A presentation for the EREA School Library Conference.

1. Beg the
question
Edmund Rice Education
Library Network Conference
2018

2. Acknowledge country
Alice Eather
Yuya Karraburra
I walk between these two worlds
A split life
Split skin
Split tongue
Split kin
Everyday these worlds collide
And I’m living and breathing
This story of black and white

3. School libraries matter
But do they???????

4. School Libraries
Challenged
2017 Softlink survey:
- 62% of respondents feel their library is not
adequately resourced including staffing & budget;
- 23% report a budget decrease
- 22% report a staffing decrease

5. Teacher Librarian
Challenged

6. Public Libraries
Challenged

7. Q1. What
qualifications,
practices, and
services remain
necessary & relevant
in school libraries?

8. How to know if your job adds value?
Rutger Bergman
Image used with permission from owner, personal correspondence, 14 August, 2018

10. Every school is unique:
What are your fundamentals?
What would disappear from your school if the library were to go?

11. Mt Alvernia iCentre
Services & practices

12. � The collection
� Traditional Literacy &
love of reading
� Information (critical &
Digital) Literacy
� Connections

13. Vision statement:
Our vision is to provide services that connect all learners at Mt Alvernia College to
the literacies needed for living and working in today's world
Mission Statement:
The Mt Alvernia iCentre provides physical and digital spaces and resources, a
specialist team and professional practices that enable our community to experience
and learn the literacies of a connected world.
These essentials underpin our
vision and mission statement:
Motto: learning and literacies for a connected w

14. Softlink Survey Results 2017
Most important school library service = welcoming space

15. What about qualifications?
Do they matter? Value for money: teacher first, librarian second
Value in providing broad perspective
Value in giving advice and providing ideas
Value in providing leadership in ICT
Value in teacher librarians qualities
(Lupton, 2016)
What do school principals think?

17. Q2. What principles
and values should be
fundamental to all
school libraries
regardless of context?

18. 3 themes
underpin school
library services
(Adams, 2009,
p.197).

19. Love of learning
� Curiosity
� Experimentation
� Risk taking – making mistakes – be
prepared to fail – feel safe – laugh at
ourselves
� Learning space not a testing space
match
the
curriculum

20. User needs
• Find answers & prove ability (grades)
• Multiple copies (fiction & non-fiction print)
• Differentiation (print & digital)
• High interest
• Multiple formats – print – digital – audio - video
• Input into selection
• To exist in the collection
• Space – inviting, easy to navigate & apt
Australian Library and Information Association via Twitter

21. (Fell, 2018)

22. The advisory role of the Teacher-
Librarian cannot be
underestimated and a good
knowledge base is essential to
providing students with books they
want to read (La Marca and
McIntyre, 2006, p.35).
Knowing Readers
YA /Children’s book expert

23. 5.42 million followers on Twitter
3.1 million likes on Facebook page
2.2 million followers on Instagram
3.12 million subscribers to YouTube
channel
The Fault in our Stars reached #1
through pre-orders before it was
published – went on to sell 23 million
copies world wide.
Turtles all the way down was a similar
story – sales were embargoed till
midnight Tue Oct 10 – sold 129 000
copies in the first week.

24. Critical Literacy

25. Q3.How do Teacher
Librarians prove that
school libraries do
indeed matter?

26. “6.12 It strikes the Committee
that there is a fundamental
need to collate some hard
data to ascertain how many
teacher librarians there are in
Australia’s primary and
secondary schools; to identify
where the gaps are; and to
start to extrapolate the links
between library programs,
literacy (especially digital
literacy, which is as important
as regular literacy and
numeracy skills), and student
achievement” (Commonwealth

27. But what is hard data?
A book borrowed is NOT a book read”
(Helen, 2010 – 2018)

28. Example
Campfire Program
2018 PD Budget:
Working with Dr Lyn Hay as a
Consultant
• Professional knowledge of
gathering evidence
• Keep us on track & accountable
• Provides feedback for CLT &
classroom teachers
• Provides goals for 2019
Operational Plan & budget
priorities

29. The results confirm we are wonderful!!!

30. The results confirm we are wonderful!!!

31. The results also confirm we have work to do
and need to keep our eyes on the prize
IMPROVE READING & LITERACY

32. From the PLN
Jason Saikaly – Barker College

33. From the PLN
Katie Whelan – Sydney

34. From the PLN
Penny Waring – St. Rita’s College

35. Tell your story
2015 Edutech Conference in Brisbane, both
Kate Torney, CEO of the State Library of
Victoria, and Dr Ross J. Todd, Associate
Professor in Library and Information Sciences
at Rutgers University, stressed to delegates
of the Future Libraries stream that if libraries
are to thrive, then they must share their
story.

36. Tell your story

37. Community Leader

39. Thank you

40. References
ABC Radio. (2017). Universal Basic Income: the Future? [Audio podcast]. Retrieved from
http://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/conversations/conversations-rutger-bregman-rpt/10053806
Adams, S. (2009a). What games have to offer: information behavior and meaning-making in virtual play
spaces. Library Trends, 57(4),676 - 693.
Australian Library and Information Association. [@ALIANational].(2018, August 8). Are you joining the webinar
starting in 10 minutes? http://bit.ly/2KAEGfS #ALIA [Tweet]. Retrieved from
https://twitter.com/ALIANational/status/1027372628741259264
Commonwealth of Australia. (2011). School Libraries and Teacher Librarians in 21st Century Australia [PDF].
Retrieved from
https://www.aph.gov.au/parliamentary_business/committees/house_of_representatives_committees?url=ee/sch
oollibraries/report/index.htm
Edmistone, L. (2017, June 22). Always a place for pen and paper in schools’ as school libraries go digital. The
Courier Mail.

41. References
Fell, A. (2018). Generation next: Meet Gen Z and the Alphas [PDF]. In McCrindle Blog. Retrieved from
https://mccrindle.com.au/insights/blog/generation-next-meet-gen-z-alphas/
Ferracane, J. (2017, February). Where have all the school librarians gone? My Child.
Heiss, A. (2018). Growing up Aboriginal in Australia. Carlton: Black Inc.
Jenkins, H., Clinton, K., Purushotma, R., Robison, A. J., & Weigel, M. (2006). Confronting the challenges of
participatory culture: Media education for the 21st century [White paper]. Retrieved from MacArthur
Foundation websitehttp://digitallearning.macfound.org/atf/cf/%7B7E45C7E0-A3E0-4B89-AC9C-
E807E1B0AE4E%7D/JENKINS_WHITE_PAPER.PDF.
La Marca, S. & Macintyre, P. (2006). Knowing readers: Unlocking the pleasures of reading. Carlton, Vic.:
School Library Association of Victoria.
Lupton, M. (2016). Principals’ perceptions of the role of the teacher-librarian. School Libraries Worldwide,
22(1), 49-61.

42. References
Mourdoukoutas, P. [PMourdoukoutas]. (2018, July 21). Amazon Should Replace Local Libraries to Save
Taxpayers Money [Tweet]. Retrieved from https://twitter.com/PMourdoukoutas/status/1020654721655242754
Publishers Weekly. (2017). ‘Turtles’ Helps Lift Sales 8% In Early October. Retrieved from
https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/bookselling/article/75176-turtles-helps-lift-sales-
8-in-early-october.html
Softlink Australia. (2014). Australian School Library Survey [PDF]. Retrieved from
https://www.softlinkint.com/downloads/2014_Softlink_Australian_School_Library_Survey.pdf
Softlink Australia. (2016). The 2016 Softlink Australian and New Zealand School Library Survey [PDF].
Retrieved from https://www.softlinkint.com/downloads/2016_SLS_Participant_Summary.pdf
Softlink Australia. (2017). The 2017 Softlink Australian and New Zealand School Library Survey [PDF].
Retrieved from
https://www.softlinkint.com/downloads/2017_Softlink_Australian_and_New_Zealand_School_Library_Survey_
Report.pdf