ASLA National Journal - Editorial

 

Access, Vol. 25, issue 4, 2011, p.1.

Welcome to the last issue for 2012 and the last issue in our current format.I am delighted to announce that we will be redesigning Access and moving to full-colour print for 2012. We are very excited about this and we hope you will love your new-look journal.

ASLA's new publisher is Cambridge Media, who will assist us in this transition process. Simon Henriques, Sales Director, attended the ASLA XXII Biennial Conference to meet with exhibitors and chat to a few ASLA Board members.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank John de Lacey and Jodie Browne at Research Publications for all their hard work over the years and their support of Access. It has been great to work with you.

This issue is packed with exciting news of awards for teacher librarians. Maureen Twomey was announced as the Australian Teacher Librarian of the Year 2011 at a presentation ceremony on Wednesday 26 October. Jo Sherrin was awarded the Australian Primary Teacher of the Year Award at the 2011 Australian Awards for Outstanding Teaching and School Leadership ceremony held in Melbourne on Thursday 13 October. And Pru Mitchell received the ASLA Citation 2011 Award at the ASLA XXII Biennial Conference in Sydney on Sunday 2 October. Congratulations to you all.

You will also enjoy many excellent feature articles in this issue. Firstly, you can read about Jo Sherrin's innovative local environmental history kit called the Hartley Project.

Then Lori Korodaj takes a sometimes irreverent look at the stereotype of the teacher librarian and ponders the future of the profession.

Gary Green writes a challenging article about leadership in the school library and the role of the teacher librarian in leading learning within the school rather than merely being a resource provider.

Finally, Robyn Markus-Sandgren examines the process of 'Finding information: a reconnoitre from wiki search to research'.

I have included the very entertaining speech Sue McKerracher gave at the themed dinner at the ASLA XXII Biennial Conference. See if you can recognise some of the witches and Harry Potter characters in the photos! There is also the latest news about the National Year of Reading 2012.

You can read all about Lee FitzGerald in this issue's profile and I hope you enjoy Lori Korodaj's review of James E Herring's book, Improving Students' Web Use and Information Literacy.

Finally, of course, we have the FAQ pages and Buzz reports about various activities across the country in library world.

I would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a very happy Christmas and all the best for a relaxing summer holiday.

Happy reading!
Rachel Hoare , Editor

Last updated November 2011