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Unheard Voices: Transforming library spine labels for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander representation
By Written by Education Services Australia
Issue 127, Term 4 2023
An idea came when she attended a School Library Association of New South Wales (SLANSW) professional learning online meet-up, focused on the role of libraries to incorporate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voices into the English curriculum. This virtual session introduced her to a transforma
Positive promotion of the school library
By Jae Rolt
Issue 93, Term 2 2015
After I was named Australia's Favourite Librarian people began asking what it is that makes me so popular with my students, families, colleagues, and community. Whilst the ideas here work for me, they may not work for everyone. Sometimes you need to try other ways to find what works for you and yo
School library spotlight: Rolleston School
By Kay Morfett
Issue 105, Term 2 2018
What is your job title, and what does your role entail? How many people work in your library? I work at Rolleston School as the librarian. My role is 25 hours a week, split over five days. I have a teacher in charge who is really wonderful and supportive and, aside from a brilliant group of stude
School library spotlight: Galston High School
By Jade Arnold
Issue 107, Term 4 2018
What is your job title, and what does your role entail? My official job title is teacher librarian. My role within the library is multifaceted. As the manager of the library, I am responsible for acquisitions, resource management, and research services, and I manage two school administrative and
The need for diverse book collections
By Helen Caple, Ping Tian
Issue 122, Term 3 2022
Australia is a diverse nation. Statistics from organisations such as the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS, 2022), the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2016 Census (ABS 2017), and the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW, 2019) have painted a
Tonight … I’ll be reading! a novel approach to holiday reading
By Siobhan James
Issue 130, Term 3, 2024
How do you get boys reading in the holidays for fun? Sometimes, you have to take an old classic, and serve it up as something new. Books-to-Go was inspired by initiatives playing on the theme of food delivery services, blended with the idea of a ‘Blind date with a book’. Students place their ‘ord
How an old book created a commitment to better represent First Nations Australians
By Kerry Klimm, Dale Robertson
Issue 117, Term 2 2021
ous educators from across the country have approached Kerry wanting the list to take to their schools. They expressed their concerns about what their libraries housed and how there was a lack of resources and support to help them decolonise their collections. We both continue to have conversations
SCIS is more
By Ben Chadwick
Issue 120, Term 1 2022
This issue celebrates thirty years of Connections magazine. Can you believe it? Thirty years ago SCIS decided it needed a way to keep readers abreast of changing school library technologies and informed about developments in SCIS’s products and services. The first issue dealt with dial-up, CD-R
School library spotlight: Northcote High School
By Richard Smallcombe
Issue 126, Term 3 2023
What is your job title and what does your role entail? I’m the library coordinator at Northcote High School. It is structured in two parts. There’s helping students find books, checking books out, general day-to-day, and then there’s also looking after the library budget, collection developmen
The case for the AI-free classroom
By Lily M Abadal
Issue 139, Term 4, 2026
The two most common arguments I hear about integrating AI into the classroom go something like this: Not teaching students how to use AI may leave them at a disadvantage in the future job market. Companies are expecting their entry-level employees to know how to leverage it. As a result, we hav
The value of podcasts for school library staff
By Amy Hermon
Issue 110, Term 3 2019
No one likes to feel foolish, and I don’t know anyone who wants to admit that they don’t know something. This is how I became such a fan of podcasts and decided to create one of my own. I was never more aware of my kryptonite than sitting in my first class in library school. With nine years of ex
Marketing your school library
By Andrew Downie
Issue 110, Term 3 2019
How many times have you heard a school library professional make a comment such as, ‘My school leadership team doesn’t understand my role or the value it brings’. As a teacher librarian with long experience working both as a teacher librarian and in an education sales environment, this question is
Website and app reviews
By Nigel Paull
Issue 120, Term 1 2022
Aboriginal & Torres Straight Islander Mathematics Alliance Astima.com ATSIMA is an Indigenous-led charity that seeks to develop innovative techniques and resources to enhance the teaching of mathematics for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students. Content includes professional learning
Developing low-budget literacy programs in schools
By Sue Bursztynski
Issue 109, Term 2 2019
Writer in residence Last year I retired after many years in the library and classroom, and focused mostly on my writing. However, as I was missing my students, I signed up as a volunteer with the Ardoch Foundation. Ardoch is a children’s education charity focused on improving educational outcomes
Even better than the real thing? Virtual and augmented reality in the school library
By Dr Kay Oddone
Issue 110, Term 3 2019
As a child, I spent hours gazing through my stereoscopic View-Master, clicking around the film cartridges that revealed 3D images of nature, superheroes and classic stories. The View-Master allowed me to escape into an imaginative world in a different way to books or television. Holding it up to my
SCIS is more
By Dr Ben Chadwick
Issue 121, Term 2 2022
Some things are fundamental to providing a library service. Of course, you need a decent collection of resources, but you also need to support students to discover it, explore it and use it to meet their interests and research needs. Now, imagine a student came into your library and asked if you
New and revised SCIS subject headings
By Renate Beilharz
Issue 128, Term 1 2024
The following changes to SCIS Subject Headings List were approved by the SCIS Standards Committee November 2022 – October 2023. Key BT – Broader term NT – Narrower term RT – Related term UF – Used for SN – Scope note SEN – Special example note In – Indexing note
A renewed Scootle
By Article by Education Services Australia (ESA)
Issue 133, Term 2, 2025
Discover new digital resources Did you know that Scootle has been refreshed and restocked with ACv9 curriculum-aligned digital resources? These latest additions add to Scootle’s vast collection of resources designed to meet the needs of all educators – from teacher librarians to primary classroom
Library love letters
By Library love letters
Issue 138, Term 3, 2026
Editor's note : I found this letter on my desk one day last term, with no further contact details. I’m publishing it here because I’d love to know how these folks with suspicious pseudonyms found out about the genre stickers we have planned. Alex and Libris, if you’re reading this, please get in t
Dystopian literature: more than just the end of the world to teens
By Jessica Finden
Issue 123, Term 4 2022
It’s not the end of the world… Can you remember what it was like to be a teenager? The constant worry – about your identity, whether or not you fit in with your friends, your family, and your overall place in the world. The catch phrase, ‘it’s not the end of the world’ is regularly bandied ab