SLA School Librarian of the Year announced

The SLA School Librarian of the Year was announced today at the Library and Information Show in Birmingham. The winner for 2006 is Anne-Marie Tarter of Ripon Grammar School in Yorkshire.

For the first time a Lifetime Achievement award was also presented, and this went to Lynn Barrett, formerly of Dixons City Academy in Bradford.

The Awards were presented by Jacqueline Wilson, the Children's Laureate.

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SLSs to become Reading Connects Partners

Reading Connects, the web-based National Literacy Trust initiative which encourages schools to become reading communities, has today launched a new category of membership, Reading Connects Partners.

Initially open only to School Library Services, it may in the future be more widely available. SLSs who wish to become a Partner will receive a comprehensive hand book, the opportunity to order free support materials in bulk and permission to use the a Reading Connects Partner logo.

IASL Annual Conference in Lisbon

If you are intending to go to the IASL annual conference in Lisbon this summer you only have a couple more weeks to register for the earlybird discount prices which will be withdrawn on May 2nd.

The conference, entitled The Multiple Places of Literacy, Reading, Knowing, Doing, will take place at the Fundacao Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisboa, Portugal from 3 - 7 July 2006. It is the annual conference of the International Association of School Librarianship.

Margaret Mahy wins the Hans Christian Andersen Author Award 2006

In awarding the 2006 Hans Christian Andersen Medal for Writing to Margaret Mahy, the jury of the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) has recognized one of the world's most original reinventors of language. Mahy's language is rich in poetic imagery, magic, and supernatural elements. Her oeuvre provides a vast, numinous, but intensely personal metaphorical arena for the expression and experience of childhood and adolescence. Equally important, however, are her rhymes and poems for children.

Mahy's works are known to children and young adults all over the world. She was selected from 26 authors nominated for the award. The other finalists were Jon Ewo (Norway), Peter Hartling (Germany), Philip Pullman (United Kingdom), Toon Tellegen (Netherlands), and Eugene Trivizas (Greece). The award will be presented at the opening ceremony of IBBY's Congress in Beijing, China, on 20 September 2006.