ASLA Advocacy Summit 2022 - Anne Girolami. A National Focus: Supporting the School Library

The school library underpins and actively supports the school’s core business of learning and teaching. This is undertaken through the planning and implementation of programs and services. The quality of these programs and services are dependent on a number of factors which include staffing, resourcing and professional learning. How can the school library develop and work to its capacity? How do we recognise what the benchmarks are for an effective school library? This presentation will explore these concepts through the lens of the national association. This will include a focus on how and why the national association adopts the strategy for the creation of national documentation that specifically targets and supports the school library and school library personnel. Anne Girolami, ALIA Schools Anne Girolami is Learning Leader - Information Services at Mercy College, Coburg a catholic girls’ secondary school that follows the Mercy Charism, in the northern suburbs of Melbourne. She has been a teacher librarian for over 30 years with experience in both primary and secondary school settings. She has also had experience as a Library Advisory for catholic primary schools in the Archdiocese of Melbourne. Anne is the Convenor of ALIA Schools and the ALIA School Libraries Advisory Committee as well as a member of the School Library Coalition. Anne has been an active member of the national associations throughout her school library career. Two years ago Anne was conferred with a Fellowship to ALIA and last year she was awarded the ASLA Australian Teacher Library of the Year for 2021. Anne feels both privileged and honoured to be formally recognised by both national associations.