Synergy

National Library’s framework for school library development

Miriam Tuohy — 2023-10-19

Our regular contributor from New Zealand, Miriam Tuohy, outlines the National Library Services to Schools framework for school library development, originally created in 2019. The framework provides school libraries with a basis for development, exploring their role, purpose and priorities and encouraging advocacy and evaluation as ongoing activities.

What a school library can do for you

Mary Manning — 2023-10-19

The SLAV infographic - What a school library can do for you - has been transformed to create a wonderful advocacy video. The team at Emmanuel College, Warrnambool, have shared this development to enable others to customise the material for their own school library.

Reading for enjoyment and Australian fiction

Edwina West — 2023-10-19

Edwina West describes her Reading Australia Fellowship for Teachers of English And Literacy project that engaged with why, and how, teachers and teacher librarians can work to improve reading for enjoyment, and the reading of Australian fiction, amongst young people.

Transformative Learning: the impact of deeper learning approaches in enhancing the transversal competencies

Dianne Ruffles — 2023-10-19

Dianne Ruffles describes her research, currently underway, that focuses on guided inquiry learning and how this pedagogical approach enhances the transversal competencies, including critical and creative thinking, in young adult learners. Of particular focus is how these approaches can contribute to student achievement and engagement and how as educators, we can better design student experiences.

The power of accountability: Strategies for building credibility and support

Anita Brooks Kirkland — 2023-10-19

Our regular contributor from Canada, Anita Brooks Kirkland, shares valuable and practical strategies to enable school libraries to build credibility and support. With a focus on the value of evidence-based practice Brooks Kirkland clearly offers a path to ensuring we are accountable, valued and positioned for a cycle of success.

Editorial

Susan La Marca — 2023-10-19

The importance of a collection development policy for the school library

Kumari Macdougall — 2023-10-19

Kumari Macdougall, a librarianship student at Charles Sturt University, explores the importance of creating a collection development policy to assist in the smooth running of the library service. Kumari describes the impact of a CDP and its relevance to all areas of the library’s operations.

Reclaiming Resilience: Fact-checking in the classroom with Wikipedia

Mathieu O’Neil — 2023-10-19

Adapting a Civic Online Reasoning (COR) framework for analysing websites the authors, from the University of Canberra, explore how Wikipedia can play an important role in fact-checking within student research as it is non-partisan, quick, and displays transparent processes. Their work considers the important role of information literacy and media literacy

Diversity audits and catalogue records

Renate Beilharz — 2023-10-19

This article explores the value and the challenges of undertaking a diversity audit of a school’s collection.

Diversity audits are critical for ensuring that library collections represent a wide range of perspectives and voices. However, traditional school library catalogue data, like School Catalogue Information Service (SCIS), are not often used in these audits. While these catalogues have some limitations, they can still be valuable for initial collection assessments. As we strive for more diverse libraries, we must consider how these catalogues can be updated and better utilised for the future.

Horizons

Rosemary Abbott — 2023-10-19

Professional Learning Opportunities – Local and Beyond

Making space in the library: Considerations for design and furniture choices to support student wellbeing

Chin Ee LOH — 2023-10-19

Chin Ee Loh, Associate Professor and Deputy Head (Research) at the English Language and Literature Academic Group at the National Institute of Education of the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, explores the ways the library space can support reading, student wellbeing and learning.

Shelftalkers at Salesian!

Lauren Kyte — 2023-10-19

Lauren Kyte, and the team and Salesian College, Sunbury, have embedded the SLAV student review website – Shelftalkers – in their wider reading program. Their work offers their students a wider audience for their reviews and authentic recognition of their reading and their opinions. This is an excellent example of encouraging student agency in an effective school library wider reading program.

Research to practice: How it can happen and why it really matters

Carol Gordon — 2023-10-19

Dr Carol Gordon reflects on her valued colleague, Dr Ross Todd, and his impact on our profession. She champions his belief in the crucial link between research and practice in school librarianship and the ongoing relevance of his evidence-based practice trilogy: evidence FOR practice, evidence IN practice, and evidence OF practice. Dr Gordon, in this article, charts the progression and development of Dr Ross Todd’s ideas across his various projects.

Reviews

Joy Whiteside — 2023-10-19

ChatGPT Resources
Leading for School Librarians: there is no other option
The School Library Toolkit

The mentoring stars align in Vermont

Judith Kaplan — 2023-10-19

Judith Kaplan and Nancy Daigle describe their wonderful journey with the Vermont School Library Association as they implement the Mentoring School Librarians Matter Grant from the NEA Great Public Schools Fund. The Mentor Program offers fantastic opportunities for Vermont school librarians to learn and grow together.

AI bots: Our secret weapon for information literacy, info smarts and global thinking!

Sarah Pavey — 2023-10-19

Sarah Pavey clearly explores the possibilities of Artificial Intelligence for how we educate students in information literacy arguing that exciting developments in AI can complement and enrich traditional practices. Pavey details how AI chatbots have the potential to make a significant impact on information literacy of all kinds, providing accessible and interactive support and empowering students to make informed decisions, and contribute positively in school, to the workplace, and in society.