Andrew Stark: Understanding Space in the Library Landscape

At our most recent network meeting, hosted at UWCSEA East, we had the pleasure of Andrew Stark, Head of Libraries at The Southport School in Queensland, Australia, speak on the topic of "Understanding Space in the Library Landscape."

To read the text of his presentation -- click here.

We did video him, but the audio isn't the best.  Still, it's better than nothing.

To watch his presentation -- click here or see below.

Note that Andrew instituted the International Librarian Symposium in 2014 at The Southport School.  The next one -- in 2016 -- will be on the theme: "Space and Place; Power and Purpose."  Registration is now open!

Welcoming Social - Fri Aug 21.... and a new online sharing space for us TLs in Asia....

There's a new Facebook group for teacher-librarians working in Asia, started by Dianne McKenzie, called Asia School Library Connection.

I would encourage you all to join.  I think it's a nice complement to the ECIS iSkoodle one.  Dianne, as many of you know, has been in Hong Kong for many years, most recently at Discovery College and Renaissance College, but has now gone freelance, with a special focus on IB Workshops.

Her blog is Library Grits -- and her website is School Librarian Connection. 

She's leading an IB Diploma Librarians workshop at our East campus Fri-Sun, Aug 21-23, and I thought it would be nice to meet some of the people attending -- and catch up with our network members.  So we are hosting a little wine and cheese thing in Barb Reid's primary library starting about 5pm that Friday.  (It's "Meet the Mentor" - i.e., homeroom teacher - that night for high school, so the Secondary Library is being used for presentations.)

Click here for an RSVP form to the Friday, August 21, 5pm Welcoming Social.

Would love to see you then -- if not, remember, our first meeting of the year will be on Wednesday, September 16th, at the new Dulwich College Singapore campus in Laura Taylor's library - 4:00 for 4:30pm start.

Back after the long break -- and a Red Dot update

Those of us on the northern hemisphere academic schedule are slowly starting up again after the long break.

We look forward to seeing each other at our upcoming meeting, Wednesday, Sept. 10th in the Primary Library at the German European School (GESS), 300 Jalan Jurong Kechil, Singapore, 598668 -- 4:00 pm for a 4:30 pm start.  An agenda will be forthcoming, via the Google Group.

Ranita Smart, our host, says while parking is available, no one is allowed to drive into the campus between 4:00-4:20 pm, as the school buses leave at that time -- so plan to arrive before or after that 20-minute window, if you are driving.

There should be several new faces in the crowd.  Not only do we have a few new schools (e.g., GEMS World Academy and Dulwich College), but also the replacements of our former colleagues, e.g., at the Canadian school (Lisa and Isabel), the German school (Ruth), Eton House (Carla), OFS (Jeroen), UWCSEA East (Debbie), SAS (John Johnson), etc. 

NB:  New school librarians in Singapore:  you as an individual are free to attend our general meetings.  Just come along.  The benefits of having your school join as a paying member are outlined here -- and relate to professional development opportunities that we provide.   We do recommend you join our Google Group in order to receive email updates re meetings and blog updates.  The only requirement is that you sign up with a valid Google Account email.

Re Red Dots:  New people should read the write-up I did of the history and evolution of the Red Dot Book Awards (here).  All schools are encouraged to participate every year.  And all ISLN members are welcome to be on the committee which sets the 8 titles for each of the 4 categories of readers.  Read the May blog post on the longlists here. 

I notice that only 3 of us have signed up to be on the Red Dot committee so far.  Link to Google Doc here.  I'm going to consider this document open for the next week -- and then we will try to settle subcommittee meeting times for Early/Young Readers and Older/Mature Readers before the Sept. 10th meeting.  We have to get going on it.

The goal is to announce the sets of Red Dot titles by the end of September -- and it's always a stretch, time-wise.  October is a no-go month for our network -- because of differing holiday schedules -- so sometimes we don't manage it until the end of October. Yet we know schools need to be ordering the books -- as the voting takes place in early March.

The Readers Cup competition (which is based on a subset of the Red Dot titles) takes place in late May.  We will be asking for a new committee to organize this at the Sept. 10th general meeting.  After last year's event, there were several discussions about how to improve it -- both in content and organization.  I feel if we are going to introduce changes, people need to know by our November meeting.  So if you are interested in the organization of the Readers Cup, be prepared to raise your hand in September!

Looking forward to seeing you all on Sept. 10th -- and to seeing my Red Dot Committee spreadsheet fill up a bit.

Upcoming AGM and general meeting on Monday, April 28th -- plus a plug for the AFCC in May/June

Don't forget the upcoming ISLN meeting in the secondary school library at UWCSEA East.  That's Tampines (not the Dover campus).  Tampines St. 73 is very short -- you can't miss the building and there's only one entrance.  Yes, there's parking.  We're just off Tampines Avenue 10 -- not far from IKEA.  That's Monday, Apr 28th, 4:00 for 4:00pm start. 

Besides the Annual General Meeting business, we've got Denise Tan from Closetful of Books coming with a display of books, especially regional ones, for us to browse.  She'll undoubtedly have books by many of the authors that you'll get a chance to hear at the AFCC at the end of May (see details further on) -- as Denise is coordinating school visits for the AFCC authors.

There is also going to be a short presentation by Geraldine Reilly, head of sales at Twig, an Australian educational company: 

Tigtag is the one-stop resource with over 600 outstanding films, lesson plans and classroom activities to support your science teaching and inspire students.

If you want to start a free trial of the product before the meeting, contact her via email:  greilly@twig-world.com .

Other information to be imparted includes an update on the Readers Cup competition in May and an outline of the process of determining shortlists for next year's Red Dot Book Awards.

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A reminder about the AFCC (the Asian Festival of Children's Content), May 31-June 3.  Registration is open.  The cost for the Writers & Illustrators Conference, June 1-3, is $350, but we usually get a 10% discount -- which would make it $315.  You can also get a one-day ticket for $200.

See their website: http://afcc.com.sg/  and this PDF brochure: http://afcc.com.sg/images/uploads/2014/AFCC14-teaser-1.pdf .

The country focus this year is India.

The children's literature lecture will be given on the evening of Monday, June 1, by Fatima Sharafeddine.

Our distinguished speaker is Fatima Sharafeddine, an award-winning Lebanese writer twice been nominated for the prestigious Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award. A writer and translator of children’s books, Fatima has published over 100 books including Grandpa's Donkey (Arab Thought Foundation Award, 2012), The Book of Laughter and Crying (Anna Lindh Foundation Regional Award, 2011), and Princesses of the World (IBBY Translator Honor List, 2012). She lives between Belgium and Lebanon, and participates in several international book fairs as well as offers workshops in writing for children. Most of her books are published in Arabic, and several have been translated to various European languages, among which are Dutch, Danish, Spanish, French, German, and English.

See the full list of speakers here: http://afcc.com.sg/2014/speakers

I note under the "Book and Product Launches" that they have collected essays based on last year's AFCC -- with its focus on Malaysia -- into a book called "One Big Story" edited by Dr. Myra Garces-Bacsal:

Minutes of last meeting: Feb. 6, 2014

Click here to read the minutes of the general meeting on February 6, 2014, at Tanglin Trust School in the junior library.

Jacqui Makselon gave a detailed presentation on their three-year project to improve professional development opportunities for library support staff at Tanglin Trust.



The next meeting is at UWCSEA East (Tampines) in the secondary library.  4:00 for 4:30pm start.  This will be our Annual General Meeting (AGM).

Minutes of the last meeting: December 5, 2013

Click here to read the minutes of the general meeting on December 5, 2013.

The Canadian school librarians put on a generous spread of Christmas goodies.  Many thanks!

The next meeting is at Tanglin Trust School, Junior Library, on February 6th.

AGM Minutes & Nancy Johnson's Caldecott Presentation

The minutes from our April 22nd AGM are available here.

And here is Nancy Johnson's slide presentation.

Rukhsana Khan, guest speaker this Thursday

As you know, our next general meeting is this Thursday, December 6 at Stamford American International School, 4:00 for a 4:30pm start.  (We get to see Kim Klein's new library!)

Sean Chia from Cengage will be talking to us about their digital products and the possibility of us forming a consortium for reduced pricing.

Rukhsana Khan, the Canadian author, is in Singapore doing a two-week stint at SAS with Kate Brundage and Alison Cuthbert.  So we've invited her to our meeting as a special guest and speaker.

The Official Website of Author & Storyteller Rukhsana Khan ~ RukhsanaKhan.com via kwout

The Executive Committee has also decided to provide pizza from the Canadian Pizza Company (halal) for delivery at 6pm.  Yes, free pizza to go with the free wine.  So stay and socialize.

Click here to fill out an RSVP form.  Please do it before Tuesday, Dec. 4th, so Kim will know the numbers for catering purposes.

SAIS is located at 279 Upper Serangoon Road, right next to the Woodleigh MRT station.  Please go to Gate 2.  The library is in the Lincoln Building, fourth floor.

Next general network meeting: Thursday, Dec. 6

We hope to see you all next Saturday at Hands on Literacy at AISS.

If not, we will see you at the next general network meeting Thursday, December 6, at Stamford American International School, where Kim Klein will be hosting us in her new library space.

4:00 pm for 4:30 pm start.

Address:  279 Upper Serangoon Road  (1 Woodleigh Lane), 347691

A look at ISLN dates for the next 10 months

A look-ahead at the upcoming (northern hemisphere) academic year, in terms of dates.


CORRECTION re location of Sep 13th meeting at AISS.  Not in the Senior Library, but in the Junior one (enter via Gate 3).


ISLN Network meetings

• Thursday, September 13 @ AISS Junior Library
• December @ SAIS
• February @ OFS
• April @ UWCSEA Dover (AGM)

NB: We rotate the day of the week for our network meetings, in fairness to people's other after-school commitments.  So the December, February, and April dates will be on a day of the week that suits the host librarian, but will not be on a Thursday.

Hands on Literacy Conference - Saturday, November 17

Red Dot Awards & Readers Cup

• September - shortlist announced
• March - Red Dot voting and announcement of subset of books to be used in the Readers Cup
• May - Readers Cup

Mon, April 23: Annual General Meeting etc.

REMINDER:

Annual General Meeting

Monday, April 23

4:00 for 4:30 pm start

Canadian International School, Jurong Campus

Click here for directions to the new Lakeside campus in Jurong

RSVP to Lisa Patton

PRE-MEETING PD SESSION:

Follett eBooks 1:30pm

run by Jenna Emerson

Topics on the agenda:
-- Election of new officers
-- Professional development -- upcoming events (AFCC, ALA, IASL Doha, etc.)
-- Readers Cup -- May 10th -- update on teams/rules/sample questions
-- Red Dot longlist nominations for next year
-- Hands on Literacy conference (Nov. 17) subcommittees -- volunteers needed
(yes!  Joyce Valenza will be our keynote)
-- Schedule of network meeting dates/venues for the next 12 months

APD Books will have a display of titles on special promotion to our members.  See the separate blog post for details.

April 23rd: Pre-meeting PD: Follett eBooks Workshop

The next ISLN meeting is Monday, April 23rd, at the new Canadian International School -- Lakeside campus.  4:00 for 4:30 start -- and it will be our Annual General Meeting.

There is a pre-meeting PD opportunity starting at 1:30pm on the same day.  Jenna Emerson is going to run a Follett workshop focusing on eBooks in our catalogs (how to order, import, and circulate, etc.) -- as well as whatever other new stuff re Destiny or Titlewave she wants to show us.

This will obviously be of interest to people with Destiny, but others (e.g., Oliver users) may want to attend as well -- as they also can buy/use Follett eBooks.

Please RSVP to Lisa Patton (lpatton@cis.edu.sg) if you are interested.  UWC and CIS staff are already committed to attending.

We still intend to have PD time in network meetings, but we thought pre-meeting afternoons might offer us other opportunities.  So this is a trial of sorts.

REMINDER: Network meeting, Tuesday, Feb. 7th at Tanglin Junior Library

Date:  Tues, Feb 7, 2012

Time:  4:00 for 4:30 pm start

Location:  Junior Library, Tanglin Trust School

RSVP to celeste.fisher@tts.edu.sg

Please come prepared to share in one or two ways:

-- Read any good children/young-adult literature lately?  Let's start collecting possible titles for next year's Red Dot award.  Bring along your recommendations and do a quick book-talk for us.  (Published in the past 4 years, please!)

-- Discovered or experienced anything exciting relating to school librarianship recently?   A new app?  Online tool?  Conference?  PD experience?  A great article or blog post?  Come prepared to share.

Agenda

• Welcome - apologies
• Children's Literature Conference -Kate will have some books to share showcasing authors and illustrators from the coming conference. Have you registered? Have you shared this exciting opportunity at your school?
• Charities and Service - Kate
• Hands on Literacy - update - Katie.
• Red Dot Awards - Kim.
• Red Dot 2012/13 recommendations (SHARE SESSION)
• Blog updates - Kim
• Readers' Cup - Joy- eligibility of schools in the region
• iPad apps evening? - Ben
• PD spotlight (SHARE SESSION)

Questions?  Email Linda Twitchett, our president