The Innovative School Librarian: Thinking outside the Box

Citation

Calvert, P. (2009), "The Innovative School Librarian: Thinking outside the Box", The Electronic Library, Vol. 27 No. 6, pp. 1049-1050. https://doi.org/10.1108/02640470911004165

To many school librarians this will be a useful addition to the literature. Instead of a pragmatic how‐to‐do‐it manual, the reader of this book will find it examines issues of a broader nature, such as leadership, vision and values, forming partnerships, connecting with the community, inspiring others, and innovation. The intention is to challenge the reader and raise their thoughts to a strategic level, rather than glumly looking at operational issues all the time. Chapter Four deals with the challenge experienced at some time or other by most librarians, certainly all school librarians, of having to make a choice between following professional ethics or obeying the management directives that often seem at odds with them.

The authors have experience in school libraries and supplement the content with stories, or “vignettes” as the book calls them, as illustrations that high‐level issues also have practical applications. Many of the stories are fun to read, and the book as a whole avoids getting too heavy and preachy.

What I found most disappointing about this book was the almost compete absence of references to new technology. There is a brief nod to social bookmarking on page 142, but if there are other references then I missed them. If the librarian is to be “innovative”, as the title suggests, then surely there is a big role for the use of technology? Can leaders not be encouraged to write blogs? Can podcasts help disseminate ideas? Surely if we need to communicate with our communities then Facebook and Twitter are likely channels to try? This all seems so apparent that I wonder why these points did not make it into the book.

I can recommend this book as a lively and challenging book for school librarians who wish to raise their game. It looks good, reads well, and has a useful index. Readers of this journal will be rather disappointed, I suspect.