Page 240 - DLIS001_FOUNDATION_OF_LIBRARY_AND_INFORMATION_SCIENCE

Unit 12: Library Legislation

Notes
environment for reading and writing in schools and to develop the pedagogical role of
the school library. Room for Language focused on two principles:
1. to support a developmental process in the school based on its own needs and
conditions, and

2. to support this development through courses and pedagogical dialogue.
The Room for Language project included a school development part, “Time for Learning,”
and a research part, “Learning via School Libraries.” The research, conducted by Dr. Louise
Limberg and other members of LinCS, contributed to a deeper understanding of the role
of the school library in school development. The LinCS research centre is located at the
University of Gothenburg and funded by the Research Council of Sweden. School library
advocacy work in Sweden and elsewhere has been informed by LinCS research studies
focusing on information literacy, on students’ ways of interacting with information systems
and personal resources as well as educators perspectives on interacting with and
collaborating with others.
The experiences from Room of Language pointed out that school development required
more than personal resources, material resources, and time resources. What was lacking
was cooperation between teachers and school librarians and also the engagement of the
principals. Such were the thoughts that led to three more school library projects funded by
the Government of Sweden through the National Authority for School Improvement:
Searching Communicating Learning, SMiLE, and Many SMiLE. The purpose of the three
projects was that the school library, through the growth of knowledge and through
pedagogical discussions, would become a more active part of school development. The
initiatives for the projects came a variety of actors: from the university world, from school
library organizations, from governmental organizations and municipalities, all represented
by many enthusiasts. The library associations played an important role in these projects.
The University Actor

One actor working to get resources for school library development was the university
world. In southern Sweden there has been a lot of cooperation between the municipal school
library field and the university. The University of Malmö had courses for school librarians,
called “The School Library.” Initiatives were taken by staff from the university and from the
municipality of Malmö to ask the National Authority for School Improvement to develop
nationwide courses and other development projects. They talked especially about the need
for further education for teachers and librarians. These initiatives resulted in a project with
teachers and school librarians working together on school development. Unfortunately, the
school library aspect of the project faded away, a fate we have seen many times: when the
classroom and the school library meet, the classroom usually wins. That experience showed
how hard it is to work with the pedagogical role of the school library: either the discussion
ends with the pedagogics in the classroom or with the administration of the school library.
Even when the contacts came from the teacher education at the university, there were no real
discussions of the pedagogical role of the school library.
IASL had its conference in Malmö in the year 2000 as a cooperative project between the
university and the municipality. Sweden’s school library associations (the South School
Library Association, The National School Library Group, and The Swedish Library
Association’s Practice Group for School Libraries) played a very important role. On the
platform offered by the IASL conference, the different actors from within Sweden (national
governmental, university, municipality and library associations) could meet and be inspired
by international authorities in the school library field. After the conference, staff from the
university asked the National Authority for School Improvement once again to start
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