Issue 137

How quickly mornings have shifted from the blinding starkness of the summer sun to a fight for sun’s influence over dawn’s chill. Dog walks in the morning are heavy with the weight of darkness, as Rudy and I traipse about the streets and bike paths of inner-city Melbourne. Soon, morning and evening walks will be shrouded in the darkness of winter. Australia has reverted to only three time zones again, as Term 1 has quickly morphed into Term 2.

From everyone at SCIS, a cosy autumnal welcome to Issue 137 of Connections, and to Term 2. We hope that you find some time to curl up in a warm sunny spot to indulge in reading for pleasure.

As you’ll recall, we have embarked on a program of improving the scisdata.com user experience for our customers. Over the coming months you’ll notice that there will be several enhancements delivered which will make it easier for users to find the high quality and consistent SCIS catalogue records on our website.

Hopefully you have noticed an enhancement when you log into scisdata.com. From the login screen, rather than being automatically directed to the Quick scan screen, you’ll go to Search. From here you can search the SCIS Data database of over 1.8 million resources by topic, title or ISBN. Users can also select Advanced search or the Browse Headings to customise their search further. You can also select from our featured categories (Websites, Apps, E-books and Digital videos) and see recently catalogued fiction and non-fiction resources.

Over the coming months you’ll see more enhancements and improvements to scisdata.com. As each enhancement is delivered, we’ll email users who have agreed to receive marketing from SCIS, to let them know what’s changed and how it helps them. If you have any feedback about the changes we’re making, please email [email protected].

Term 2 is usually the start of school library conference season and 2026 is no exception. Keep your eyes peeled for SCIS team members at the TLPLC Conference in Campbelltown (NSW), the SLA NSW Professional Learning Summit and the SLASA Conference. Make certain that you book in for any SCIS presentations to make the most of your conference time. Bring your questions and suggestions with you, as we’re always happy to talk with customers and answer any questions – even the curly ones.

A reminder also to book in for SCIS professional learning in Term 2. To see what’s planned for this term and through to the end of the year, go to: scisdata.com/professional-learning. Don’t forget that our online professional learning sessions are free to attend and that all registered attendees, even those who can’t make the session, receive a link to the recording, which they can view at their leisure.

Have a wonderful Term 2 supporting better outcomes for students, and we hope you enjoy reading Issue 137 of Connections.