AASL Standards Interview with Amy Whitfield, Librarian at Blythewood High School.

Amy Whitfield is one of two certified librarians working in the Blythewood High School library, and she was one of my supervising librarians during my Fall 2022 internship there. I interviewed her after my internship about the Shared Foundation of Collaboration, from the American Association of School Librarian’s National School Library Standards. I wanted to know some ways in which she believes her library program implements the domains and competencies that encompass the ‘collaborate’ foundation. I asked the following questions:

1. What are some examples of the ways in which you are implementing these competencies in your library program?

2. What are some of the resources in your library program that you are using to implement these competencies?

3. Do any of the competencies that you are implementing include collaboration with classroom teachers? If so, please provide examples.

4. What are some of the challenges that you face when trying to implement these competencies?

5. Are there any other comments that you would like to make regarding the Shared Foundation / Competencies and Domains that we have discussed today?

Amy gave several great examples of ways in which the Blythewood library implements these competencies into their library curriculum. One of the best resources they use to do this, would be Breakout EDU. The library purchased this immersive game platform as a way to collaborate with teachers on different types of curriculum, and get students to work together to learn. She says that the ‘think’ domain’s competency of “School librarians facilitate collaborative opportunities by: Challenging learners to work with others to broaden and deepen understandings” is exactly why they do the Breakout sessions. It is a challenge for the students to have to work together to figure out clues and open their box, and having others in your group fill in knowledge gaps you may have, helps to deepen understanding, all while having fun. The ‘share’ domain also supplies because within the breakout group, librarians are able to utilize this competency: “School librarians promote working productively with others to solve problems by advocating and modeling respect for diverse perspectives to guide the inquiry process.” Everyone in the group must be able to share their thoughts and ideas freely, which requires respect. This activity helps the students to ‘grow’, which is another domain, because it teaches them “actively contribute to group discussions and that learning is a social responsibility.”

For the ‘share’ and ‘create’ domains, Amy thought of a collaboration she did with an Ag/Science teacher, where the students had to research their favorite pet or plant, and make a Wi-video presentation to share with the class. The librarians used the competency “School librarians demonstrate the importance of personal, social, and intellectual networks by: Modeling the use of a variety of communication tools and resources,” by showing them how to use this new communication tool for their presentation. Amy said they used the ‘share’ domain by using the competency “School librarians promote working productively with others to solve problems by: Demonstrating how to solicit and respond to feedback from others,” when they asked for and gave feedback from/to their classmates on their presentations.

One challenge that stood out to Amy when it comes to collaborating, would be when the school decides to utilize the librarians or the library to fulfill immediate needs like covering a class for an absent teacher. This was a particularly obvious challenge to Amy on the day we did our interview, because earlier in the day she had a class scheduled to do a Breakout EDU in the library, and while she was working with those students, another class also sat in the library to be monitored because they did not have a substitute to cover their class while their teacher was absent. This was challenging to juggle the extra responsibility while trying to work with the students doing the Breakout EDU. Fortunately, there are two librarians, one assistant librarian, one secretarial librarian, and one technology librarian, so times like these they can still work with the class that was scheduled, albeit in a slightly louder library.

I was able to assist with the Breakout EDU classes a couple of different times during my internship, and I was grateful to experience it first-hand. The students really come out of their shell while working together, and it was great to see their eyes light up with understanding when another student was able to explain something to them that they previously didn’t understand. I can see why collaboration is such an integral part of learning.