Education for School Librarianship in Canada; Proceedings of a Workshop, Jasper Park Lodge, Alberta on Saturday, 8 June 1968. Sponsored by the Canadian School Library Association, Alberta School Library Council, and Saskatchewan Association of School Librarians. Ottawa: Canadian Library Association, 1970. 69 p.
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| Stylized 1960s media centre classroom |
During the affluent 1960s, most new school buildings included a library resource centre, a term that referred to a service focusing on multimedia resources. Renovations and expansions of existing buildings modernized school libraries with enlarged, better equipped centralized spaces and resources. It was era of progress. Schools were employing multimedia resources at both elementary and secondary levels, increasing budgets for printed resources, and improving training for professional, para-professional and clerical staff to provide services to students and teachers. In 1967, the Dominion Bureau of Statistics reported there were 16.3 million books in 5,188 centralized libraries compared to 4.3 million in 1,613 libraries in 1960. During the same period, the proportion of students with libraries almost doubled from 24.6% to 46.9% but there were still 2,794.9 million students without centralized libraries in 1967. Many students found the use of new audio-visual resources and techniques to be more immediate and more effective than books and periodicals. At the same time, educators began to use the terminology ‘learning resource centre’ in place of the school library.
Although there was progress in forming and staffing school libraries and learning resource centres with teacher-librarians (T-Ls), surveys indicate there were insufficient T-Ls who held a BLS or who had taken courses in school librarianship offered by a library school or by provincial departments of education. In 1960, the Dominion Bureau of Statistics reported 155 professional librarians (persons with a library science degree) in schools with 281 trained teachers either with some library qualifications or none. By 1967, the Bureau reported 365 professionals (Ontario did not report) and 1,124 trained teachers. Library educators disagreed on the need for a library degree and provincial departmental courses often were limited to small enrollments and conducted during the summer at irregular intervals. The result was limited library training in schools and a tendency to promote the teaching of library-related content by classroom visits or individual sessions with students.
At the outset of the 1960s, printed materials in school libraries were often regarded as an auxiliary to independent learning rather than a valued asset that directly supported the school curriculum. Classroom visits by high school students to the library were often under the direction of an English teacher and instruction in library skills was limited due to lack of dedicated staffing. Although student instruction in library methods and the promotion of good reading continued to be staples in the broader philosophy of school librarianship, the decade also was a time of innovation. Leonard Freiser, the Chief Librarian for the Toronto Board of Education, established an Education Centre Library to order, catalogue and process resources as well as provide information searches and document delivery for teachers and librarians. He reported more than 25,000 requests were received during one year, 1967. His critics countered that the school library ought to teach students to think critically and provide them with the skills to achieve their own self-directed learning. Beyond the school library, many new ideas infused Canadian education: collaborative student work in activity-based group work, greater attention to mathematics and science, encouragement of new technologies and resources in classrooms, more advanced qualifications for entry into teachers’ colleges or university faculties of education, open space designs for classrooms, and student demands for more practical knowledge reflecting a multicultural society.
In recognition of the need for guidance, the Canadian School Library Association (CSLA) formulated its Standards of Library Service for Canadian Schools in 1967. The standards stressed the need for an effective school library program developed collaboratively, citing three principles: (1) the provision of in-depth materials for learning following curriculum outlines, (2) each pupil should have access to a variety of materials regardless of school enrollment, and (3) each school must provide required learning materials regardless of its size. The librarian’s functions were outlined as building and organizing collections of instructional materials, assisting teachers and pupils to maximize their use of resources, training and directing clerical and student assistants, and using public relations to maintain a vital library program. The CSLA standards applied to schools of varying sizes but were not mandatory. One forceful criticism was the lack of attention to the acquisition, organization, and distribution of media resources because printed holdings were a primary concern. The standards seemed to be a retrospective vision to some professionals. Although the standards encouraged the integration of print and non-print resources, some educators believed specialist training for non-book materials was a reason for separating the school library from the media centre. When the standards were issued, many educationists hoped that every school would have a library and a trained librarian to operate it.
The Jasper Park Workshop on Education for School Librarianship, June 8, 1968
It was in this context that the CSLA examined the state of school library education in collaboration with the Saskatchewan Association of School Librarians and the Alberta School Library Council. This meeting attracted 300 educators and librarians from across Canada. The one-day session aimed to air differing viewpoints on three major issues central to school librarianship and provide attendees with future directions. Given the circumstances of changing school priorities in forming and using libraries, the discussions focused on three topics: (1) the role of the library technician in the school library, (2) the integration of new media in the school library, and (3) the status of the school librarian as a teacher. Several informative background papers describing Canadian programs for educating school librarians (printed with the workshop proceedings) appeared in Moccasin Telegraph, the newsletter of the CSLA, prior to the workshop.
The keynote speaker was Frances Henne, School of Library Service at Columbia University. She was well qualified to speak to the theme issues. As far back as 1945 she had helped formulate standards for the American Library Association (ALA) publication School Libraries for Today and Tomorrow. She was particularly interested in researching and teaching programs for children and young adults in public libraries and schools. Now, in the late 1960s, as she approached retirement, she was closely involved in the development of revised American guidelines, Standards for School Media Programs, to be published later in 1969. In her opening address, Dr. Henne expanded on the new directions that standards were slated to introduce. New ALA terminology, such as media center, media specialist, or instructional materials center, signalled the importance of non-book formats in school programs. The new standards stressed the role of the media specialist in helping students develop competence in listening, viewing, and reading skills. Media specialists should work cooperatively with teachers in designing learning activities that use a variety of formats in classrooms. Nevertheless, she concluded with a spirited message by returning to the library’s time-honoured potential: “That seemingly static space in the architect’s blueprint is alive with its tremendous actuality and potentiality ... To each young person, the responses are manifold, not only in shared, already experienced beliefs, but also in the opening, exciting vistas of the unknown.” (p. 6)
The first panel discussed the role library technicians and support staff might undertake in schools. The emerging classes of library technicians from recently formed community colleges—about 400 graduates—drew the attention of three panelists. There were concerns about their role in media instruction and the possibility that they might displace librarians. June Munro, the Supervisor of Extension Services in the Ontario Provincia1 Library Service, believed there was no doubt about the value of technicians in school libraries, especially in district or regional centres where they could be integrated with other library personnel. Two other panelists noted that school boards were already employing teacher aides in classrooms, and it seemed technicians would fall into a similar category in provincial educational hierarchies. They agreed that school library supervisors should clarify the difference between technical and professional services and notify administrators in their districts.
A variety of instructional media, such as films, videos, audio recordings, slides, and filmstrips, presented opportunities to support educational programs. The second panel addressed problems associated with the purchase, organization, storage, and distribution of these formats. Helen Donaldson, a long-time school librarian and a supervisor for school libraries in East York (Toronto), emphasized the need to have “integration of management and also materials [so] that we can improve the library resource centre service to both pupils and teachers and in this way become a strong educational force in up-grading the quality of the educational program.” (p. 21) Media required a variety of specially trained staff, of which the librarian was only one. Clearly, it seemed media specialists should be working as part of a teaching team in schools. It was felt that media resources should be as accessible as possible and placed in classrooms, laboratories, or special learning centres where they would receive maximum use. A central school library was just one possibility.
The third panel discussed “Teacher and Library Education in School Librarianship: Professional Dualism or Schizophrenia.” Panelists felt the fundamental role of the school librarian should be to work with teachers as team members directly involved in the education of students. But, was teacher training and certification necessary for the school librarian with library school standing? Lawrence Wiedrick, from the Faculty of Education at the University of Alberta, who had extensive prior experience as a T-L, held that preparation in both education and librarianship was essential but that the emphasis in the workplace depended on local circumstances. He believed “more graduate programs in school libraries are required because extensive specialization at the undergraduate level is not desirable or usually possible ... programs should be offered by both colleges of education and library schools in order that candidates can choose a specialty within either field.” (p. 31) Another panelist pointed to a more proactive role: “School librarians are part of the educational team. They don’t serve teachers—they work with them as colleagues.” (p. 37) Generally, panelists agreed that the school librarian should be prepared first for professional teaching, which involved certification, and only secondly as a specialist.
The one-day workshop finished late in the afternoon with a summary by Frances Henne. Her thoughts, as before, emphasized that the functions of technicians should be clearly defined, that schools required staff with varying specialties, and that the school librarian could be a teacher closely involved in curriculum planning and the learning process. A systems approach, rather than independent schools, was needed to maximize the use of resources. The school library had a function of its own and therefore should play an essential part in making its voice heard in decisions about library/media administration.
Afterwards: School Librarians and a New Professional Model
The 1968 Jasper workshop was designed to allow educators to hear various opinions about the changing priorities in traditional school library service and the newer instructional media centres that were progressing. No recommendations were brought forward but the general discussions and background papers sharpened participants’ views and suggested options that might be useful. In the following year, June 1969, at the Canadian Library Association (CLA) national meeting in St. John’s, Newfoundland, CSLA arranged to have Jean E. Lowrie, the former President of the American Association of School Libraries (1963–64) and future President of the ALA in 1973–74 speak to school librarians about the role of the administrator in media centres. She was an advocate for school libraries fulfilling an instructional role with all types of media that was responsive and creative to the needs of teachers and students. Yet there was a growing realization that a significant number of Canadian schools were unable to meet the CSLA 1967 standards for personnel or facilities, although many came closer to meeting the collection guidelines.
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| Elizabeth Gardens Public School library, Burlington, Ontario, c. 1970 |
In terms of clarifying roles, the CLA approved a statement, “Guidelines for the Training of Library Technicians,” in 1973. In the mid-1970s, the CSLA and the Association for Media and Technology in Education in Canada collaborated on an integrated definition of the role of the school library in providing all types of learning materials. The resulting publication, Resource Services for Canadian Schools (1977), presented national guidelines for resource centre services for the learning resource teacher and T-Ls. This publication superseded the 1967 CSLA standards and provided more guidance on media integration, district services, information access, programming and personnel rather than focusing on measures of materials and their arrangement.
Library education, too, continued to evolve. By the late 1970s, the worthy philosophy that the T-L was a cooperative planner and joint implementer of curriculum was at a youthful stage. As a model, the enhanced role proposed that T-Ls should actively participate with teachers in the planning and implementing of classroom units of study utilizing their knowledge of resources. This fundamental change meant that library skills could be developed in jointly planned and implemented classroom learning exercises. In 1979, the CSLA issued “The Qualifications of School Librarians;” it reflected philosophic educational changes. This statement recommended that a teaching certificate and successful classroom teaching experience were prerequisites for entry into a school library program and that programs should only be offered at the graduate or post-baccalaureate level. Qualified school librarians were tasked with competencies in areas such as professional leadership, acquisition, organization and use of learning resources, instructional design, and production of learning resources.
Although there were pressures on funding for school libraries during a period of decreasing enrollment, economic recession, and inflation in the 1970s, expenditures on books and media remained an integral component of school budgeting. A decade later, in 1979, Statistics Canada reported that school libraries held 49,547,798 books and 5,824,726 non-print audio-visual formats. Growth was slower but continued—in 1967/68 schools had reported holdings of 16 million books (there were no comparable data for non-print materials). Personnel increases were less impressive: in 1967/68 there were 2,975 full-time staff (566 with a library degree); in 1979 there were 5,171 personnel (451 with a library degree). Educational opportunities for T-Ls had led to 3,390 professional positions, i.e., teachers with certificates in school librarianship/media services but no library degree, teachers with courses in school librarianship/media services but without a certificate, teachers without courses in school librarianship/media services, and audiovisual specialists with university degree but no teaching degree or certificate.
A number of factors contributed to the slower growth of a larger national cohort of better trained T-Ls: (1) provincial education regulations did not insist that qualified T-Ls staff school libraries; (2) teachers found it more challenging to enroll in the revised three or four semester MLS programs after library schools eliminated the older two semester BLS program; (3) many T-Ls felt the usual three session program of university faculties of education leading to specialist qualifications in school librarianship should be bolstered with additional courses. Furthermore, individual library school course options tended to emphasize literature and reading for children or young adults as well as general school library administration. The faculties of education provided more specific courses that emphasized the role of T-Ls in media and curriculum development but did not develop comprehensive programs of study about school libraries.
The Jasper workshop occurred just before the significant shift in thinking about the role of the T-L and the school library. The 1980s would prove to be even more challenging than the clarification of roles in the 1970s, which remained to be universally recognized in educational hierarchies. Educational programs were usually planned and approved at various levels by administrators and elected officials who were often unaware of the school library’s potential or what was happening in them, thus perpetuating the subordinate profile of school librarianship in the development of school curricula.
Further Reading
A biography of Frances Henne is available at Wikipedia.
A biography of Jean E. Lowrie is available at Wikipedia.
A national meeting on school librarianship at Edmonton in 1959 is the subject of my earlier blog.
