Annual Report

Australian School Library Association Inc.

Annual General Meeting, 7 August 2009
Presented by Rob Moore (ASLA President)

Strategic Direction
Policy statement review completed with revised policies accepted and adopted in February 2009.
Special teleconference involving all member associations and specialist guests, John Peacock (Associations Forum P/L) and Janet Reynolds (HEIA) held in November 2008 to further explore future directions for ASLA. John Peacock submitted the "Optional Structural Change for ASLA Inc and Member Associations" paper for ASLA’s consideration in early 2009. Terms of reference for a further paper were submitted in May 2009 with the paper due to be delivered in August. John will speak to the paper and work with ASLA National Councillors at our August face-to-face meeting in Sydney.

Advocacy
ASLA represented at Rudd Government briefing on Building Education Revolution (BER) in February by Sue Martin. With BER focus, ASLA developed the position statement on school libraries in Australia in March.
Teaching Australia – When Teaching Australia called for members from Network Associations to be involved in planning the August Network Forum ASLA responded and Executive Officer, Karen Bonanno has been heavily involved in driving this event. President and Vice President Association Relations will attend (30-31 August) as Executive Officer will be overseas at IASL Conference.
National Curriculum Board reformed into Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) in May 2009 with Professor Barry McGaw remaining as Chair. ASLA is maintaining relationship with ACARA and Robert Randall (Acting General Manager, Curriculum) will speak at our August face-to-face meeting in Sydney.

ASLA/ALIA Relations
Continued to build on alliance with ALIA through discussions and the PAG. Revision and development of shared policies finalised and adopted in February 2009. President and Executive Officer represented ASLA at the ALIA Dreaming’08 Conference and presented a session showcasing teacher librarian excellence with Anne Lockwood (NSW Australian Teacher Librarian of the Year nominee 2007).

Publications
ACCESS continues as the major publication of ASLA, including referred articles. Peter Nibbs resigned as ACCESS editor after Issue 2, 2009 to pursue other career opportunities. New Editor, Rachel Hoare co-edited this issue to facilitate handover of the position and will take over editing from Issue 3.
Themes for Learning in a Changing World publications finalised and authors commissioned. Publications due in second half of 2009.

Research
Survey results from the Australian School Libraries Research Project released in May 2009.

Conferences
ASLA XXI organising committee have had a very busy year preparing the 2009 National Conference in Perth (29 September to 2 October).
ASLA XXII initial proposal from ASLA (NSW) tabled with plan to use Executive Officer for conference management.

Awards
Teacher Librarian of the Year Award which is sponsored by Pledger Consulting Pty Ltd (LinksPlus/WebLinks) was presented to Jan Radford from Delany College, Granville, New South Wales. The judges commented that, “Jan’s nomination provided evidence of an encouraging, supportive and challenging teacher librarian who has met all the criteria for the award. Her active role, interpersonal skills and driving force with both the students and teaching staff shows she is held in high regard throughout the school. Jan has confidently translated this all into the big picture of learning and meaningful experiences for the whole school.”

THANK YOU
Peter Nibbs for your excellent work as ACCESS Editor. You have overseen the growth of ASLA’s key publication into a professional journal of which we may all be proud. We thank you for your efforts and wish you well in your future endeavours.
Karen Bonanno for another tireless year as ASLA Executive Officer. Your devotion to ASLA is second to none.
All ASLA Councillors for continuing to give your time, energy and experience to the national work of Teacher Librarians. As ASLA prepares to make key decisions about the future direction of this peak body, your role in determining and managing this will be crucial.

Last updated August 2009