Purpose in School Library Leadership

Simon Sinek (2009) certainly provides a stimulus for thought and discussion in his video, How Great Leaders Inspire Action. There is a focus on the core purpose (the ‘why’) motivating leaders’ actions, and he suggests that this resonates with those who follow. Applied to the school library setting, the principles discussed by Sinek (2009) imply that the teacher librarian can demonstrate effective leadership by offering more than an information service to assist students and staff with curriculum objectives and tasks. Your beliefs about education, the ways that students learn, where the school and students are headed in the future, and the role and capacity of the library in this context drive your motivation. The teacher librarian, operating in a position in which they work with students and staff across the school as opposed to a single class, can use these motives and beliefs in correlation with those of the school, as a basis for planning for the future role of the library.

Reference:
Sinek, S. (Speaker). (2009). How Great Leaders Inspire Action [Video]. Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action