A framework for school library practice

Last year I found myself in the position of needing to explain exactly what a library does, from its curriculum to space and everything in between. When I approach promoting and advocating for the library, I believe it’s important to share about all aspects of the school library. Often one gets the focus (like collections and reading) or is the part more easily documented (like the beautiful photos of students creating in our makerspace), while other aspects are harder to capture and share.

I was left wondering how I could sum up the work of the school library in a simple, visual and understandable way. How could I make others understand the layered and complex work the school library team do and the scope of work that entails? How could I capture everything a school library is and does? I started to list down all the things and services a school library is and offers. It was a long list. From a space to belong to access to audiobooks, it’s a vast array of products, spaces and services, but also includes a unique mindset and approach. And what makes a school library future-focused?

I tried to sort and combine my list and eventually, through many different iterations, I started to combine my list and ideas into categories. I wanted something simple, something easy to remember and share. Something that could be used for advocacy and for promotion, as a guide for my own school library practice and something that would help others shape a school library into something that valued the core parts of a school library, yet left room for growth and change.

And so the Seven Domains of School Library Practice was born. Seven key aspects of what a school library is and does. Learning, Literacies, Resources, Environment, Community, Leadership and Innovation. A simple overlapping design of circles to demonstrate the complex way these work together to support a school community.

Why a new framework? Aren’t there other models out there?

There are models out there that explain the core business of a school library. Like the National Library of New Zealand’s School Library Development Framework. It is deliciously simply and is designed to support the development of a school library. It combines elements of place, collection, connections and access, alongside the leadership and expertise needed to organise these library services.

Then there is the Framework 3.0: Leading, Learning and Literacy for Today’s School created by the Future Ready Librarians. This framework guides the practice of librarians. It has 8 sections of practice around the centre premise of Learner Centered Practice, a ring of Literacies and some of the 8 sections have multiple layer of tasks.

There are also state or national based frameworks, like the Florida Power Library and Idaho Frameworks designed to support and identify effective and exemplary school library practice.

These incredibly helpful and detailed tools are more like rubrics and checkpoints to audit a school library.

I love Mali Jorm’s Three Sphere’s of Library Skills and think it’s such a useful framework for understanding the knowledge and skills libraries support and grow in students.

But even with these frameworks, I was left searching for a framework that could simply but adequately summarise the different, overlapping but unique, aspects of a library service.

The Seven Domains Framework

That’s my aim with the Seven Domains of School Library Practice. A framework that captures everything a library does, but allows flexibility for change and adaptation for the future. It’s designed to be helpful for school library staff to guide our practice, but it’s also designed to be accessible for those outside the school library space, so they too can understand the work and scope of a school library. It’s something I’ve shared with my leadership, something I’ve used to audit my library service this year to identify areas of strength and gaps, and something I’m using to help guide my marketing and reporting plans for the year, and eventually our strategic plan renewal. You can learn more about the Framework and the seven domains here.

If you’d like to use the Framework in your school library or to advocate for the layered work of a school library with your school leadership or community, you can. Download the full framework here. I hope it’s a useful tool for school library staff to use and share.