. 
ASLA December 2021 E-Newsletter
.png)
As this is the final newsletter for 2021, the ASLA Board want to wish you and your family a very restful and safe Christmas. We hope that you will have the opportunity to travel to be with loved ones at this time. The Board met on November 27 for a whole day planning meeting. Our main focus was a review of the ASLA constitution and setting the budget for 2022. The planned changes to the constitution will be emailed to all members prior to our 2022 AGM where a vote will be held to adopt the changes. We recently welcomed Martha Itzcovitz from Pymble Ladies' College NSW as a casual Board member. Prior to the AGM early in 2022, we will advertise the number of board positions including those of office bearers. With some Board members completing their full term, there will be some positions that are required to be filled. The ASLA website will be undertaking some updates and changes during December/January. If you have any questions or need assistance during this time, please contact our Executive Officer Judy Thompson. We look forward to you joining us in February for our first webinar of 2022. Kind Regards Natalie Otten ASLA President
Competition Winners! Thank you for your contributions to our Advocacy tips competition. A huge thank you to Woodslane for sponsoring these amazing prizes. Prize for best EC/Primary submission: Winner: Amy Byrnes Torrens Primary ACT A-Z of Australian Bush Creatures https://www.woodslane.com.au/Book/9781925868685/An-A-Z-of-Australian-Bush-Creatures Henry the Flying Emu https://www.woodslane.com.au/Book/9781925868708/Henry-the-Flying-Emu The O in the Snow https://www.woodslane.com.au/Book/9781925868609/The-O-in-the-Snow Prize for best Secondary submission: Winner: Judith Wakeman Don’t Doubt the Rainbow https://www.woodslane.com.au/Book/9781785835551/The-Five-Clues-Don-t-Doubt-The-Rainbow-1 The Rooftop https://www.woodslane.com.au/Book/9781925868197/The-Rooftop
The ASLA Professional Learning team thank you for your attendance at our 2021 webinars. We look forward to you joining us in February for our first webinar for 2022. Don't forget that you can access the webinars and conference sessions in our online shop.
IASL 2022 The International Association for School Librarianship, the University of South Carolina School of Information, the South Carolina Association of School Librarians, and the South Carolina Center for Community Literacy invite you to the 50th Annual IASL Hybrid Conference and the 25th International Forum on Research in School Librarianship, an event dedicated to the advancement of theory and practice in school librarianship. Registration opens soon. In the meantime, download the Registration Fee Chart available at www.iasl2022.com for details. Check the website often for updates and more details on all of the incredible events we are going to offer! Call for Proposals The call for proposals is open! Details can be found on the conference website: https://www.iasl2022.com/submit-a-proposal.html Who Attends IASL? The IASL Annual Conference provides a space for school librarians, teachers, administrators, researchers, and all others who hold an interest in education and libraries to exchange ideas and practices, meet new colleagues, and reunite with friends. Why Should I Attend? This year’s program is packed with opportunities for practitioners and researchers to share and learn from each other as we exchange the creative and the unique ways that we tackle school librarianship challenges across the globe. What Will I Experience? Attendees will experience both in-person and virtual sessions, innovative workshops, inspiring keynote speakers, gorgeous musical performances, delicious southern US cuisine, and inspirational cultural exhibits. Join us in the “Soda City,” Columbia, South Carolina! Hybrid Option The 2022 Conference offers both an on-site and virtual attendance option. Please explore the conference website for more details!
AMY BYRNE: TORRENS PRIMARY, ACT Book Chats This year I have come back into the TL role after two years on class at a new school. Advocacy was a huge priority for me and having just been on class at the school and working with teaching teams in that capacity I was familiar with the busy demands on classroom teachers and wanted a way to inform teachers of fantastic new books, support them with teaching resources and ideas and do it in a quick and fun way that didn’t impact too much on their time. To that end I started “Book Chats”. I sent an email inviting teams (K-3 and a separate chat for Yr 4- 6 teams) to a quick meeting to share books that I thought would link well with inquiry, literacy and SEL units of work. I provided a shared google doc with the list of books (title, author/illustrator info and front cover pictures), relevant curriculum links, teacher notes and my activity ideas/suggestions for the books I was sharing. I also provided snacks! This was hugely successful in that many of the books and resources were used, but it also demonstrated the support and experience a TL can provide to classroom teachers and after those Book Chats, staff much more regularly sought me out for my advice and suggestions and I received fantastic feedback from staff and executive teachers. At the Book Chat I had all the books on display, spent some time talking about the different books and ideas and facilitated some discussion. I kept the meeting to 30 minutes. The timing of these Book Chats were important and I made sure to schedule after reports were finished in Term 2. Further “Book Chats” were scheduled for Term 3/4 but were impacted by cohorts and COVID restrictions. Staff Room Resource Table I have also had a “Staff Room Resource” table set up throughout the year in our staffroom. On this table I display a range of books that can be used in teaching and learning, each with a cover note of the book and suggestions for use. Some include teaching notes (such as those from Reading Australia). I regularly change the books on display or include ones that relate to special celebrations/days/themes. This is another way to get books in front of busy teachers who don’t always have time to come to the library and browse. They can take straight from the staff room after writing their name of the cover note and popping in my pigeon hole.
JUDITH WAKEMAN: ADVOCACY LINKED TO WELLBEING I am into my third year investigating the link between YA Fiction and Adolescent Wellbeing and I feel that this is an area that is neglected when it comes to advocating for library programs in secondary schools. By way of a definition... Developmental Bibliotherapy combines quality young adult literature with reading programs designed to promote self reflection, conducted by trusted adults in informal settings in order to promote normal development and self-actualisation. Everything points to developmental bibliotherapy being a preventative strategy, promoting wellbeing in young people and mitigating the effects of mental illness. Reading fiction helps in developing a personal narrative, the formation of a theory of mind, promoting empathy, enhancing wellbeing literacy, providing vicarious learning opportunities, promoting intuition and insight, nurturing a sense of self, stimulating memories, promoting moral reasoning, introducing language, providing information, stimulating conversation, nurturing creativity, breaking down barriers, addressing fears, identifying goals and values, and by providing role models that offer glimpses into diverse, inclusive and flexible character attributes that generate a growth mindset that includes hope, optimism, resilience and efficacy in readers. While Developmental Bibliotherapy may not enhance the wellbeing of every student, it must enhance the wellbeing of some students - just like music, art, drama and sport enhance the lives of some students. And yet music, art, drama and sport have timetabled allocations with dedicated teachers in most secondary schools. I believe that Developmental Bibliotherapy offers a compelling reason for Library Lessons to have a timetabled allocation with dedicated teachers in all secondary schools as well. My research is at https://read4life.today/news/ together with references, activities and links to videos, or for a quick introduction I have uploaded two short audio clips - an introduction to Developmental Bibliotherapy and using Cli-Fi to reframe YA responses to Climate Change - at https://read4life.today/2021/05/12/read4life-podcasts/
Q: What is a bundle? A: A bundle is a collection of members who are linked together and managed by one of their members – the bundle administrator. Bundle members share the same renewal date, status, and membership level. The entire bundle is charged a single membership fee, which is paid by the bundle administrator. At ASLA, we have two bundle options: Small school (1-3 library staff) Large school (4-6 library staff) Q: How do I set up a bundle for my school? A: you can do this when you apply for membership, or ASLA can help you via email or phone. Q: How do I add members to a bundle? A: the bundle administrator can view and manage bundle members from within the bundle administrator's profile when they log in to the ASLA website. Bundle administrators can add to their bundle any non-member contact whose email address is not already in the ASLA database. To add a new member to the bundle, the bundle administrator clicks the Add member button. Alternatively, bundle administrators can email or phone ASLA to request updates and additions to bundles. Q: Who do I contact for any questions or problems? A: Contact ASLA for all questions and problems via: Email: asla@asla.org.au Phone: 0439 358 607 (within Australia) or +61 439 358 607 (international) Website: http://www.asla.org.au/ Social media: Twitterhttps://twitter.com/aslanational | Coming Events
Upcoming events
Membership renewal and NEW details about membership for 2022. The ASLA board have listened to feedback from members and are excited to announce that we will be introducing rolling memberships for all new memberships effective immediately. This means that when you pay for membership, your renewal date will be the anniversary of your join date. If you have any questions about rolling membership, please contact our EO Judy who is more than happy to help. We have also received a number of requests for student or retiree membership. In order to access this special membership rate, you will need to provide documentation that reflects your student or retiree status and receive the discounted rate of $95 per year membership. |
.png)
.png)
