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International School Library Month 2008

Literacy and Learning in your School Library

The theme for 2008 has been translated into several languages -- Download the PDF file for further information.

What people are doing for ISLM 2008

Africa | Australia | Brazil | Canada | China | Croatia | Germany | India | Indonesia| Italy | Jordan | Kenya | Latvia | Pakistan | Poland | Portugal | Qatar |Romania | United Kingdom | United States of America

Africa

StMarysISLM 08

From Anneli Silvennoinen, Head of the Resource Centre, St Mary's Senior School, Waverley, Johannesburg
We are promoting an awareness of our school library during International School Library month. We are holding a Library Lottery during October  to add a bit of fun and to entice non-readers to the Library. Everyone who takes a book out of the Library during this month, has their name entered into our lucky draw.

The draw will take place in the Library on 31 October. The winner has to be in the Library to win double movie vouchers otherwise she forfeits her prize. We also held a Library lunch for our Monitors, past and present in addition to posters and displays. We are enjoying our month and hope that the world is too.

Australia

From Lisa Hill, Director of Curriculum and Library Teacher, Mossgiel Park SS
We are participating in the Bookmark Project with Ridgeway Middle School in the UK. This year, for the first time, we are blogging to share information with them about our school and our library program -- check out Mossie Park LiBlog. We have made ANIMOTO short videos to show them Australian landmark projects, a slideshow showing our students working on their draft bookmarks, videos, pictures and text about the activities we have undertaken for Book Week (which is big deal here with activities lasting for a month).

From Mary Manning, Executive Officer, School Library Association of Victoria.
The School Library Association of Victoria celebrated with the Annual International School Libraries Day Awards Dinner on Monday 27 October at the Rendezvous Hotel Ballroom, Melbourne where the CD ROM, What a teacher-librarian can do for you, was launched. Compiled by Susan La Marca, this extensive CD ROM provides inspirational quotes, articles, links to website, research and
supporting information which highlight the vital role of the teacher-librarian in student learning and achievement.
Valuable as a tool for:

  • planning and policy development
  • advocacy
  • submission writing
  • encouraging collaboration
  • developing a clear understanding of your role

The following winners of the annual SLAV awards were also announced at the dinner.

  • Jane Viner, Methodist Ladies College, is the 2008 recipient of the John Ward Award. This award recognises an outstanding contribution to learning and teaching and the raising of the profile
    of the profession as a teacher-librarian. The John Ward Award is sponsored by the State Library of Victoria.
  • The SLAV Research Fellowship was awarded to Cairistiona Tait, John Paul College, for the development of a guided inquiry model in collaboration with the Science faculty.
  • The SLAV Innovator's Grant, sponsored by Pledger Consulting, was awarded to the library team at Firbank Grammar School, Laraine Stephens, Juliet Hayday, Adrienne Dore and Rosemary Bellairs, for their initiative in relation to the integration of interactive whiteboards across the curriculum.
  • The SLAV School Leaders' Award was won jointly by Cheryl Judd, Principal, and Janine Laurence, Assistant Principal, Preston Girls' Secondary College, as nominated by the school's teacher-librarians, Judith Way and Reina Phung.
  • The Webquest and Beyond Awards were also presented at the dinner. These awards are a joint project of the School Library Association of Victoria and the Victorian Education Channel, Department of Education and Early Childhood Development and are supported by the sponsorship of Electroboard. Winners of the Webquest and Beyond Awards, 2008 are:
    * 1st - Julie Squires and Mark Phillips, Casey Grammar for Earth 2.0,
    * 2nd - Pennie White and Jodie Tilley, Mooroolbark College for Schoolyard blitz

Congratulations to all award winners!

From Karen Bonanno, Executive Officer, Australian School Library Association.
On Monday 27 October the Australian School Library Association Inc. (ASLA) and Pledger Consulting Pty Ltd (LinksPlus/Weblinks) announced the winner of the 2008 Australian Teacher Librarian of the Year Award – Jan Radford from Delany College, Granville, New South Wales.

This national award recognises and honours an exceptional Australian teacher librarian in a school setting whose professional practice has a positive impact on student achievement and information literacy. ASLA describes the role of a teacher librarian as having three key professional specialisations: curriculum leader, information specialist, and information services manager.

The Australian Teacher Librarian of the Year 2008 is awarded to a teacher librarian who demonstrates a high level of achievement in each of these three components of their role and thus provides a library and information service that improves student learning.

ASLA and Pledger Consulting Pt Ltd congratulated all the state and territory nominees for this award:

Paul Huard, Gold Creek School nominated by the Australian School Library Association (ACT)
Jan Radford, Delany College nominated by the Australian School Library Association (NSW)
Ailsa Hill, Rose Bay High School nominated by the Australian School Library Association (Tasmania)
Lyn Lawrence, The Cathedral College nominated by the School Library Association of Queensland
Sue Johnston, Marden Senior College and Open Access College nominated by the School Library Association of South Australia
Maria Darby, Cyril Jackson Senior Campus nominated by the Western Australian School Library Association

In addition, the Australian School Library Association (ASLA) and the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA), under its Memorandum of Understanding, circulated a media release on the 27 October entitled Celebrating school libraries around the world

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Brazil

ISLM Brazil From Katharina B L Berg, IASL Regional Director - Latin America / Caribbean
Over sixty school librarians from libraries of schools maintained by the Social Service of the Federation of Industries (SESI) gathered together to celebrate ISLM and engage in professional learner with Katharina BL Berg. A special focus was the ISLM poster and translations.

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Canada

From Karen Lindsay, Teacher librarian, Ecole Reynolds Secondary and VP Advocacy, British Columbia Teacher-librarians' Association
At 11:00, schools and community members across BC will participate in the BCTLAs Drop Everything and Read Challenge. Students and all school personnel, as well as members of the government and the public are encouraged to put aside their work and model the importance of literacy by reading for 20 minutes. The campaign, organized by the BCTLA, has the endorsement of the Premier, the Minister of Education, the Public Library Services Branch, the BC Trustees Association, the  BC Library Trustees Association, and the BC Teachers' Federation. Visit Drop Everything and Read.

From Sylvia Wiebe Mason, Teacher Librarian, Mennonite Brethren Collegiate in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Mennonite Brethren Collegiate celebrated school libraries all month in the Gr 6-12 library. A display title "Imagine...a world without libraries" invited students to participate in a contest to draw or write their idea of what a world without libraries would be like. The display included information about OSU Children's Library Fund that builds libraries in Africa. The winning student, in addition to a gift certificate, won a donation in her name to the OSU fund. The winning Grade 6 student wrote that " living without libraries would be like pushing through gunk and mud every day to get water."

On Oct 27, Manitoba School Library Day, Mrs. Mason served cake to over 300 students and gave away pens, batteries, and Sudoku puzzle books for door prizes.

From Pat Parungao, Teacher-Librarian, Gladstone Secondary School, Vancouver Board of Education
Gladstone secondary school (grades 8 - 12, including ESL) celebrated by eating a treat and reading. We responded to a challenge from a nearby school district to "Drop Everything and Read" (DEAR). Although Gladstone has a 20-minute silent reading time across the school every morning, teachers opted to have a separate 20-minute DEAR time in the afternoon. On October 27, each teacher was given a neon pink "Happy National School Library Day" handout identifying National School Library Day, information about DEAR, a quote by Stephen Krashen about reading for pleasure, and a chocolate. This was no ordinary chocolate, but one that the British Columbia Teacher-Librarians' Association (BCTLA) had created in a local chocolate store with the message "School Libraries the (heart shape) of Literacy" and wrapped in a colourful foil.

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China

From Nadine Rosevear, Middle School Teacher-Librarian, International School of Beijing, PR China

Panda Reading ProgramTo celebrate International School Library Month libraries from international schools located in northern China are launching a new reading initiative called the PANDA AWARD. This book award program invites students from participating schools to vote for the best book published in the years 2006-2008 and encourages young people to read some quality books selected by librarians from international schools situated in the Beijing area. The participating schools are International School of Beijing, Western Academy of Beijing, Dulwich College, Beijing City International School, Yew Chung International School, International School of Tianjin, and the Lycée Français à Pékin. The program will start on October 1 and the voting will take in the month of March 2009. The books on the lists were carefully chosen in order to represent an international selection. There are separate lists for each school division. In order to be eligible to vote for the PANDA AWARD students must have read a certain number of books from the list. This number may vary according to individual school needs. The panda holds a special place in the hearts of the Chinese people as it is a symbol of peace and a token of forging friendly ties. The PANDA reading program promises to take our students on an exciting reading adventure: not only will they explore some excellent books, but they will also be able to discuss their views on a wiki that will connect the participating schools, creating a learning environment that will go beyond classroom walls bringing together students from international schools across the north of China.

We are still in the process of introducing the program to the faculty and lots of work is still needed in the area of creating posters and other promotional material. We just hope it will catch on and that more schools will become involved. Next year we would like to invite students to nominate titles of books so that they will have more ownership of this award.

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Last updated 4 November 2008 (KSB)