Partnering for Placements: NCACL’s Support of CSU TL Students

Over the years, students and academics in the School of Information and Communication Studies at Charles Sturt University (CSU) have developed a partnership with the NCACL through study and research, but it is the work-integrated learning experiences that have held the strongest significance in teaching and learning for our course. For the past decade, many of our students, often those studying for the Master of Education- Teacher Librarianship (MEdTL), have been lucky to tour the NCACL on our group study visits or complete their placements with the wonderful team at the NCACL.

The placements in particular are a fabulous experience for students and are usually completed at the tail end of their studies. They involve 10 days on site (or even virtually since covid) under the supervision of a qualified information professional (abounding at the NCACL!), learning the nuances of the agency’s policies and procedures, cataloguing processes, advocacy programmes, and the overall day-to-day operations. Year after year, students rave about the value of these experiences at the NCACL, for the way in which they support their learning throughout the course and engage their interest in Australian youth literature.

Since many of our students do not yet have experience in an information setting, these placements hold tremendous value for them. Getting industry experience doing things like cataloguing and processing allows them to make connections from the theory they have learned in their subjects, to how to practice the things they were learning.  Further, depending on size and budgets, most schools generally employ one Teacher Librarian (TL) so it can be a very isolating experience. One recent placement student noted in her assessment, “The whole placement experience at NCACL was extremely valuable to me as I was able to work alongside a few TLs and librarians to see in detail many of the librarian and information professional skills and attributes (ALIA, 2020) that as a lone TL, I have not had the opportunity to see or perform.”

A placement at the NCACL also integrates elements of archiving, since the collection holds so many amazing historical artefacts documenting the rich history of Australian children’s literature. This makes the experience wide-ranging and varied in ways other information agencies cannot offer. Additionally, this collaborative experience also allows students to see how the legendary leader of the NCACL, Belle Alderman, guides her team and creatively advocates for the centre and its funding in different venues. Seeing Belle’s innovative model for leadership and advocacy is an inspiration for our students moving from managing their own classroom to leading the library program of an entire school.

Since our MEdTL students must enter our course with teaching qualifications and often have education experience, they are able to share their own expertise and support some of the NCACL activities as well, like adding curriculum resources to their many useful databases of literature and writing annotations for titles. And while we do promote the NCACL throughout the content of our MEdTL course, students can see more clearly the value that this collection and its incredible resources can add to their own collections and teaching. One student noted this in her reflection on the experience in stating that, “After experiencing first-hand the value and importance this collection has, I will continue to promote the centre to teachers and fellow TLs so that its presence and value continues to grow.”

These experiences hold significance for our students in so many ways – including helping them with their daily tasks in a school library, building key leadership and management skills, and inspiring a lifelong appreciation for literature and a dedication to advocate for it. I must note as well that it is particularly generous for the NCACL to support our students as these placements do not come with any government subsidies, as some other industry placements do. The NCACL receives no monetary subsidies or recognition for giving their time and expertise. At CSU, we are so grateful for what the NCACL has shared with us over the years, and we look forward to continuing to grow our partnership together to promote teacher librarianship and Australian youth literature beyond school libraries.

Dr Kasey L. Garrison is Senior Lecturer & Children’s Specialisation Coordinator in the Teacher Librarianship Course in the School of Information & Communication Studies, Faculty of Arts & Education at Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga, NSW

References

Australian Library and Information Association [ALIA]. (2020). Foundation knowledge, skills and attributes for information professionals working in archives, libraries and records management. https://www.alia.org.au/common/Uploaded%20files/ALIA-Docs/2021/Foundation_knowledge_skills_and_attributes_relevant_to_information_professionals.pdf

 

Posted by: NCACL | Published: 24 Nov 2024