PASSIONATE ABOUT SCHOOL LIBRARIES
Well, here we are, more than two years on from when I first started this journey investigating how to build a reading culture. I never could have imagined where this journey would take me.
I’ve looked at organisational culture research, culture change research and methodology, reading culture research, and tools for measure reading culture. I also used those tools to measure our reading culture starting point.
Little did I know 24 months ago when I started my exploration into culture change and building a reading culture, the journey it would take me on.
If you’ve missed parts of my series on building a reading culture you’ll find the start of this story in part 1, an exploration of organisational culture research in part 2, culture change research and methodology in part 3, and a deeper look at reading culture in part 4. In part 5, I shared some of the tools that could be used to measure reading culture.
Now the time has come to share where I am in this journey and how I think my school stacks up when measuring our reading culture.
Being slightly competitive (at least when it comes to my school library) might have been one of the reasons I created a leadership collection.
As part of reinvigorating our non-fiction collection, we have genrefied and added books on a range of topics. One of those new sections is our Entrepreneurship collection, which features a strong collection of leadership books. This collection happened quite by chance, but now that I look back, it makes so much sense.
Welcome back to my building a reading culture series. If you’ve missed parts 1-4, I explore the start of this journey, organisational culture research, culture change research and what a reading culture is.
In my last post, I discussed what a reading culture is and some of the key elements. I also made the discovery that this needs to be driven from outside the library. To be truly effective, I need everyone in the school on board. Before I explore that further, I need to first look at how to measure and assess the current reading culture. Does it need to change? What are the areas of weakness? Where are we falling short and where are we strong and can build upon a good foundation?
In this series, which I started last year, I have been exploring building a strong reading culture in my school. It was something we had identified as a library team as a goal to work towards. You can read part one here. I then started to investigate organisational culture research and culture change research and methods. These have all given me some excellent information and starting points. It has also guided my practice for the last six months as I stepped into acting head of library and into a position to drive change.
Now it’s time to look a little more closely at reading cultures, what exactly a reading culture is and why is it something to strive towards.
Cultures of Belonging: Building Inclusive Organizations that Last
– Alida Miranda-Wolff –
HarperCollins Leadership
Published 15 February 2022
♥♥♥♥♥
Diversity, inclusion, belonging. All such key and important words for leaders and managers and all workers to be across in today’s workplace. And rightfully so. These have so often been ignored or not prioritised in workplaces and it is time, well past time, for change. In Cultures of Belonging, Alida Miranda-Wollf draws upon her own lived-experience in work settings and her experience as a leader within the DEIB sector to explore the key themes around diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging and provides practical skills and techniques to build a culture around these.
January 2022. A new year. A whole year of new professional learning opportunities to get excited about. While for some of us, we might still be in the midst of a summer break and not wanting to think about getting back to work, others might just be finishing a winter break and needing a bit of inspiration to get back to work. In any case, I hope something in the below links are of interest to you and get you excited about the world of school libraries again. It’s a lean list, but February is set to be a bumper edition, so stay tuned. Happy learning.
Finally, the end of the year. In some ways it seems like it’s been a very long year and in others it has flown by. Maybe professional learning is the last thing on you mind as we head into the holiday season, but just in case you are looking for some learning this month, here are a few links.
In my last post on Building A Reading Culture, I shared my dive into the research around organisational culture. You can read my journey into building a reading culture from the start, in this first post Building A School Reading Culture Part 1 Getting Started.
When I decided to investigate the reading culture at our school, I wanted to do it properly and I was inspired to look beyond the school library context by my mentor, Dr Kay Oddone and her fantastic post on her website LinkingLearning. So, I began my journey within the business and organisation context. Looking at the research around organisational culture helped me to understand that culture is not only the “way things are done around here” but also the underpinning beliefs, values, assumptions and thoughts around the future of the organisation.
However, this is just a starting point. The true power rests in being able to change the culture we have.
As we draw near the end of the calendar year and school year for those of us in Australia, there is still time for a bit of PD and to make sure we’ve met those CPD requirements. While this list of professional learning opportunities is a little Aussie-centric, most of them are online so they are open to all. I hope you find something worth learning.
It is so important to ensure that our library collections, however old they might be, reflect the truth about history and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and perspectives. This webinar hosted by ASLA and presented by the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies is all about ensuring our libraries are free from offensive materials and are full of quality resources.
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