Issue 16

School library

State associations have some stimulating and challenging prof dev activities planned for the year:

SLAQ Contact:
26-28 June, Brisbane PLupton,
ph: (07) 3864 3464

SLANSW Contact:
3-4 August, Newcastle
T Bruce
fax: (02) 680 4277

SLAV Contact:
4 mini-conferences
M Manning,
ph: (03) 942 84173

SASLA Contact:
To be advised 
S Johnston,
ph: (08) 264 7811

David Daw at ASLA can give you details of other happenings. ph: (06) 286 3029

ALIA '96: October 6-11

Many T/Ls have found past ALIA Conferences offered little content relevant to school libraries. In fact, of the 1000+ delegates at the joint NZLIA/ ALIA Conference 1994, only thirteen teacher-librarians attended. Reading the Future, to be held in Melbourne later this year aims to be different.

The ALIA '96 Conference Committee hopes to entice many teacher-librarians into attending this year's conference, Reading the Future, in Melbourne. Opening on Tuesday, the plenary speakers (many from professions outside librarianship) will introduce the main themes of the conference: the impact of the information revolution on the global society, the local community and on individuals working within the profession. The program is designed to challenge delegates to think beyond the confines of their immediate work environment.

Parallel sessions on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday will expand on specific professional topics, many of which will be particularly relevant to teacher librarians. For instance, there will be a number of sessions dealing with the impacts of the Internet-papers on training users, access and censorship. In the session 'Education in the 21st Century' speakers will highlight the importance of school libraries and their changing roles. Sessions on professional self-development and the changing workforce should be of interest to every delegate. Solution .sessions involving representatives of the trade will focus on commercial issues and trends both from the suppliers' and the users' perspective.

On Monday and Friday of the conference week workshops and tours to other libraries-including schools-have been organised.

The social program will live up to Melbourne's reputation as a great cultural city of the world and we look forward to making welcome many teacher-librarians at this exciting conference. For the full program and registration details, contact the Conference Secretariat on (03) 9646 4122.

And for jet-setting teacher-librarians ...

Paul Lupton, the Australian Director of IASL, invites all to attend the next conference in Jamaica, where he promises that 'you'll meet lots of interesting people from all over the world'. For more details contact Paul on [email protected] and check out the IASL Web site on http://www.rhi.hi.is/-anne/iasl.html.

Jean Webb extends an invitation to interested T /Ls to the Children's Literature Conference, 5 July 1996 at the Worcester College of Higher Education, England. Conference speakers are Martin Waddell, author of teenage books through to 'picture books; Graham Watkins, who specialises in adapting children's texts for stage and screen and Robert Dunbar, critic and Chair of the Children's Literature Association of Ireland. For more information contact: [email protected]

Contemplating a Masters?

It's not too late to enrol for the mid-year intake at Charles Sturt University.

While we are all fresh and rejuvenated, the time is right to consider the worthwhile addition of a Masters. Charles Sturt University is accepting applications up until 1 May for full-fee-paying students beginning in Semester 2, with a choice of two courses: Master of Applied Science (Teacher Librarianship) and Master of Education (Teacher Librarianship). Both are by coursework with optional attendance at residential school, and depending on how recently you graduated, study involves 4,5 or 8 subjects with a Summer Session available to accelerate progress. Both sound exciting, guarantee to stimulate the 'grey cells', and James Henri would be delighted to enthuse you further ([email protected]) or contact the Admissions Office: [email protected] (ph: (069) 33 2121) for further details.

ALIA professional development courses

These courses are being offered during 1996 through the Department of Library Information Science at Edith Cowan University, and all are designed to be completed over a period of twelve weeks. The five courses are: Project Management for Information Services; Strategic Planning for the Information Manager; Upgrading Search Strategy Skills; Advances in Information Technologies; and Selection of Electronic Resources. For further details on costs and assessments, contact Kay Noble (ph: (09) 370 6344).