Canberra, Monday 28 April: The Australian Coalition for School Libraries (ACSL) the school library sector committee of the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA), has today released four key policies to guide school leaders and school library staff. These nationally agreed statements provide guidance on the expectations for school library resourcing, activities and staffing across Australia.
To meet the educational and wellbeing needs of a school community it is essential to have qualified school library staff in sufficient numbers according to the population of the school and its specific needs. The ALIA ACSL Statement on School Library Staffing provides guidance on the formal qualifications required to lead, manage, and work in a school library. The statement describes the roles of school library staff, acknowledging that each qualified member of a school library team brings important skills and knowledge to the school library setting. School library staff should have clearly defined duties and responsibilities, properly regulated conditions of employment, and compensation that reflects the role expectations of their positions.
Funding and resourcing the school library is an investment which directly supports the long term educational and wellbeing goals of a school community. The ALIA ACSL Statement on School Library Funding and Resourcing sets national expectations for the provision of school library resources, including staff expertise, facilities, programs and services for the delivery of a quality education.
Qualified school library staff play an expert role in collaborating with teachers to design and facilitate information literacy development across the curriculum for all students. The ALIA ACSL Statement on School Libraries and Information Literacy outlines the essential information literacy skills that contemporary learners need, policy guidelines and regulations that nurture an information literate school community, and guidelines for school library staff to effectively embed information literacy into the school teaching and learning program.
Similarly, the ALIA ACSL Statement on School Libraries and Digital Literacy lists the essential digital literacy skills for contemporary learners. It outlines how these can be best supported by school policies, guidelines and regulations, embedded in a school’s teaching and learning program, and championed by school library staff.
School leaders should reference the policies to make certain that they are meeting the needs of their school community by ensuring every student and teacher has access to an appropriately resourced school library run by qualified staff. School library staff are encouraged to use these policies in planning and when advocating within their schools and school networks.
We wish to extend a special thanks to the ACSL Committee members from all the school library associations around Australia whose feedback helped to polish the final documents and ensure they are truly nationally relevant. Thanks also goes to Marc Mumford AALIA (Calvin Christian School and ASLA Board) who played a leading role in the project from the start. The expert working group was chaired by ALIA’s Jacqui Lucas AALIA (DCP) and included Catherine Barnes AALIA (DCP) (Endeavour College and University of South Australia), Michael Barry ALIATec (DCP) (North Fitzroy Primary School), Dr Kay Oddone AALIA (Charles Sturt University), and Catherine Woodberry (Marist Regional College).
About the Australian Coalition for School Libraries
The Australian Coalition for School Libraries (ACSL) is the national voice for school libraries in Australia. Established with a Memorandum of Collaboration in 2023, it provides united and professional voice on issues affecting school libraries and support for school library staff across Australia.
The Members of ACSL are the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA), Queensland School Library Association (QSLA); School Library Association of New South Wales (SLANSW); School Library Association of Victoria (SLAV); Western Australian School Library Association (WASLA); and the Australian School Library Association (ASLA).