Month: October 2023

Mobile Libraries in Kabul (Inquiry Post #4)

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The opportunities for children to feel safe, to experience learning opportunities beyond their school have deteriorated so much. That’s why our work is becoming even more important, and we are committed to continue for as long as we can.

Freshta Karim – Founder of Charmaghz Mobile Libraries in Kabul (NcNeilly, 2023)

Bahram Rahman’s book, The Library Bus, caught my attention as I was considering libraries in developing countries this week.

The Library Bus is about a young girl, Pari, who accompanies her mama as they drive their Library Bus through small villages and refugee camps just outside of Kabul. On their journey, Pari learns about how girls were not always allowed to attend school and had to learn to read in secret.

Bahram Rahman, born in Kabul, grew up during the civil war and the Taliban regime (LibrisNotes, 2021). The Library Bus (Rahman, 2020) was inspired by the first library bus to operate in Kabul by a non-profit organization called Charmaghz. The goal of Charmaghz’s library busses is to “encourage critical thinking in children so that they can grow up to be positive and open-minded individuals” (LibrisNotes, 2021).

Mobile Libraries in Kabul

Charmaghz, founded in 2018 and directed by Freshta Karim, currently has 16 active mobile libraries (5 buses, 1 van, and 10 library boxes that go inside schools) in and around Kabul. Each library has over 400 books – servicing over 2000 children under the age of 18 each day (NcNeilly, 2023). Only 7% of children in Afghanistan can read by age 10 and nearly 4 million primary children (mostly girls) are not attending any school at all (NcNeilly, 2023). “Girls education has been hit particularly hard by the Taliban’s return to power, as millions of girls across the country have been barred from secondary education in state schools” (Euronews, 2021). Chaarmaghz provides space for children to play, learn, and envision a new future for their country (NcNeilly, 2023). They give children who do not have the opportunity to go to school, a chance to learn new things. Their tactic is “restorative in nature – aimed at healing the wounds that decades of conflict have had on Afghanistan’s youth” (NcNeilly, 2023).

Image found from McNeilly (2023), Afghanistan’s Mobile Libraries: A Conversation with Freshta Karim. Website: https://www.newtactics.org/conversation/afghanistans-mobile-libraries-conversation-freshta-karim#:~:text=Charmaghz%20has%2016%20mobile%20libraries,than%202%2C000%20children%20per%20day

In NcNeilly’s (2023) podcast interview with Freshta Karim, Karim discusses how providing these safe places for children to come and have a choice in what they do and read is essential in creating a sense of dignity and agency in the children. Karim also points out that when the children read books they are able to imagine and broaden their worldview – they can see what is beyond. For example, if they read a storybook and feel empathy for that character – they can begin to understand complex emotions and experiences. Karim says that she thinks “this helps them a lot in their creativity, understanding, empathy, compassion – all those really important things”.

What’s Missing?

Since the Taliban have returned to power in 2021, Afghan women are seeing more and more freedoms slip away (Nusratty & Crabtree, 2023). Access to education, particularly secondary, was the first thing to go and recently the Taliban have banned women from attending universities. Access to the internet could potentially help to increase access to education, but in a 2022 poll, only 15% of Afghans said they had access to any internet at all. Internet access in Afghan is only available to a small segment of the population, and even that access is censored by the government. Nusratty & Crabtree (2023) argue that any improvement to the country’s internet infrastructure may provide additional learning opportunities for girls and women in Afghan.

Mobile Libraries in other locations around the developing world already have developed the capability to offer technology to their communities. An example are the donkey libraries in Biblioburro, Columbia, which now include a digital program – supporting rural populations to access technology by bringing in laptops and modems and teaching children about the internet (Mitchell, 2018). Another example is the Idea Boxes that are put into rural areas of Australia, Senegal, and impoverished communities in the US. These mobile digital libraries are energy independent and easy to set up – they give rural communities access to satellite internet connection as well as multiple devices (Ferreira, 2022).

Mobile libraries around the world already contain access to digital resources such as e-books, audiobooks, and online databases (Lisedunetwork, 2016). These integrated technologies “ensure that even in areas with limited physical resources, individuals can still access a vast array of knowledge. Mobile libraries leverage technology to bridge the digital divide, empowering individuals with digital skills needed in today’s world” (Lisedunetwork, 2016).

Is this a possibility in Kabul? No doubt, if it was, Charmaghz would be navigating this. So how can we begin to bridge this massive digital gap? Where the equity issues around experience and content are so incredibly enormous and digital access is pretty much non existent. Miller & Bass (2019) state that “libraries and librarians should see themselves as leaders in this work and be constant voices advocating for equity of devices and internet access for all.”

Does this include Kablul?

Conclusion

And so I am left inspired – by Karim’s massive efforts in working to educate children in and around Kabul.

And I am left discouraged – by the fact that even with these efforts, the gap in education for these children is overwhelmingly immense.

But mostly, I am left with hope.

Because something is always better than nothing. Mobile libraries are essential because they represent what libraries value – equal and equitable access for all (Ferreira, 2022). These libraries may not be a magical solution to the substantial challenges Afghan children face, but Karim says, “they do offer a place where they can “improve their critical thinking skills, ask questions and as a result imagine a world beyond war, then hopefully create it when they grow up” (Cuthbert, 2022).

Image found from Freshta Karim’s Instagram Account (July 12, 2023), https://www.instagram.com/freshtakarim/?hl=en

Inspired to help?

Works Cited

Charmaghz. An Opportunity for Critical Thinking. Retrieved from https://charmaghz.org/

Cuthbert, O. (2022). Mobile Libraries Bring Books and Hope to Afghan Children. Retrieved from https://ideasbeyondborders.org/afghan-childern-libraries/

Euronews (2021). Mobile libraries restart for the first time in Kabul since Taliban takeover. Retrieved from https://www.euronews.com/2021/12/07/mobile-libraries-restart-for-the-first-time-in-kabul-since-taliban-takeover

Ferreira, L. (2022). Mobile libraries: the past, the present, the future. Western University. Retrieved from https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1003&context=fims_evolvingtech_finalproj_winter2022

Karim, F (2023). Today is @globalgiving July bonus day. It’s your chance to support the @charmaghz.library Van library. Instagram, 12 July 2023 https://www.instagram.com/freshtakarim/?hl=en

LibrisNotes (2021). The library bus by Bahram Rahman. Retrieved from http://librisnotes.blogspot.com/2021/01/the-library-bus-by-bahram-rahman.html

Lisedunetwork (2016). Concept of Mobile Library. Retrieved from https://www.lisedunetwork.com/concept-mobile-libraries/#:~:text=Many%20mobile%20libraries%20now%20integrate,a%20vast%20array%20of%20knowledge.

McNeilly, M & Karim, F. (2023). Afghanistan’s Mobile Libraries: A conversation with Freshta Karim. New Tactics in Human Rights. Retrieved from https://www.newtactics.org/conversation/afghanistans-mobile-libraries-conversation-freshta-karim#:~:text=Charmaghz%20has%2016%20mobile%20libraries,than%202%2C000%20children%20per%20day.

Miller, S. M., & Bass, W. (2019). Leading from the Library: Help your School Community Thrive in the Digital Age. International Society for Technology in Education

Mitchell, C (2018). For the love of books: Mobile libraries around the world. Aljazeera. Retrieved from https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2018/4/23/for-the-love-of-books-mobile-libraries-around-the-world

Nusratty, K. & Crabtree S. (2023). Digital freedom out of reach for most Afghan Women. Retrieved from https://news.gallup.com/opinion/gallup/471209/digital-freedom-reach-afghan-women.aspx#:~:text=In%20Gallup’s%202022%20World%20Poll,has%20been%20stable%20since%202016.

Rahman, B. (2020). The Library Bus. Pajama Press Inc. Toronto, Ontario.

Mentoring: Relationships Comes First! (Inquiry Post #3)

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Recently, I heard a story of a teacher who was seeking support and help for their classroom practice from a mentor teacher. When a district leader heard this, they told the teacher that they should have reached out to them because “they are their mentor”. This later ignited a lengthy discussion with me about what a mentor is. Our admin and district staff are our leaders by appointment. Teacher librarians (TLs) control resources and books because of their job title.

However, being a mentor is not a title that you give to yourself or is apart of our job description, but rather a title you earn.

Being a mentor is about trust.

Being a mentor is about relationship.

So it is no small task to ask TLs to become a educational mentors to our colleagues. And it is certainly not a role we get automatically because we got the job. Miller & Bass (2019) argue that building relationships with teachers and staff is one of the most important things you can do as a TL. They say that these relationships are the starting point to becoming a digital mentor to your colleagues and that in building these relationships, more opportunities to collaborate and learn together will naturally begin to present themselves (Miller & Bass, 2019).

After creating relationships, I would argue that the next step is developing a reputation that your school’s learning commons is a powerful learning environment where all community members (staff, families, students, etc.) are both teachers and learners, sharing ideas and learning co-operatively in a rich authentic learning context (Smeets, 2005). When staff see you as a collaborator and a learner, when they know that you are as excited to learn from them as they are from you, then you have created a space where you are ready to become a mentor to others (and a space where you will have many mentors to support your own learning!).

Only after these relationships are formed can we turn our attention to building meaningful frameworks of delivering useful and specific professional development opportunities.

Professional Development: I am here to help!

The following graphic, Mentoring Mindset (Mentor Virginia, 2023), shows three out of the four concepts of becoming a mentor connected to relationship (I see you, I got you, and we’re in this together). Only in the red box, developmental, does a mentor take action to teach. In this box, developmental, a mentor will say “I am here to help”. This is where we get to share our stories! Show what we have, and what we can offer to our learning community.

Image found from Mentor Virginia (2023), Becoming a Mentor. Website: https://mentorva.org/become-a-mentor/

Strategies I have tried

  • Destiny Collections: I have created many Destiny Collections for my staff that I can share via email of chat groups to show them what resources I have on a specific topic. Each time I have a teacher ask for a collection of books on a new topic, I create a new collection in case a teacher in the future has a similar request. Here is an example of a collection that I created with Orange Shirt Day resources available at my school.
  • Staff Meetings – I often bring resources with me to share at staff meetings, or set them up on tables so staff can sign them out while at the meeting.
  • Emails and flyers – I use emails and flyers to share digital and nondigital resource ideas for hot topics being addressed by teachers.

Strategies I would like to try

  • A regular newsletter to highlight digital literacy resources (online resources) that I am currently learning about and district online resources available to all community members. Using a newsletter is a great way to share your story and show the school community what it is you are doing in the library (Miller, 2022).
  • Placing physical resources available in spaces where teachers spend a lot of time such as the copier room or staff room. This will allow them the time to consider them and look through them in a comfortable space.
  • Bathroom posters – My TL colleague creates posters with QR codes of teacher resources and puts them up in staff bathrooms.
  • Creating a menu to advertise what I can do for teachers such as the one shared by Vocab Gal (2019)
Image found from Sadlier School – Role of Librarian in Schools- Seven Ways They can help Teachers, Coaches, and Admins
  • Lead professional development opportunities: these can be lunch hour visits, or sharing briefly at staff meetings (Millar & Bass, 2019). The idea here is to find brief periods of time that can be used meaningfully to share resources or skills. Keeping this short and meaningful is crucial in order to respect the time that each person has available.
  • 5 Minutes of Harassment (Miller & Bass, 2019) – I really liked this purposeful idea where a TL ensures that they spend 5 minutes with each teacher learning about what curricular outcomes they are covering in their classrooms so that the TL can find ways to better support that teacher.
  • App ideas: our classroom teachers all received a new teacher IPad this past month. I like the idea of sharing an ‘App-of-the-Month’ – giving a brief demo and offering extra support to teachers in using it in the classroom.

Conclusion

I leave you with this diagram of what I believe is the essential building blocks of becoming an educational mentor to your learning community.

If we are seeking to become educational mentors to our colleagues – encouraging them to be lifelong learners who are curious and open to new ideas, technologies, and resources, then we must always remember to be lifelong learners ourselves. We need to focus first on creating authentic relationships that embrace trust and connection. We must also remember to intentionally develop mutual, inclusive learning environments where teaching and learning occur simultaneously amongst all community members. Finally, we need to find simple, yet effective ways to deliver the many ideas and supports that we can offer through our digital and nondigital libraries to our colleagues.

Works Cited

Canadian School Libraries (CSL). 2020.  “Leading Learning:  Standards of Practice for School Library Learning Commons in Canada.” Available:  http://llsop.canadianschoollibraries.caLinks to an external site.

Miller, S. M. (2022, October 4). Share your story! We need accurate naratives of the school library (with Courtney Pentland). In Leading From the Library, season 5, episode 3. Future Ready Schools. https://leading-through-the-library.simplecast.com/episodes/share-your-story-we-need-accurate-narratives-of-the-school-library-with-courtney-pentland-UyOKb4aX

Miller, S. M., & Bass, W. (2019). Leading from the Library: Help your School Community Thrive in the Digital Age. International Society for Technology in Education

Mentor Virginia (2023). Become a Mentor. Retrieved from https://mentorva.org/become-a-mentor/

Vocab Gal (2019). Role of Librarian in Schools – seven ways they can help teachers, coaches, and admins. Retrieved from https://www.sadlier.com/school/ela-blog/role-of-librarian-in-schools-and-how-librarians-can-help-teachers

Smeets, E. (2005). Does ICT contribute to powerful learning environments in primary education? Computers & Education, 44(3), 343-355.

Finding My Digital Mentors (Inquiry Blog #2)

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Miller and Bass (2019) suggest that becoming a digital mentor is hard work. They say it takes a commitment to continuous learning and exploration. I would argue that that one can not be a digital mentor if you do not have your own digital mentors. Information and Communication Technology (ICT) skills are changing rapidly everyday, and if we are still dependent on the same ICT skills we developed 15 years ago, we are doing a great disservice to the role in our schools.

This post examines the many places we can tap into digital mentors both locally and globally to support ourselves as digital leaders in our school communities.

School Networking: Discovering the Unsung Digital Mentors

In Miller’s (2022) podcast about Digital Leadership, Jennifer Casa-Todd encourages TLs to look for the teachers who are already digital leaders in our schools. Which of your colleagues are already showing students the positive things that digital citizenship can offer them?

TLs should be careful not to attempt to view themselves as ‘the digital mentor’ of the school, but rather as ‘a digital mentor’ in a community of many digital mentors. Our colleagues are the first place to look for digital mentors. An example of this is one of the grade 4/5 teachers at my school is a digital mentor to me in some of the areas of hardware fixes and glitches, where I may have more resources to share on information literacy.

Secondly, our students are digital natives (Thorhuage, 2017) and we need to be on the look out for which ones can act as mentors to us. I have had grade 5 students who come up with solutions to my digital problems far quicker than I could of. Tapping into the potential of these young digital mentors and leaders in our schools is a way to build a more authentic and meaningful learning community.

Finally, let’s also be on the look out for which parents in our community can be of support to us as digital mentors. Do some of them have IT jobs? Online jobs? Can they come in and share about important digital citizenship issues that they face in their jobs?

Creating an environment where we can all learn from each other and with each other is essential.

Local Networking

I am fortunate to have several digital mentors in my school district that can support me in my continual development of my ICT skills.

  • Chilliwack Teacher Librarian Association (CTLA) – we have a supportive groups of TL who are always available to support in many areas.
  • Colleague from another school – I have one colleague who is my digital mentor – every time I send him a ICT question he responds almost immediately and often sends a video or screencast to support my learning.
  • IT Department – my district’s IT department is quick in their responses to my questions and inquiries to them.

Global Networking: Sharing Stories

Teacher librarians and educators are connecting and networking globally by sharing their stories freely and openly. Tapping into these networks via Instagram, X, Facebook, TikTok, and blogs is essential to continually developing my ICT skills.

Prior to the birth of my children, this was an area of strength for me. In the past 9 years, my engagement in learning ICT skills from these numerous global networks has become nonexistent. This concerns me as I begin to think of myself as a digital mentor to others because I do not have a network of digital mentors for myself.

Initial steps I am starting to take to rebuild my global networking community are:

Now What?

If we want to be digital leaders in our schools, we must first be able to show our students what it looks like to have a positive digital identity ourselves (Miller, 2022). We must be willing to show ourselves as digital learners with digital mentors. We must understand that what we know today, will look different tomorrow. The learning will never end. Taking action steps towards creating local and global ICT communities around us is absolutely essential if we want to pursue being a digital leader to our communities.

Works Cited

Miller, S. M., & Bass, W. (2019). Leading from the Library: Help your School Community Thrive in the Digital Age. International Society for Technology in Education

Miller, S. M. (2022, October 4). Digital Leadership (with Jennifer Casa-Todd). In Leading From the Library, season 2, episode 6. Future Ready Schools. https://leading-through-the-library.simplecast.com/episodes/digital-leadership-GVavnp3thttps://leading-through-the-library.simplecast.com/episodes/digital-leadership-GVavnp3t

Thorhauge, A. M. (2017). Let’s turn our digital natives into digital citizens. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/anne_mette_thorhauge_let_s_turn_our_digital_natives_into_digital_citizens

How to be a Champion of a Reading Culture in Your School (Inquiry Blog #1)

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“A reading culture is an environment where reading is championed, valued, respected, and encouraged.”

Hawthorne, 2021

What is Reading Culture?

When reading lies at the heart of a school, students benefit personally, socially, and academically (Hawthorne, 2021). If we define culture as “the way things are done here” then a reading culture is a visible expression of how each member of a school community values reading and engages with it. A essential aspect of reading culture is that it goes beyond teaching reading for academic purposes. It will also promote reading for leisure (Madison, 2022) and creates a pleasurable habit of reading in everyday life for its community members (Alex-Nmecha & Horsfall, 2019).

Access to quality books and resources is necessary in creating a reading culture, but it is absolutely not enough. It is critical that we are also developing role models and champions of reading with in our communities (National Library of New Zealand, 2021b). Some of the characteristics of a reading culture include:

  • Collaboration – many people working together to create this culture. Creating this culture cannot be the responsibility of an individual – it takes dedication and effort. Led by a leadership team and advocated for by every student, guardian, and staff member in the community (Hawthorne, 2021)
  • Staff who read to learn and for pleasure (Merga & Mason, 2019)
  • Parental support and involvement for reading (Merga & Mason, 2019)
  • Regular silent reading blocks – dedicated time to read during every school day (Merga & Mason, 2019)
  • Reading celebrations and unique reading experiences – reading is promoted across the school through inspirational events and opportunities. (National Library of New Zealand, 2021a)
  • Student choice over reading material
  • Access to diverse, appealing reading resources and library staff to help them choose and locate books (National Library of New Zealand, 2021a)

The video below from the National Library of New Zealand (2021b) gives a great overview of what a reading culture can look like in a school.

National Library of New Zealand (2021) video about creating a school reading community

What I already do?

The following graphic highlights the many things I already do in my library to foster a reading culture in my school.

The things I already do that I am most proud of is being flexible with my library protocols to meet student needs and creating an inclusive collection and space for all students.

In regards to protocols, my library blocks look different than many of the schools I’ve been in. First, I ask the classroom teachers to do the sign ins and check outs at the computer so that I can be freed up to build relationships with students, find out what they are interested in, and find books to meet their needs and desires. This gives me time to search for books, put books on hold, and conduct casual interviews with students as to what they are looking to learn about. Next, my students and teachers know that my library rules around borrowing limits and overdue policies look different for each child and what they need. Students know that I’ll ask them to show responsibility for lost and damaged books, but that each child will show this to me differently. Ellis (2016) says that low borrowing limits and strict overdue policies may discourage both keen and reluctant readers. Welcoming students into your library by removing policy barriers to library use can encourage reading and help develop positive attitudes of readers (Ellis, 2016). I have found this to be true.

Secondly, students in my school know that my space and collection is inclusive of everyone. If they can’t find a book that represents who they are, they can request that I purchase one. We acknowledge, learn about, read about, and celebrate all of the special holidays that our students participate in, including Ramadan, Eid, Ukrainian Christmas, Lunar New Year, Indigenous Days, and Diwali.

An area that isn’t working as well as I would hope, is my ability to conduct meaningful book talks that capture student attention and find time to host events such as book tastings or guest readers. Carving out time in my busy complicated schedule is difficult. Also, I would love to take a deeper dive into instilling a love for ‘reading to learn’ by engaging with my students in inquiry and genius hour types of projects.

Next Steps

The following graphic highlights ideas that I have found through this inquiry and through conversations with other TLs in the district that can further enhance the reading culture at my school.

Building a positive reading culture involves providing support, encouragement, modelling, resources, and opportunities to read for leisure (Merga & Mason, 2019). Building a reading culture is essentially the primary goal of a teacher librarian. However, we must remember that doing this is not a solo project but involves collaboration and teamwork from the community. Inspiring others to join in in these initiatives is essential. This is an area I plan on working on this year. Rather than doing everything myself, I plan to form committees of students and teachers to help in designing what our reading culture can look like. In Miller’s (2022) podcast, Building a Culture of Reading in the Library and Beyond, Melissa Thom suggests building a student crew or student ambassador team to help lead and organize library events. I already use student volunteers, but I think I could formalize the team to make it more meaningful and effective in helping to build a reading culture.

Moving forward, I hope to continue to be a leader in creating a reading culture at my school. I hope to extend this leadership opportunity to my colleagues and students to join in so that they can feel ownership over this community. And I hope to try many new things in making my library a magical space in my school that supports and celebrates a culture of reading (Hawthorne, 2021).

Works Cited

Alex-Nmecha, J. C. & Horsfall, M. N. (2019). Reading culture, benefits, and the roles of libraries in the 21st century. Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal). 2836. Retrieved from https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libphilprac/2836

Ellis, S. (2016). School libraries supporting literacy. Retrieved from https://www.scisdata.com/connections/issue-99/school-libraries-supporting-literacy/

Hawthorne, H. (2021). How to promote a reading culture in schools. Retrieved from https://www.highspeedtraining.co.uk/hub/how-to-promote-a-reading-culture-in-schools/

Madison (2022). Building a reading culture part 4. Madison’s Library: Passionate about School Libraries. Retrieved from https://madisonslibrary.com/2022/06/23/building-a-reading-culture-part-4/

Merga, M. K., & Mason, S. (2019). Building a school reading culture: Teacher librarians’ perceptions of enabling and constraining factors. Australian Journal of Education, 63(2), 173–189. https://doi.org/10.1177/0004944119844544

Miller, S. M. (2022, March 8). Building a Culture of Reading in the Library and Beyond. In Leading From the Library, season 4, episode 3. Future Ready Schools. https://leading-through-the-library.simplecast.com/episodes/building-a-culture-of-reading-in-the-library-and-beyond-NZA0wUL1

National Library of New Zealand (2021a). A school-wide reading culture. Retrieved from https://natlib.govt.nz/schools/reading-engagement/understanding-reading-engagement/a-school-wide-reading-culture

National Library of New Zealand (2021b). Creating a school reading community. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmmPmM3sLGc&t=430s