Australian School Library Association > About > Annual report 30 August 2004

Annual report

Australian School Library Association Incorporated

Annual General Meeting, 30th August 2004
Annual report

Presented by the ASLA President, Mary-Ann Salisbury

ASLA has had a very successful twelve months with significant advances being achieved in the areas of advocacy, research and strategic planning. The current Executive members have completed the two years of their term of office, and I would like to thank them for their hard work for the association during this time.

Strategic Direction

ASLA’s new constitution was accepted in February. One of the major changes for the Association is that all meetings are now National Council meetings, with all Councillors participating, rather than a combination of Standing Committee meetings and one National Council meeting. A new position of President Elect has been created on Executive as a measure of succession planning for the Association. 

A Strategic Plan has been developed, and planning groups of Councillors have been identified to implement and further develop this Plan. Key Areas that have been identified for the coming year include Research, Advocacy, Publications and Projects.

Advocacy

The publication Impact of School Libraries on Student Achievement: a review of the research was distributed to peak national and state/territory bodies and personnel during 2004.

ASLA was represented on a number of National bodies and forums including Peak Library Bodies Forum, Forum on Library Services for People with Disabilities, and the ANZIIL forum on Information Literacy.

ASLA responded to reviews and inquiries at the National level including the Digital Agenda Review and the Inquiry into the National Institute for Quality Teaching and School Leadership.

Publications

A new ACCESS Editor, Peter Nibbs, has been appointed from the beginning of 2004. Council has approved a proposal for ACCESS to become a refereed journal, beginning with the inclusion of one refereed article in the first issue 2005.

New Publication

The Learning for the Future: Professional Development kit is due for completion by June Wall (Past President) by end of August 2004 ready for sales to start beginning of September.

Research

Michele Lonsdale’s review of the research on the impact of school libraries on student achievement identified a number of gaps in the research that had been carried out since 1990. ASLA facilitated a meeting of various stakeholders in October 2003 to develop a strategy for ASLA to continue research on behalf of the profession. The result is that ASLA has signed a partnership agreement with Charles Sturt University to investigate Smart Information Use in Schools.

ALIA –ASLA Liaisons

ASLA endorsed the continuation of liaison with ALIA in the amalgamation of the two previous committees to the ALIA-ASLA Joint Policy Advisory Group. This group finalised the Alliances/Advocacy Directory and the Standards of Professional Excellence for Teacher Librarians for endorsement by both Associations.

Conferences

ASLA hosted its first very successful online conference.  One hundred and eighty people registered for ASLA Online I: Constructing communities of learning and literacy. The proceedings of the conference are on sale through the ASLA office.

The next ASLA conference, ASLA XIX: Meeting the Challenge, will be hosted by ASLA ACT 10 – 13 April 2005 in Canberra

Awards

ASLA Citation 2003 was awarded to Ruth Jones, ASLA NT in recognition of her contribution to the Association.

The inaugural Australian Teacher Librarian of the Year Award was presented to Bev Endersbee, SLASA in recognition of her work as an exceptional teacher librarian in a school setting.