How did you celebrate National Simultaneous Storytime in your library? We'd love to see your pictures posted to our ASLA social media pages. Learners at my school were mesmerised by the sight of an astronaut reading to them from space. 

The June webinar held recently was a great opportunity to hear about this year's CBCA shortlisted books. I hope you were inspired to start planning for Book Week. Let's start sharing ideas and inspiration. How do you celebrate Book Week? Do you have a costume parade? What ideas do you have for schools who don't dress up for a range of reasons? How do you create displays on a budget? What activities do you have across the week? How do you celebrate Book Week in a Secondary school setting? Add your ideas to the padlet to share.

The June webinar held recently was a great opportunity to hear about this year's CBCA shortlisted books. I hope you were inspired to start planning for Book Week. Let's start sharing ideas and inspiration. How do you celebrate Book Week? Do you have a costume parade? What ideas do you have for schools who don't dress up for a range of reasons? How do you create displays on a budget? What activities do you have across the week? How do you celebrate Book Week in a Secondary school setting? Add your ideas to the padlet to share.

Use the QR code to access the padlet.

ASLA's Executive Officer Judy Thompson presented at the National Education Summit in Brisbane on Friday 4 June. Judy outlined ASLA's position as the national association for school libraries in Australia and introduced our new initiative of Special Interest Groups (SIGs).

The SIGs offer the opportunity for our members to become involved in a special interest area and network with TLs across Australia. It is also a great opportunity to see the work of the board in action if you are interested in nominating for a board position in the future. 

The focus of each of the SIGs will be confirmed soon, however we would love to hear from our members.

Please complete the survey attached if you are interested in joining a SIG. A board member will then contact interested members to outline the key aims, objectives and timelines for each SIG. 

I was also able to attend the Capacity Building School libraries conference in Brisbane over the weekend and was inspired by the calibre of the speakers.

Clare Thorpe spoke to delegates about the power of evidence in the library space. Her three key questions are a must for everyone working in school libraries to consider:

1. What's a problem you're trying to solve?

2. How do you know you're doing well?

3. Who are you trying to influence?

She then provided a wealth of research to support evidence-based practice in Australian Libraries. 

Following this presentation we heard from Helen Stower and Krystal Gagen-Spriggs who gave examples of how they have used evidence-based practice to inform their school library programs.

It was a fabulous opportunity to meet face to face and network with colleagues. 

We look forward to you joining us for our July 7 webinar 'Why representation matters: the importance of family diversity in Australian Children's picture books' presented by Sarah Mokrzycki.

We hope you enjoy the latest ACCESS magazine which is a bumper issue following our recent conference. 

Kind regards,

Natalie Otten

ASLA President

Upcoming Events

July 7 Webinar

Partnership with IASL

ASLA is a proud partner member of the International Association of School Libraries. All members of ASLA are individual partner members of IASL, with access to;

• IASL listserv
• IASL Newsletter online
• School Libraries Worldwide journal online
• reduced fees for conferences and publications
• participation in Special Interest Groups (SIGs) and committees 
• access to the members-only area on the IASL website 

What are the ASLA board directors reading in June?

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