June ?, 2012

To: Audrey Van Alstyne, District Principal, Learning Technologies

Dear Audrey,

We wish to voice our concern about the erosion of services to school libraries, and hence to schools and students in Vancouver. We are specifically worried by the lack of clarity about the future of the position of our systems-librarian, upon whom school libraries and schools depend heavily. Our concern is the stability and continuity of this position.

In the past school libraries had the helpful services of the Teacher-Librarian Consultant who trained teachers new to the position of teacher-librarian, gave leadership to all teacher-librarians, and coordinated discussion concerning new developments in library, curriculum, and technology. That position was eliminated and has been replaced by a half-time teacher-librarian mentor. Teacher-librarians and school libraries are suffering from the loss. Any diminution of services in the MLST department would have a direct impact on school-library services and schools.

It is, however, the role of the systems-librarian which is our primary concern in this letter. We are informed that there is no long term contract for the very helpful person who presently occupies this position. Vancouver schools have, for decades, enjoyed a very high level of service and programming from their school libraries thanks, in great part, to the support of our systems-librarians. There has always been one in place for VSB/VBE schools. The VSB/VBE has always been known for the excellence of its school library services and programs, as well as a leader provincially and across Canada.

Our systems-librarian has been entrusted with managing tens of millions of dollars of resources, both in print and electronic form at the 109 work sites of the VSB/VBE. “Managing” means evaluating, selecting, and organizing the use of all the millions of dollars of resources for the thousands of users in the district. This is done in partnership with the teacher-librarians in the schools. The guidance necessary for managing the entire district's wealth of resources can only be given by a qualified systems-librarian. As well as resource management, our systems-librarian needs to train teacher-librarians at both elementary and secondary levels. The systems-librarian needs to be able to communicate, to trouble shoot with T-Ls, and to understand the unique challenges that each of the 109 work sites presents. (For a fuller explanation of the services that Vancouver Schools have been provided with through our systems-librarian please see the attached list.)

         As you can see, the responsibilities of this position are very heavy. It is unreasonable to expect these responsibilities to be assumed by an employee who does not have a long term contract. We need a qualified person for this special position. The job could not be done, for instance, by a tech person with no special degree in library science. We hope it is apparent that this position needs continuity, the correct training, and scope in order to continue the high level of service that Vancouver schools have enjoyed and expect from their school libraries.

         Thank you for considering this letter.

         Sincerely,

                                                               Cecil Baird

                                                               President, V.T.L.A

cc: Steve Cardwell, Jordan Tinney, Maureen Ciarnello

Our systems librarians have helped our school library programs function in the following ways:

Providing instruction and support for teacher librarians

-       Providing workshops and one on one support for novice teacher-librarians and EOCS learning to work with Horizon or Reportsmith

-       Supplying upgrade information regularly to teacher-librarians either through workshops, emails or phone calls

-       Trouble-shooting data management issues with teacher-librarians throughout the year

-       Tailoring the operating system(s) to facilitate the work of teacher- librarians (i.e. compressing MARC records), while providing a strategic vision of systems libraries in a rapidly changing digital environment.

-       Attending teacher-librarian meetings and workshops (i.e. Dept. Head meetings)

-       Providing the instruction and one to one help necessary as teacher-librarians grapple with the challenges of new technical processing materials (i.e. spine label printers)

-       Developing help sheets for teacher-librarians for the use of current operating systems ( i.e. Reportsmith, Horizon)

Maintaining the collection

-       Keeping student records updated in correct divisions and schools (essential for Summer School and September start-up)

-       Researching and evaluating new operating systems (i.e. compatible with the VPL or BPL systems) considering the unique needs of a school system

-       Monitoring and supporting the annual site based library inventory and weeding for over 105 school libraries.  This is a highly stressful, time-consuming and overwhelming task for many teacher librarians, involving the management of potentially a million dollars per school.  Obviously the technical expertise of a systems librarian is key here, but equally important is the ability to communicate effectively and to be approachable.

-       Updating the operating system with PC Reliance data so teacher-librarians can access updated information following a Horizon failure

-       Updating our Webcat data base page with requested additions

Purchasing

-       Organizing bulk buy purchases of technical hardware (ie.  upgraded items such as specialized label-printers, or bar-code reading laser scanners/wands)*

-       Coordinating bulk buys of requested student research materials (i.e. specialized encyclopaedias and e-books)*

-       Working with the Purchasing department to coordinate bulk buy purchases of library and storage items

-       Coordinating with the relevant departments( shipping, MLST etc.) to ensure that these items are in libraries in time for the September start-up

-       Facilitating the transfer of materials in excess at one school site to one with greater need (i.e. shelving)  (with a potential savings of thousands of dollars)

* Many of these purchases are time sensitive, involving trials and sales but involve considerable prior researching.  The purchaser needs to be alert to trends in the field to source materials appropriately.

Liasing

-coordinating library cards with photographers