“This budget is too tight, could I try the next size up?”

(Reflection on ETL503 Module 3.1 Funding the Collection):

  1. “Should teacher librarians have the responsibility of submitting a budget proposal to fund the library collection to the school’s senior management and/or the school community? Or should such proposals come from a wider group such as a school library committee?
  2. Is it preferable that the funding for the school library collection be distributed to teachers and departments so they have the power to determine what will be added to the library collection?” (Giovenco 2019).

Well, here we go again. I thought when I got out of marketing (where I was given a budget amount and had to account for all expenditures within that budget) that I had seen the last of tight budgets. Tsk Tsk. Welcome to the world of being a Teacher Librarian!

  1. The responsibility for budgeting for the library is possibly best done collaboratively with the teacher librarian and the school executive and possibly the school’s P&C (who also have access to funds). As per the CSU Module (Giovenco 2019) a TL should be a budget collaborator, steward and thinker. Moreover, having never been in charge of creating a budget, I would be hesitant to take on a budget on my own and would be reliant on someone with expertise to help me.
  2. I have not mentioned classroom teachers intentionally. Should we collaborate with teachers about resources they might need? Yes of course. Should teachers have a say in the budget? Perhaps, yet I am leaning towards no. After all, why would teachers have a say in the budget for the library when they don’t have a say in any way what-so-ever in any other area of the budget? Teachers in some schools are given ‘classroom budgets’ and I think that spending that money is enough for them to worry about. Just do a Google search for ‘What should I spend my classroom budget on?’ and you will get 55,600,000 results. As soon as you ask for input, the assumption will be that what is asked for will be received and that is dangerous ground. Better to survey the teachers and ask what sort of resources they were thinking of or if they had any ideas and leave the budgeting to an executive committee that includes the TL.

In order to have a balanced (or at least one that fits) budget and a fully resourced curriculum I believe it is important to start with a clear policy in the Collection Development Plan.

There are loads of resources on how to do this (Such as Lamb & Johnson 2012, & Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) Schools et al 2017, pp.20-25) and I intend to make good use of them!

Christy Roe Bitmoji Good IdeaGood Idea: Let’s make sure that a ‘perfect fit’ or balanced budget remains the goal as opposed to being in surplus…we don’t want to behave like or be perceived as politicians do we? Well, speaking for myself, I certainly do not.

To show the ‘balance’ (or presumably the lack thereof) I most certainly agree to having a section for the library in the School Annual Report in the format suggested by the school or using a template such as the one below:

References

ALIA Schools & Victorian Catholic Teacher Librarians. (2017). Budgeting policies and procedures.  In A manual for developing policies and procedures in Australian school library resource centres. Retrieved from https://www.alia.org.au/groups/alia-schools

Giovenco, G. (2019). Budgeting for a balanced collection. In ETL503: Module 3: Accession and Acquisition [Subject module]. Retrieved from Charles Sturt University website: https://interact2.csu.edu.au/webapps/blackboard/content/listContent.jsp?course_id=_42383_1&content_id=_2636378_1

Lamb, A. & Johnson, H.L. (2012). Program administration: Budget management. The School Library Media Specialist. Retrieved from http://eduscapes.com/sms/administration/budget.html

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teacherswhoknowme

I was born in America in 1974 and my brother was born in 1975. My parents divorced and I grew up playing in the local library while my newly single mum shelved books. The first time I walked into the school library in kindergarten, I was determined to become a librarian - to work in such a tidy place with so many stories ready to experience, to me seemed like heaven on earth! Things got strained at my mother's home and I lived with my father for a while during my teen years, until my step mother decided she no longer wanted me in her home. I went to live with my maternal grandparents and worked in bookstores and University libraries while putting myself through higher education. I met an Australian man and immigrated to be with him. As an immigrant, I got work through a temp agency as a call centre operator. My grandmother died following a heart surgery and the twin towers fell shortly thereafter. We used my inheritance money to buy our first home prior to the real estate price boom. I got promoted to the eBusiness team and from there joined the marketing team as a junior. When the team of 7 dissolved, I worked with the graphic designer directly, managing marketing for the company for two years before I was retrenched. Luckily, the month prior to my retrenchment, I decided to return to school to become a primary school teacher. I started at the NSW Department of Education in 2007. I had my first child in 2008, followed by my second in 2011. My children were both unplanned so early in my teaching career, and early, due to my uterine fibroids. (My first was very premature at 9 weeks early). I chose to work part time temp/casual as a teacher to help care for my children. My husband, also a teacher, wanted to move to the outback. We lived in Broken Hill for 6 years. This helped his career progress but did little for mine. My brother died from an accidental overdose of opiods. I worked at some lovely outback schools until a new principal decided not to renew my yearly contract - stating because my application was weak but really it was because my husband was the acting principal prior and she was best mates with someone at the school who hated me. I went to a different school where the principal repeated this scenario, stating my lack of team cohesion as the cause - but really he just didn't know me at all and needed someone to leave so that he could employ a friend. This chain of events caused me much distress, however, it was also the impetus for me to return to school to become a teacher librarian. We decided to return to be close to the sea and bought a home on the NSW far south coast. COVID hit the world. I worked as a temp / casual until I became known in the area and so that I could work part time while completing my Masters of Education in Teacher Librarianship. I completed that degree in 2021 and worked in a local school on their one of their support unit classes. A temporary position became available in 2022 as a teacher librarian at a different school and the principal put in a good word for me. I worked at that school for 3 years, during which time the longstanding principal retired and the entire school culture changed. The new (acting) principal and her 'team' decided not to renew my contract for 2025. Luckily, I had applied for a permanent position at a different school for one day a week and my application was successful (and I am still available for employment for the other 4 days of the week). 2025 - let's see what happens eh?

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