The Editor’s Notebook

Caroline Freibauer

Moving between the physical world and virtual spaces during what seemed like countless months of pandemic restrictions was a negotiation between darkness and light. When schools first closed in March 2020, I felt as though I was locked in a dark basement with little contact from my school community or board-level leaders charged with running school libraries. Any attempts to reach out with offers of support to my colleagues was a lot like lobbing stones into a deep well. I couldn’t even hear the splash. “Hello! Is anyone out there?”

But looking across the social media landscape, I could see glimmers of light across the province, and even the country, as library learning commons staff created virtual spaces and forged connections with teachers, students and parents blindly trying to navigate this new way of learning. Inspired by these school library heroes, I worked to light my own little lamp with a virtual book club and writing group. It was a tiny beacon of comfort for both me and the students as we navigated the remaining weeks of the school year.

Somehow, through the darkness, I was able to get a new job at a private school in Toronto where administrators embraced technology and were unafraid to take pedagogical risks. Although Ontario closed its physical schools more than any other jurisdiction in Canada and for longer than most countries in the world, at St. Michael’s College School I was able to run book clubs for staff, students and parents, launch research projects with geography and science classes, run contests and other initiatives to boost reading, persuade teachers of ten Grade 7 and 8 English classes to try Forest of Reading books for the first time and attend meetings – maybe too many! I must admit that I became a huge fan of Nearpod to facilitate interactive teaching and learning. Our school library team was able to generate enough light to support learning at our school so that the year didn’t feel like a loss.

But, as proud as I am of our efforts at SMCS, after reading through the articles in this virtual@yourlibrary edition of The Teaching Librarian, I realize they pale in comparison to the many initiatives that took place across the province, where school library staff were leveraging online platforms and technology to create bonfires of online learning with the smoke signals resonating far beyond the jurisdictions of individual school boards.

At Upper Canada District School Board, school library staff were able to transform a week-long Truth and Reconciliation gathering into a virtual event on the Virtual Library Learning Commons, leveraging technology such as LibGuides and Microsoft Teams. Others created Bitmoji platforms and virtual breakout rooms to create engagement in the virtual world. One of my favourite articles in this edition is the piece on curating your online resources. My physical world is in a constant state of jumble, so you can imagine what my virtual world looks like. Lisa Noble’s advice is a big help to those of us hoping to get organized.

But probably the brightest spot of light during the pandemic gloom was the Ontario Library Association’s ability to pivot – I needed to use that word at least once in this piece – the Forest of Reading from an in-person celebration of reading to a series of online events. As you read through the selection of articles in our Forest feature, you will realize that the move to online wasn’t all bad and that the technology changes helped extend connections to authors and other resources. In fact, even when the Forest festival returns to physical events, OLA may keep some of the online innovations.

School library staff worked hard during the dark days of the past 18 months, creating a virtual light show of teaching and learning. This virtual@yourlibrary edition of The Teaching Librarian is our way of capturing that lightning in a bottle. We don’t know what this school year will bring, but we hope the stories and ideas in this magazine will provide a comforting beacon to help light the path forward. z