SLA Weblog

SLA email problems

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 17:56:58 GMT

The SLA is sorry to inform members that once again our ISP has been unable to rectify a problem with our emails, and we have had no messages at our usual addresses for 8 days.

If you need to contact us, or are unsure if your message has got through, you can ring us on +44 1793 7912787 or email to a temporary address sla(at)dsl.pipex.com

We do apologies for any inconvenience this may cause you.

Best of best in audio books

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 17:54:44 GMT

The Book Marketing Society is promoting its 40 Best Audiobooks.

The promotion aims to showcase the wealth and quality of audio books. Included in the top 40 are: The Wit of Cricket by Brian Johnston et al and P G Wodehouse's Summer Lightning in the humour category; Anthony Horowitz's Snakehead and Michael Bond's A Bear Called Paddington in children's; Yann Martel's The Life of Pi and Paul Torday's Salmon Fishing in the Yemen in fiction/classic/crime; and Simon Barnes' A Bad Birdwatcher's Companion (Naxos) and Andrew Marr's A History of Modern Britain in non-fiction/poetry/plays.

The list was chosen from more than 160 books submitted by publishers. Judges made their selections based on quality of literary content, abridgement, reading, production value and sound quality. The public can <"http://www.40bestaudiobooks.co.uk,">vote for their favourites online with a chance to win £500 of National Book Tokens. A top 10 will be revealed on 21st July and an overall winner on 31st July.

The NYR is enabling visitors to download free samples of the titles from its website.

<"http:// http://www.thebookseller.com/news/61839-best-of-best-in-audiobooks.html">Full audiobooks list

National Schools Film Week 2008

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 09:48:02 GMT

<"http://National Schools Film Week will be held this year from 20th – 24th October in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and 3rd - 7th November in Scotland.">National Schools Film Week will be held this year from 20th - 24th October in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and 3rd - 7th November in Scotland.

Nearly 2,000 free film screenings are being held in over 500 locations across the UK as part of the 13th National Schools Film Week.

Up to 320,000 children are expected to take part in what is now the biggest festival of its kind in Europe ... and for 60 per cent of children who attend, this will be their first ever cinema experience!

Films for Primary schools include: Igor, The Spiderwick Chronicles, The Golden Compass, Kung Fu Panda, WALL-E, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian and Dr Seuss' Horton Hears A Who! whilst older students will be attending screenings of: The Kite Runner, Persepolis, Happy Go Lucky, Juno, Son of Rambow, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas and Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging.

A number of filmmakers will be holding Masterclasses with children including two-time BAFTA winning director Kevin McDonald (The Last King of Scotland), Stephen Frears (High Fidelity, Dirty Pretty Things) and Abi Morgan (Brick Lane).

Filmmaker and Film Education Patron Lord Attenborough comments: ‘National Schools Film Week offers a wonderful range of international films which capture the imagination of young children across the UK. The films are a way of introducing serious and important issues to children through creative means.'

Film Education Director Ian Wall adds: ‘It's amazing to see how National Schools Film Week has grown in just 13 years. When Film Education launched it, we didn't dare to dream that it would become this big, with this many separate events and locations. We believe passionately that film can play a pivotal role in education. For many kids across the country, this will be their first magical experience of cinema.'

This year, the week will launch in London's Leicester Square on 17th October followed by the Young Film Critic of the Year Ceremony.

New European Foundation for School Librarianship

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 17:05:05 GMT

In March 2003 the European Network for School Libraries and Information Literacy (ENSIL) was founded in Amsterdam by twelve people from eight different European countries, including Kathy Lemaire, Chief Executive of the School Library Association. These people represented various national associations for teachers and librarians, and also a number of Ministries of Education. Currently the network has almost 80 members from 21 European countries.

ENSIL is the only specifically European organisation in the field of School Librarianship and has proven to be a vital entity for collaboration, professionalization and dissemination of information and knowledge in this field.

Recently, in order to be able to continue the important work which ENSIL is doing, and make it more effective, a decision was made to formalise ENSIL into a foundation. This foundation, which is based in the Netherlands, has now been legally formalised and will be known as the ENSIL Foundation (Stichting ENSIL) .

The new ENSIL Foundation (Stichting ENSIL) has made the following statement about its goals:

"Based on international research which shows that the quality of students' learning outcomes is greatly enhanced by effective school libraries, ENSIL promotes the basic principle that all pupils in schools in each country of Europe are entitled to quality school libraries/media centres and services, run by professional and accredited school librarians/ information specialists."

The Foundation will try to achieve this goal by:

Supporting and promoting research about school librarianship, especially in Europe
The dissemination of information about school libraries and the work carried out by professional school librarians
Advocacy of school libraries/media centres and the profession of school librarianship
Communication among professionals in the field of school librarianship
Promoting the professional development of school librarians/information specialists.

More information about the ENSIL Foundation (Stichting ENSIL) can be found on the <"http:// http://www.ensil.eu">website.

Summit fails to end age guidance row

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 13:49:19 GMT

Publishers and authors have failed to find common ground over the thorny issue of age guidance on children's books, despite a summit meeting last week which was intended to resolve the high-profile and damaging conflict.

At last Thursday's meeting between the Publishers Association, the Society of Authors and Philip Pullman (on behalf of almost 3,000 signatories of the <"http://www.notoagebanding.org">online statement which now include J K Rowling), both sides presented conflicting research into the issue. The SoA said that 77% of authors were against age guidance, while publishers insisted that 75% of authors have agreed to it.

The sticking point in the dispute remains whether authors should be able to refuse to have age banding on their books. Publishers have confirmed 'that there has been, and remains, no question of age guidance being added to a book without full consultation with the author'. But they added: 'The remaining point of difference, which is to be considered further, was that those speaking for authors feel strongly that authors should have the right to refuse to have age guidance on their books.'

<"http://www.thebookseller.com/news/62808-summit-fails-to-end-age-guidance-row.html">More

Poetry Archive publishes its 100th CD

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 09:06:23 GMT

The Poetry Archive, from The Poetry Book Society, has launched its landmark 100th recording by Nobel Prizewinning poet Derek Walcott.

The Poetry Archive is a unique project dedicated to bringing poetry to a wider audience and to recording today's poets for posterity. It has worked systematically to record the voices of living poets and to make them available though its <"http://www.poetryarchive.org/">website. The Archive believes that poets' own readings of their work offer a powerful source of insight, understanding and enjoyment. Its CD backlist includes work from Margaret Atwood, Charles Causley, Wendy Cope, Seamus Heaney, Jackie Kay, Christopher Logue, Edwin Morgan, Sean O'Brien, Don Paterson and Michael Rosen, to name just a few.

Now Walcott becomes the 100th poet to join what co-director Andrew Motion calls 'the world's most remarkable online collection of poets reading their own work: a treasure house of information, insight and pleasure'.

Reviewing the recording, Robert Minhinnick (who has also made a recording for the Poetry Archive) says: 'Derek Walcott is surely one of the finest poets in English of the twentieth and now twenty-first century. This is incredibly rich writing delivered without show or declamation. An essential recording.'

Poetry Archive CDs are only available for purchase through the PBS's <"http://www.poetrybookshoponline.com/">online bookshop and from the PBS direct. The PBS has worked with the Poetry Archive since its launch in 2005 to bring the voices of living poets to as wide an audience as possible. The <"http://www.poetryarchive.org/">online Archive includes extracts from new 60-minute recordings by contemporary poets alongside historic recordings by poets from the past. It is a not-for-profit organisation with charitable status. It is run by a small staff, supported by a distinguished board of trustees and a panel of specialist advisers. It depends for its existence on funding from public bodies, charitable trusts and generous individuals. The money earned from sales of Poetry Archive CDs goes towards making more recordings.

Founded by T S Eliot and friends in 1953, the PBS is a unique poetry organisation which provides an international membership with its Selectors' choice of the best new poetry books. <"http://www.poetrybooks.co.uk/">The Poetry Book Society runs the <"http://www.poetrybookshoponline.com/">Poetry Bookshop Online a niche online poetry bookshop featuring the full range of poetry books available in the UK, which also sells the Poetry Archive CDs and SoundBlast performance poets' CDs. The PBS also runs the <"http://www.childrenspoetrybookshelf.co.uk/">Children's Poetry Bookshelf and the Old Possum's Children's Poetry Competition, and awards the annual T S Eliot Prize for Poetry.

CDs can be bought from the <"http://www.poetrybookshoponline.com/">Poetry Bookshop Online

Kid's Lit Quiz World Final

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 11:14:16 GMT

Following regional heats and national finals around the globe, the World Final of the 2008 <"http://www.kidslitquiz.com/">Kid's Lit Quiz was held in Oxford, England yesterday. After a nail-biting finish and many ups and downs and changes of leaders on the scoreboard, the final winners were declared to be Arnold House School from London, the winners of the United Kingdom final. The second place went to Truro School, who were the best English team in the UK heats and third to Whitchurch School, Cardiff, representing Wales.

Other schools taking part were:
The International School of Beijing, China
George Heriot School, Edinburgh, Scotland,
Springfield Convent Junior School, Cape Town, South Africa
Sullivan Upper School, Holywood, Northern Ireland
Cathedral Grammar School, Christchurch, New Zealand

As ever, charismatic Quizmaster Professor Wayne Mills put the final teams through their paces with some demanding questions, and also had some up his sleeve for adults and children in the audience of the packed Playhouse Theatre.

The event was attended by many local school children, who also enjoyed workshops in the morning, and lots of authors including Gillian Cross, Celia Rees, Denis Hamley, Julia Golding, Linda Newbery, Keith Gray, Mark Robson, Echo Freer and many more.

Congratulations to the winning team, but also to all of the students who displayed a wealth of knowledge of, and pleasure in, books for children and young adults.

The UK regional heats for 2009 begin again in November.

Listening Books offer

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 11:45:55 GMT

Listening Books believes that by providing books in alternative formats (MP3, CD and internet streaming) it is able to make reading more accessible.

To show its support for the National Year of Reading, Listening Books will offer 50 free internet streaming memberships (for one year) to the first 50 people who contact them and mention the National Year of Reading. Free memberships are for schools, organisations and any individuals who suffer from an illness or disability that makes it difficult or impossible to read or hold a book, including visual, physical and learning difficulties such as dyslexia.

For more information call 020 7407 9417

Internet streaming is a way of delivering audio to your computer via the internet. Members may listen to as many books as many times as they like, on any computer, in their home, school or work place and at any time during the day. This is invaluable for those who are studying as they no longer have to wait for the audiobook to become available.

To see which titles are available to be streamed go to the <"http://www.soundlearning.org.uk/ ">website and click on the catalogue button.

The Frances Lincoln Diverse Voices Children’s Book Award

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 08:51:44 GMT

Frances Lincoln Limited, the award-winning publisher, and Seven Stories, The Centre for Children's Books, innovative cultural centre for children's literature, have created an award in memory of Frances Lincoln (1945 - 2001).

The Frances Lincoln Diverse Voices Children's Book Award is for a manuscript that celebrates cultural diversity in the widest possible sense, either in terms of its story or in terms of the ethnic and cultural origins of its author.

The purpose of the Award is to:

Take positive steps to increase the representation of people writing from or about different cultural perspectives, whose work is published in Britain today.
Promote new writing for children, especially by or about people whose culture and voice are currently under-represented.
Recognise that as children's books shape our earliest perceptions of the world and its cultures, promoting writing that represents diversity will contribute to social and cultural tolerance.
Support the process of writing rather than, as with the majority of prizes, promoting the publication.

Frances Lincoln Limited was founded by Frances Lincoln in 1977. In 1983 the company started to publish illustrated books for children. Since then it has won many awards and prizes with both fiction and non-fiction children's books. Bestselling titles include Amazing Grace by Mary Hoffman with illustrations by Caroline Binch, and We are Britain by Benjamin Zephaniah with photographs by Prodeepta Das.

Frances Lincoln died, aged 55, in February 2001. She was described by Julia Eccleshare in the TES as, 'the publisher best known for pioneering multicultural books for children.' Michael Rosen, the Children's Laureate, commented that, 'Publishing has lost a brave and innovative person who has left behind her, much too soon, a thriving legacy .'

<"http://www.sevenstories.org.uk/diversevoicesaward ">Full details and entry form

Redbridge Children's Book Award

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 09:32:46 GMT

Budding young bookworms were celebrating after attending the fifth Redbridge Children's Book Awards, organised by the Schools Library Service, on Thursday 3 July.

The ceremony, at Sir James Hawkey Hall, saw over 300 pupils from 16 schools and two library reading groups across the Borough voting for their favourite Children's and Teenage books published in 2007.

Winners:
Lucky Star by Cathy Cassidy (Children's)
Life on the Refrigerator Door by Alice Kuipers (Teenage)

A panel of authors, Jenny Downham, Anthony McGowan and Echo Freer, answered questions from an eager audience.

The winners of student writing and poetry competitions were also presented with their prizes by the Mayor, Cllr Loraine Sladden.

The writing competition was judged by David Fulton, lecturer in creative writing at Brunel University and the poetry competition was judged by Musarat Younis, a poet. Winners were presented with a book token and a signed children's book. All shortlisted students were given an anthology containing their work.

The winners in the writing competition were:
First place - A Light Flickered in the Distance by Antonia Perna, Woodford County High School
Second place - Starry Night by Tanya Li-Chay-Chung, Woodford County High School
Third place - Am I so Different? by Ruby Muir, Wanstead high School

The poetry competition winners were:
First place - Mazy Mirror by Slam Perveen, Woodford County High School
Second place - Reflection/Mirror's Eye by Chiraag Shah, Seven Kings High School
Third place - by Ahishek Ambekar, Ilford County High School

Andrew Motion appointed new Chair of the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 09:38:25 GMT

Culture Secretary Andy Burnham today announced that Andrew Motion has been appointed as the new Chair of the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA). Professor Motion will take up his new position on 3 July for a period of four years. Andy Burnham said:

"I am thrilled that Andrew has agreed to take up this position of Chair. Mark Wood has done an outstanding job in steering the organisation through what's been some of the most challenging times for them, and is to be congratulated on his achievement in doing that so successfully.

"He is passing Andrew the reins of a strong, focussed organisation. Andrew's own challenge will be to help the MLA continue their excellent work through the changes and help the organisation grow into its new structure.

"He has an obvious passion for the Arts, and has been a most distinguished and successful Poet Laureate since 1999. I know he has some wonderful and exciting ideas about how he can take the MLA forward, continuing their pursuit of excellence and, in particular, promoting the culture sector to Olympic spectators and visitors in
2012. I wish him well in his new position, and look forward to seeing the fruition of his inspiring ideas."

Andrew Motion said: "I am greatly looking forward to helping the MLA continue their tremendous work in all areas of museums, libraries and galleries. It is an exciting time to be entering the heart of the cultural arena, with the enormous boost in popularity that museums and galleries have seen over the past few years, and the Olympics just around the corner. I am confident the MLA can build on this and achieve even greater things in the future."

MLA's Chief Executive, Roy Clare, said: "Andrew arrives at a very appropriate and exciting time as a newly reshaped MLA equips itself to focus on the integration, improvement, and innovation of museums, libraries and archives. A refreshed team is beginning to fit into place and will join me in looking forward to the opportunity of working with Andrew and the Board as we aim for our sector to make an ever increasing impact for the public."

Highland Children’s Book Awards

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 16:50:12 GMT

The winners of the Highland Book Awards, which are voted for by young readers in the Highlands of Scotland are:

Picture Book category
Jackie Morris for The Snow Leopard

8+ category
Chris Riddell for Ottoline and the Yellow Cat

12+ award
Pauline Francis for Raven Queen

The Book Awards are organised by The Highland Council's Library Service with sponsorship from wind farm operators Falck Renewables and ANTA Pottery.

Attending the event, as well as a number of the short listed authors, were 142 pupils from 45 primary and secondary schools across the Highlands that had taken part. Since January they have all been busy reading, reviewing and voting for their favourite books.

Principal Schools Librarian Stephanie Hoyle said: "The third year of the book awards has proven to be the biggest yet with more authors and schools attending than ever before. We have also been able to organise extra events in schools which has allowed us to spread the message that reading is fun. Once again pupils taking part have been able to share their comments about the short-listed books on the book awards website and they had the chance to vote again in a final ballot, the results of which were kept secret until the awards presentation.

"There is a wide and wonderful selection of books available nowadays for young people to read covering an enormous range of interests. A love of reading nurtured at a young age can last a lifetime. These awards have encouraged pupils to read and review a large selection of books that they might not otherwise have looked at and I am sure it has widened their tastes on the types of books they enjoy."

The short-listed authors ran special workshops for pupils and answered questions about becoming writers.

Books on the 2008 short list were:

12+ category:

The Witness by James Jauncey
Apache by Tanya Landman
Raven Queen by Pauline Francis
Crusade by Elizabeth Laird
Berserk by Ally Kennen

8+ category:

Tom's Dragon Trouble by Tony Bradman
Boy in the Biscuit Tin by Heather Dyer
Ottoline and the Yellow Cat by Chris Riddell

Picture Book category:

Wendel's Workshop by Chris Riddell
The Snow Leopard by Jackie Morris
The Railway Children by Alan Marks
A Dog Called Rod by Tim Hopgood
A Present for Freddie Small by Nick Butterworth & Michael Evans

Photograph
Back Row Left to Right Lynsey Stein, organiser, Stephanie Hoyle,
Principal Schools Librarian, Heather Dyer (The Boy in the Biscuit Tin),
James Jauncey (The Witness), Tanya Landman (Apache) and Tony Bradman
(Tom's Dragon Trouble)

Front Row Left to Right Jackie Morris (The Snow Leopard and winner of the Picture Book Category) and Pauline Francis (The Raven Queen and winner of the 12+ category).

Gravett and Reeve win top book awards

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 20:21:35 GMT

This year's winners of the most prestigious British book awards for children and young adults, the CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medals, were announced today at a packed event at the British Library in London.

Announced as the 2008 winner of the Kate Greenaway Medal and Colin Mears Award is Emily Gravett for Little Mouse's Big Book of Fears, in which a small rodent confronts terrifying phobias. It is published by Macmillan.

Tricia Adams, chair of the judging panel commented ‘The attention to detail is astounding. It's such a satisfying experience which incorporates smell, texture, humour and great imagination.'

Accepting the Medal from special guest Michael Portillo, Emily paid tribute to the family pet who inspired the character of the mouse.

The winner of the Carnegie Medal for 2008 is Philip Reeve, for Here Lies Arthur, published by Scholastic. This is a story of Celtic Britain, with Reeve's interpretation of the legendary king having Welsh roots and a character transformed by the tales of Myrddin into the legend we know today.

‘I didn't believe it at frst', said Reeve, ‘but as I got over the shock and it began to sink in, I felt totally honoured'. He also paid tribute to his inspiration for his awarding winning title, John Boorman for his film Excalibur and a book by Geraldine McCaughrean.

The judges as always had an extremely difficult task in selecting one from each of the two shortlists of outstanding books selected from those nominated by children's and school librarians from around the country.

Many school librarians and groups such as SLA Branches around the UK have shadowed the Awards, reading and discussing the shortlisted books and holding their own votes. One particularly creative shadowing scheme is held by the SE Wales branch of SLA, and involves schools in and around Cardiff, where students come together for 2 days to create dramatic presentations of the shortlisted books for the Carnegie Medal. These are then performed in front of other students, and parents and a judging panel which this year included Jane Hutt AM, Welsh Assembly Minister for Children, Education, Lifelong Learning and Skills. Special Guest was last year's winner, Meg Rosoff, also on this year's Carnegie shortlist.

Although the presentations are judged for performance, presentation and interpretation, not on the original book, this year's winning group were those who presented Here Lies Arthur, the winning title announced today. The photo shows the winners with Jane Hutt and Meg Rosoff.

Minister launches latest DCSF book-gifting projects

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 16:24:08 GMT

Surrounded by toddlers and their parents as well as children from Yeading Junior School, Hayes, the Schools Minister Jim Knight recently launched two new projects, each worth £4.5milion.

Speaking at the Ideas Store in Whitechapel on 19^th June the Minister officially launched Book Ahead for early years and Boys into Books 5 - 11 for primary schools. Unlike the Boys into Books 11 - 14 project last year where the books went straight to schools to become part of their library stock, these two projects are being handled by local authority library services and are being rolled out around England over the next few months. They will circulate the books among early years settings and primary schools and provide other support and activities to encourage involvement.

Both of these projects, like last year's Boys into Books, are based on Riveting Reads booklists specially commissioned from the School Library Association (SLA), Book Ahead written by Julia Eccleshare from CLPE and Boys into Books 5 - 11 by Chris Brown, Review Editor of The School Librarian and former Chair of the SLA.

At the launch Jim Knight said: ‘There is clear evidence that early exposure to books has a crucial effect on early learning. The number of words a child hears by the age of four correlates closely with later attainment at school.

‘To celebrate the National Year of Reading, Dads should set themselves a summer challenge, to read at least one book from the list with their sons during the school holidays. Books from our book lists also make great presents for relatives not sure what to buy children for birthdays.'

The Minister then spent some time discussing reading choices with junior school boys.

Chris Brown, author of Boys into Books 5 - 11 noted ‘The titles in the list have been chosen as books published within the last couple of years which are good reads and which have particular elements of appeal for boys in the 5 to 11 age range.

'Generally boys tend to choose books with action that seldom flags, humour in large dollops and with characters slightly larger than life. Currently extremely popular are fantasy tales of every shade, fast paced stories of youngsters embroiled in spying scenarios and all sorts of buccaneering piracy. High profile TV and cinema features have a great influence but like all readers boys' individual preferences can also be wide and varied and so the list offers a broad and balanced selection too including information books, poetry, graphic styles and long and involving stories.'

The booklists are freely available to all on the SLA website:
<"boys-into-books-overview.php">Boys into Books 11 - 14
<"http://www.boysintobooks.co.uk/primary">Boys into Books 5 - 11
<"http://www.bookahead.org.uk/">Book Ahead

<"http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/pns/DisplayPN.cgi?pn_id=2008_0112">Press release

<"http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2008/06/13/boboysbooks113.xml">Daily Telegraph article

School Libraries Leading Learning in Glasgow

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 11:04:33 GMT

Nearly 200 people gathered in Glasgow from 13th to 15thJune for the SLA's Annual Weekend Course. There was a real buzz as we contemplated all that we could and should be doing to enable learning in our schools, and enjoyed thought provoking keynote speakers, practical and inspirational optional sessions, lots of wonderful authors and great networking opportunities (not to mention the Ceilidh!)

We'd like to thank all the delegates for making it such a fantastic weekend, all the speakers and optional session leaders, the exhibitors, and the staff at Strathclyde University for being so helpful.

A full report with photos will appear on the website shortly.