Study Visit 3 - University of Malaya

Underwhelming is the best adjective I can think of to describe my study visit to the library at the University of Malaya (UM). If I were one of the students at UM, I would zip into the library, find what I needed, and then be out the door as fast as possible. Both the interior and exterior of the library are tired. The décor is dull and unattractive and there was a lack of atmosphere. No comfortable seating is provided for the students, giving the impression that visits to the library are for studying in a traditional sense. Areas specially designed for, or allocated to, collaborative work were not evident.

I found the library to be old-fashioned, boring and totally uninspiring. This surprised me as UM is a huge university with a student population of approximately 27,000 Malaysian and international students. On a positive note, the library uses a substantial portion of its budget to subscribe to a large number of online databases and journals, so students have the flexibility of being able to access material as needed. The visit made me appreciate the organisation I work in as it is very learner-centred, encouraging teachers to be forward-thinking about the needs of current and future learners.

Study Visit 2 - Bank Negara Knowledge Management Centre

Upon arriving at Bank Negara’s Knowledge Management Centre (KMC), I was quite impressed with this spacious and sophisticated building which is less than one year old. Its design is influenced by the shape of the cowrie shell, as cowries were the first currency used in Malaya – a lovely way to bridge old with new.

I wasn’t really sure what to expect to see or learn during my visit to this KMC as I wasn’t sure what the purpose of this agency was. Why would a bank need a library? However, after talking to the head librarian, my understanding of the purpose and function it plays in the banking world was much clearer. Services and resources are provided for lecturers, PhD students and anyone interested in the field of banking. The public is also welcome to use the facility. 

Creative ways of offering in-house professional development are utilised at the KMC. They have monthly knowledge sharing sessions where they discuss feedback from users to highlight ways they can improve their services. They also spend time sharing simple articles in order to improve their command of English. This is a strategy that I feel would work well with my team and I hope to incorporate it into our training sessions (which definitely need to take place on a more regular basis).

Nowadays many libraries are finding ways to reach out to their patrons and offer flexible services, but this is not the case with Bank Negara’s KMC. Because they have created an attractive and inviting facility which they want patrons to come in and use, they do not provide any remote services; users can not even check the catalogue off-site. This surprised me, as it doesn’t fit with the ethos most libraries are trying to create. Other libraries that I am familiar with, including my own, are offering flexible access to the catalogue, eBooks, digital resources and online databases. This has certainly given me something to ponder.

Study Visit 1 - International School of Kuala Lumpur

My first study visit took place on 18th April at ISKL's Elementary School (http://www.iskl.edu.my/library/library.php) with teacher librarian, JE. I know J through the KL librarians' network we both belong to and admire the wealth of knowledge and experience she has in the field of teacher librarianship. J is passionate about reading and children's literature, and has worked for New Zealand's National Library.
J has been working at ISKL for eight months and explained that she has spent a large portion of her budget transforming the collection from a dated US-centric one to one with more of a modern international focus. She hopes the revamped collection will better suit the needs of the school community. J has also concentrated on updating the genre section, series and easy reading/chapter books. The collection is predominantly print, but they do have subscriptions to a few online resources. A cybrarian has been appointed to begin work in August and her role will be to push digital learning throughout the school. What an exciting appointment to the school!

The photo below shows the inviting area J has created for parents. She believes it's important for the community to feel welcome in the library.

The library has links on the school website, but as yet there is no reaching out to the school community through social networking as in a blog, Facebook page or Twitter. J sees the merits in using these technologies, but just hasn't had the time to set them up. It was good to hear about some of the initiatives taking place in the library:

• Creating different spaces for different purposes e.g. parents' section
• Bringing everything down to eye level
• Improving displays & signage
• Creating new collections e.g. chapter books, sophisticated picture books for older readers
• Including children in designing the Manga comic area “Heaven Sent” on iPads

I appreciate J's creative (and free) ways of providing on-site professional development for her staff. They role play interactions with staff and parents, spend 30 minutes a week in the “help” section of their library management system (Destiny) and she also encourages them to read a book a week of their choice.

This study visit helped me to see the similarities and differences between our two international school libraries. We are alike in that we have school management that support our programs, healthy budgets for materials and visiting authors, vision for how we want our libraries to improve and that we both spend the majority of our working days doing admin work. Major differences include number of qualified staff and size of budgets.

I found that there are more similarities than differences in our libraries, so I hope this means that we are both on the right track for providing first class services to our patrons.

Developing a Cybersafety Policy

My school does not currently have an Internet safety policy, so measures need to be taken to establish one. The last time our ICT policy was updated was 2005, so this also needs revising.
Three ways I think we can inform our school community's understanding of the need for a cybersafety policy are:
1. Establish a cybersafety team comprised of a representative from each area of the school community.
2. Audit both Primary & Secondary students to gauge the types of technology used and the frequency of use. Parents of younger students may be required to complete this on their behalf or teachers can ask the children verbally.
3. Create a policy which suits the needs of our clientele in this international setting.
Instead of being reactive (as we often are in my school), we need to be proactive and get the ball rolling in the right direction if we want our students to be thoughtful and responsible users of the Internet, now and in their future lives.

EARCOS 2012, Bangkok, Thailand

When asked if I would like to apply to attend the EARCOS 2012 conference in Bangkok at the end of March, I jumped at the opportunity to not only visit another vibrant Asian city, but to attend some really relevant PD for teacher librarians. Nine teachers from my school attended and it was wonderful to spend both professional and leisure time with teachers that I wouldn't regularly see in our huge school.
Fabulous keynote speeches were presented by Cathy Davidson, Steven Layne and Jason Ohler. Relevant and practical workshops were given by Doug Johnson, Jeff Utecht and Peggy Sharp. I came away from Jeff's sessions with loads of ideas about how to use Google docs more effectively and how to use a Facebook page to market my library.
I really loved these wise words from keynote speaker Dr. Steven Layne “Nothing works for every child, but something works for every child.” This really hit home about the importance of moulding the curriculum to fit the needs of our learners.