Issue 137

Dear editor, I’ve been thinking about change over the length of my career in school libraries and remembered a conference I went to back in the early ’90s where a speaker used Heraclitus’ quote ‘change is the only constant’, or words to that effect. I’ve also been thinking about how the Information Fluency Framework may develop. So, then I realised that SCIS is the only constant in school libraries! As library staff, we all look ahead – adapting services to the future context in which we operate. As we know, change has been continual and often relentless. The challenge is looking forward while maintaining standards, which is what SCIS has done since its inception back in the ’80s. Who would have thought we would have moved so quickly from physical to digital, and then adding more and more data to how we describe resources!

SCIS enabled me as a teacher librarian to focus on key programs – supporting reading, research, and information fluency – while developing new initiatives tailored to students’ needs. When I was Library Coordinator in the NSW Department of Education, I often had conversations with library staff about the value of SCIS and how it supports life in the fast lane of a busy school: saving time by providing detailed, consistent cataloguing records, providing a constant service despite changes in library management systems and schools, and providing professional learning to library staff.

Thanks to SCIS, which remains a cornerstone for school libraries, helping them manage continual change while upholding the standards that define quality, which is after all what we are about as educators. I hope SCIS has a wonderful future ahead!

– June Wall