ACCESS - Current Edition:

From the President

ACCESS, Vol. 36, Issue 2, 2022, p. 2.


President, Natalie Otten

This year the focus for ASLA is Advocacy. As the national association for school libraries, we are proud to represent our members in school libraries across Australia. The Australian School Libraries Advocacy Summit was held on 14 May. The summit was attended by teacher librarians and principals in Canberra and online via the hybrid presentation. Claire Madden and Dr. Margaret Merga delivered keynote presentations focusing on the role of the teacher librarian and the importance of trained school library staff in schools leading to positive outcomes for all students. We thank our sponsors for their support and presence in person and online on the day. Advocacy involves action and this was the focus of the summit and the work of the ASLA board as we move into the rest of 2022 and beyond. This issue of ACCESS includes an article by Kathy Talbot on the importance of mentoring new teacher librarians which is an important part of the work of advocacy.

On 7 May we farewelled board members who have completed their term of service on the ASLA board. Dr Robin Zeidler (VIC) has been a long-standing board member of ASLA and served as ASLA treasurer for a number of years. Claire Elliott (NSW) has served as board director, Secretary and most recently as Vice President. Sandy von Allmen (TAS) has served as board director and leader of the Professional Learning team. Michelle Turner (NT) has served as board director. We thank these teacher librarians for their service and hard work during their time on the board.

We are pleased to welcome the incoming board directors and look forward to working with them as we plan for our biennial conference in 2023. I have included an image of the new board members to introduce them.

At our May AGM we announced the winners of two new ASLA awards. Noni Harrison from Qld received the ASLA/Britannica Early Career Teacher Librarian Award, 2022. A huge thank you to Britannica for their sponsorship of this award. Lana DiStefano from SA received the ASLA Library Advocate Award 2022. In the next issue of ACCESS we will have a special feature on these award winners.


Natalie Otten
President, ASLA.


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