The view from my desk – Anita Gill

This month we welcome Anita Gill, Digital Resource Coordinator/Library Manager, Fr John Wall Community Library (Catholic Education Tasmania) as our guest blogger.

Where and how did you start your LIS career?
I started working as a Catholic primary school Teacher/Library Assistant in 2004 in Western Australia. It was in that role that I was inspired to start formal study in Library and Information Science, and I completed the Curtin University Undergraduate Degree in Librarianship & Corporate Information Management when I moved to Tasmania in 2010. In 2011 I landed my first full time professional Librarian role at Guilford Young College, the senior Catholic College in Hobart with two campuses.

Does your role in the LIS field match what you expected before starting out?
No, I don’t think so. My expectations and roles have definitely evolved over the years. Working in a primary school library environment was very, very different to working in a senior school library environment for example. I certainly never imagined I’d end up as a special/theological librarian. I had thought to move more into the archives and museum sector. I finished my Master Degree in History a few years before I won my current role as Librarian at the Fr John Wall Community Library, which is the central resource centre for Catholic Education Tasmania, and the pastoral lending library for the Archdiocese of Hobart more broadly.

What are the key issues you face in your role? What are the rewards?
Key issues I face in my role are probably promotion and community engagement. This is easier to do within our school communities but harder to do with the church parish communities. It’s quite a big state for one library to service. There are 38 Catholic schools and 27 Catholic Parishes, as well as a large number of Catholic agencies, including Aged care etc. I am also responsible for a rare book collection (including a Latin Vulgate Bible from 1477) that receives far less of my attention than it deserves due to time constraints.

The rewards far outweigh any issues though. First and foremost, I work with a great team of people who support the teaching of the Catholic Religious Education curriculum throughout the state and are the biggest promoters and supporters of our library service.

I have a large and loyal customer base who regularly use the library in person or online. I provide regular Storytime for the local Catholic Care children’s service who are always a joy to read to. My work is also quite varied, as aside from religious/theological resources I manage the resources our organisation collects for Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Education, English as an additional language, STEM Science kits, Student Support, Early Years and General Teaching & Learning.

I also get asked the most interesting questions on a regular basis (including anonymous phone calls from someone who wants theological related crossword puzzle answers).

What is a point of difference about your service?
Offering resources in a specialised field like Theology. After 4 years I’m still learning about the major players and themes in Catholic history (even after attending and working in Catholic schools most of my life) and it never ceases to amaze me how many new resources come out in this space on a daily basis. Catering to a wide range of Catholic/Christian beliefs and interests certainly keeps me on my toes.

What career strategies and skills are important for a successful LIS career?
I would say that remaining flexible and always looking for opportunities for innovation and improvement of your service is key. It is important to keep upskilling to remain relevant and adaptable. Networking with colleagues and other LIS Professionals is also invaluable for building relationships and career opportunities.

And finally, tell us about the ‘view from your desk’. 
This is the literal view from my desk, which looks out into the small library entrance foyer. Here you can see a small tea/coffee station we keep stocked for meetings/events. A display area for topical resources. Also, a painting of our namesake and generous benefactor, Fr John Wall (1937-2004).

International School Library Day

To celebrate International School Library Day we invited Felicity Sly, Teacher Librarian at Don College in Devonport to share her library journey with ALIA Island.

AI: Can you tell us about your career path and what led you to the role you’re in today?

FS: My pathway to school librarianship was quite mercenary, I’m sad to say. I knew I wanted to be a librarian. I love books, organising things and finding information. My father alerted me to the Education Department Studentship program available to teachers and teacher librarians. I checked out the options and realised the teacher librarian pathway had distinct advantages: I would be paid whilst I studied, be guaranteed a job on completion of my degree, be paid well as a graduate teacher librarian, would have good work hours (LoL) and would be able to do the full range of library roles during the course of a work day/week. My first posting was to Queenstown Primary School for 2 years, then a move to the north west coast where I worked in six primary schools until moving to Don College over a decade ago. I miss the daily opportunity to share literature with students, but enjoy the bonus of complex research queries and referencing support.

AI: What are some of the day-to-day challenges and rewards you experience in a school library?

FS: The daily challenge is to provide a library service that meets the needs of all students. A place where students can come and study in their non-scheduled periods, but where other students can come and relax/feel safe, but don’t have a need to study, so want to chat with friends. So lots of time spent moderating student behaviour. The next largest challenge is to encourage students to use authentic sources of information…not just what they can find on Google.

The rewards are relationships with students and staff: Helping a student access resources that provide the information they need, and their subsequent relief after frustration; Supporting students to develop good research and referencing habits; Accessing that elusive text, article, programme that a teacher heard mentioned, watched last night or heard on the radio…but the detail is scant.

AI: What should everyone know about school libraries?

Every library is important in every school. They all may look different, be staffed in a variety of ways, have different resources and budgets, but they all provide a safe space for students and access to ideas that can inform their world view. A school library is curated for a wide range of interests and audiences…something that home libraries, class libraries and Google and Facebook algorithms don’t/can’t do.

AI: How are school libraries ‘Growing Global Citizens’?

An interesting question. Libraries are just one of the many ways in which Global Citizens are formed. I’m currently working in a library space that is advocating awareness of maintaining mental health (for Mental Health Week). We have a display of the UTas Object Design (Textiles) outfits based around the theme of Repair. Our library has a permanent display of flags from all corners of the world. Our new books display includes books on world religions, platypus, Art, sexuality conversion practices, what Australia can learn from Nordic policy adoption and their ‘can do’ approach to issues, and a range of genres of fiction. It’s an osmotic approach to growing global citizens.

AI: If you had to recommend one fiction and one non-fiction book to explore/celebrate the theme of global citizenship, what would they be?

FS: I’d recommend Dark Emu by Bruce Pascoe as the non-fiction read. How can we really be global citizens when we know so little about the lives of the original residents of Australia? Understanding our history, warts and all, can help us better understand the world in which we live and perhaps help us to look beyond the veneer and witness to the humanity of each civilization.

The Road by Cormac McCarthy presents a world that is the antithesis of global citizenship…if we could achieve the opposite of all that world is, then the future would be good. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon helps create understanding of a neurotypical world view…I know that’s two, but I had to recommend an alternative to The Road.

ALIA Island would like to thank Felicity for this great interview. If you’d like to share a story of you life in libraries please send us a message, aliaislandtas@gmail.com we’d love to hear from you.