All roads lead to the Library
A new face on campus at Trinity Grammar School this year, Mrs Lily Young is ready to dive into every aspect of school life at Trinity, passionate in her belief of the role of libraries at the centre of it all.
Mrs Young began her career as an English teacher – a role she says she “adored” – and quickly became enamoured with how digital literacy, information technology, and teacher collaboration could enhance learning experiences for her students.
Deciding to take this interest further, she took on her Masters of Education (Teacher Librarianship) at Charles Sturt University. Since then, she’s been a Teacher Librarian, Head of Library and Information Services, and even worked with Microsoft as an ICT Integration Specialist, travelling around New South Wales to meet with schools and their executive teams, contributing to the wider discussion around educational technology, change management, and all things in that sphere.
Now, her role as Leader of Teaching and Learning at the Arthur Holt Library here at Trinity is an amalgamation and extension of everything she has tackled in her career so far.
“My role is so diverse while being grounded in Teaching and Learning, and it’s a really wonderful way to really be immersed in the culture of the School, to get an understanding of the strategic vision of the School,” she says. “The goal of the library is to be the foundation of that vision. We’re not a standalone faculty, we collaborate with all of the faculties.”
And it’s this collaboration and strong foundation that initially drew Mrs Young to Trinity; the reputation of the staff’s collegiality – and the Library team in particular – was the drawcard.
“The school library world is a small one. I knew of the team at the Arthur Holt Library (AHL) – I was very much in awe of the team and how impactful and influential they were in the School community.
“It’s very evident that the AHL team has established and continues to maintain strong relationships across faculties; we’re embedded in the fabric of the School.”
“Within the team, I’m amongst like-minded peers. We are passionate professionals who advocate for the library and the role that the library has in this changing education and information landscape.”
It’s all of this rapid change that has many people arguing for funding cuts and crying ‘irrelevance’ in relation to libraries all over the world, but Mrs Young knows that this change is exactly why libraries are more important than ever.
Far from keeping technology at an arm’s length or treating Artificial Intelligence like the elephant in the room, she says that libraries are leading the way which is why their position at forefront of our community – and School – life is critical.
“At Trinity we’re so well resourced,” she says. “Things have changed so drastically in the last decade alone … we do have to adapt, we do have to pivot and we do that very well.”
Mrs Young says that the demands for librarians who work in schools are high and the longevity of library resources relies on the culture of the wider school community seeing the value of libraries and all faculties working in collaboration for better learning experiences. This is something she has seen in spades at Trinity.
“As a parent, that’s what I want for my son, for him to be in an environment that puts wellbeing at the forefront of teaching and learning, where the staff can think outside the box, consider alternative perspectives, and take new research on board – and that culture is passed onto the students. We have that here at Trinity.”
With that continuous improvement in mind, Mrs Young has joined the ‘Intersections: Pedagogy, Space, and Student Engagement’ Professional Learning Team led by Mrs Deborah Williams and Mr Craig Sandwell, to consider how the new Teaching and Learning areas being built as part of the Renewal Project will create new opportunities for learning experiences. Mrs Young believes that as a resource rich environment, the school library is well positioned to support and foster deep learning dispositions such as collaboration, inquiry and autonomy.
“We can have a multi-million dollar building, but if you do not have staff who are passionate about driving that culture of innovation and able to disseminate that wealth of information across the staff and students authentically, then it’s just another building.”
It’s clear that with staff like Mrs Young and her colleagues at the AHL, the future of learning experiences and the position of libraries as the nucleus of School life are in good hands.
