It’s Summer 2021 and I’m just kicking off my last two of five online courses towards a certificate in Teacher Librarianship (TL-ship) from Queen’s University. It’s been a journey of nearly no days off since January 2021, of forum posts and interviews with TLs in my district, of Boolean operators and graphic design, of networking and eagerly testing out the role as a Teacher-On-Call in SD61: Greater Victoria.

Along the way, I’ve discovered that this might be my dream job.

Now, I get a lot of sniggers when I say that to folks I meet. And I can understand why… close your eyes and conjure up a teacher librarian. What do you see? What are some words that come to mind to describe a librarian?

The Sexy Librarian, Cardigans, Timid, Matronly, Spinster, Shushing, Miserly… some words that may commonly come to mind when discussing the stereotypical librarian figures.

I’m happy to be joining the ranks of folks who are out to break those stereotypes and transform both the role of the School Library and perception towards Teacher Librarians into something more dynamic than the old scan-in-scan-out hat & trick. For starters, I’m exploring what it means to be the school’s tech lead. Teachers and students don’t just need books. They need digital resources, spaces to create digital artifacts, tools for exploring and playing with tech, and someone who has the savvy to troubleshoot and offer recommendations.

Basically, my job over the next couple of months is to play around with tech, pore over the curriculum, read lots of books, network with teachers, find and beta-test new curricular resources, prototype and build gizmos, and subscribe to librarianship resources…. aka, AWESOME! Yup, that’s 100% my idea of fun.

I’ll be testing things out and sharing my experiences and findings into the wide world. Let this be a sort of scientific journal of the journey into Teacher Librarianship.