Meanwhile, we also need to be constantly aware of our financial commitments as an association, so the Board took the decision to investigate a premises move to more economic facilities.  To this end, and after several months of searching, the SLA has found and purchased a small office complex on Kembrey Park in Swindon – and the office is due to move, in it’s entirety, from it’s present offices in half term week – 13^th-17^th February.  We plan to be closed all that week, and will get back to normal as soon as we can during the following week of 20^th - 24^th February. 

From Thursday 16^th February our new address will be:

School Library Association

1 Pine Court

Kembrey Park

Swindon

SN2 8AD

Telephone: 01793 530166

Email addresses will remain the same.  ‘Emergency’ contact numbers will be posted on the SLA website during the move so that you can reach us if necessary as new phones are connected etc.

Following the practice of our partners we have all the information and the booking forms available on the web – for full details of how to join the conference and make your booking see the dedicated website www.lightingthefuture.org.uk .  Early-bird booking is open until Friday 24^th February.

Which is why Newsademic exists – for it is an international newspaper written and edited for KS 3 and KS 4 students.

To date we have over 30,000 readers – which is why we know there is a demand for such a publication. 

It is also why we are happy to offer a free two month subscription to the paper.  We know that schools that see it, like it.

The publication supports the PSHE, History, Geography, Science, English and RE curricula though its focus is on international news events that shape and affect the world that we all live in today.

Newsademic carries no advertising. Neither does it feature articles about television, sport, computer games, pop music or celebrity culture.

The newspaper is distributed fortnightly as a PDF file by email or as a download. Although it can be read on screen it is designed to be printed out and read as a paper copy. An intranet licence allows all students to access an HTML searchable version of Newsademic via their school network. Two levels of activities, based on some of the featured articles, accompany each issue.

Annual subscription rates start at £24.00 and schools can photocopy any part of the newspaper as many times as they wish for use within their school.

To subscribe free of charge for two months please go to: www.newsademic.com/promo/h0112

For more information visit www.newsademic.com

Put a roar into your reading and Shout About Libraries!

Download all four for free from our National Libraries Day page...

"Around the school, an attractive and well-stocked library is often an indicator of effective support for pupils’ wider reading and information retrieval skills. In secondary schools, an enthusiastic librarian often raises the profile of reading and provides good opportunities for pupils to share their views on books and widen the range of authors and genres they experience."

See the full report at Reading, Writing, Communication (Ofsted, 2011).

The Festival unites communities - many different schools participate in the event.  In the Olympic year, there is a cultural Olympiad theme and children taking part will learn some inspiring and encouraging songs, with the sportsmen and sportswomen who are participating in the Olympics and Paralympics in mind.  We are fortunate to have permission to sing "The London Games" by Jeff Barnes, which won the BBC London 2012 Anthem competition.  There will also be guest performances to inspire the children.

The Background
NAPE is a long-standing association promoting creativity in schools and outstanding classroom practice with children at the heart of learning.  We are a partnership between parents, teachers, school, governors, education officers and entire school communities.

The first national festival was held at the Royal Albert Hall in 1987 with nearly 1,700 children.  In the past there have been FOV's in Cambridge, Norwich, Luton, Bedford, Hatfield, the Birmingham Symphony Hall and the Wembley Conference Centre, Blackpool, and Folkestone (for the inauguration of the Channel Tunnel).  The 2012 festival will be the Silver Jubilee of the event!

FOV Letter

RTF document, 312 kB (Can be opened with most word processors)

FOV 2012 Booking Form

Word document, 25 kB (Requires Microsoft Word 97 or later)

Download "Explore New Horizons" and get more information at our National Libraries Day 2012 subpage.

SLA Board Members – the nominations close on 1^st February, for more details and the nomination form see the SLA People part of the website - http://www.sla.org.uk/sla-people.php

World Book Day - request for ideas deadline approaches on 16^th January – check our blog for details - http://www.sla.org.uk/blg-request-for-world-book-day-celebration-ideas.php

Don’t forget to visit us at the Learn Live session at 10.15 on Thursday morning if you are at the BETT 2012 show – for more details see the website.

•  how Lady Gaga's meat dress is an example of synthesis
•  how an AP language teacher plans to teach an information literacy unit
•  the importance of a lesson "hook"
•  how to sneak an IL lesson into a tech lesson
•  how a map can guide even the most experienced researchers
•  'bird unit' sightings in public libraries ... and a physics classroom
•  how the SCVNGR app can refresh and deepen library orientation

You can download it for your eReader here:
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/115254

It is also available as a formatted-for-print PDF:
http://bit.ly/infowild

They are eager to hear your feedback:
informationliteracyinthewild[at]umich.edu
 

At a ceremony in London the Children’s Book Circle and Anne Harvey, from the Eleanor Farjeon estate, presented the £2000 gift to Chair, and school librarian, Adam Lancaster. In his acceptance speech Adam spent time passionately talking about the work that everyone in the charity is involved in. This ranged from groups running numerous events in their localities with a number of partners to the national executive working as an umbrella providing opportunities for a whole host of events to take place.

Adam, who is also founder of National Non-Fiction Day, explained the Federation’s past and thanked all the people over the years that played a part in creating hundreds of thousands of readers. ‘Everyone involved in the Federation is a special person. They are the ones on the front line, working with tens of thousands of young people each year, doing those things that politicians and suited board men talk about. To be awarded this honour is to recognise all those people who over the years have played a part in igniting that spark and fanning those flames of reading. Books change lives. The Federation changes lives.’

Huge congratulations from everyone at SLA!

The new website goes live at the beginning of January and it would be
great to have some ideas ready to roll with. WBD will be really grateful
if you could get your contributions to them as soon as possible -
anything this side of Christmas should make it online at
launch!

Please send your ideas to Anna Bassi anna@bassi.me, and don't hesitate
to contact her if you have any questions about this. Many thanks for
your help!

Only twenty-six years old, Amanda Hocking had never sold a single book before 15 April 2010.  She has now sold over one million. Switched is the first novel in the Trylle Trilogy. Published for the first time in paperback, it is already garnering a buzz on both sides of the pond.

Pan Macmillan have 200+ posters promoting Switched and the Trylle Trilogy available - email Fergus at f.edmondson[at]macmillan.co.uk with your contact address and how many posters you would like.

‘Her character-driven books, which feature trolls, hobgoblins and fairy-tale elements and keep the pages turning, have generated an excitement not felt in the industry since Stephenie Meyer or perhaps even J. K. Rowling.’  -The New York Times.

Fellow Librarians keep up the professional pressure, network, attend all Head of Department meetings and briefing, don’t ‘hide’ away in the LRC, we are ALL fellow professional and academic people.

Cath Howard BA (Hons)

To see the shortlist for yourself, please visit the official website’s ‘Shortlist 2012’ page and remember to click the covers for more details!  Other new features on the website include Russell Wall’s and James Guy’s terrific promotional trailer for the shortlist and the new ‘Resources’ section which currently features a variety of award posters which can be downloaded as PDF files and printed out for use in your libraries

Peters have agreed to sell all the books as a special pack for £75 and ask that any schools who wish to order the books from them send an email to marketing@peters-books.co.uk  stating they’d like to order a 'Stan Lee Excelsior Award book pack'. If you use this option please also confirm the following details to Peters:

• ·         Contact name
• ·         Job role
• ·         School name and address
• ·         email address
• ·         Purchase order (if applicable)

Any queries ring Tom Hunt on 0161 666 6646.

They are a free download, but only available to logged-in SLA members.

Watch out for more posters coming soon!

Stock up on your Winter reading

PDF file, 975 kB

Requires Adobe Reader

SLA Members Only

The Entresse Library in Espoo, Finland and FAIFE (IFLA Committee on Freedom of Access to Information and Freedom of Expression) have together created the world's first Banned Books Video Calendar. The project has garnered international attention and is considered pioneering in many ways.

"Last year, Entresse created a Finnish video calendar of banned books. Due to the high quality of the final product, we decided to take it to an international forum," says Director Kai Ekholm of the National Library of Finland and the Chair of FAIFE. The project's participants include leading figures in the library world, who introduce their favourite banned books: IFLA President Ingrid Parent presents Timothy Findlay’s The Wars; Finnish IFLA President-Elect Sinikka Sipilä talks about Mika Waltari's The Egyptian; Kai Ekholm introduces Allen Ginsberg's Howl and Executive Director Jill Cousins of the Europeana Foundation expounds on James Joyce's Ulysses. Other books include Art Spiegelman's Maus, Hitler's Mein Kampf, Boccaccio's Decameron and Walt Disney's Donald Duck.

"We wanted to show that books have been censored for centuries for daring to defy the Catholic Church with its Index Librorum Prohibitorum, the Puritans, judicial systems and politicians," Ekholm notes. The purpose of the project is to promote public debate. Viewers can have their say on whether the books were banned for a sensible reason. "Books are still being burned, but the focus now is on online censorship. Sad examples include Turkey and Hungary in Europe and, on the world stage, China, where 450 million online citizens live in a closed intranet without access to Facebook or various Google searches. Perhaps next year's calendar will focus on banned web pages." 

Following the tradition of the Advent calendar, each day between December 1st and December 24th a new window will open and a new book will be presented on several sites throughout the world. The video calendar can be accessed at http://vimeo.com/channels/bannedbooks.

]]> http://www.sla.org.uk/blg-right-words-writing-competition.php http://www.sla.org.uk/blg-right-words-writing-competition.php Secondary-school students are invited to pick up their pens – or reach for their keyboards – and enter the third Right Words writing competition, launched by the Human Rights Watch London Network and English PEN.

The competition is run to highlight the importance of human rights, this year focusing on the issue of freedom of expression. Entrants are encouraged to submit a poem,a story, factual article, dialogue / monologue or a rap, on this topic.The competition is open to Years 10 and 11 in England and Wales, and Secondary 3 and 4 students in Scotland, and is intended to form part of the Citizenship, English and Religious Education curriculum.

Please see the press release for more details and there is a downloadable poster to advertise the competition.

Right Words Press Release 24th November 2011

Word document, 19 kB

Requires Microsoft Word 2007 or later

Right Words (Leaflet Poster)

PDF file, 494 kB

Requires Adobe Reader

Tricia Adams, Director of the School Library Association said “Schools library services can provide much needed support in the way of training and resources to schools but their gradual decline is a worrying trend when considering support for students; by producing this interactive map we are hoping to help schools find the practical help and support they need”

The SLA gratefully acknowledges the valuable input from the Association of Senior Children’s and Education Librarians (ASCEL).  Gillian Harris, chair of ASCEL says “Where schools do not have a schools library service in their area, they should look to neighbouring authorities for support as all schools library services can offer services outside their immediate area.  ASCEL is working with its members on ways of ensuring all schools have access to a schools library service for support, advice and resources.”

CILIP Chief Executive Annie Mauger says, “School librarians and Schools Library Services expertise are essential in helping children navigate the digital world and improve information literacy skills. All children and young people should have access to the benefits they bring. Currently this is not the case.”

The downside is the fact we appear to get busier than at almost any other time of year!  There is so much to do – and especially at the moment with all the consultations from government around curricula, reading and school buildings, as well as trying to plan a hard-hitting campaign around school libraries and schools library services.  Then there are all the planning cycles to start again for the next round of our awards, and the annual strategic cycle to start evaluating and developing for the next round.  And that doesn’t include the day-to-day contact with members, asking for advice or wanting a chat about their individual situation.  Rather than turning the clocks back and seeming to make the days shorter – or certainly darker – I do wonder if we should try and add an extra hour into the day!

So here are some of the reminders and heads up that you may like to be aware of:

• Review of Standards for School Premises (consultation open) – do take a look and comment – SLA will be sending a submission.
• Don’t forget to put in your nominations for the School Librarian of the Year 2012 – closing date 13th January 2012
• Had a library built or a refurbishment recently – think about nominating your library for the SLA Library Design Award 2012 – closing date 13th January 2012
• Keep your eyes on the twitter #SHOUTABOUT as the campaign develops
• Sign up for our e-newsletter – there’s a link on the home page
• Watch out for announcements on the programme for the 2012 conference

Do keep in touch!

The Stan Lee Excelsior Award is pleased to announce that it has today signed up its 50th school for 2012!

When the 18th school signed up, that made the Award officially 'more popular' than it had been in 2011. When the 34th school signed up, that made it officially 'twice as popular' as 2011. Now we've broken that magical '50 Schools barrier', the Stan Lee Excelsior Award is shooting into the stratosphere! This now promises to be a fantastic nationwide event in 2012 and sees graphic novels and manga given a platform in UK school libraries (and public ones) and a level of exposure that they have never had before!

When the 2012 shortlist is announced in the week commencing 5th December, I'm hoping this will attract even more schools! Keep checking back on the website - www.excelsioraward.co.uk - to find out the 8 amazing titles that will create a reading frenzy amongst students in 2012!

And many thanks to all the schools that have already gotten onboard and supported the Award. It's fantastic and has surpassed my highest expectations.

Paul Register
Ecclesfield School
Sheffield
 

In order to make it easier for delegates from the UK and around the world to attend this rare event (it’s the first time it has been held in the UK for 30 years) IBBY have begun registration early to allow delegates to spread the cost by paying in three instalments. Of course it’s also possible to pay all in one go as well.

As well as the great line-up of speakers there will be seminars and discussions, round tables, professional meetings and exciting additional events such as the presentation of the Hans Christian Andersen Medal and the IBBY Asahi Award.  The full programme will be announced in January.   We would also like to thank The School Library Association and CILIP’s School Libraries and Youth Libraries Groups for holding a joint conference next year in order to reduce the number of conferences on offer to librarians and teachers.  We really appreciate the help of all the organisations who are so positive about the IBBY 2012 World Congress and the support you are giving us.

For more information contact Kathy Lemaire OBE, Co-Director Crossing Boundaries: Translations and Migrations IBBY World Congress London 2012.
www.ibbycongress2012.org or  kathy[at]ibbycongress2012.org

Marlene Johnson, Managing Director of Hachette Children’s Books, congratulated the authors and illustrators, saying, ‘we are very proud to be sponsoring the inaugural SLA Information Book Award, and to support school libraries and students. The SLA Award is a great way to highlight the variety and excellence of the books and information out there, and, through the feedback of students and librarians, to celebrate the very best exponents of the art of creating great non-fiction.’

Chris Brown, Chair of the judges, said, “This Award is the only children's books award to focus solely on Information Books. It is a celebration of the fantastic skills being applied in the creation of the very best of such books for our young readers. It is intended also to highlight and emphasise the immense value, in this 'Information Age', of the organisation and breadth of coverage being achieved and brilliantly conveyed in the very best books.”

Winners in each category are:

Jonathan and Marilyn Baillie, Adrian Dingle, Ros Asquith and Mary Hoffman

Under 7s - The Great Big Book of Families by Mary Hoffman, illus Ros Asquith. Frances Lincoln ISBN 9781845079994

7-12 - Animals at the Edge by Jonathan and Marilyn Baillie. Franklin Watts ISBN 9780749694814

12-16 - How to Make a Universe with 92 Ingredients by Adrian Dingle. Scholastic ISBN 9781407117911

Overall Winner - How to Make a Universe with 92 Ingredients by Adrian Dingle. Scholastic ISBN 9781407117911

Children’s Choice winners are:

Under 7s - My Very First Art Book by Rosie Dickins and Sarah Courtauld, illus Gus Gordon. Usborne ISBN 9781409522850

7-12 - The Murderous Maths of Everything by Kjartan Poskitt, illus Rob Davis. Scholastic ISBN 9781407103679

12-16 - The Life and Times of William Shakespeare by Kristen McDermott and Ari Berk. Templar ISBN 9781840111583

Overall Winner - The Life and Times of William Shakespeare by Kristen McDermott and Ari Berk. Templar ISBN 9781840111583

The complete shortlist for 2011 is:

Under 7s

• Let’s Ride a Bike by Ruth Walton. Franklin Watts ISBN 9780749688578
• My Very First Art Book by Rosie Dickins and Sarah Courtauld, illus Gus Gordon. Usborne ISBN 9781409522850
• The Great Big Book of Families by Mary Hoffman, illus Ros Asquith. Frances Lincoln ISBN 9781845079994

7-12

• Animals at the Edge by Jonathan and Marilyn Baillie. Franklin Watts ISBN 9780749694814
• How the World Works by Christiane Dorion, illus Beverley Young. Templar ISBN 9781848771895
• The Murderous Maths of Everything by Kjartan Poskitt, illus Rob Davis. Scholastic ISBN 9781407103679

12-16

• How to Make a Universe with 92 Ingredients by Adrian Dingle. Scholastic ISBN 9781407117911
• Stories about Surviving Gangs and Bullying by Michaela Miller. Franklin Watts ISBN 9781445100722
• The Life and Times of William Shakespeare by Kristen McDermott and Ari Berk. Templar ISBN 9781840111583

About the School Library Association

The School Library Association is an independent charity that believes that every pupil is entitled to effective school library provision. The SLA is committed to supporting everyone involved with school libraries, promoting high quality reading and learning opportunities for all. Website: www.sla.org.uk

About the Award sponsors

The School Library Association is grateful for sponsorship from Hachette Children’s Books and Peters Bookselling Services to make this award possible. The SLA Information Book Award is run entirely on sponsorship kindly donated by friends and supporters of the Award. No money is taken from the SLA budget so all staff time, the cost of the judging, prizes for the winners and the final award ceremony must be covered by the sponsors' donations.

Hachette Children's Books is one of the most successful children's publishers in the UK, with an excellent track record in creating bestselling and award winning books for children of all ages and interests. Their four imprints, Franklin Watts, Hodder Children's Books, Orchard Books and Wayland together form a dynamic list of top quality picture books, fiction and non-fiction. Website: www.hachettechildrens.co.uk

Peters Bookselling Services offers a variety of services to support libraries, schools, nurseries and schemes. Website: www.peters-books.co.uk

Award website - www.sla.org.uk/information-book-award.php