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Website and app reviews
By Nigel Paull
Issue 99, Term 4 2016
Australia and the Vietnam War vietnam-war.commemoration.gov.au Developed by the Board of Studies, Teaching and Educational Standards NSW (BOSTES), this website offers a comprehensive range of information and resources related to Australia’s role in the Vietnam War. Aspects of the conflict cov
Supporting Australian book creators
By Nicole Richardson, Morris Gleitzman
Issue 99, Term 4 2016
Every year, SCIS works closely with the Department of Communications and the Arts to conduct a survey of book holdings in Australian school libraries. This is the ELR School Library Survey , and it is integral to the growth of the Australian writing and publishing industry. The survey produces e
Looking back: school library catalogues and the online revolution
By Lance Deveson
Issue 100, Term 1 2017
I was delighted to receive an invitation from the current Schools Catalogue Information Service (SCIS) team at Education Services Australia (ESA) to reflect on and write about the early days of teacher librarianship, SCIS and Connections . As the SCIS manager in the early 1990s, my staff and I cam
SCIS is more
By Ben Chadwick
Issue 100, Term 1 2017
I hereby launch the 100th edition of Connections magazine! Connections celebrates all the superheroes that work in school libraries. Like superheroes, they possess special powers that are admired by their colleagues. They work alone — or in small teams — but are known to constructively negotia
Leigh Hobbs on school libraries and storytelling
By Leigh Hobbs
Issue 100, Term 1 2017
What role, if any, did school libraries play in developing your love of storytelling? When I was a child at school — in the pre-computer and internet early 1960s — the school library was my centre of exploration and discovery. I had friends of course and liked mucking around in the school yard, b
Collector, curator or collaborator?
By Jennie Bales
Issue 100, Term 1 2017
Collaborators by nature Collaborators work together for a common purpose. In the school library setting, collaboration involves the sharing of information, knowledge, resources, and expertise — all of which are fundamental to being a successful and effective school library practitioner. To be a
Guerrilla book fair: getting staff involved in your school library
By Lucas Maxwell
Issue 100, Term 1 2017
Getting staff members involved in your school library can be tough. They are busy people, and any free time they do have is precious to them. Over the past few years, I’ve identified several ways to get staff excited about library programs, which in turn helps to make your library the thrumming hea
The future role of the teacher librarian
By Dr James E Herring
Issue 100, Term 1 2017
I began my career as a school librarian in the UK as part of the local public library service. What struck me when I started — and this is still true today — was that my teaching colleagues were expected to teach their subjects, advise students, and complete administrative tasks. As the school libr
School library spotlight: Chisholm Catholic College
By Monique McQueen
Issue 100, Term 1 2017
What is your job title, and what does your role entail? My name is Monique McQueen and I am a teacher librarian at Chisholm Catholic College, a secondary Brisbane Catholic Education school. My role is to manage the library program and staff; supervise the day-to-day running of the library; reso
Let’s talk seriously about series
By Julie Styles
Issue 100, Term 1 2017
edback received through SCIS workshops and surveys indicates that inconsistencies in series statements are an issue for many of our customers. It is also an issue for cataloguers, who love consistency. This article explores some of the challenges of cataloguing items within a series. Stand-alone i
Website and app reviews
By Nigel Paull
Issue 100, Term 1 2017
100 and not out The 100th issue of Connections is a milestone for SCIS, its parent company Education Services Australia, and teacher librarians. My involvement with Connections dates back to 1997 when Lance Deveson, the SCIS manager at the time, asked me to be the editor. I had been involved
Supporting Australian book creators
By Nicole Richardson, Frances Watts
Issue 100, Term 1 2017
In Term 4 2016, SCIS invited 750 schools in Australia to participate in the Educational Lending Right (ELR) School Library Survey, which we manage on behalf of the Department of Communications and the Arts. We had a fantastic response to the survey, with over 360 participating schools. We’d like to
Leadership is not optional – it's a job requirement
By Hilda Weisburg
Issue 101, Term 2 2017
William Shakespeare in Twelfth Night had Malvolio say ‘Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon ‘em’. Change ‘great’ to ‘leaders’ and ‘greatness’ to ‘leadership’ and you have a message for all school librarians. I am well aware our profession has experience
Librarians in the digital age: experts in e-health
By Susan Marshall
Issue 101, Term 2 2017
No one would argue against the perception that librarians have moved well beyond their traditional role. The view of the librarian as the keeper of knowledge and the guide to unlocking the best of it has been totally overthrown — and the disruption metaphor is entirely apt. No longer do we even bl
What do our students really want?
By Megan Stuart
Issue 101, Term 2 2017
If there is one professional group familiar with the fear and excitement that disruptive technology can bring, it is library staff. Over the course of nearly four decades teaching in schools and libraries, I have witnessed incredible change and welcomed exciting progress in the way information is a
Ebooks: to subscribe, or not to subscribe?
By Martin Gray
Issue 101, Term 2 2017
I have an iPad, and it has books on it. I read them on the train from time to time. Our school library has some paid ebooks where I think they are worth it, and lots of free ebooks. But when I am asked why I have not subscribed to an ebook platform for my school, I have several reasons why I am not
Navigating the information landscape through collaboration
By Elizabeth Hutchinson
Issue 101, Term 2 2017
School libraries and school library professionals have a huge role to play in supporting teaching and learning within a school. I often hear visiting authors comment on being able to identify a good school by how well the library is used. School librarian Caroline Roche penned the phrase ‘heart of
Library catalogues and the World Wide Web: it takes two to tango
By Nicole Richardson
Issue 101, Term 2 2017
Library catalogues have traditionally been the access point between the library user and the collection. Broadly speaking, the general function of the library catalogue is to allow the user to successfully find, identify, select and obtain resources (Tillett 2004). While these are still the main fu
School library spotlight: Campbelltown Performing Arts High School
By Cathy Costello
Issue 101, Term 2 2017
What is your job title, and what does your role entail? As a NSW Department of Education employee my job title is that of teacher librarian. I particularly appreciate that it emphasises our teaching role by putting it first. As an educator, I view my role, first and foremost, as that of a teacher
SCIS is more
By Ben Chadwick
Issue 101, Term 2 2017
I was recently at a conference and found myself in conversation with a metrologist and an engineer. In the course of pleasant banter they asked me what it meant to be a librarian in the age of Google. My answer — that the need for resource curation, information and digital literacy, and knowledge m