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SLA School Librarian of the Year 2008 announced

At an exciting and celebratory event in Westminster today Nikki Heath of Werneth School, Stockport, was announced School Librarian of the Year 2008, and presented with her award by special guest Philip Reeve, award winning author of the Mortal Engines series and many other books for children and teenagers.

The judging panel, who had visited many librarians around the UK shortlisted from those nominated by their colleagues this year, said of Nikki:

"Although Nikki's natural teaching ability was evident during the Yr 7 lesson we observed, her passion for supporting students to become both confident, independent researchers and to read for pleasure is her driving force. She provides constant opportunities to do this for all abilities, using both her original ideas and those initiated by other members of staff."

Full Honour List:

Winner:

• Nikki Heath, Werneth School, Stockport

Very Highly Commended:

• Karen Bhatti, Yeading Junior School, Hayes
• Shona Phillips, The Royal Blind School, Edinburgh

• Anne Dawson, Dulwich College Junior School, London
• Robert Logan, Queen Elizabeth’s Community College Upper School, Crediton
• Rebecca Marshall, Lipson Community College, Plymouth

Many congratulations to all six librarians.

As always the SLA are very grateful to our sponsors, who this year are The Department of Children, Schools and Families (DCSF), Scholastic and Softlink Europe, without whose support the Award could not be maintained.

More information

SLA Weekend Course Wiki goes live

The new wiki for those attending this year's Annual Weekend Course is now live. Simply follow the blue link on the left hand side of any page on the website, or go directly to find out more about the experience of being at one of our great events. You can ask questions, share your experiences and join in the discussions.

You don't have to be a member of the SLA, or even to be going to the Weekend Course in Glasgow, although you may feel rather left out if you're not!

Places are going fast so if you haven't booked yet you should hurry or you may get turned away! (Non resident places are still available.)

Partners Enjoying Reading – Schools and libraries working together

Enjoying Reading is an important new initiative aiming to help every child love reading by encouraging schools and libraries to work more closely together.

Enjoying Reading wants to help schools understand how libraries can help them and provide practical tools for joint work. Research shows how central reading for pleasure is for children's life chances, and yet recent international comparisons show that children in England enjoy reading less than their international peers and less than they did five years ago.

Partners for Enjoying Reading is a partnership project led by The Reading Agency and funded by the Department for Children, Schools and Families. It aims to build a more coordinated approach to supporting young readers, by joining up the work of school libraries, public libraries and schools library services.

The partners are

• National Literacy Trust
• School Library Association
• Society of Chief Librarians
• Association of Senior Children's Education Librarians
• Museums Libraries and Archives Council
  
  

New resources will be launched on 1 April 2008, to coincide with the beginning of the National Year of Reading, to help schools and libraries work together more effectively. These include a website, booklets for schools, and new practical materials linked to the Summer Reading Challenge, a pivotal scheme which schools and libraries can use to join up their work, and keep children reading over the summer holidays.

This is the first time that the crucial contribution that libraries play in supporting children‘s reading has been recognised through a national online resource for schools. This shows how schools can make the best of what each part of the library system has to offer. Case studies show how this can work in practice. There is a bank of ideas for getting teachers and library staff working together to achieve common aims, and a discussion space for teachers and library staff to meet virtually and share ideas.

The website has been created in close consultation with teachers, librarians and educational advisers. It builds on the success of existing programmes and should be a catalyst for more joint work.

The time is right: The 2008 National Year of Reading is an important opportunity. Libraries and schools working together can be a powerful force for change. The Enjoying Reading tools show how the partnership can work in practice and will be a major resource for teachers to use during the National Year of Reading and beyond.

Dr Ross Todd to run training course in the UK

We are pleased to announce that Dr Ross Todd will be visiting Europe for a few days in the Spring and the SLA has been able to book him to come and do one of his very popular workshops for us on Monday 19^th May 2008 in London. He will also run training courses for the Dutch and Belgian School Library Associations during that week

This is a unique opportunity for school librarians and teachers who want to learn and work together to bring about the best learning opportunities for students in information age schools, through a guided enquiry framework. Because we are so committed to encouraging such working together we are making a second place available to someone from the same school for half price. We expect places to fill up quickly so do book as soon as you are able.

Each participant will come away with:

• An understanding of guided enquiry: the philosophy and grounding in learning theory
• A knowledge of the current research in guided enquiry
• The ability to plan and implement guided enquiry learning
• The ability to ensure learning outcomes of guided enquiry projects
• Strategies to develop a school community in guided enquiry
• The capacity to train others in guided enquiry
• Prototypes of learning materials and impact measurement instruments.
  
  

Dr Ross Todd is Associate Professor in the School of Communication, Information and Library Studies at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey. Originally from Australia he is also Director of CISSL , the Center for International Scholarship in School Libraries, based at Rutgers. Ross is well known in the UK for the work he has done in the field of Information Literacy and school libraries, including being keynote speaker at the SLA conference on this subject at Guildford in 2005, and the LILAC conference in 2007. Ross also ran a very successful series of lectures around the UK for the SLA a number of years ago.

For more information or to book places for this course please see the full course details or contact the SLA office on 01793 791787.