Being a school librarian

Librarians are perhaps the unsung heroes of international education. They always have a foot in more than one camp, playing both teaching and support roles. Story tellers and administrators, they will lead curriculum and community initiatives and often manage a wide range of physical and digital resources for the school outside the library.

In this edition of the ITM Podcast, we speak to two people who inhabit and shape this special environment. Rob George is the Head of Libraries at the Alice Smith School in Kuala Lumpur and Sally Flint was Head of Libraries at Bangkok Patana School before returning to the UK.

Just how and why they became school librarians is a story in itself: in their previous lives as teachers, Rob taught Physics and Sal taught English.

But when they made the move, was the job what they expected it to be? What were the challenges and just why did they come to love being a librarian so much?

And love it they clearly do.

Their conversation ranges from how library spaces and collections are changing, to why physical books have retained their special appeal, even in an age of digital resources to which a school community has access 24/7.

And it is that word ‘community’ they keep returning to, as they explore how the school community finds a place in the library, and how, in turn, the community is shaped by the Library itself.