Category: Events

Indigenous Literacy Day

Lottie gets caught reading Anita Heiss
Lottie gets caught reading Anita Heiss

The Indigenous Literacy Foundation was set up in 2005 by Suzy Wilson, with the aim of lifting literacy rates and opportunities for young indigenous children living in remote communities. The fund is supported by the Australian Book Industry and is a not for profit charity. You can find out more about the organization here.

Its main fundraising activity is Indigenous Literacy Day, which took place on 3 September this year. Many schools and libraries  hosted book swap sessions with book publishers and book sellers donating a percentage of sales to the fund.

Individuals who still wish to donate can Get caught reading…

 

 

Here is a snapshot of what the Indigenous Literacy Foundation has achieved in 2014

120000 books supplied
120000 books supplied

The Indigenous Literacy Fund website is also a powerful resource, SCIS subscribers can download the catalogue record (SCIS No. 1534140)

What did your school do for International Literacy Day?

SCIS Asks 2013

SCIS conducted its annual consultation workshop in Melbourne on Thursday 14 November 2013 from 9.30-3.30pm. The consultation engaged SCIS and its partners in discussion about future priorities in our support of school libraries.

SCIS Asks logo 2013Twitter hashtag for the day: #scisasks

Programme

9.30am Welcome and consultation goals: Victoria Johnson, General Manager Education Services Australia

9.40am The view from the school library: Di Ruffles, Melbourne Grammar School

10.00am SCIS update: [from slide 9] Pru Mitchell, Manager SCIS

  • What are SCIS users asking for? How can SCIS and library system providers best serve school libraries?

10.30am Key issue: The future of identity for integration and personalisation
Nick Lothian, Developer ESA

  • Key question: How can ESA and library systems work together to support integrated search and access across school-selected resources?

11.00am Morning Tea

11.30am Future of the catalogue: Panel

12.20pm Discussion and questions

  • How should SCIS source, create or enhance catalogue data to meet future needs?

12.45pm Lunch

1.30pm Future of  vocabularies Ben Chadwick, Metadata Analyst/SCIS System Administrator ESA

  • Schools Online Thesaurus (ScOT) report
  • Linked data developments
  • Australian Curriculum alignment opportunities
  • Discussion and questions

2.10pm Resourcing of the curriculum project reports

2.50pm Final table discussion and recommendations

  • Discussion and questions
    Outcome: Recommendations on priority areas for SCIS services

3.30pm Close

If you cannot attend the Consultation you are invited to contribute via the SCIS Asks Survey

2013

Welcome to 2013 and the Lunar New Year in the Chinese Year of the Snake.

‘The Snake is the sixth sign of the Chinese Zodiac, which consists of 12 Animal Signs. It is the enigmatic, intuitive, introspective, refined and collected of the Animals Signs. Ancient Chinese wisdom says a Snake in the house is a good omen because it means that your family will not starve.’

The United Nations has declared 2013 the International Year of Water Cooperation (SCIS no.  1582371) as well as the International Year of Quinoa (SCIS no. 1592685)

In the world of colour AkzoNobel declares Indigo  (SCIS no. 1592774)  is a striking statement colour for 2013 associated with wisdom and honesty which enhances your environment.  However Pantone Color of the year 2013 is Emerald Green (SCIS no. 1592779)

2013 is also the International Year of Statistics,  (SCIS no. 1592783) a worldwide event supported by more than 1,400 organizations. More than 100 scientific societies, universities, research institutes, and organizations all over the world have banded together to dedicate 2013 as a special year for the Mathematics of Planet Earth. (SCIS no. 1592783)

The European Commission has designated that 2013 will be the European Year of Citizens (SCIS no. 1592791) while Scotland has declared 2013 the Year of Natural Scotland (SCIS no. 1592797)

Pope Benedict XVI declared that a Year of Faith (SCIS  no. 1592806) will begin on October 11, 2012 and conclude on November 24, 2013.  World Youth Day 2013 (SCIS no. 1592887) to be held in Rio theme is… ‘Go and make disciples of all nations’

For International Women’s day March 8 2013 the theme is The Gender Agenda: Gaining Momentum (SCIS no. 1592879)

Red Quinoa by Pru MItchell
Red Quinoa by Pru MItchell

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can find more pictures  here from the Global Year of Quinoa

SCIS asks: Strategic directions for school libraries

On Tuesday 4 December 2012 SCIS conducted a consultation workshop with SCIS partners discussing future priorities in our support for school libraries.

Judy O’Connell, Course Director (Teacher Librarianship) at Charles Sturt University started the day with a set of challenges that covered collections, search, cataloguing, curriculum, interoperability and access. Her presentation Strategic directions for school libraries reinforced the context within which education libraries need to work.  These included curriculum, the cloud and game-based learning in a library environment which is both physical and virtual.Bulb image from presentation

The challenge to participants was to rethink library catalogues, which should no longer be seen as simply tools for locating records. Interrogation of data from different data pools requires new thinking and a new user focus.  We need to change our technology interface to provide a natural, predictive and responsive search capacity.  Web 3.0 challenges us to make library search into a discovery interface.

“How does search impact the way students think, and the way we organise information access?”

Judy pointed out that the search experience influences how students see information structure. Students conceptualise information and the search environment differently, and the way they search should influence the way that we organise information. The learning technologies environment has changed since library management systems were first designed, and we must not lose sight of what is happening in other areas of information retrieval. The importance of metadata developments, including Resource Description and Access (RDA), mean we cannot take old thinking into new information environments.

Check out Judy’s presentation, and then contribute to the ongoing discussion about how SCIS and library system providers can best serve school libraries in 2015 and beyond?

Australian Teacher Librarian of the Year 2012

International School Library Day, coordinated by the International Association of School Libraries, is celebrated each October.

Many school libraries in Australia choose the third Monday in October as the day to celebrate what school libraries are about, and to raise awareness of school library services with teaching colleagues and the community.

Alinda Sheerman
The 2012 Australian Teacher Librarian of the Year
Alinda Sheerman

The Australian School Library Association (ASLA) and Pledger Consulting (LinksPlus/Weblinks) announced the winner of the Australian Teacher Librarian of the Year Award this year won by Alinda Sheerman of Broughton Anglican College, Menangle Park, New South Wales. The judges commended her on

“working closely with the College staff in developing curriculum units based on the Guided Inquiry approach, supporting students at all levels in their learning and at all stages of the teaching /learning process. She ensures that the school library is a positive learning environment for all. She provides leadership not only in curriculum but also the promotion of a love of literature and the use of ICTs, and excels at providing collegial support, willingly passing on her skills and knowledge to others.”

SCIS congratulates Alinda Sheerman and all the state and territory nominees who show what a teacher librarian can do to promote learning and teaching.

  • Susan Busch, Bundaberg North State School, Queensland
  • Karen Mutton, Saint David’s Parish School, South Australia
  • Kathy Norton, MacKillop Catholic College. Tasmania

Feathers for Phoebe

‘We find stuff’ for Australian Library and Information Week, 23-29 May 2011

The aim of LIW is to raise the profile of libraries and information service professionals in Australia, so check out the myriad of ideas on the ALIA website and take time this week to tell your teachers, students, parents and community what school libraries do!

We catalogue stuff!
We look up stuff!
We research stuff!
We know stuff!

National Simultaneous Storytime

NSS 2011 logo
National Simultaneous Storytime, 11am Wed 25 May

NSS is one of the highlights of the week for school libraries.

At 11am on Wednesday 25 May 2011 everyone stops to read Rod Clement’s colourful, creative story Feathers for Phoebe [SCIS No 1487992].

Register your storytime to join in the fun and add your site to the national map.

Phoebe at Marryatville PS
Marryatville Primary School's Phoebe (created by Tsam)

e-book versions
PowerPoint, PDF and podcast versions of Feathers for Phoebe plus interactive whiteboard activities are available to registered participating sites.

Teacher’s notes
Christine Sarandis provides links to author information, reviews and activities to use this week.

Blog posts with more ideas
Auburn North Primary School
Book Chook
Book Crowd
Ian McLean
Kids Book Review

Read and enjoy!

SCIS workshops

In the 2010 SCIS Survey there were requests for access to SCIS training from a significant number of respondents. In response to this, the SCIS Subscriber Support Coordinator role has been designed to provide increased training and professional learning opportunities in the use of SCIS and its value to the school library community.

The following half day seminars are available to Victorian library staff in Term 2, 2011.

‘Making the Most of SCIS’ workshops for Term 2, 2011

Register online for either workshop at: http://tinyurl.com/scisPDVIC

Cost $85 per person includes materials and light catering. Payment on invoice

This training will highlight how SCIS cataloguing services can assist staff to provide a more effective library service to their school community. Learn how you can customise your SCIS profile to optimise your use of SCIS. Make the most of book cover images, and catalogue records for learning objects, video files, educational websites and e-books. Find out how to use SCIS Authority Files to save time and to enhance your library catalogue.

If you would like to discuss hosting a SCIS training seminar in your region, please contact Pru Mitchell.

School Library Advocacy YSL6

Evidence & Image is the focus of the Your School Library conference being held online from 4 – 18 March 2011.

An impressive array of international guests will provide presentations on the theme of school library advocacy and help school library staff develop strategies to explain the value of the library to administrators, colleagues and parents.

School libraries are not a luxury item – they are essential to learning. But getting that message out is a challenge.

YSL2011

Presenters and participants will share success stories from around the world
Gary Hartzell – Stephen Krashen – Keith Curry Lance – Carolyn Foote – Tricia Adams – Jerry Hurst – Maureen Twomey – Georgia Phillips – Sharon Bird, MP – Lisa Perez –  Buffy Hamilton – Sarah Pavey
Further details are available in the YSL6 flyer (pdf, 597kb)

Once registered you will receive a login to the Sosius online forum where each day a new presentation is loaded, and email discussion gets underway. The online forum allows you to work entirely at times that suit you, but to get maximum value from the conference many find it important to negotiate at least one professional development or work from home session during this time.
The tag for the conference is #ysl6

Eventful 2011

With people around the world, our thoughts at this time are with all those affected by devastating floods. We are waiting anxiously to see how schools, libraries and infrastructure have been disrupted and how as a community we can help in the aftermath. This is not the beginning to 2011 that anyone expected when they closed their doors at the end of the school year.

Flooding doesn't concern wheelie binsFlooding by Kingbob86 CC-by

Events such as this and the 2010 Canterbury earthquake in New Zealand  have certainly shown the impact of  online social media and crowdsourced, citizen journalism. It has been impressive to witness the community in action through twitter, facebook, flickr, YouTube and mapping tools.

The Wikipedia article on the 2011 Queensland floods is one resource ready for teachers addressing this issue with classes in a few weeks. Starting on 29 December 2010 Wikipedians have maintained updated summaries of the extent of the floods across each river basin, described the response effort and referenced over 80 sources.  Viewing the history and discussion associated with development of this article provides a highly relevant starting point for an information literacy activity.

It is amazing to realise that on Saturday 15 January 2011 Wikipedia will turn 10.

Celebrations of the relatively short history of this project are planned for many places around the world, and people are sharing their stories of what being involved with Wikipedia has meant to them.
Wikipedia Timeline
Our stories: Wikipedia10

10 sharing book coverWikipedia10 by JayWalsh CC-by-sa-3.0

2011 Calendar

Planning library displays or theme-based units for 2011?

To find events to celebrate or commemorate in 2011, check out the 2011 Australian Schools Calendar of special events available from Education Network Australia (edna).

The calendar lists events and celebration days with each date linked to event information, useful for planning library displays, school theme-based events, blog posts and online celebrations.

2011 is …

2011 Australian Schools Calendar

International Year of Chemistry
International Year of Forests
International Year for People of African Descent
International Year of Youth
World Veterinary Year
Year of the Bat
Year of the Solar System

Print your calendar

This year’s downloadable calendar was designed by Alice Fraser of La Trobe University, Bendigo. Alice took the UN International Year of Forests as the theme. Print each month and display the calendar in your school’s library, staffroom and classrooms.

Download complete 2011 calendar in pdf format

Online calendar

From the regularly updated online version of the calendar you can download events, school term dates and public holidays into your calendar software.

calendar_add Click the calendar icon in the right hand column of the online calendar to download events one-by-one

RSS icon Subscribe to be notified of new events as they are added to the Australian Schools calendar during the year.
Suggest an event to be added to the calendar.