Professional
Resources
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irtual, to me, is synonymous with my day-to-day work in our libraries. After a year and a half of strictly online research and information literacy instruction with my classes and students, virtual is pretty much the new normal. What is exciting about this new normal is the incredible array of professional development opportunities as well as library and media resources that have since become available to us as life-long learners and school library professionals. Whether attending an online webinar, working through a sequence of skills-based applications to earn digital badges, or heading into your home office or virtual classroom to read a library journal article or newly-published book, virtual library professional development opportunities and resources could not be easier to gather, read, and share with colleagues and peers. Below are a few options, both print and online, that I have read or participated in, and I highly encourage you to try them as well. Enjoy!
Works Cited “About the Education Institute.” The Partnership, The Provincial and Territorial Library Associations of Canada, 16 Oct. 2020, thepartnership.ca/educationinstitute/about-the-education-institute/. Accessed 25 June 2021. “Future Ready Librarian Challenge.” Future Ready, 2020, futureready.org/futureready-librarian-challenges/. Accessed 25 June 2021. “Future Ready Librarians Summer Book Club.” Future Ready, 2021, futureready.org/ future-ready-librarians-bookclub/. Accessed 25 June 2021. Merga, M. K. “Relevant 2019-2021 Papers.” Google Docs, 2019, docs.google.com/ document/d/1SKZ0DPYLBFb5Ge3aVoKJBt4xWbVCgpukmLfnJS4g5II/edit. Accessed 25 June 2021. Shumaker, David and Mary Talley. “Resources - Models of Embedded Librarianship Final Report.” Talley Partners, 2012, http://www.talleypartners.com/models-ofembedded-librarianship_finalreportrev-copy/. Accessed 25 June 2021.
14 Ontario School Library Association
Print Leading from the Library. Help Your School Community Thrive In The Digital Age by Shannon McClintock Miller and William Bass (published 2019) The modern school library supports education in a variety of ways. One essential role librarians play is that of a leader who works collaboratively to build relationships, mould culture and climate, and advocate for the needs of students and the community. In this book, a librarian and an education leader team up to reflect on the librarian’s ability to build connections in two ways. First, they discuss the benefits of bringing the outside world into the library through social media, videoconferencing and other tools that allow librarians to partner with others. Then they expand upon these connections by addressing how librarians can lead in the greater educational community by sharing resources and strategies and partnering with school leaders to tell the story of the school community. Through Future Ready Librarians Summer Book Club, I participated in this as a summer 2021 book club opportunity to read, reflect, collaborate, and network with other school library professionals online via Google Slides, Facebook Live events, and a Jamboard. I highly recommend it as a book and a virtual professional development opportunity, plus it ties into International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) professional standards for school librarians. The link is from a Follett Community webinar, similarly titled, from July 2020. There is a resource guide and the presentation slides included.
