ETL 504 Donham on leadership

What is leadership, according to Donham, J. (2005). Leadership.  In Enhancing teaching and learning: a leadership guide for school library media specialists (2nd ed.) (pp. 295-305). New York: Neal Schuman Publishers.

Leadership attributes
- technical competence - a knowldege of information organisation, teaching, management and
    resources.  A unique set of skills.
- conceptual skill - procedural knowldege but also principles and concepts: principles of organisation
   access, confidentiality and ethical use of information.  These inform policy making.  Conceptual
   understanding of info systems informs their resource management and information dissemination.
- people skills - communicate, inspire, and delegate.  Establish collaborative networks within their
   local learning community.
- judgement - making decisions in a situation of uncertainty, taking risks.
- character - guided by principles of librarianship as well as principles of the education profession.
   Commitment to open access to information, confidentiality for info users, affirmation of intellectual
    property rights and equity.

Bits of advice
-Understand what you can be and cannot be best at,
-Look for change opportunities,
-Anticipate and prevent problems,
 -Pursue what you are deeply passionate at.

Leadership from the middle through influence, collaboration and collegiality.
- seek connections between the school's mission and goals and those of the library media program.
- maintaining familiarity with the language of the classroom will enhance dialogue with teachers.
- the library media specialist can readily point out that he or she has a unique vantage point in the
   school as a result of working with all students and all teachers.

Upwey High school website

An excellent website I found today was that of the Upwey High school library.  Upwey is a school in Southern Victoria.  Many schools do not have library websites, including The Kings school.  So, it is very interesting that a school in what appears to be a town has a phenomenal website such as this.  It has a tab on information literacy with a quite extensive discussion and overview of information literacy and IL skills.  It has an extensive list of useful websites and pathfinders and many other good things.  I would love to know who designed this website and why this school saw the need for an excellent school library website such as this.