Tag Archives: Libraries

Bialik College Futures Forum

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David Feighan, the Director, Libraries and Learning Resources at Bialik College has kindly shared the following information:

I can confirm that the podcasts of the Bialik Learning Futures Forum, which we promised to share with the wider school library community, are now available.

The Learning Futures / Learning Spaces Forum focused on the changes to the physical and online learning spaces in Australian schools. The forum considered:

  • How the new school libraries being built in Australia work within current and emerging education pedagogues.
  • How the physical library and online library and learning spaces work together to best meet the needs of schools.
  • The rise of learning / information commons in universities and schools, and
  • The rise of social media platforms in education settings.

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Speakers include:

A. Professor Leon Sterling, Chair of Software Innovation and Engineering, Swinburne University

B. Jon Peacock, General Manager, Learning Environments at University of Melbourne

CoLABorateC. Dr Scott Bulfin, Lecturer, Monash University Faculty of Education

D. Jenny Luca, Head of Information Services, Toorak College

E. Mary Manning, Executive Officer, School Library Association of Victoria

F. David Feighan, Director, Libraries and Learning Resources, Bialik College

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If you are involved in planning a new library or wanting to revamp your resources and services, this forum is a must listen source! Thanks David and Bialik for sharing this wonderful information and to the speakers for their knowledge and ideas.

Bialik College

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The library staff at Bialik College are preparing for their new library to be completed. In the meantime, they have produced a number of resources about the library. These include:

Information about the new Bialik library building including:

  • facts about the new library,
  • construction photos and floor plans,
  • information on the spaces in the new building, and
  • how the new library will support teaching the curriculum and build a culture of learning, independent thinking, and reading within the Bialik community.

A number of photos of the construction of the library are also available here. We thank David Feighan, the Director, Libraries and Learning Resources and his team for providing this exciting information and look forward to seeing the physical library completed along with more news on the developing virtual library.

IFLA world report

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Last week this email arrived from IFLA, alerting interested parties of the release of the 2010 World Report:

IFLA is pleased to announce the launch of its brand new World Report. For the first time, the World Report is being made available online in a fully searchable database, complete with graphical map interface. By clicking on a country’s marker, you can either select “View individual report” if you would like to view a single country’s report or “Add to report list” in order to view multiple countries in one report.

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The report includes questions on:

  • Internet access in libraries
  • Copyright
  • Library initiatives for providing information to different categories of citizens (such as senior citizens, women, the disabled and visually impaired)
  • The role of libraries in universal primary education and environmental sustainability
  • And much more!

The report has been developed by a team at the University of Pretoria led by Professor Theo Bothma and contains details of the library environment in 122 countries. Users have the possibility to add comments to the report as a whole or to individual country reports. The analysis of the data shows on one hand that there are still many countries where violations of intellectual freedom occur – such incidents were reported in 109 of the 122 countries- and on the other that there are many positive aspects where individual libraries have implemented innovative projects to improve access to information. 

Full details of the report are available here.

In relation to the report, Helen Boelens has also sent the following information:

The IFLA World report has just been made available. In Section 5 of the report, the countries which sent information have been asked to provide information about the role of libraries in universal primary education. This information is of interest to many of us. I suggest that, if your country has submitted information to the report, you should look at the information which has been provided to the international community.

I have noticed that it is also possible to comment on the information which is contained in the report but have not checked this out yet. Please note that it very important to look at the name of the institution which submitted information to the World Report.

Please take the time to investigate this important report.

National Year of Reading 2012

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What brilliant news! A National Year of Reading for 2012 has been announced.

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So far the website has only the basics, but will adding much more content for

  • children
  • adults
  • reading professionals
  • events

There are, however, already a number of flyers, logos and videos available to view, use and distribute. A year to celebrate one of the things we love – how exciting!

Adventures in Library Instruction podcast

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This is a great idea! Adventures in library instruction is a monthly hour long podcast (available in mp3) “about teaching information literacy in libraries.”

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School and University librarians are often interviewed and a range of topics including technology and assessment are discussed.

Listeners can gain access to podcasts via the blog, or by subscribing to the podcast in iTunes. A really great idea and very relevant for those of us in the library field.

History of soccer in South Africa and free game

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For anyone studying or interested in the World Cup, the BBC has produced a five minute video of the history of soccer in South Africa. The video is available to viewers in Australia (not always the case with BBC videos).

Kim Baker, the Programme Executive: Document Supply and Information Services at the National Library of South Africa says “Some nice publicity showing the worth of libraries and how they can add value to sport!”

Thanks to Helen Boelens for this link.

Free Soccer Game

For soccer fans comes the free game Can I play this at home? Ideal for schools, this site uses geography, maths and language tasks to help players progress through the soccer game. Select your team and you’re away. It is actually a lot of fun.

Thanks to Greg Pallis for submitting this resource.

New and improved site from State Library of Victoria

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The State Library of Victoria has just relaunched its website. With an amazing wealth of information, activities and events, checking out the new SLV website is a must.
Homepage

Homepage

Hamish Curry, Education & Onsite Learning Manager in the Learning Services area of the State Library of Victoria explains:
This revamped site opens up a great deal of new opportunities to bring our collections and services to the surface; be sure to check out the ‘Learn’, ‘Explore’ and ‘What’s On’ sections.
Professional learning
Online learning resources
Online learning resources such as:
are included.
Professional learning
Professional learning
The professional learning page (above) caters for:
slv 4

Student and teacher resources

The Student and teacher resources page (above) provides resources related to:

  • Specific websites for schools (such as ergo, Insideadog)
  • SLV blogs
  • Audio and video resources
  • Education kits

So many fantastic resources available in the one place, the newly revamped SLV website is an absolute treasure.

Museums, Libraries and 21st Century Skills

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This document, from the United States’ Institute of Museum and Library Services (“the primary source of federal support for the nation’s 123,000 libraries and 17,500 museums. The Institute’s mission is to create strong libraries and museums that connect people to information and ideas”) provides important information about helping library users develop 21st century skills.

Although primarily developed for public libraries, there is much that can be transferred to school libraries. The website explains:

The Museums, Libraries, and 21st Century Skills initiative underscores the critical role our nation’s museums and libraries play in helping citizens build such 21st century skills as information, communications and technology literacy, critical thinking, problem solving, creativity, civic literacy, and global awareness.

And the following items seem to be exactly what many schools need to address:

Specifically, this work aims to help library and
museum leaders:
• Envision the library/museum’s role in providing
lifelong learning experiences, specifically around
21st century skills;
• Inventory the 21st century skills and practices
currently in use by the library/museum;
• Identify goals for future operation and program
improvements;
• Build awareness among policymakers and the
public about the unique value these institutions
provide to the nation’s learning systems.
  • Envision the library/museum’s role in providing lifelong learning experiences, specifically around 21st century skills;
  • Inventory the 21st century skills and practices currently in use by the library/museum;
  • Identify goals for future operation and program improvements;
  • Build awareness among policymakers and the public about the unique value these institutions provide to the nation’s learning systems.

    • A notable point from the document applies to all schools:

    The need to enhance 21st century skills is a compelling national imperative. Built on a foundation of deep content mastery, these skills are the new workforce requirements for maintaining U.S. global competitiveness and ensuring each person’s personal and professional success.

    If you are addressing, or wanting your school to address the development of 21st century skills, this document is a good starting point.

    Help for Haiti’s libraries

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    Helen Boelens kindly forwarded this information to Bright Ideas:

    Here is information provided by IFLA (The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions ) via Karen Usher, who is the secretary of the IFLA – School Libraries and Resource Centers Section about how (school) librarians can help colleagues in Haiti.

    On behalf of ANCBS, Karl von Habsburg, President, sends this message:

    The Association of National Committees of the Blue Shield (ANCBS) wants to help the people of Haiti.

    The earthquake in Haiti of 12th January has caused an enormous devastation. The amount of people that lost their lives is beyond imagination. At the moment basic humanitarian aid and the rebuilding of a functioning infrastructure is crucial.

    However, as soon as the situation in Haiti has become more stable, Blue Shield wants to help to enable experts from all over the world to support their Haitian colleagues in assessing the damage to the cultural heritage and therefore to the identity of their country. Subsequently, Blue Shield wants to support recovery, restoration and repair measures necessary to rebuild libraries, archives, museums, monuments and sites.

    An important task of ANCBS is to coordinate information. ANCBS needs to know who and where the experts are. ANCBS therefore calls upon archivists, restorers, curators, librarians, architects and other experts to register online as a volunteer.

    ANCBS wants to be able to bring experts in contact with those organizations that will send missions to Haiti, and make sure that volunteers will be informed about the situation in Haiti.

    Please join Blue Shield to help your Haitian colleagues.

    You may find the application form via: http://haiti2010.blueshield-international.org/.

    For the statement of Blue Shield on the Haitian earthquake see: http://www.ancbs.org/.

    The actions of Blue Shield can also be followed on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?v=info&gid=247281734340 and Twitter: http://twitter.com/blueshieldcoop.

    Please feel free to spread this message!