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IBDP librarian

This section focuses on the IB Diploma librarian. There is a twinning - or symbiotic relationship - in the roles of librarian and library, as the library is a place or space that only works if someone is responsible for it - but, for the sake of clarity, we have separated the two in this website. Indeed, the librarian has or can have roles and functions that are not space-specific. 

This is an introductory page to the IBDP librarian section. 

IB Diploma librarian and library

What is the ‘library/ian’ concept?

A library and librarian in IB schools "integrate into a single system, the library/librarian (library/ian), to enhance learning across the community.”

“The roles that active IB librarians have chosen for themselves … can serve as real-world inspiration for others.”

Ideal Libraries: a guide for schools. International Baccalaureate Organization, 2018, p.1

IB Ideal Libraries Project  - Ideal Libraries is the document, published by the IB, which represents thinking and recommendations about how schools use libraries and librarians in support of IB programmes. 

Library and librarian

Here, an IB educator and librarian talked about the joint role of library/ian

Resources

The library in an IB World School is potentially a central link for promoting and facilitating effective teaching and learning across the curriculum. It can provide access to relevant and stimulating material necessary for a variety of needs and purposes such as for inquiry, as well as to information that supports learning, and to fictional literature encompassing many genres. In addition to printed and illustrated texts, the modern school library offers access to quality digital resources. 

Space

But a school library is more than just a provider of resources; it is also a place for learning through inquiry, for modelling and stimulating collaborative practices and creating meaningful knowledge with teachers, students and families as part of the learning community. 

Person

A librarian plays an important role in establishing a school-wide ethos of learning. As integral members of a school’s IB learning community, librarians needs to be fully aware of the philosophy that underpins IB teaching and learning so they can support inquiry, action and reflection in the library and beyond. 

Learning stories - An IB educator's story about the role of librarians in multilingual learning communities. IB, n.d. 

This wide-ranging account or story of a school library/ian's contribution to IB programmes focuses on:

  • Supporting teaching and learning, including inquiry approaches
  • Making available a wide variety of print resources, informational and fiction
  • Access to digital information and resources
  • Place where collaborative and inquiry learning takes place

We will develop these ideas in this section.

Library/ian and the IB programmes

Please note that this section - indeed this website - focuses on the library/ian contributions to the IB Diploma Programme. There are, of course, three other programmes offered by the IB:

  • Primary Years Programme (PYP)
  • Middle Years Programme (MYP)
  • Careers-related Programme (CP)

Each have their own features. It may well be the case that, in schools where all or some of the programmes are offered, a school library/ian supports more than one IB programme. Whilst some library/ian connections with other IB programmes can be made, in order to maintain coherence, this website relates purely to the IB Diploma Programme. 

In this section, we look at:  

  • Librarian management role
  • IB evaluation and authorization - and the IB librarian
  • Advocacy, impact and evidence
  • Other librarian roles
  • What is an IBDP librarian?
  • New as an IBDP librarian?

Scroll down to the bottom of this page for more page descriptions and links - or use the menu on the left hand side of this page or indeed the main tabs in the bar at the top of this page. 

You might like to start with DP librarian core functions and characteristics  

An IB librarian

In a study about the roles of IB librarians, this was an anonymous response to a survey question:

In my view, the IB librarian has many more ways in which she/he can collaborate with IB faculty and also can take a lead role in conducting sessions on academic honesty, referencing and citations, and in particular guiding students in writing the extended essay. Whereas If I talk about the role of the librarian in a school with local curricula, the librarian is working in a traditional manner taking care of cataloging and circulation only. 

From the survey, “what emerged is that IB librarians … are playing a central role in developing the culture of a school through provision of human, natural, built and virtual resources within their library environments to implement the IB programmes.” 

(Tilke and Barrett, 2021, p. 328)

Strengths of IB librarians

  • Here is a world cloud bringing out common - yet varied - responses from IB librarians, when asked to think about and write down what they perceived their strengths to be. Responses identify a customer or client focus, awareness that they a part of a community, contribution to learning, but the smaller print type words are also interesting too. 
Word cloud from prompt 'what are your strengths as an IB librarian' for an IB InThinking librarian workshop.

Reference and images

Tilke, A., & Barrett, Y. L. (2021). Lifting the Mantle of Invisibility: IB school libraries and their contribution to teaching and learning. In D. Coulson (Ed.), Educational Reform and International Baccalaureate in the Asia-Pacific (pp. 316-341). IGI Global. Available through ResearchGate. 

Images 

Main image: word cloud from prompt 'what are your strengths as an IB librarian' for an IB InThinking librarian workshop. Image created on https://www.jasondavies.com/wordcloud/ 

Introduction box image: photo by Angelina Yan on Unsplash 

Selected Pages

Tags: DP library, DP librarian, school library, school librarian roles

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