California State University Long Beach has been chosen to host the 2017 International Association of School Librarianship conference. Tentative dates are 3-7 August 2017. The theme is “Learning without borders.” Stay tuned for details, and get ready for a future that’s so bright you need (sun)shades — and sunscreen.
Monthly Archives: August 2015
IFLA School Library Guidelines approved
dition
The IFLA School Library Guidelines, 2nd edition, was endorsed by the Professional Committee on advice by the Committee of Standards in June 2015. The standard was revised and written by the School Libraries Section over a period of more than two years and replaces the IFLA/UNESCO School Library Guidelines which were published in 2002.
The guidelines have been developed to assist school library professionals and educational decision-makers in their efforts to ensure that all students and teachers have access to effective school library programmes and services, delivered by qualified school library personnel.
The drafting of these revised guidelines involved input and discussion at various workshops, events and meetings, some of which received funding support from the IFLA Professional Committee, and through ongoing writing and review in person and online.
School Libraries in South Africa
Extracted from The state of libraries in South Africa. (2015). Pretoria, South Africa: Arts and Culture Department.
The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) held their Congress August 13-19 in Cape Town, South Africa. Besides enjoying the wonderful scenery and graciousness of the local population, librarians from around the world shared their professional situations. Part of that experience was learning about libraries in South Africa.
School libraries have witnessed great fluctuations over the past twenty years. With the overhaul of government in 1994 all teacher librarian post were abolished, with private funds being one of the few ways to ensure professional school librarian staffing.
Government priorities have changed since then, largely due to grassroots efforts and the involvement of NGOs. Organizations have donated books and provided training, as well as converted spaces into school libraries.
As this point about two-thirds of schools have some kind of library: 14% have a central library with resources, another 9% have a library without resources, a third have a classroom collection of library resources, and 4% have mobile/bookmobile library service. About a fifth of schools are located near public libraries, so the need is great. Particularly as the poor reading level of learners has been documented, government is seeing the importance of student access to rich library collections.
School libraries tend for focus on providing appropriate circulating collections: print books, periodical, and some CD/DVDs and imagers. Highly supported libraries provide Internet access. Most materials are in English, and some libraries provide books in Afrikaans or other local languages. Nevertheless, budgets are problematic and uneven throughout the country. The biggest challenge remains the lack of staffing. School librarians are often part-time or temporary.
In the face of these challenges, school librarians continue to work hard to promote quality school library programs of resources and services.
Submitted by Lesley Farmer
Göteborg Book Fair
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| Several international reading promoters will visit Sweden and Göteborg Book Fair on September 24-27. This year’s laureate of the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award (ALMA), the South African organisation PRAESA, and Daniel Goldin, publisher and Director of the Vasconcelos Library in Mexico City, will participate in seminars and programs at the Swedish Art Council’s Young Stage (Ung scen).
“We are excited about this year’s Book Fair,” says ALMA Director Helen Sigeland. “We hope that many visitors will be inspired by PRAESA’s amazing work, which focuses on encouraging children to read for enjoyment, building their self-esteem and helping them connect to their native language through reading and stories, which is highly topical issue today.” PRAESA is represented by Arabella Koopman, Content Manager for the national reading promotion project Nal’ibali, a network of reading clubs that uses media campaigns to encourage children to read and inspire parents, grandparents and teachers to read with them. “Daniel Goldin is one of the world’s foremost reading promoters, a brilliant inspirer,” says Helen Sigeland. Daniel Goldin is the publisher who discovered the 2013 ALMA Laureate Isol’s talent for illustrated children’s books. The Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award (ALMA) is the world’s largest award for children’s and young adult literature. The award, which amounts to SEK 5 million, is given annually to a single laureate or to several. Authors, illustrators, oral storytellers and reading promoters are eligible. The award is designed to promote interest in children’s and young adult literature. The UN convention of rights of the child is the foundation of our work. An expert jury selects the laureate(s) from candidates nominated by institutions and organisations all over the world. The Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award was founded by the Swedish government in 2002 and is administrated by the Swedish Arts Council. |
School Libraries WorldWide call for papers
School Libraries Worldwide
January 2016 (Volume 22, Number 1)
Celebrity: Teacher Librarians as Central Figures, Heroes, Key Players
Call for Papers–Due October 1, 2015
Editors: Marcia Mardis and Nancy Everhart
Guest Co-Editor: Rebecca Hunt
School Libraries Worldwide is the official professional and research journal of the International Association of School Librarianship (IASL). It is published twice yearly, in January and July, and is available online and through select periodical databases. School Libraries Worldwide publishes new works of current research and scholarship on any aspect of school librarianship. All papers are double-blind peer reviewed and adhere to the highest editorial standards.
The January 2016 issue of School Libraries Worldwide will center on the theme of Celebrity: Teacher Librarians as Central Figures, Heroes, and Key Players. As Annenberg Fellow Neal Gabler wrote in his seminal 1994 essay Toward a New Definition of Celebrity[1], “Celebrity is a learning process toward self-actualization and realization…celebrity is about gaining attention and acknowledgment —about not being like everyone else.” (pp. 10, 13). For this issue, this definition is our point of departure in considering school librarians’ many celebrity roles. We encourage papers that affirm, refute, or extend this notion.
This issue will provide an opportunity for researchers to share their research relating to the librarian’s role in school libraries. Possible topics include, but are not limited to, research about:
· Leadership development and enactment;
· Librarians as educational technology and social media leaders and/or influencers;
· Professional recruiting and retention strategies, i.e., “selling” teacher librarianship as a career;
· Marketing and promoting the school library’s programs and services;
· Advocacy challenges and effective strategies;
· Effective student, faculty, and/or community programming facilitated by teacher librarians;
· Librarians as agents of change and innovation;
· Librarians as characters in history and fiction;
· Celebrity and youth culture/fandom; and
· Celebrity authored children’s literature.
School library researchers are invited to submit papers reporting their own original research that has not been published elsewhere. Authors who wish to know more about the issue theme should contact the editors. School Libraries Worldwide also welcomes submissions of excellent research on any topic relating to school librarianship for the open section of the journal.
Deadline for submissions of full papers: October 1, 2015.
Authors interested in contributing to this issue should contact the editors, Marcia Mardis and Nancy Everhart at slw@cci.fsu.edu and the guest editor, Rebecca Hunt (rhunt@niu.edu).
Submission guidelines are available online at: http://www.iasl-online.org/pubs/slw/slw_guidecontrib.html
Note requirement that all submissions must take place through the online submission system: http://slw.cci.fsu.edu
Questions and suggestions for the journal should be sent to:
Dr. Marcia A. Mardis and Dr. Nancy Everhart
Editors, School Libraries Worldwide
School of Information
College of Communication & Information
Florida State University
Tallahassee FL 32306-2100 USA
E-mail: slw@cci.fsu.edu
[1] Gabler, N. (1994). Toward a new definition of celebrity. Retrieved from http://learcenter.org/pdf/Gabler.pdf
Croatia Library Conference June 2016
CALL FOR PARTICIPATION Biennial International Conference LIBRARIES IN THE DIGITAL AGE (LIDA) 2016
Conference Theme: Digital Library Curation and Collections
Zadar, Croatia, 13-17 June 2016 University of Zadar, Zadar, Croatia
Full CFP can be found here: http://ozk.unizd.hr/lida/ Email: lida@unizd.hr
Libraries in the Digital Age (LIDA) addresses the changing and challenging environment for libraries and information systems and services in the digital world. This year’s theme “Digital Library Curation and Collections” is divided into two parts. The first part covers research and development, and the second part addresses advances in applications and practice. LIDA is an international biennial conference that brings together researchers, educators, practitioners, and developers from all over the world in a forum for personal exchanges, discussions, and learning, made easier by being held in memorable environs.
The LIDA conference is held at the University of Zadar (Croatia) and the conference’s Guest of Honour is Professor Tefko Saracevic, Distinguished Professor Emeritus, Rutgers University, USA.
Deadline for submissions: February 1, 2016 (for all types of contributions)
Types of Contributions Invited:
1. Papers: scholarly studies and reports on practices and advances that will be presented at the conference. Both completed research and early work/preliminary results are invited. Papers will be refereed in a double-blind process. Submit 1,500 word abstract, plus references.
2. Posters: short graphic presentations on research, studies, advances, examples, practices, preliminary work and educational projects that will be presented in a special poster session. Posters will undergo a double-blind review. Awards will be given for Best Poster and Best Student Poster. Submit 750 word abstract, plus references.
3. Panels: up to 90 minute sessions that will be interactive and offer different perspectives and approaches to a specific topic. Organizers propose the format and invite up to five panelists (including the moderator). Submit 750 word abstract, plus references.
4. Demonstrations: live examples of working projects, services, interfaces, commercial products, or developments-in-progress that will be presented during the conference in specialized facilities or presented in special demonstration sessions. Submit 750 word description.
5. Workshops: two to four-hour sessions that will be tutorial and educational in nature, and are intended to foster interactive discussions for attendees who share common interest. Submit 750 word description, plus references.
6. PhD Forum: short presentations by doctoral students, particularly as related to their dissertation, in a session organized by the European Chapter of the American Society for Information Science and Technology (http://www.asis.org/Chapters/europe/). The PhD Forum provides doctoral students the opportunity to present their work to senior faculty in relatively informal setting and to receive feedback on their dissertation by a panel of international educators. Submit 750 word description.
7. Undergraduate/Graduate Student Showcase: short presentations by undergraduate and graduate student, related to their research, practical projects, etc. The showcase will provide students with opportunity to get feedback on their work in informal setting and advice on how to develop their work further and get published. Submit 750 word description, plus references.
Deadlines for all submissions: February 1, 2016.
All proposals should follow formal LIDA guidelines available at LIDA 2016 website (http://ozk.unizd.hr/lida/submissions/). All work should be in English, original and not previously published. Submission of proposals/extended abstracts should be made using the EasyChair submission system (https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=lida2016
Following the double blind review process all accepted submissions will be published in the scholarly journal Libellarium: Journal for the research of writing, books and cultural heritage institutions. Libellarium is indexed by EBSCO and Erich II and has applied for inclusion into Scopus.
Conference co-directors:
Martina Dragija Ivanović, Ph.D. Department of Library and Information Science University of Zadar, Croatia mdragija@unizd.hr ; Sanjica Faletar Tanackovic, Ph.D. Department of Information Sciences University of Osijek, Croatia sfaletar@ffos.hr ; Ross J. Todd, Ph.D. rtodd@rutgers.edu ; Marie L. Radford, Ph.D. School of Communication and Information Rutgers University, USA
Program chairs: For Part I: Heather Lea Moulaison, Ph.D. The iSchool at the University of Missouri University of Missouri, USA moulaisonhe@missouri.edu For Part II: Michael Seadle, Ph.D. Institute of Library and Information Science Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany seadle@ibi.hu-berlin.de
The entire conference, including all presentations and keynotes,are in English.
Literacy Matters! credo
I can read, therefore I am.
I can:
- be smart and become smarter;
- communicate with others;
- solve problems, understand and connect with new challenges;
- participate in family, workplace and community life;
- use a range of technologies;
- think for myself and with others;
- keep my culture alive;
- share with others;
- be creative and laugh.
I have the world and beyond at my feet.
I can read, therefore I am empowered and can learn lifelong.
I can read, therefore I am part of the present and the future.
I can read, therefore I am,
Because …….. LITERACY MATTERS!
Developed by the IFLA Literacy and Reading Section