The Editor’s Notebook

Kasey Whalley

Leadership is one of those words that can trip us up. We often imagine leadership in one way, only to discover that it can look or feel very different in our day-to-day lives. When I thought about who the leaders in my life are, I started to notice that there was a wide range of people who would fit the definition, and all of them with distinct leadership qualities.

The thing that I love most about leadership, as a concept, is its variety. There are loud leaders, brave leaders, and strong leaders. There are also quiet leaders, shy leaders, and leaders who show weakness. Leadership, I’m coming to realize, can look like many different things. Great leaders can be outspoken and quiet, brave and unassuming, strong and vulnerable – a veritable tangle of juxtapositions. The best part is that many often have, and fully utilize these wonderful contrasting traits.

The articles we gathered for this issue look at leadership in many different forms. Leadership as an experienced practice is explored in the President’s Report and Shelagh Straughan’s piece. Both the CSL feature and Highlights from the OLA Super Conference provide insight into professional development opportunities that foster leadership and learning to support our school library communities.

In “Equity Leadership in the School Library Commons,” committed leadership in the LLC is presented as a crucial element to creating equity in the school community and the broader education landscape. The article by Cheney and Wander, “The LLC as Home Base for Establishing a Reading Culture,” presents ways in which school library professionals can harness their leadership positions and skills to support a culture of reading.

When we look for leadership in the school library learning commons, we can see it in our program development and goals. We’ve gathered three articles together (“The Moccasin Identifier Project,” “Upping Students’ Verification Skills with CTRL+F” and “Libraries of Your Lives”) as a preview of programming that can support the goals of school libraries and create an avenue for leadership in our schools. The author’s showcase on Misty Paterson also gives great inspiration for leading innovative LLC programs. Leadership is often difficult to pin down, probably due to the variety of leaders that we encounter in our personal and professional lives. Look at how leadership can be fostered and embraced in “The Quality of a Leader,” “School Libraries, the Learning Commons and Places of Belonging” and “Advocacy and Ad Hoc Committees as Leadership.” This conversation is further explored in “VoicEd: Start the Conversation.” Understanding our strengths and leveraging opportunities means that we can continue to develop our amazing leadership skills and support our students.

We’ve also included a beautiful profile on David Loertscher. He has been a leader in libraries for decades, and his insights and humour are wonderful to read about. You can delve further into the world of mentorship in “Leading Through Mentorship” and its accompanying piece. Both articles examine the impact our predecessors and contemporaries can have on our journey to becoming incredible leaders for change, understanding, and advocacy.

This issue was a big one – not just in terms of material, but in concept. I think this is a true testament to the power of school libraries, and the impact they have on a wide range of people.

Often, we quietly lead by example. Yet, there are also times that we must raise our voices and speak loudly for equity, resources, and a deep understanding of our work. We must stand together as leaders – quiet, loud, strong, vulnerable, shy, brave and anything in between – to strengthen and celebrate the remarkable work we do every day in our school libraries for our students.

I believe that when you lead with compassion, perspective, and resilience it will lead to greatness.

I’m happy to announce that Caroline Freibauer will be returning to her role as Editor-in-Chief for our September 2022 issue. I will remain on the editorial board as Associate Editor and look forward to working with new contributors in the coming issues. I want to thank the editorial board and our readers for this opportunity to lead The Teaching Librarian; it has been an immeasurable pleasure and honour. Thank you. z