ACCESS - Current Edition - Editorial

Rachel Hoare, Editor

Welcome to the June edition of ACCESS, which is brought to you as we all adapt to the "new normal" of life with COVID-19. These last few months have been very challenging and will continue to be so until one of the many scientific teams around the world discovers a viable vaccine. In Australia, we are very lucky to be experiencing a "flattening of the curve", something my UK family is very envious of! The lifting  of a few restrictions brings some relief and we are now able to return to a semblance of normality, with students returning to school, and shops, hospitality services and other businesses reopening, albeit with many changes, including increased hand hygiene and social distancing practices.

During this COVID-19 pandemic, we must acknowledge and thank our schools, where teachers, principals, teacher librarians and library staff have had to adjust to online teaching and the provision of online resources for students in a short period of time. This issue focuses on COVID-19 and we bring you many fascinating articles that look at various aspects of living with this new pandemic. Firstly, Dr Margaret K Merga, the inaugural patron of the Australian School Library Association, looks at "The importance of you and your school library". Margaret encourages us to focus on literacy support when the library is not open and how to ensure student wellbeing during these difficult times. Then Dr Hilary Hughes brings us suggestions for how to create "spaces for learning and personal wellbeing at home": critical advice for children who are learning at home.

Madison Dearnaley brings us a fascinating collection of responses about life during COVID-19 from members of the Students Need School Libraries campaign. Members were invited to send in their contributions of how they have adapted in their school library. Thank you to Madison for collating these and to all the generous contributors who portray the ongoing, amazing work that is happening in our school libraries.

Kerry Gittins brings us her international perspective of "Libraries, learning and lockdown: the new normal". Kerry explains how her international school in Ho Chi Minh City has coped with the lockdown then lifting of restrictions, since they have experienced this slightly before Australia.

Then, just to remind you how fabulous you all are, Madison Dearnaley brings us profiles of school library staff in "A Day in the Life of a ...". This series looks at the different roles in the school library and some of the creative things you are all getting up to.

Hajnalka Molloy also brings us her interesting piece on "3D printing in inquiry-based learning". This practical, how-to article offers useful, accessible ideas for conducting inquiry-based learning in the library  or classroom.

Finally, don't forget to check out the new dates for the 2020 ASLA Literacy Research Summits and CBCA Book Week 2020 as well as other resources at the back of the journal.

Happy reading and stay well!

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