Librarian’s Role

Jan 28 2023

Should school libraries include romantic novels for teenagers?

By Heeru Bhojwani Collection Development, Librarian's Role, School Libraries 5 Comments

It is generally considered that teenagers above 14 years may read romantic books because it can positively influence a teenager’s understanding of the complexities of relationships and serve as an essential tool for personal growth and self-discovery.

Reading any literature can also help teenagers develop their reading skills and expand their vocabulary.

Here is a list of the positive impact of romantic novels:

It can provide a safe outlet for exploring and understanding their emotions and experiences related to relationships and love.
Reading about characters going through similar experiences can help teenagers feel less alone and more understood.
Romantic literature often provides healthy and positive examples of relationships, which is beneficial for teenagers as they navigate the complexities of their relationships.
It can help them develop empathy and understanding towards others. They can explore different perspectives and emotions of characters in romantic literature.
They can develop the ability to relate to others and create stronger relationships.
Reading romantic novels from other cultures gives us a more global perspective and understanding of culture and relationships.

Some popular romantic Indian titles include:

The Secret Wish List by Preeti Shenoy

The One You Cannot Have by Preeti Shenoy

The Immortals of Meluha by Amish Tripathi

The Palace of Illusions by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

The Zoya Factor by Anuja Chauhan.

These books offer a mix of romance, family dynamics, cultural traditions, and self-discovery.

A study published in the International Journal of Humanities and Social Science Research found that reading romantic literature can also positively impact readers’ emotional well-being. The study found that reading romantic literature can help improve readers’ moods and reduce feelings of stress and anxiety.

Here are a few romantic book titles for teenagers (15 years and younger)

To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell
The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han
The Selection by Kiera Cass
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Twilight by Stephanie Meyer
The Maze Runner by James Dashner
The Selection by Kiera Cass

A balance of different genres of books and media is always recommended.

Here is a list of recommended Indian fiction for grades 12 years and above.

Here are a few examples of popular romantic fiction for young adults from other countries.

China: “To Our Youth That is Fading Away” by Guo Jingming
Korea: “Love Alarm” by Chon Kye-young
Nigeria: “The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives” by Lola Shoneyin
Spain: “The Red Notebook” by Antoine Laurain
Eastern Europe: “The Museum of Abandoned Secrets” by Olga Grushin
India: “The Immortals of Meluha” by Amish Tripathi.

Colleen Hoover’s romantic titles are trending in urban society. However, Colleen herself recommends her books to older students above 16 or above 12th grade. The content has explicit sexual descriptions and mature themes like rape and sexual assaults.

What can librarians do – include or not?

A balance of genres is important to create a robust collection to meet the needs of all students – intellectual, social and emotional well-being. It is important to provide recreational reading too.

It is also important to keep in mind that since we do not know each child personally, it is important to keep general romantic fiction in the collection and not very intense romantic novels because they may turn out to be triggers that we may not know.

For example, several years ago – Thirteen Reasons Why? by Jay Asher, created quite a storm in teenage circles.

Differences between adult romance novels and young adult novels

Adult romance novels typically feature characters in their late twenties or older with complex relationships. They may contain explicit sexual content and mature themes such as infidelity, rape, divorce, and ageing.

Young adult romance novels, on the other hand, feature characters typically between the ages of 12 and 17 and may focus on themes such as first love, coming of age, and self-discovery.

Additionally, young adult novels often concentrate more on the characters’ personal growth and development, while adult novels may focus more on romantic relationships.

Finally, a robust collection of all genres is recommended to build healthy individuals in society. Variety is the spice of life, and that’s why Librarians are an important part of the school eco-system.

Aug 07 2022

Library Curriculum: Do Librarians Need a Curriculum?

By Heeru Bhojwani Librarian's Role, Library curriculum 2 Comments

Education boards in India:

Every education institute has a curriculum to help students learn and succeed. Each school’s curriculum is defined by the education board the school adopts. In India, we have CBSE (Central Board of Secondary Education) and the State Board, which are often governed by each state. Different states in India have other curricula. The International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) is similar to GCSE, recognized in the United Kingdom. The International Baccalaureate® (IB) offers four high-quality international education programmes.

Why is a school curriculum meaningful?

The school curriculum helps define the values, expectations, skills, and content.
– Provides standards
– Describes the syllabus for each grade
– Defines skills and content
– Provides a framework for assessments.

This school curriculum also connects the parents, students and the school.

Library curriculum? Is it necessary?

One would argue that students come to the library each week. Do we need a curriculum? Do we need assessments? Do we need syllabi?

Most schools have one or two librarians for the whole school or each section, so it is impossible to assess each student. However, a librarian might ask, are curriculums only related to assessments?

If librarians do not assess, do librarians still need a curriculum?

I think a library curriculum is essential to help the librarians define what needs to be taught and what skills, attitudes, or dispositions the librarian would like to support in the child’s learning journey.

Often the librarian role is defined as an educator who supports or builds a reading culture. The librarian might ask: How do I create a culture of reading, information & media literacy to support teachers and parents? How can I design my library lessons to meet the school’s needs?

The answers to these questions might differ for each school’s librarians. However, an overview of supporting language, reading culture, and information & media literacy skills is the same for all school boards.

Example 1
For a librarian in an IB school, collaboration is a crucial element. Librarians learn the curriculum, purchase resources to support the themes, and, through collaboration, use books and technology tools to help support content knowledge or learner profiles or conduct lessons to reinforce the approaches to learning, including research skills.

Example 2
Suppose the librarian is from a CBSE board. Librarians purchase books, manage library resources, conduct lessons to build a reading culture as well as support students in becoming proficient in navigating the information & media world. How is this going to be accomplished if they do not create a roadmap to build each skill at different standards or classes? The classroom teachers have a sequential progressive outline for each grade level; shouldn’t the librarian have a library roadmap for skills and dispositions?

Example 3
The Librarian in an IGCSE is often the only person who manages the book purchase, library resources, read-aloud sessions, and provides information and literacy skills to each grade level. How will they conduct lessons to create a deep impact and support learning if they do not have guidelines or a plan?

Is a Library Curriculum required?

At the beginning of my career as a librarian, I knew my role was managing resources and holding library classes. I randomly selected books that appealed to me and read them aloud to the children—different books for grades 1, 2, 3 and others. Sometimes, I would re-read the book to the other grade students and change some questions or even ask the same questions to another group of students. I thought I was doing my best, working hard and doing the right thing. I did not realize these random acts of reading were helpful to some degree, students enjoyed the stories, and there was an interest in supporting a reading culture.

Later, I learned the art of creating a library curriculum. Then, I realized why it was important to know why I was reading a picture book. When I understood the purpose of reading each story, I knew the purpose of including comprehension, speaking and listening targets. I knew why I was doing a poetry unit and how much time I would spend on each kind of poetry. I knew the genres I wanted to introduce to the students, and they were in sync with what was taught in class. When students were doing projects, I could teach the information and media literacy skills on time. This had an impact on students learning a skill when they needed it most. When you are hungry and given a meal, you will enjoy it, and it will nourish your body and mind. Similarly, library lessons become meaningful, purposeful, and conducted on time when a librarian has a curriculum. The library curriculum or scope provides the librarians’ role with direction and structure.

The library curriculum is not developed overnight. It requires time, effort, and support from other librarian colleagues, partners and your curriculum coordinator or your supervisor. Creating a library curriculum becomes a roadmap for the librarian. It documents all the work that the librarian is doing systematically.

Begin, with your library mission, identify skills that are overarching and include all subject matter in the curriculum. And, then design a curriculum for grade 1 and think about what your grade 10 or 12 students should be able to accomplish before they leave school. Use the Ubd- backward design model to achieve your curriculum goals. There are thousands of resources available online. Modify them to meet the needs of your students, and you will feel accomplished. It will become the best professional development for the year.

Dec 25 2021

Metaliteracy & Power of Communication for Librarians

By Heeru Bhojwani General, Librarian's Role, Media Literacy & Information Literacy, Metaliteracy No Comments

Librarians, books, reading, new technology tools, digital literacy, and communication are components in the repertoire of a dynamic evolving role of Librarians. And, we all know that literacy is not only reading, writing, information gathering & evaluating but becoming and supporting students into becoming Metaliterate.

Metaliteracy

What is Metaliteracy?

Metaliteracy has multiple layers. The first layer for Metaliteracy librarians is to start from Transliteracy. According to Metaliteracy: Reinventing Information Literacy to Empower Learners By Thomas P. Mackey, Trudi E. Jacobson says, Transliteracy emerged outside of the Librarians role where teaching and helping students create knowledge by deciphering from text to physical atlases to Google maps, interactive eBooks, video tutorials, and various Tedx and other social channels based on interests and learning experiences. We consume multimodal literacy, including media literacy, visual literacy, information literacy, & multicultural literacy.

In my opinion, Transliteracy falls directly in the purview of the librarians. It is rethinking our role when creating library plans/curricula. And it might seem practical to include Transliteracy rather than merely – information or media or other literacies since it falls into the heart of the librarians’ domain.

Understanding Transliteracy

Understanding transliteracy helps librarians open up their library curriculum framework and not bottle them into information, technology, or the Literacy Strand. According to T. Ipri, Transliteracy allows librarians and teachers to be fluid and apply a unified approach to literacy rather than focusing on technology tools.

Communications a critical aspect of Transliteracy

Adopting Transliteracy as the basis for learning allows librarians to design instructions where students become the owners, authors, or media creators of their original work. They interact with all forms of modalities: print to all forms of social network platforms to receive information.

Independent Projects

Several years, ago keeping this in mind, the Technology Coach and I embarked on this Independent Project with Elementary School students, giving them the space and time to navigate all forms of sources to arrive at their product/learning. Through these classes, mini-lessons on information searches, identifying credible resources, navigating different kinds of media: videos, images, infographics, and giving students the space and opportunity to create or learn a new skill. After several months, some students made websites, videos, comic books, eBooks, print books, infographics, and even Google tours and pamphlets based on their interests that varied from space, tourism, dolls, games, technology tools, coding, and more. In my opinion, the students learned at their own pace, driven by their interests. According to Dr. Renzulli’s Total Talent Development Program, when a child above average intelligence is allowed to use their creativity with a dedicated task accomplishment goal, this direction leads to Giftedness.

Choice Programs

Presently, a similar program called the ‘Choice Program’ is offered in middle school. Students explore their interests in secondary school, and as a librarian, I have had this opportunity to coach and support these mini-projects at school. This is an opportunity where the librarian becomes a part of the teaching faculty to help Metaliteracy.

After School Programs

Eaglets’ View

I often use the after-school program opportunity to learn and hone new skills while giving opportunities to students to practice skills that lead to metaliteracy. Opportunities in photography, designing, and publication areas are paths where students have their voice and choice. Example the eNewspaper Club for Elementary, Middle, and High schools. Students are editors, and designers are part of every activity, and the librarian is the coach/facilitator to support the project.

Liferarian Conference 2021 Learning

I recently attended the Liferarian Conference 2021; the keynote speaker spoke about the importance of deciphering data and analyzing data by asking the 5W at all levels of data scrutiny. Tableau provides resources for teachers and students to learn about data. Understanding variables & field types in data, exploring aggregations, distributions, and learning how to examine the relationships within the data closely. This, I believe, will help us ‘up our game.’

Indeed, the Librarians’ role is evolving and moving in different directions, encompassing both the physical and the digital spheres. Therefore, as I share this post, I use this opportunity to continue learning and share my learning while honing my writing skills.

Jul 25 2021

Will Librarians Continue to Exist in 2030?

By Heeru Bhojwani Librarian's Role, Professional Development No Comments

Is the library profession going to be obsolete? Are librarians a dying breed? These questions have often been asked of me. Recently, I received a youtube video saying that librarianship is one of the dying careers and is not worth pursuing as a career. As I began to reflect on this, it got me thinking that if we describe a librarian role to be one, who hushes the students, controls the library space and has few or no visitors, is a room full of dusty books, all books locked in a cupboard with NO open access. Stamping books and manually using the card catalogue. Sure, such librarians will fail to exist, and definitely, there is no place for such librarians in the 21st century.

What kind of Librarians will exist now and in the future?

The kind of librarians that will exist will be multi-taskers, who are ready to evolve and modify their role to meet the school community’s needs. The librarian will look for opportunities to learn, grow and adapt to the changing needs of the school community. Schools will continue to have libraries because books form the basis of learning, no matter how many eBooks we have and the advancement in technology. Librarians will exist. Let’s analyze and look at what librarians do?

What do librarians do?

Librarians are specialists and specialize in these capacities.

They purchase the best books that match the curriculum.
They recommend databases to support student learning.
They systematically maintain the collection of books called the library.
They create, curate & maintain an eLibrary.
They read voraciously.
They help you identify stories that can support teachers by sharing titles and curating lists of relevant information and books that will help them successfully teach students.
They can find books or information by digging into the web.
They read aloud stories to children and fill their hearts and souls.
They nurture readers with kindness and compassion; they are non-judgemental.
They create an atmosphere in the library where reading and learning is pursued equitably and with good spirit.
Librarians love technology; they will help you find credible information, teach you to cite it and support you in your research as a guide.
They learn new technology tools to ensure they can participate and support students in creating media, infographics, eBooks, eMagazines, and podcasts to support student learning.

These librarians will exist and will continue to be in demand. In my opinion, being a librarian is one of the best roles in a school. You get to collaborate and co-teach with teachers, learn new skills, teach and learn with students, reach out to the parent community and finally nurture a learning atmosphere for all.

Why Change and Adapt?

In dynamic education organizations, every educator evolves using new pedagogical practices adapting and adopting new roles and responsibilities. Educators like teachers are often seen in multiple positions, supervisors, running school activities and/or taking on administrative roles. Similarly, librarians adapt and change to the school community’s needs, adopting new practices through professional development. Some librarians have the role of a specialist with a packed class schedule, while other librarians have a flexible schedule allowing them to take on other teaching duties in the school. As a librarian, if we adapt and change to meet the school’s needs, what is wrong? I wonder why librarians shy away from accepting and taking on new roles? Socrates said the secret of change is not fighting the old but building the new. And, we all know that change is inevitable. To meet the school’s needs, why not change, adapt and learn new skills to stay current and relevant when many talk about the librarian’s role as a dying breed. Why NOT?

What new roles are librarians adopting?

Schools have different priorities and different styles of functioning. Looking around the librarian tribe, I have found that many librarians have adopted additional roles & responsibilities based on their areas of interest and skill set. They have diversified their positions and have not given up their primary functional role as a librarian.

Some of the roles librarians have adopted into their librarianship are as follows:

Leading and supporting social events at their school.
Teaching English as a second language.
Supporting students with learning difficulties or partnering with the special education team.
Participating in community services programs.
Adding an extra hand in administration duties in the school.
Building or supporting programs related to Unesco’s sustainable goals.
Teaming up with the technology team to deliver digital literacy programs.
Teaming with enrichment programs.
Partnering with the school’s social media team to share students successes.
Librarians are working as team members with literacy coaches or reading specialists to deepen literacy skills.
Librarians are also Extended Essay Coordinators.
Librarians are teachers of different subjects: Theory of Knowledge, Language teachers and even Indian Studies.

This Forbes article made me think of my role as a jack of all trades and master of none, but librarians are masters and specialists in their library profession. Being a jack of other trades has helped me discover new strengths, nurtured my curious mind, learned new subjects, and built a unique skill set.

How do you adopt new roles?

So, how does a librarian go about adopting other roles? Firstly, I would build up courage and reach out to the supervisor with a growth mindset and a strong desire and interest in learning and growing. As you begin to explore, you will either fall in love with the new work or not; if not, then it’s time to try another area of interest. Nudge yourself to grow, read and learn.

99% of the time, it is fear of not trying that pulls one down. We often hear advice like – if you never try, you will never know. So, finally, LEAP and the NET will appear.

Mar 12 2021

Learning Never Stops for Librarians

By Heeru Bhojwani General, Librarian's Role, Library curriculum, Professional Development No Comments

School Librarians: Learning about eBooks, print books, information & media literacy.

In India, most professional development for national school librarians usually address technical aspects like the OPAC – Online public access catalogue or how to access the books, maintaining the stock of books, and rules for the libraries and purchase of books. During this pandemic, librarians learned different technology tools like google sites, pear deck, Kahoot and other tools to build their technology skills.

However, the Librarians role is changing. Librarians growth lies in the need to work in collaboration with teachers and the school curriculum. Librarians need to read and learn about books & stories and ways to support primary and secondary schools’ teaching and learning to remain relevant. If the librarian works in a progressive environment, professional development is the only way to help them stay relevant to the changing landscape. And, Liferarian Association provides the opportunity.

Professional Development for International School Librarians

International Schools are looking for librarians with multi-literacy skills, information and media literacy knowledge & skills to support elementary and secondary schools.

Professional Development for Indian School Librarians

With the onset of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, Librarians can capitalize on this change in education policy and opt for an opportunity to learn about the curriculum. When included in the staff meetings, librarians can better understand the school curriculum’s needs, thus creating a relevant collection of books for literacy and nonfiction books to support the interdisciplinary approach, experiential learning, and project-based learning mentioned in the education policy.

The Liferarian Association has initiated two practical courses to help build library skills and knowledge.

Code 01: Extended essay and Research skills (5 synchronous sessions) – INR 5,500

In this course, participants will learn how to research and teach students how to formulate a research question. Teach students how to identify and cite resources correctly, and it’s importance. Participants will learn and receive practical ways to help students plan, reflect and learn to guide students research and project work.

Code 02: Liferarian’s School Library Course (6 synchronous sessions) – INR 6,500

In this course, participants will learn the importance of a library curriculum and create one relevant to their school. Learn how to read aloud stories by learning about the different literacy strategies like authors’ purpose, inference, analyzing the plot and more. During the writing session, librarians or educators will learn how to write and support creative writing through practical lessons and writing exercises. Besides literacy, participants will learn how to help research skills, project work within the school structure—learning about media, digital citizenship, and advocating for the ethical use of information by understanding copyright and plagiarism concepts. This course will include practical lessons and ideas to empower the librarians.

Some responses and feedback from the workshops were:

I didn’t know how important it was to connect with the school curriculum.
I now know a lot about copyright, media literacy and the importance of ethical use of information, and now I know how to teach my students.
During my classes in this international school, I can now teach information literacy skills.
I did not know there were so many aspects of literacy when you read aloud picture books. I now learned how important it is to have focused learning strategies.
I discovered that I like to write, and writing involves revisions and thinking.
I did not know the Librarians can do so much.

This coursework is for librarians who want to change the way educators think about librarians and evolving with other educators, as learning doesn’t stop.

Jan 19 2021

Socrative Style of Questions

By Heeru Bhojwani General, Librarian's Role, Readaloud 6 Comments

Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel —Socrates.

Much research has shown the benefits of reading, and despite the rich evidence, librarians are struggling to support reading habits. However, reading habits are not the sole responsibility of the librarian but the entire education system and the parents. When students see adults reading, thinking, and questioning, students will imitate and follow along. Reading breeds Reading.

One of the critical aspects of building a reading habit is developing curiosity and interest – this will then lead to the joy of reading. Here is another post that was written for Raise the Bar on critical thinking with picture books.

How to read aloud?

I’ve noticed that when librarians or teachers read aloud picture books to children, the questions that they ask are simplistic and obvious, thus not challenging children to think and question. Children need to begin thinking and asking questions right from an early age. As librarians, when we read aloud, we can change the way we ask questions and pave the way for discussions.

For example, before we read aloud stories or after we have read a story we often ask –

Who is the author?
What is the title of the story?
What did you learn from the story?
What is the plot?
What is the setting or where is the story taking place?

Instead, we should learn the art of Socrative type of questioning or simply as we know it as Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) on the top of Bloom’s Taxonomy.

What is Socrative style or type of questioning?

Socrates was a Greek philosopher, and he said – Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel. If we have to kindle the flame then it is essential to create a library space where there is a dialogue between the students and librarians. There is little or no space for lectures and therefore, no rote learning.

The teacher-librarian can be the one who initiates the questioning process – helps the students to think/ponder and brings out their values and beliefs in the process of discussion. Therefore, building a safe intellectual space for their independent thoughts and opinions.

Types of Socratic Questions?

There are several types of Socrative style of questions, here are three.

1. Clarification Questions

Questions in this Socrative style sound like this:

What do you mean by…?
The author has said it this way…. how would you explain it another way?
What is the main problem here – Can you explain it with another example?
Why is this important?
Is this easy or hard?
Why do you think so?

For example, when you read the book called No Smiles Today by Cheryl Rao illustrated by Saurab Pandey (Story Weaver – Pratham Books) (A story about a little child who is sad and her friends try to guess why she is sad and eventually finding her lost pet which makes her happy again.)
Socrative questions to ask when reading this book would be-

What is sadness?
Why do people feel sad?
The author talks about the child losing her pet and feeling sad – What are other reasons for sadness?
How do you overcome sadness?
Is it easy to overcome sadness? Why?

2. Questions about an Issue?

When one reads aloud a picture book with a global issue or problems in society, questions in Socrative-style may sound like this:

Why is this an important topic to discuss?
Is it easy or difficult to solve this issue? Why?
What assumptions can you make about the issue or subject?
Does this topic/problem lead to other problems and questions?

Use the above questions for this picture book when reading a book like Riddle of the Riddleys (A story about thousands of olive ridley sea turtles on the beach of Orissa, who die each year due to the callousness of fishermen and people.) or any other book related to issues

Another example, if you are reading a picture book like The Why-Why Girl by Mahasweta Devi illustrated by Kanyika Kini (a story about Moyna who can’t go to school because she is a girl and because of her socio-economic conditions). When reading this book, you may ask questions like –

What is the issue in the story, and why is it essential to discuss this topic about gender discrimination?
Why is education opportunities not available for all?
What are the conditions that lead to inequality of education for all?
Is it easy to solve this problem? Why? Why not?
What might be different ways to address this issue?
What can we do at different levels to address this problem?

Similar questions can be asked of a novel. For example, Rippler by Cidney Swanson free on Bookbub is a fantasy novel dealing with a genetic disorder and inhuman experiments during the Nazi rule. Questions about scientific experiments, human body and genetic disorders can be explored, some questions may include:

What are the different conditions maintained in the laboratory for scientists in India when conducting experiments on animals?
How human or inhuman is testing on animals? Why? What do you think?
What other topics are related to genetic engineering?
If we assume genetic engineering is ok for plants, how can we justify genetic engineering in animals and humans? What are your reasons?
Can genetic engineering lead to other problems and issues? Can you explain it?
Questions like the above can open children’s minds and promote thinking, creating interest, curiosity, and reading?

3. Viewpoint Questions

Socrates style of questioning includes learning about different perspectives and opinions. When you learn about other perspectives it builds humility, kindness and empathy. Understanding viewpoints is not to argue and to prove a point, but understanding that others have a viewpoint and it must be equally respected. Each individual has the freedom to think and be responsible. Keeping this concept in mind, different viewpoint discussions can be held during the library class. Before discussions, the librarians must ensure that each individual’s point must be heard, is important and is respectfully conveyed.

Questions to consider are:

How would other people in other sections of the community feel/think about this? Why?
Why do you object to this consideration? What facts have you gathered to prove this viewpoint?
What is an alternative to bring further acceptance or rejection?

Another example to try is this book called, Father’s Inheritance by Elizabeth Laird (Storyweaver – Pratham Books- level 3)

Socrative style or approach of questioning helps students and adults become thinkers. We learn to conduct meaningful conversations. This disciplined approach teaches us to examine ideas and processes with logic and create a practical exploration of content leading to knowledge.

Students and adults may not have answers to any of the questions but it can lead to enquiry, curiosity, interest and reading to investigate their questions and sharing of new knowledge. Asking questions in the right spirit of curiosity and learning leads to success. If you google – Socrative-style of questions you will find lots of resources or check this out.

Warren Berger, a journalist in his book, The Book of Beautiful Questions, say, “You don’t learn unless you question.”

Dec 27 2020

Present-day Profile of a Librarian – Attitude and Skills

By Heeru Bhojwani General, Librarian's Role, Lockdown - Covid-19 6 Comments

What is the need of a school library?

For every accreditation of the school, the Library is an essential part of school systems. Libraries are built and given importance to support multi-literacies, nurture life-long readers and learners. Thus, placing the librarian to perform a teacher’s role, an information specialist, and the library program administrator. Therefore, the librarian is a necessary aspect of the school system. They are responsible for acquiring resources like books and online databases, organizing and maintaining the resources to meet the school community’s learning needs.

What are the Librarians doing during the pandemic of 2019?

This year of the pandemic has shown that when the librarian has been a risktaker, independent & collaborative in learning, committed, and adaptive, they have been successful in this given situation.

Many librarians have had a reduced number of classes. Some have not had lessons but instead collaborated with classroom teachers, librarians have provided digital resources to support teaching & learning. Some librarians have been co-teaching, teaching other subjects, taking after school activities for reading sessions or engaging in debates, competitions, and school events. Librarians have taken on different roles (not traditional bookkeepers of the Library) which must not be mistaken to believe that the librarian’s position is unimportant, but recognize librarians as adaptive, flexible, and versatile.

Many local private schools administrations requested the librarians to take a sabbatical from work during the pandemic. After ten months, the administration is now offering them to return to work by providing them with the professional training to bring them up to speed with technology and teaching pedagogy. Had the administration, used this opportunity to train all educators and librarians simultaneously, it would have helped them financially and, including the librarians, would have helped raise the librarians’ standards and the Library’s role in the school.

The librarian role, like other educators, is evolving each year. Having the right attitudes are essential for success. Besides the required academic qualifications, librarians need to be adaptive learners and experimental in their approach.

What skills must Librarians have to meet the needs of schools?

One of the most crucial skill is finding ways to serve the community of learners, from students to teachers and even parents. So, when students do not have access to printed books, they can find other ways to introduce new eBooks based on students’ interests and needs, as seen during this pandemic situation. Sometimes, teachers need books to teach, but with no physical books available, the librarian needs to identify eBooks and resources to serve the teachers’ needs. Besides, teachers and students, librarians can reach out to parents. For example, during – the pandemic, librarians can provide well-research articles to parents to develop a balanced understanding of print and digital life.
Librarians need to be adaptive to revise systems and develop new ways. For example, librarians have started creating websites to provide a one-stop-shop for all users during the pandemic. They have altered the procedures for book checkouts. Some librarians in rural India started sending PNG’s instead of Jpegs because of its small size file through WhatsApp messages to direct students to websites.
Librarians need to take new initiatives. This pandemic has shown the librarians and the administration that eReources are essential for learning. Keeping this mind, the librarians should take the initiative by requesting changes in the budgets to support subscription of electronic resources in the form of databases to support differentiation and personalized learning paths. All free resources may not meet all learners’ needs; therefore, structured eResources for building language literacy and other subjects will need to subscribe. Librarians can take the initiative to learn about the school curriculum, learn about the new databases, request for database trials, and recommend appropriate electronic databases or programs that will support teachers and students. Librarians must restructure and relocate funds for these new resources, make practical suggestions, and allocate a judicious amount spent on books and eResources.
Librarians must become familiar with many technology tools, and use it purposefully. Using fancy tools and making glamorous presentations without merit and learning value must be kept in mind and avoided.
Most importantly, learning to use technology is not as crucial as knowing and reading children’s literature for primary and secondary schools.
Learning, using and helping others use information and media ethically and respecting the copyright works of authors who put in the effort to share their craft and knowledge. And, most importantly, to credit and learn to use information and media lawfully.

What other skills and expectations should Librarians develop?

librarianship as a profession, one must always remember to keep the light of learning alive and relevant to meet new school programs and initiatives that continue to evolve to meet each child’s needs. Librarians must, therefore continue to fine-tune the following skills.
– Learning to prepare reports in written and oral form.
– Learning to interpret the school curriculum and find ways to add meaning and value to the library program.
– Build healthy, safe, and effective relationships with all community members, including students, teachers, parents, supervisors, vendors, and volunteers.
– Creatively adapt and use best practices to meet the needs of the school community.

Steve Maraboli, a Behavioral Scientist, specializing in motivational psychology, leadership dynamics, and peak performance mindset, says, “Look around you. Everything changes. Everything on this earth is in a continuous state of evolving, refining, improving, adapting, enhancing, and changing. You were not put on this earth to remain stagnant.”

So, I say to myself, what I learn today is good for now, but the wisdom I have gained in the process will support what I will need to know tomorrow. Learning never stops.

Oct 21 2020

Professional Growth and Learning

By Heeru Bhojwani Librarian's Role, Professional Development, Professional Learning 2 Comments

What is Professional Growth?

Growth and learning are essential facets of professional life. As I begin, reflecting on my personal, professional experience, I realize the only thing constant thing in my professional life is the desire to learn and grow so that I can continue to support the school community. I am grateful to the many people in my professional life, the professional development opportunities I have received to grow, learn and give back to the educational community.

Professional development is not collecting all the certificates to show and prove your growth. Yes, credentials are essential at initial points of your career. Certificates of courses are an incentive and motivation to continue to learn. Certificates do prove a point. As you begin to think and practise your craft of teaching, you understand that learning is an intrinsic part of professional life, where pursuing current practices, updated pedagogical approaches are the only essential aspect of growth.

CC-BY-SA-4.0 Redaksjonelt: Åse Elin Langeland

What do Librarians Learn?

As an elementary and secondary school librarian, I aimed to learn all about new literature that is available, for all children and literature for teenagers. Understanding their interests is important and giving them voice and choice, instead of downing students with what I thought was suitable for children.

Soon, I realized, librarians not only need to know about literature but understand how technology and technology were impacting the learning. Teachers and librarians are learning about information and media literacy, learning how to evaluate sources and teach students how to evaluate news and media. To stay relevant, learning and evolving is a process, and one cannot hold on to the laurels of the past.

Learning can be anything of your interest. I have dabbled in learning new tech tools to deliver and support teaching and learning. Tech tools should merely be the bells and whistles instead should be used to add meaning and value to the teaching, as taught by my teacher, Bernajean Porter.

Recently, I took a course on best practices for online teaching and learning; next, I learned how to create an online newspaper with my students. I took a course on writing blog posts while learning new strategies and techniques in writing. I read philosophy. I took short courses in teaching EAL (English as another language), and now I am taking a short study-course in understanding how one can support the high abilities students.

Are these related to my Library? Is this going to help me in the Library and Information Sciences? Working in a school as a librarian, I believe, it is essential to learn about the strategies and tools that teachers are using in their classes so that librarians can continue to be relevant in the changing needs of the educational landscape. Follow the Liferarian Blog to learn more

Where can Librarians Learn?

Liferarian Association is hosting a Virtual Conference with presenters who are practising librarians in various International Schools, being abreast with new technologies and pedagogies of teaching and learning, they too are active learners. Teaching and sharing is another facet of professional development when individuals hone their skills, deepen their understanding as they share with others.

Join the tribe and learn from this virtual conference on the 21st of November 2020. it is free, hosted by the Liferarian Association. This conference will include more than 20 presentations, author presentations and meet with some book distributors. Registrations will open on the 7th of November, 2020

I love what Gandhi said, ” Live as if you were to die tomorrow, Learn as if you were to live forever.”

Aug 16 2020

Impact of NEP 2020 on Teacher Librarian (India)

By Heeru Bhojwani General, Librarian's Role, Teacher Librarian 13 Comments

According to the NEP 2020 Policy – “Education is fundamental for achieving full human potential, developing an equitable and just society, and promoting national development. Providing universal access to quality education is the key to India’s continued ascent and leadership on the global stage in terms of economic growth, social justice and equality, scientific advancement, national integration, and cultural preservation”.

This new education policy is to build Indian’s talent and resources and help develop universal society, country while positively impacting all. The Government endeavors to provide high-quality educational opportunities to grow holistically for oneself and society.

The SDG goals emphasis on Education is reflected in the 2030 plan of Sustainable development of Education in India, ensuring that Education is inclusive and equitable to promote lifelong learning opportunities for all – including children, adults, and professionals in the field of Education. In fact, 50 hours of Professional Development is required to ensure that educators have the necessary skills and pedagogical understanding and practices for executing the new education policy.

All practices included in the Library and schools must be inclusive and equitable. Being inclusive, it must consist of all groups of individuals to receive the services of a library and include all individuals from different tribes, rural, socially economically disadvantaged groups (SEDGs) children with special needs (CWSNs) and minorities.

NEP 2020 from a Librarian’s Point of View

Looking at the NEP 2020 from a teacher librarian’s point of view, here are some of the takeaways:

To provide best practices to support the fundamental principles of Education, the teacher-librarian to collaborate with Teachers that can promote fundamental principles laid down in the NEP. And, this can be done by pursuing – Curiosity & Passion Projects through cluster groups.

The NEP emphasizes the teachers and faculty, including the Librarian, to have an attitude of service. Keeping that in mind- the Library becomes the education service center of resources in print, digital, and personnel.

Passion Projects with the Librarian to map Fundamental Principles

A collaborative project of creating project work that is driven by students interests, strengths, and choices will enable students to reach its potential as recommended by the NEP that has mapped out the fundamental principles mentioned below:

To help recognize, identify and foster each individual’s strengths and talents while promoting each student’s holistic development in both academic and non-academic sphere
The flexibility of choice of learning
Multidisciplinarity and a comprehensive education across the sciences, social sciences, arts, humanities, and sports when learning about India and the world.
Emphasis is on conceptual understanding rather than rote learning
Critical thinking to encourage logical decision-making, problem-solving & innovation
To provide opportunities to express themselves creatively using a variety of technology tools or drama or writing or service
Social, ethical, and emotional capacities & dispositions.

Library Place and Dispositions are exemplified in the NEP.

To build an education for an individual, schools, and libraries must provide a safe, welcoming place, where he/she is intellectually stimulated and where the Library becomes a Learning Hub.

A Library – Learning Hub, where the learning environment exists and can engage and provide a variety of learning experiences to the students. Where the focus is on the 21st-century skills with the dispositions that form the core of the individual’s character & personality

Librarians instructional practices and curriculum, therefore, must include a variety of dispositions in an informal setting to help students develop the dispositions cited in the NEP are:

Values like empathy, respect for others, cleanliness, courtesy, democratic spirit, the spirit of service, responsibility, pluralism, equality, and justice.
Life skills, such as communication, cooperation, teamwork, and resilience to be included.
Scientific temper and evidence-based thinking, creativity, and innovativeness; a sense of aesthetics and art
Oral and written communication; collaboration and teamwork; problem-solving and logical reasoning; vocational exposure and skills;
Digital literacy, coding, and computational thinking;
Ethical and moral reasoning; knowledge and practice of human and constitutional values; gender sensitivity.
Promoting multilingualism and the power of language in teaching and learning.

A collaboration where teachers and Librarians learning process with continuous professional development, positive working environments, and service conditions

Emphasis on the Library in the NEP emphasizes the following, and they are:

Enjoyable and inspirational books for students at all levels are developed, including through high-quality translation (technology-assisted as needed)
Public and school libraries to build a culture of reading across the country.
Digital libraries to be established and serve the community during non-school hours and book clubs may meet in public/school libraries to further facilitate extensive reading.
A National Book Promotion Policy will take extensive initiatives to ensure the availability, accessibility, quality, and readership of books across geographies, languages, levels, and genres.

According to the NEP – Curriculum and Pedagogy in Schools: Learning Should be Holistic, Integrated, Enjoyable, and Engaging. Library classes and lessons, therefore, must be

Inquiry-based, discovery-based, discussion-based, and analysis based learning.
The curriculum will focus on key concepts, ideas, applications, and problem-solving.
Teaching and learning to be interactive, questioning to be encouraged, and sessions will include engagement from the student side.
Art and sports integration
Multi-lingual learning

Collection of the Library, as recommended by the NEP, must be inclusive and include the following:

Digital
Multi-lingual
Multi-leveled books
Bi-lingual books
Indian literature with global literature
Blend of modern and classical literature in all languages
Books based on inquiry, critical thinking and problem solving
In addition to high-quality offerings in Indian languages and international languages, language learning is encouraged to help students learn about the cultures of the world and enrich their global knowledge.
Folklore and stories from different states
Resources to include pride in India, and it’s diverse, ancient and modern culture and knowledge systems and traditions
And resources to lead to Global awareness( we cannot live in isolation)

Librarians Lesson plans to include the following skills when planning

Scientific temper and evidence-based thinking
Creativity and innovativeness, problem-solving and logical reasoning
Sense of aesthetics and art
Oral and written communication
Collaboration and teamwork
Digital literacy and information literacy
Ethical and moral reasoning

According to the NEP, the content to include the following:

– Knowledge of India: ancient and modern
– Environmental awareness including water and resource conservation, sanitation and hygiene
– Current affairs and understanding of critical issues facing local communities
– The specialties of each state, countries and the world around
– Tribal and indigenous knowledge
– All forms of literature Indian and International
– A multi-disciplinary approach to all subjects

If a librarian nurtures the profession to become a teacher-librarian, they can also request continuous Professional Development of 50 hours a year as prescribed by the NEP 2020.

For schools to execute new practices offered by the NEP 2020, they will be introducing a wave of Professional development opportunities that will be provided to all faculty members. Here is a chance for Librarians to learn with the others in the schools transforming your role from a bookkeeper to a Teacher Librarian.

Apr 09 2020

Virtual Class for Librarians

By Heeru Bhojwani Librarian's Role, Literacy, Virtual Learning One Comment

Tina Franklin libros y ebooks, Flickr

During the lockdown and virtual classes, librarians are looking out for ways to connect with students, teachers and the community.

So, what can librarians do during this time of virtual learning with students?

Virtual Learning eBooks

During this time, librarians can capitalize on all the beautiful eBooks available for students. An opportunity to use the interactive eBooks where the books are either animated and read aloud rather than the pdf versions. Many Pdf’s are floating around, but as ethical users of information, we must ensure that our students are using the eBooks ethically. Fair use guidelines may not always be used, especially when eBooks are available for purchase or shared by the vendors at discounted rates or free.

Let’s capitalize on the eBooks that are offered for free by the companies.

Library Classes – Virtual

During the library online classes, we can capitalize this moment to create a love for reading and writing. Instead of using activities like – making your bookmark, asking questions like who is the character? what is the moral of the story? Let us use this opportunity to ask open-ended questions? Questions that help students think and help students develop the 21st-century skills of thinking analytically, critically or even having their own opinions and perspectives of stories that they read.

Examples of Virtual Learning eBooks

Vooks is offering a 1-month free trial. A kid-safe, ad-free streaming library of read-aloud animated storybooks. A curated list of eBooks that help builds vocabulary, love of reading, immersion, and fluency.

For example, Title fo the book: The Easter Unicorn is a story about an Easter Bunny who is away on vacation, when a magical unicorn comes to the rescue, saving Easter Day!

Here is a list of activities that might go with the story:

Activity 1: Students can read the picture and retell the story and record the story using the Flipgrid app (video response)

Activity 2: Students can research and draw three magical creatures that do not exist.

Activity 3: Students can write a paragraph, describing a unicorn to someone who hasn’t seen one.

Activity 4: Students can research and describe why rabbits are related to easter?

Activity 5: Students can explain why easter celebration is in April?

Virtual Learning Activity

RazPlus is offering a 2-month free trial. A guided reading program, with lesson plans and discussion cards. Try this out. For example: Title of the book: Gorillas by Keera Freed.

Gorillas are the largest primates in the world. Gorillas is an informative text that highlights how gorillas survive in the forests of Africa. The book can also be used to teach students how to identify main idea and details as well as to summarize to better understand the text. If you want to teach using the skills, get this trial and learn new teaching strategies and apply them to your students. (Available on Discussion Cards of the story)

How are gorillas similar and different than human beings (Skill of compare and contrast)
Why do you think humans teach gorillas sign language. How does this help man and animals? (Analysis)
Why might gorilla babies ride on their mother back (Make inferences & draw conclusions)
Why are gorillas endangered? (Cause and Effect)
How can people help gorillas? (Evaluate)

Vooks: A streaming service for kids, where storybooks come to life!

Finally, a better screen time option. Title of the book: Inventors, who changed the World.

Activities related to the story:

What qualities or characteristics should a person have to become an inventor? What are some traits you may have?
Select on the inventions you learned about and explain how it has impacted the world.
Research on the internet and find out three inventions in the 21st century that have positively impacted the world and explain.
What would happen if inventors did not share their failed research ideas and successful ideas with the world?
Why is it important to share ideas with others? How is it beneficial to the community?
What is the author’s purpose in writing the story? How do you know it?

StoryWeaver is another free eBook resources that students can use to inquire, think critically and use the eBooks to create stories.

Title of the book: More or Less? Need to Guess! ,Written by Gayathri Tirthapura, Illustrated by Sahitya Rani – So many mithai boxes to count, so little time! Can Ranjita and Vikram do it? Yes, using a cool math trick called ‘Approximately More-or-Less’! Read this fun wedding story to learn the trick yourself.

Activity 1: What was the problem in the story and how was it solved?

Activity 2: Describe a wedding that you last attended?

Activity 3: What is the author’s purpose for writing the story? Is it to inform? Entertain or Persuade? How do you know that? Explain

Activity 4: Create a story that will help solve a math problem.

Activity 5: What genre is this story? Explain.

GetEpic: An online eBook Platform: Title of the Book: The Trojan Horse: The Fall of Troy.

Ancient Greece’s best warriors battled their enemies, the Trojans, in a desperate attempt to win back King

What genre is this story?
How is a myth different from historical fiction?
Describe the external and internal characteristics of the main character?
Who are the supporting characters and how do they bring out the best qualities of the main character?
Rewrite the Greek Myth using Indian setting and characters
What are some of the Indian myths you have heard? How is it different and similar to the Indian myths