Developing Skills Through Learning From Others: How Networking Provides Opportunities for Lifelong Learning and Professional Development

With teacher librarians heralded for their skills as collaborators and team players, it makes sense to me that one of the best ways that we can continue to develop our skills and professional development opportunities comes from connecting online and in person to other educators or groups of librarians (a.k.a. Networking!). I know that some of the best ways for me to learn and grow my practice as a classroom teacher have been through connecting with others and experiencing what they are doing.  

Below is a short video on the importance of networking (as a form of professional development) and creating in person and online connections with “like hearted people” which I will discuss below through the ideas of both mentorship opportunities (formal and informal) and a variety of online platforms (KnowledgeWave, 00:55-01:25). 

In order to further my own skills as a teacher librarian, I would look to connect with librarians in my district or even my community as suggested in the video above (KnowledgeWave, 01:20).

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    Ideally, this would be either through an opportunity like a mentorship program or a district library association that provides an informal mentorship-like program which is supportive of newer librarians (Freedman, 16; KnowledgeWave, 00:56-01:19).  A study established that librarians who entered into a mentorship (formal or informal) found that the benefits that they reaped were “increased self-confidence…, improved professional growth and development, improved learning, career development and satisfaction and cultivation of personal as well as professional growth.” (Freedman, 5). All good things! 

These benefits were a result of what Freedman called “mentoring activities” which included “sharing knowledge, insight, and experience, providing psychosocial support, guiding, role modeling, providing ideas and networking opportunities.” (5). So, it was demonstrated that the opportunity to have an experienced librarian to connect with for guidance via regular interactions, library visits, and information sharing opportunities, and more has a “powerful” impact and can contribute to the "success of …[the] library” (Freedman, 18). Understanding this, I would be remiss to ignore or pass up any opportunities our district has for connecting with other library staff in mentorship capacities!

Additionally, despite not being in a TL role at the moment, I am also actively working to connect with a broader group of librarians and educators through online platforms. These connections work as a much more informal "mentorship" opportunities where I can look to see what others are doing in different capacities, but also contribute if I am able.

Online communities that I have either joined, followed, or interacted with include: Future Ready Librarians Facebook Group (on Facebook); Centre For Global Education (on instagram); TLChat, ISTEOfficial, and SchoolLibary (on twitter); and finally BlueSkunk Blog, The Daring Librarian, and Library Adventure as bloggers on various platforms (Miller and Bass, 67-68).
By joining and interacting with people on these platforms, I am creating a situation in which I am exposed to other amazing educators just by the nature of checking my own social media and blog browsing (which I do anyways). I hope to continue to grow my personal learning network (PLN) and use these exposures as opportunities to gather ideas and understandings about how I can continue to grow as both an educator and as a librarian.  

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To that end- let me know in the comments if you have any ideas about people or organizations who I should look into following or joining!

However, given that simply being exposed to ideas is often not enough to actually motivate us to make meaningful changes within our daily practices, I am looking to further my engagement by way of saving and documenting ideas which are particularly helpful or interesting to me through a blog or a personal journal. 

A blog or journal would provide me with an opportunity to organize and note down ideas that are meaningful and should be explored at a future time. From those notes, I could then create goals for myself to expand my understanding of these ideas and/or try these things in my practice. The blog or journal would then further provide me with an opportunity to document and reflect on my progress in each goal area.

I believe that using a blog or journal to commit to one area of professional development (or one way that I want to improve or tweak my practice) at a time is a realistic way to begin and that, depending on the scope of the item, I may need more or less time to achieve them (which is why I'm hesitant to set a number of goals to achieve per year).  However, with a plan in place to record my learning and experimentation, I will be more likely to follow through and actually use what I learn from my mentorship and PLN in meaningful ways.

In conclusion, this inquiry has reminded me that as educators, we must be lifelong learners- not just in passive ways, but in active and tangible ways. I hope that by creating these opportunities for myself, I can commit to being an active lifelong learner who will strive to innovate in the library and as an educator.

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Works Cited

Freedman, Shin. "Mentoring Experience of Academic Librarians: A Pilot Study of Mentorship in Academic Libraries." Library Leadership & Management (Online) 2021: 1-27. ProQuest. Web. 1 June 2023 .

KnowledgeWave. “Professional Development: Networking in the Workplace.” Youtube, uploaded by KnowledgeWave, 4 December, 2020, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGVxdv066n0 .

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