Leadership

The teacher librarian (TL) is positioned well to take on a leadership role within in the school. Having the knowledge of the curriculum and the students of the school gives the TL get advantages of developing whole school policies.

Warren Bennis (1999) in the Donham  (2005) article discuss the attributes of successful business people could be transferred to the library. These attributes include:

• technical competence
• conceptual skills
• people skills
• judgment and
• character

These are all excellent skills, but I see these skills in people who are good at what they do, no matter what career they have taken. So, what sets people or leaders apart? Donham (2005) goes on to discuss is the more important element is "leaders act from an internal locus of control" (p.296).The person has the power to overcome obstacles such as negative teacher and proceed to link in what will work with that teacher to provide the best teaching for the students. This can be inspiring for all those involved.

Another term I like is "proactive". Hartzell (2000,p.15) suggests that proactive people look for opportunities for change, they anticipate and prevent problems and they take actions and they don't give up. To make this proactive attitude work, people need to work together as a good and value each others strengths and weakness. For it is impossible to be an expert in all areas, but collaboration will bring on the most success.

Leaders need to begin with a vision. Fullan (1996) tell us of three attibutes for a sound vision:

1. "Sharedness' - the degree to which it is shared.
2. "Concreteness" - the degree to which people have some concrete image of what it will look like
3. "Clarity"- the degree to which people are skilled in carrying it out.

Lao Tzu, a Chinese Taoist philosopher said, "When the best leader's work is done, the people say, 'We did it  ourselves.'"

References

Donhan, J. (2005). Leadership. In Enhancing teaching and learning: a leadership guide for school library media specialists (2nd ed.) (pp. 295-305). New York: Neal-Schuman Publishers

Fullan, M. (1996). "Professional Culture and Educational Change."School Psychology Review 25 (4): 496-500