my initial response to Purcell's 2010 article on the role of the SLMS

Purcell (2010) lists five roles of the school library media specialist as leader, instructional partner, information specialist, teacher and program administrator (p. 30). She states that they are interconnected and can't be performed without eacher other (p. 33).

My response is influenced by the fact that I have worked as a librarian at university and college libraries. I remember how the relationship between the librarian and the academics / administration affected the outcome of information literacy programmes. Some heavily funded information literacy programmes foundered as they weren't linked to the curriculum and students weren't required to do the library workbooks, or expensive resources were not utilised as lecturers didn't know how to use them.

All the roles Purcell list have a relationship component to them, and a newly appointed librarian would have to focus on these, as well as the information specialist role. I think reflecting on the results of the time study suggested by Purcell (2010) would be a great starting point in prioritising SLMS roles (p.30). If there was too much time being spent on tasks which come under the program administrator banner, then the librarian can liaise with the principle for more help / budget so that she can fulfill her roles related to leader, instructional partner, information specialst and teacher. This is likely to lead to an increased visibility and more time to collaboration and strategize library services / resources so that they synthesise with the school's goals.