Disclaimer: Whilst I do work in a school library, the below assessment doesn't necessarily reflect my own work conditions, but rather the situation of school libraries at large.
So, at the moment, there's a call out for submissions to a Senate Enquiry into School Libraries and Teacher Librarians in Australian Schools.
For those who don't know the story:
Once upon a time, it was mandated that all school libraries should be managed by at least one Teacher Librarian - that is, a professional who had dual qualifications in both teaching and library information management. This had the positive effect whereby the librarian could understand the function of the library in terms of supporting school curriculum, as they could also think like a teacher.
I'm also told that it also had the unfortunate result whereby the librarian was also often required to close the library whenever they had to teach, in situations where they were the only librarian present.
Something happened to that requirement along the way, because over recent years, there has been a substantial decline in the employment of qualified Teacher Librarians managing schools. Especially primary schools. I'm told that, in many cases, this was because it was necessary to have a staff member spend a full-time load managing the library, and if they weren't actually teaching classes, it seemed unfair for them to be paid the same wages as a teacher who was. After all, teaching is bloody hard work, compared with managing a small library.
And so, it came to pass that many government schools would instead employ somebody as an Education Support (ES) Officer to manage the library. They are employed on a renewable ten-and-a-half month contract (beginning in late January and ending in Mid-December), and paid for 40 weeks a year.
Sometimes the position description will specify the need for a professional qualification in librarianship. Sometimes it will settle for a library technician role. Often it will vaguely refer to "appropriate qualifications".
However, even in cases where they specifically request a qualified professional, with a strong knowledge of children's literature, collection management and cataloguing experience, team management skills, substantial budgeting experience, information literacy training ability, and sufficient interpersonal skills to engage with teenage kids from 8am in the morning - even then, they will only offer them a salary that is less than that of a graduate teacher for the first three years.
A suitably skilled librarian would be earning a minimum of $60k in most other cases. No self-respecting library professional would take up such a role, unless they were really passionate about young people and young adult literature. Certainly, no qualified teacher librarian would stoop to such a role.
The solution? Schools need to accept the fact that if they want to attract highly skilled librarians to schools, then they need to offer positions that are competitive with the rest of the industry, in terms of salary and work conditions.
I daresay that government schools cannot afford to do this.
Alternately, they need to provide opportunities for their teachers to gain qualifications in librarianship, and consider a career change into libraries, as a Teacher Librarian, whilst maintaining their interests (and salaries) as a teacher.
Because whilst some schools are fortunate enough to be able to attract qualified library professionals who are prepared to take a paycut to pursue their passion for youth services, they are also shooting themselves in the foot by alienating professionals who know exactly what they're worth, and won't get out of bed for less than $30 an hour.
But Teacher Librarians, on the other hand, have the best of both worlds, and are on a teacher's salary, which is much better value for money than paying a non-teacher librarian the recommended salary for a seasoned librarian with specialist knowledge and management experience.
So, to all the Senators out there reading this. My recommendation is that you either legislate that non-teaching library professionals get paid a comparable salary to the rest of the industry, or else just bring back Teacher Librarians. It might put me out of a job, but even I know that it's the best option.
