Hi all,
Hope you're well. I thought I'd post to give you a bit of an insight into what I get up to.
Let me know if there's anything you want to know.
What I've been reading:
- Governance and Leadership magazine
- Charity Times
- Charity Finance
- Fundraising magazine
A few work train journeys have helped me catch up on my work reading!
What I've been reflecting on:
This month has really brought out the importance of community, and how much we all can be there for each other. This time last year we were busy planning for our virtual conference and, being honest, a lot of people were not happy about our decision to hold an online conference instead of an in-person one. I understand why, and although it was the right decision for the Association last year, there were big conversations going on about the future of our conference programme. We did a survey to try and find out what our members wanted, to help inform our decision to hold an in person conference in 2024, and what that should look like.
We decided to go with an in-person conference for 2024 with a slightly different format to usual and with more options for people to choose. Despite this, it was a risky decision and I felt a lot of nerves. You can imagine how pleased we all were then, when we sold out this month. This year’s weekend course, which we had been so worried about, is fully booked.
This is entirely down to the wonderful school library community – so thank you. Thank you for giving us the right information, for engaging with us to make it a topic which appealed, and for booking on.
It is more proof that we are a part of a fantastic community (though we can feel very isolated on occasion) and that if we work together as a community we can achieve the things we need.
What am I looking forward to:
The beginning of April brings some leave, which I’m looking forward to (and happy holidays if that’s the case for you too!).
However, work also brings things to look forward to in April. The month will close with the Harper Collins Insight Presentation, which is always interesting, and mid-month we have the wonderful Pupil Library Assistant Award ceremony and an in-person board meeting, which promises to be a good day.
Highlights of this month:
March was a good month for many reasons. Launching the School Library CPD Programme (funded by the Foyle Foundation) was a great moment.
On the other end of the emotional scale, I was honoured to attend the celebration of Kate Saunders’ writing life. We heard about her from her friends and colleagues and heard an extract from her final book. It was an emotional evening, but I was very pleased to be able to be there.
Key SLA developments:
We’ve got some great training coming up – including Canva with Bev Humphrey and New to School Libraries (which is always amazing!). Plans are underway for Weekend Course 2025 (let us know who you want to hear from), and judging is well underway for our school library awards and the Information Book Award.
Have a great month.