School Library Inquiry - Day One - Public Hearings
Today was the first day of public hearings for the Inquiry into School Libraries and Teacher Librarians. Submissions are to be made publicly available on the website soon.
ASLA presented in Sydney this morning and more info and comments can be found here http://aslaonline.ning.com/
Other state-based TL groups, the Australian Society of Authors, the Hub, and representatives from the NSW Education Department also gave their statements and answered questions from the committee.
Presenters indicated that a school library is the centre of the school, a safe haven and hub for students. One TL commented that she would like the government to recognise that libraries and TL’s “are an asset, rather than a cost”.
The committee engaged with the witnesses with keen questions, demonstrating that they are thinking of other ways that the school community (including parents, children and teachers and principals) can engage with school library staff and the library industry to improve the situation.
Witnesses told of their passion for their profession, described the experiences of being a TL and how they contribute to the vitality and educational outcomes of their schools. They also told of their innovative situations and their best practice examples showed how an enthusiastic and resourced teacher librarian can create a wonderfully rich learning environment for students.
The Australian Society of Authors representative also reminded the committee that “Librarians can inspire a love of books and reading”.
A committee member commented on the demographics of our aging profession and expressed the challenges that the shortage of teacher librarians will present. Then further questioning asked the TL’s how is the best way to promote and market the career of teacher librarianship.
ALIA will be presenting at 10am on Thursday morning in Melbourne and this session will also be webcast. More at http://www.alia.org.au/schoollibraries and http://asla.org.au/schoollibraries/
And some other related links from today’s questions that came up :
ALIA Library Salary Scales - http://www.alia.org.au/employment/salary.scales/
ALIA Career Links - http://www.alia.org.au/education/qualifications/careers/ (and organisations can order a library career promotional pack here) & the http://destinationlibrary.pbworks.com/
Electronic Resources Australia - http://era.nla.gov.au/ - national electronic resources for all Australians
Public Libraries info - http://www.alia.org.au/publiclibraries/ (public library vs school library resourcing)
Sue Hutley, ALIA Executive Director