Search results
SCIS is more
By Anthony Shaw
Issue 126, Term 3 2023
Welcome to Term 3, 2023 issue of Connections. For the SCIS team, Term 2, 2023 was a great chance to learn from our subscriber base. In-person workshops, library association conferences, and the 2023 Customer Survey have collectively provided us with helpful feedback that will inform future develo
School library spotlight: Northcote High School
By Richard Smallcombe
Issue 126, Term 3 2023
What is your job title and what does your role entail? I’m the library coordinator at Northcote High School. It is structured in two parts. There’s helping students find books, checking books out, general day-to-day, and then there’s also looking after the library budget, collection developmen
What is a future ready librarian?
By Mark Ray
Issue 113, Term 2 2020
Librarians of the past or future? In my 2016 TEDx Talk, Changing the conversation about librarians , I suggested that we are good at associating librarians with our past, but may not be as clear about their role in the future. Later that same year, Future Ready Librarians launched in the Unite
Fathers reading week: a case study for the Great School Libraries campaign
By Lucy Chambers, BAHons; DipLib; MSc; MCLIP
Issue 115, Term 4 2020
Summary The UK Great School Libraries Campaign1 invites school librarians to submit case studies, to demonstrate how their library contributes to teaching and learning in the school. I take you through the process of writing a new case study based on Fathers Reading Week. Note: the word ‘Fathers’
TikTok and libraries: a powerful partnership
By Kelsey Bogan
Issue 115, Term 4 2020
‘Miss Bogan, you’re TikTok famous!’ These words greeted me early one morning shortly after I had finally caved in and created a TikTok account for our high school library. I had posted a TikTok video the previous night, you see, and in less than a day, it had more than 300,000 views! Within a wee
Pivot! Moving a library forward when COVID gets in the way
By Catherine Barnes
Issue 117, Term 2 2021
‘Pivot’ used to be a word from the netball court, then it became the butt of a joke from the much loved Friends TV show, but over the last 12 months it has become an everyday reality in our schools. In 2020, our school calendar was full of excursions and incursions overwritten with the word ‘Canc
The time to read
By Gabrielle Mace, Merrilyn Lean
Issue 117, Term 2 2021
As educators we often lament that our students are no longer reading books for enjoyment. Sadly, our students are not alone. With an ever growing curriculum and the frenetic pace of the academic school year many teachers are reading for enjoyment far less than ever before – or worse, not at all.
Genrefication 3.5 years later: Reflections
By Susan Davenport
Issue 117, Term 2 2021
Radford College Secondary Library (SL) for years 5–12 students began our genrefication journey in 2017. This article reflects upon those first steps and what changes have been implemented since. What have we learnt? Genrefication works! Yes, it really does. Our years 5–12 students find the
Unique libraries: The School of St Jude in Tanzania
By Rebecca Hansford
Issue 119, Term 4 2021
The School of St Jude is a unique school that is home to three unique libraries. St Jude’s is located in Arusha, Tanzania. The school provides 1,800 bright students from poor backgrounds with free, quality education. Established in 2002 with just three students, St Jude’s now stretches across thr
Connecting through couch co-op: the important role of school libraries for social gaming groups
By Matthew Harrison, Jess Rowlings
Issue 123, Term 4 2022
Looking back at our childhoods, we often talk about the important role played by gaming and gamer culture in our social and personal development. Long before mainstream online play revolutionised the ways people play together, local couch co-op on a PlayStation 2, or sharing a single keyboard on a
Metadata to enhance diversity, connection and belonging
By Catherine Barnes
Issue 123, Term 4 2022
School libraries are dynamic, innovative and exciting places, but they are also a place for diversity, connection and belonging. Ben Chadwick (2020) explains: ‘Some things are fundamental to providing a library service. Of course, you need a decent collection of resources, but you also need to sup
Dystopian literature: more than just the end of the world to teens
By Jessica Finden
Issue 123, Term 4 2022
It’s not the end of the world… Can you remember what it was like to be a teenager? The constant worry – about your identity, whether or not you fit in with your friends, your family, and your overall place in the world. The catch phrase, ‘it’s not the end of the world’ is regularly bandied ab
School library spotlight: University High School, Melbourne
By Stephanie Ward
Issue 123, Term 4 2022
1. What is your role and what does your job entail? My job is Head of Library and Research, so most of my work is library management and overseeing the events, programs, services and work of the team. We’re really lucky at Uni High, we’ve got a staff of five; two library technicians and three tea
The Information Fluency Framework
By Carmel Grimmett
Issue 123, Term 4 2022
The Information Fluency Framework (IFF) is a new tool for teacher librarians in primary and secondary settings. The IFF is the primary source of information outcomes and processes for teacher librarians in the NSW Department of Education to use together with Information skills in the school as a
The Teacher Librarian and ChatGPT
By Stephanie Strachan
Issue 126, Term 3 2023
At the end of last term, an exasperated member of staff pleaded with me: how can we stop students cheating in assessments using ChatGPT and similar AI tools? Sadly, I was not able to offer any quick fix. In fact, from what I can gather, these new technologies have turned the world of academic wri
21st-century literacy with graphic novels
By Iurgi Urrutia
Issue 115, Term 4 2020
Reading is reading We read books, newspapers, magazines, billboards, signs, notices, bills, websites, blogs, social media posts et cetera. When we read all those things, consciously or unconsciously we’re developing and using multiple literacy skills. Thanks to the internet and social media, we’r
How an old book created a commitment to better represent First Nations Australians
By Kerry Klimm, Dale Robertson
Issue 117, Term 2 2021
A mother’s anger: Kerry Klimm When my 8-year-old showed me his library book, I knew immediately from the cover it wasn’t going to be positive. I flicked through the pages and was disturbed at what I saw. It took me back to my childhood – growing up in the ‘80s learning about ‘The Aborigines’, def
SCIS is more
By Caroline Hartley
Issue 115, Term 4 2020
database of accurate, consistent and authoritative catalogue records, created to agreed international standards. The SCIS database is often used by school library staff as a tool for sourcing new resources in areas of interest, both for the library and to support the wider curriculum needs of thei
New Zealand News
By Rosa-Jane French
Issue 13, Term 2 1995
ed systems, as well as an increasing number of CD-ROM data-drives and modems. Another initiative this year has been to establish a Listserv so that school library staff can post messages via e-mail to everyone who subscribes. We anticipate that this will be another way of overcoming the isolation
The Question of Artificial Intelligence (AI)
By Catherine Barnes
Issue 125, Term 2 2023
future, the currency and publicity of the topic should prompt us to consider our past and current practices. Some of us would remember a time when school library staff searched databases and the internet for students through the use of complex Boolean queries we developed, and then retrieved the