Why do we need libraries?

Over the past couple of years I have mulled over the question of what school is for. As a teacher this has spawned many thoughts that have helped to shape the kind of teacher I am.

At the start of the year I moved into the library from the primary school. I now have responsitibities in IT as well as running library lessons for all the primary classes. I am now asking myself, what does a teacher librarian do? It is a new position in the school and we have just completed a new library as part of the federal government BER grant. As each week passes, more and more "jobs" seem to come my way and the position is continually changing.

So, what does a Teacher Librarian (TL) do? The readings for ETL401 have helped to start my search to construct a suitable answer for my learning context.

A school nearby has recently opened and I was surprised to hear that it does not have a library. I thought all schools had one. I will enquire as to the school's thinking behind it. It then begged the question, why do we need libraries? I believe over-arching questions like this need to be asked as they help us to formulate our educational philosphy/approach to how we support the teaching/learning undertaken in our school communities.