leader: Leadership is the quality that steps out to reach all teachers and students on a campus, that doesn’t wait for them to wander in whether virtually or in person. Leadership seeks ways to connect students and teachers to the perfect resources to engage learning in every classroom.

• School Librarian as Information Specialist: In addition to their teaching credentials, certified school librarians in Texas have a Masters degree and courses in library management. They are trained information specialists who love the world of K-12 education and thrive collaborating with the faculty on their campus.
• School Librarian as Program Administrator: The school library program includes those classroom interactions, and the planning sessions with teachers. The library program also includes all the behind the scenes work of ordering new books that will both appeal to the students but also support the specific  curriculum of that campus.

A campus without a librarian is without a central element to support stronger literacy skills, greater enthusiasm for learning, a point person who can work with every student and every teacher on a campus no matter which of the three formats education may take this year: 

• Face-to-Face Learning: Learners are in school but social distancing measures are in place.
• Blended Learning: Learning is taking place alternately at home and in school, with some learners choosing only distance learning.
• Distance Learning: Learners are required to learn from home with no face-to-face contact.

Librarians are accustomed to using – and teaching - digital learning tools to support learning across campus even when students are on campus; they are well prepared to offer the same skills in remote learning situations.

Uncertainty is rampant in the entire world currently as we wonder what is the best course of action in the face of the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. But a school librarian on your campus can be a strong support for the campus and district leadership in every situation.