School Library Association Research Articles

Learning life skills

Meg Barclay, education consultant and early years reviewer for the School Library Association, reviews books which help children learn some of the key skills they will need later in life

Educational reads

Meg Barclay, education consultant and early years reviewer for the School Library Association, reviews books which help children to build friendships, learn about stories from India and be introduced to key mathematical concepts

Spring reads

Meg Barclay, educational consultant and early years reviewer for the School Library Association, reviews books which help children learn about the natural environment and develop a love of nature, as well as explore their emotions.

Changing nature

Meg Barclay, educational consultant and early years reviewer for the School Library Association, reviews books that support children to cope with change in various forms, and learn about the importance of the Okavango Delta as well as protecting our planet

Picture Book Reviews

Richard Willis, visiting professor at the University of South Wales, reviews a book about Friedrich Froebel, the ‘father of kindergarten’, and his educational theories and legacy for early childhood education. Meg Barclay, education consultant and early years reviewer for the School Library Association, reviews picture books which teach young children about the seasons, explore friendship and introduce babies to stories and illustrations for the first time.

Professional Book Reviews

Richard Willis, visiting professor at the University of South Wales, reviews a book about Friedrich Froebel, the ‘father of kindergarten’, and his educational theories and legacy for early childhood education. Meg Barclay, education consultant and early years reviewer for the School Library Association, reviews picture books which teach young children about the seasons, explore friendship and introduce babies to stories and illustrations for the first time.

Professional Book Reviews

Richard Willis, visiting professor at the University of South Wales, reviews a book containing activities to help early years professionals work with young children who are neurodivergent. Meg Barclay, educational consultant and early years reviewer for the School Library Association, reviews picture books which support children who are about to become siblings for the first time, help children understand emotions in overwhelming situations and introduce them to animals living in different parts of the world.

PROFESSIONAL BOOK REVIEWS

Richard Willis, visiting professor at the University of South Wales, reviews a book which argues for the increased incorporation of slow pedagogies and slow knowledge in early childhood education and care (ECEC). The title won the Professional Book of the Year at the Nursery World Awards 2023. Meg Barclay, educational consultant and early years reviewer for the School Library Association reviews picture books which help support young readers' understanding of different emotions, the natural world and the concept of maps.

Professional Book Reviews

Richard Willis, visiting professor at the University of South Wales, reviews a book about technology in early childhood education. Meg Barclay, educational consultant and early years reviewer for the School Library Association, reviews seasonal picture books which introduce children to winter and Christmas, as well as how to cope with and understand anxiety in an age appropriate way.

Book Reviews

Meg Barclay, educational consultant and early years reviewer for the School Library Association, reviews a book which explains how to build different outdoor structures for children to play with using recycled wooden pallets. The picture books help support the understanding the world area of learning, as well as introduce readers to what life is like for someone with autism and help to reassure those who may have sleep anxiety.

School Libraries Role in Connected Learning: Perception of School Librarians in Nigeria

Connected learning (CL) aims at bridging the gap between in-school and out-of-school learning, thus, learning now takes place not only in the classroom setting. Libraries as nexus of informal learning space are appropriate spaces for connected learning. Observation shows that CL has not been embraced in Nigeria. Therefore, this study examined the perception of school librarians on the roles of school libraries in CL, challenges of CL, and solutions. School librarians that attended the national workshop organized by the Nigerian School Library Association (NSLA) participated in the focus group discussion. The findings revealed perceived roles of school libraries in CL, challenges of CL in Nigeria, and solutions proffered.

Shelftalkers: Empowering Student Voice

This paper will describe a new initiative of the School Library Association of Victoria. Shelftalkers is a website that publishes 100-word student reviews of texts they are reading or have been sent by arrangement with publishers for review. The process is facilitated by the school library and is open to students of any age. The project aims to give students a voice, give school library staff and publishers an insight into student views, and allows participating school libraries to be central players in the literacy development and reading culture of their respective schools.

The landmark book on Nicholas Rubakin

Review of the book: Stolyarov Yu. Rubakin revisited / Yury N. Stolyarov: Russian School Library Association ; Librarianship Department of the International Informatization Academy ; Russian State Library ; Research Center of Book Culture Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences ; National Library of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). – Moscow : RUSLA, 2019. – 416 p., ill.The reviewer emphasizes the importance of the reviewed book, as Nicholas Rubakin’s work of researcher and educator, has not been studied comprehensively yet. The publication coincides with Rubakin’s 160-th anniversary. The reviewer characterizes the book structure and the contents of its five chapters: “The Life”, “The Foreign Native”, “The Focus of N. A. Rubakin’s Creative Interests”, “Bibliopsychological Portraits”, and “The Author of Integral Philosophy”.Yu. N. Stolyarov characterizes Nicholas Rubakin as a science communicator, expert of self-education and (kids) reading guidance and, most of all, as a founder of bibliopsychological theory. The reviewer examines the key works by Rubakin for each of the above-mentioned areas, e.g. “The secret of library work success”, “What the bibliological psychology is”, The Psychology of readers and books”, “Importance of the books”, “On the methodology of the book business”, “The book market in Soviet Russia and its psychology”. The reviewer makes a focus on Rubakin’s masterwork –“Among books” and on Stolyarov’s footnotes that expand the book text and reader knowledge, and points to the book design.

Students' Information Literacy Needs: Competencies for Teacher-Librarians in the Twenty-first Century

In 1995 Association for Teacher-librarianship in Canada (ATLC) and the Canadian School Library Association (CSLA), a division of the Canadian Library Association, established a joint committee to define the competencies necessary for effective teacher-librarians for the twenty-first century. The project was intended to revise the Canadian School Library Association's Qualifications for Teacher-librarians (1979) and to serve the needs of both teacher-librarians and educational administrators.

LAG - The Regional German School Library Association of Hesse


 
 
 A report on successful projects and the humble chance to establish a school library system in a German state.
 
 

Connect 2.0

The use of Web 2.0 has fostered a major shift from the dominance of independent study to more collaborative and interactive learning. This is reflected in the curriculum expectations in Victoria, Australia where students develop as creative, active and inquiring learners. Web 2.0 technologies provide an ideal medium for this curriculum model to be realised. This presentation illustrates the journey made possible through the ongoing partnership and shared objectives of the Victorian Department of Education and Early Childhood Development (DEECD) and the School Library Association of Victoria in identifying, sharing and exploring best possible online resources and tools for 21st Century learning.

MLC Libraries – a school library’s journey with students, staff and Web 2.0 technologies

This workshop paper explores the Web 2.0 journey of the MLC Libraries’ teacher-librarians, librarian, library and audio visual technicians. Our journey was initially inspired by Will Richardson and supported by the School Library Association of Victoria (SLAV) Web 2.0 professional development program. The 12 week technological skills program ‘23 things’ assisted in motivating the MLC Libraries’ team to adopt Web 2.0 technologies into their daily work with students and staff

New Discoveries in N. A. Rubakin’s Works

In the review of the monograph by Yury Nikolayevich Stolyarov (Stolyarov Yu. N. Rubakin regained / Yu. N. Stolyarov. – Moscow: RSLA (Russian School Library Association), 2019. – 416 p. : il.)Yu. Stolyarov’s contribution to studying N. A. Rubakin’s legacy is emphasized. This publication is a unique, large scale study of Nikolay (Nicholas) A. Rubakin’s comprehensive creative and social activities as a library scientist, bibliographer, bibliognost, expert in psychology and sociology of reading, science communicator, talented writer, educator and a person of encyclopedic knowledge. The author’ respectful and efficient use of the research potential of dialectical approach enables to prove, at the substantial methodological level, the viability of Rubakin's main scientific brainchild, the theory of bibliopsychology based on an objective research framework and an unprecedented empirical findings. For the first time, the monograph author introduces significant factual and documentary evidence into scientific discourse, and proves that the method developed by Rubakin interrelating the book and the reader was ahead of time by a century. The influence of N. A. Rubakin’s predecessors, his teachers and students and their contributions to the theory and methods of bibliopsychology are discussed. Rubakin’s bibliopsychological portraits of prominent figures of his time are also of great scientific and historical value. The reviewers emphasize that Yu. N. Stolyarov’s monograph enriches significantly the library science, and is to facilitate further understanding of N. A. Rubakin’s contribution to the world book culture.

Discovering Nicholas A. Rubakin anew

Review of the book by Yu. N. Stolyarov. Vozvrashchenniy Rubakin [Rubakin regained; in Russian] / Yu. N. Stolyarov ; Russian School Library Association; Library Studies Department of the International Informatization Academy ; Russian State Library ; Research Center for Book Culture Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences ; National Library of Sakha Republic (Yakutia). —Moscow:RussianSchoolLibrary Association, 2019. — 415 p. : ill. In his new monograph, Yury N. Stolyarov discusses many aspects of Nicholas A. Rubakin’s life and work. N. A. Rubakin is an outstanding bibliographer and classic of the book science, father of bibliopsychology, one of the founders of library science, theorist and expert of self-education, popular exponent of science; new facts in Rubakin’s biography are discussed. The author presents previously unknown works by Rubakin and evaluates their significance for the book science; he also examines the possibility of applying Rubakin’s recommendations and practical conclusions in modern libraries for managing user self-education. That’s why Yu. Stolyarov’s monograph is seen as a new discovery of Rubakin’s heritage. The reviewer focuses on bibliopsychology, its provisions and significance for library and information studies. The historical context is reconstructed; Rbakin’s entourage and personages mentioned in the biography, from well-known political figures to front-line reporters are characterized. Rubakin’s reaction to V. Lenin’s review of the bibliography “Among the books” is of special significance for the history and theory of bibliographical science. The bibliological portraits of authors and readers developed by N. A. Rubakin are of special interest.

A Efforts and changes around school libraries in Sweden today. Part three – What’s new after Istanbul?

Introduction:
 As the IASL conference theme in Istanbul, Turkey was “Information, innovation and impact of school libraries” it is interesting, a year later, to focus on how the school library, as well as the school librarian, will have to adopt the field, as well as: looking back at the material brought out during the first two occasions of this theme, presented to the public at the IASL conferences in Long Beach (2017) and Istanbul (2018).
 The third part of the theme will mainly be a contribution of useful material and methods, practically applied in Sweden for over ten years. The material and methods function as an inspiration to the work and progress for school libraries and school librarians, both on a national and international level.
 This time a wider scale of the recurrent subject will be presented - mainly to create a practically developed knowledge adapted for school libraries. Knowledge ready to be transformed directly as the participants return to their homes, facing their own school library activities.
 Objectives of the presentation: The following subjects are set to be the material and methods, presented through the session:
 Efforts and changes around school libraries in Sweden today. Part three – What’s new after Istanbul?
 The topics are:
 
 Sweden’s reference group for school libraries - an effective working tool established and developed by The Swedish National agency for Education. 2. School library associations, networks, social media platforms, as well as digital portals and work modules, created by The Swedish National agency for Education – as useful working tools dedicated to each and every school librarian, located in the shadow of a nonexistent education for school librarians. 3. A future investment in a national school library education. Something that is not the reality in Sweden today, but will be, tough on a smaller scale, with a start in autumn 2020. A first start that hopefully will spread rings on the water to other major educational sites.
 
 The ambition is to give participants in Dubrovnik thoughts on how changes around school libraries can be done in a practical way. Also, learn how to use a reference group, where discussions can lead to knowledge. Learn more about the advantages of working with and through a school library association, as well as how to use different digital tools in a more effective way. And… if participants in Dubrovnik wants to use the material and methods directly during the conference – then there will for sure be even more knowledge to gain.