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Rebecca C. Zimmerman

LIS 600-01: Foundations of Library and Information Studies

October 25, 2018

Assignment #3

Trends in Teacher Librarian

Teacher Librarian: The Journal for School Library Professionals is a peer-reviewed

periodical written for librarians working with K-12 students. From its founding in 1990 to 1998,

the publication was known as Emergency Librarian, however, it changed its title to better reflect

its focus on the school media specialist as an educator, partner, and collaborator with traditional

classroom teachers. In each issue, Teacher Librarian provides its readers with reviews of library

materials from books to websites, reviews of professional development materials for librarians

and other school professionals, and articles on advocacy, technology, library management, and

material selection. Since 1990, the journal has been particularly focused on keeping librarians

up-to-date on technology and its best practices, current advocacy topics that they can approach

personally or with their students, and collaboration practices between school media specialists

and classroom educators. In the past 27 years, this technology has changed from fax machines to

the internet, these advocacy topics have changed from apartheid to fake news and the women’s

march, and collaboration practices have changed from merely attempting to collaborate in any

way to moving towards student-centered education practices like makerspaces. In the future, I

believe the journal will focus even more strongly on promoting diversity in library materials and

promoting best education practices under changing federal and state education standards.

In the article “Navigating the 90s—the teacher-librarian as change agent,” the author Jean

Brown points out that school libraries are a center for technological change (1990). At that time,
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librarians were paying attention to the beginning of distance learning, the prominence of satellite

television in their students lives, the increasing abundance of videocassette players, and the

replacement of vinyl photograph albums with compact disks and audio cassettes. The journal

also offers at least one review in each issue of microcomputing opportunities, or curriculum aids

on CD-ROMs. In the 90s, the journal’s focus seemed to be split: On one hand, it encouraged

readers to use the most up-to-date technology in their libraries. On the other hand, it was

desperately trying to predict where technology and innovation was going next so school

librarians could prepare their budgets and practices in advance.

In 2017, after the coming of the internet, the journal seems less focused on predicting

what’s coming next in technological innovation, and more on teaching educators to model best

digital practices for students so they can grow up and interact well in a technologically connected

and virtual world. In one 2017 issue of the journal, for example, Teacher Librarian provided

readers with an entire article on understanding Facebook’s News Feed while another issue

instructed educators on best practices surrounding password protections and Norton antivirus

software. These articles seek to start technology education with educators. The idea is that those

educators can then teach their students how to survive in the digital world, which the journal

admits includes social media. Another issue promotes a lesson plan that introduces students to

the idea of fake news and how they can find trustworthy facts on the internet. This represents

Teacher Librarian’s focus on increasing digital literacy in student populations through direct

instruction. Finally, the journal saw a change in material formats. Teacher Librarian switched

from providing reviews of CD-ROMs to giving its readers examples of websites and how they

could be used in the library and classroom. It also began to illustrate the importance of

audiobooks to library collections and their importance in helping reluctant readers.

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In both 1990 and 2017, Teacher Librarian stressed the need for school librarians to be

staunch advocates for social change both in the United States and across the world. In 1990, for

example, the journal spoke out against apartheid and what librarians could do through their

professional organizations to help support boycotts of a segregated South Africa. In 2017, this

call for advocacy became an even stronger part of the publication. Teacher Librarian did not

just encourage librarians to make changes outside of their schools; it gave them lesson plans and

techniques to bring political subjects to their students. In its two articles on the 2017 Women’s

March, the journal provided librarians with examples of how to explain what was going on to

their students as well as encourage their students to stand up for their own ideas of social change.

Teacher Librarian started calling for collaboration between librarians and classroom

teachers in its first issue in 1990. In “Navigating the 90s,” Jean Brown questioned whether

schools were moving toward a “resource-based learning” approach to education in which

teachers attempt to create learning experiences that meet the needs of the student as well as

meeting curricular expectations (1990). The journal encouraged librarians to be leaders in this

kind of educational change, but did not present a clear picture of what that changed looked like.

Moving into 2017, the journal is suddenly full of models and options for teacher/librarian

collaboration, particularly in moving education toward more student-creation focuses. In “The

Umbrella Creation Model,” David Loertscher discusses one way in which teachers and teacher

librarians partner to teach inquiry in project-based learning (2017). This kind of project-based

learning is also evident in the journal’s many articles about makerspaces and how they and

student creation can be incorporated into library practices and school curriculum.

In the future, I see Teacher Librarian continuing to focus on technology, advocacy, and

collaboration with an emphasis on diversity in education and new educational standards. We can
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already see this in the journal’s 2017 articles, most notably Elizabeth Akingbola’s

“Collaborations between Teachers and Librarians: Improving What Is Taught and Learned

About Africa.” More and more of the journal’s article are addressing complex views on all areas

of education and how educators can involve multiple viewpoints in education about Africa, the

American past, and living with disabilities (to name just a few examples). Teacher Librarian

does this by promoting diverse titles for library acquisition and technological aids like websites

that can add plurality to the classroom. In its increased discussion of teacher/librarian

collaborations, the journal is also diving deeper and deeper into the implementation of federal

and state education standards. As these standards change and grow, I see the journal moving to

adapt to that and provide best practices for students, teachers, and teacher librarians.

Works Cited
Akingbola, E.D. (2017) Collaboration between Teachers and Librarians: Improving What Is
Taught and Learned About Africa. Teacher Librarian, 45(2), 18-21.
Brown, J. (1990). Navigating the ‘90s—The teacher-librarian as change agent. Emergency
Librarian, 18(1), 19.
Loertscher, D.V. (2017). The Umbrella Creation Model. Teacher Librarian, 45(1), 46-49