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Country to Canberra: empowering rural girls

By Hannah Wandel

Issue 97, Term 2 2016

Five months ago, seven young women were sitting around a boardroom table inside Parliament House. They were laughing, chatting about life in rural Australia, and discussing the prestigious essay competition they had recently won. As these teenagers excitedly engulfed the room in conversation, it w

Engaging girls in STEM

By Pru Mitchell

Issue 95, Term 4 2015

It seems recently that everywhere we turn we read about girls and science, girls and technology, and girls' career choices. It is a popular theme in the media, which extends also to social media. A search of Twitter on the hashtag #stem reveals a high proportion of photos and links that relate to g

To inspire or to instruct

By Ta'afuli Andrew Fiu

Issue 91, Term 4 2014

During May and June this year, I travelled Australia as part of the Positive Schools Initiative to speak and network with teachers and educators. Doing so provided an insightful introduction to what teachers are thinking and drew thousands to Fremantle, Brisbane, Melbourne, and Sydney. The convent

Working with pupil library assistants in primary schools

By Lucy Chambers

Issue 107, Term 4 2018

Background I am a member of a team of professional primary school librarians in the Schools Library Service (SLS) in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The London Borough of Tower Hamlets is in central London and has a mixed demographic, ranging from some of the wealthiest people to some of t

Fathers reading week: a case study for the Great School Libraries campaign

By Lucy Chambers, BAHons; DipLib; MSc; MCLIP

Issue 115, Term 4 2020

Summary The UK Great School Libraries Campaign1 invites school librarians to submit case studies, to demonstrate how their library contributes to teaching and learning in the school. I take you through the process of writing a new case study based on Fathers Reading Week. Note: the word ‘Fathers’

TikTok and libraries: a powerful partnership

By Kelsey Bogan

Issue 115, Term 4 2020

‘Miss Bogan, you’re TikTok famous!’ These words greeted me early one morning shortly after I had finally caved in and created a TikTok account for our high school library. I had posted a TikTok video the previous night, you see, and in less than a day, it had more than 300,000 views! Within a wee

The magic of school libraries

By Belinda Cameron

Issue 115, Term 4 2020

As we seek to establish and maintain vital connections with our students, staff, teachers and families, special events within our library spaces are central to the work of connected communities. Stories are central to the work of teacher librarians. The story of Harry Potter is so engaging that a

Pivot! Moving a library forward when COVID gets in the way

By Catherine Barnes

Issue 117, Term 2 2021

‘Pivot’ used to be a word from the netball court, then it became the butt of a joke from the much loved Friends TV show, but over the last 12 months it has become an everyday reality in our schools. In 2020, our school calendar was full of excursions and incursions overwritten with the word ‘Canc

The time to read

By Gabrielle Mace, Merrilyn Lean

Issue 117, Term 2 2021

As educators we often lament that our students are no longer reading books for enjoyment. Sadly, our students are not alone. With an ever growing curriculum and the frenetic pace of the academic school year many teachers are reading for enjoyment far less than ever before – or worse, not at all.

Genrefication 3.5 years later: Reflections

By Susan Davenport

Issue 117, Term 2 2021

Radford College Secondary Library (SL) for years 5–12 students began our genrefication journey in 2017. This article reflects upon those first steps and what changes have been implemented since. What have we learnt? Genrefication works! Yes, it really does. Our years 5–12 students find the

Digital literacy: using Wikipedia as a fact-checking tool

By Mathieu O'Neil, Rachel Cunneen

Issue 121, Term 2 2022

Can Wikipedia be used as a legitimate source? In November 2021 we published an article in   The Conversation   which obviously touched a nerve since it was shared by around 7,000 readers.  The article, ‘Students are told not to use Wikipedia for research. But it’s a  trustworthy source’, deriv

21st-century literacy with graphic novels

By Iurgi Urrutia

Issue 115, Term 4 2020

Reading is reading We read books, newspapers, magazines, billboards, signs, notices, bills, websites, blogs, social media posts et cetera. When we read all those things, consciously or unconsciously we’re developing and using multiple literacy skills. Thanks to the internet and social media, we’r