Nice One, 2000 - Not to be Missed

The draft program for the Nice 2000 ECIS Annual Conference (16-19 November) has been published. It's gonna be great!

Our guest speakers are Ross Todd and Tim Bowler. Ross is Department Head and Senior Lecturer in the University of Technology, Sydney. His studies include the impact of the library media center programme on student learning, and he was a promoter of information literacy long before the term became popular. His current special interest is information user behavior: how people interact with information, how it empowers some and disempowers others. His two double-sessions at the Conference deal with effective integration of the Internet into classroom practice, and at creating effective information-knowledge environments in schools.

Tim Bowler is author of four novels. The first, Midget, was published in 1982, but it was not until he became a full-time writer that his books began appearing regularly. Dragon's Rock was published in 1995, River Boy in 1997, and just recently Shadows. River Boy was a much-acclaimed winner of the Carnegie Medal in 1998. At the Conference, Tim will be talking about his own work, and also giving tips to writers of all levels and of all types on how to make their writing more effective.

There is much more. Once again, Follett Software and Follett Library Services are sponsoring a Librarians' Luncheon on the Friday. Entrance is ticket only, and the tickets will be distributed at the preceding Open Business Meeting of the Library and Information Services Committee.

We want the Open Business Meeting to be an opportunity for all librarians to contribute to the planning of future conferences - the Committee wants to hear your ideas and input, what you like and do not like, what you would like to see in the future, and any other ideas about what the Committee could be doing for librarians in ECIS schools.

Jennifer Nelson of Follett is also leading a session on the Accelerated Reader program. AR is now used in nearly 50,000 schools around the world, with great success. Jennifer offers the opportunity to find out more.

The SIRS/ECIS Information Exchange Award

This year's winner of the SIRS/ECIS Information Exchange Award is Dory Khayatt of International College, Beirut, Lebanon. Dory is Assistant Librarian, one of a team of twelve librarians who serve six libraries on two campuses - a situation very different to that which most of us enjoy. He has a degree in Library Science, and also has teaching qualifications. Dory's Head Librarian at the time was Rick Barter, well known to many of us in the ECIS community (Rick is now with the American School of London). In his application for the award, Dory wrote, "Foreign head librarians come and go, but I am a permanent member of this community. If I were to win this award, the experiences that I will gain will benefit not only me; they will benefit not only IC, they will benefit the whole professional community of school librarians in Lebanon." Wise words.

Dory is a worthy winner of this year's award and, what makes his achievement all the more remarkable, he is the first male librarian to receive it. Congratulations.

The SIRS/ECIS Information Exchange Award is sponsored by SIRS Publishing, Inc. The winning applicant gets to spend two weeks in Florida visiting the SIRS offices, local schools and colleges. The visit is arranged to fit the winner's professional needs and schedule. Each winner is invited to report on their experiences in the Link, and you can read many of these articles in the online Link archive.

Congratulations

Sam Matthews, Library Information Technology Resource and Curriculum Coordinator at the Egham campus of American Community Schools. Sam has achieved a rare double: his article "The Charted Library", describing Sam's integrated library and information technology curriculum, was published in the June edition of the Library Association Record; very soon afterwards Sam received news that he had passed certification requirements for Library Association Chartership.

As we went to press, we heard that Sam is leaving ACS. He has been offered a job with European Library Solutions, based in Dublin. It sounds an exciting change of direction. Good luck, Sam.

Michelle Altug is now an MLS - a Master of Library Science. She worked for her degree with the Texas Women's University. Her dissertation may prove of special interest to those thinking of embarking on the IB's PYP program: it's called "Considerations for Developing a Primary Years Programme Library Curriculum at Istanbul International Community School." Watch out for ECIS's is for details.

Ken Vesey, the second recipient of the IASL-Concord School libraries' Web Page of the Month Award. Ken may no longer be with an ECIS school, but he has only just left our midst, and as at least some of the content of the Lovett School Libraries' Web site http://www.lovett.org/libraryweb/library.htm is inspired by Ken's earlier design for St John's International School, Waterloo, I have no qualms in mentioning his achievement here!
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Committee News

I am hoping to stand down as Link editor as soon as possible and definitely by the end of the year. If there is anyone out there ready and willing to take over, please make yourself known!

There is one vacancy on the ECIS Committee on Library and Information Services. Kelley McHenry (International School of Amsterdam) returned to the U.S. at the end of the last school year. We were sorry to see her leave after only a year on the Committee, and thank her for her spirited and informed contribution to Committee discussions.

If you are interested in being considered for a position on the Committee - and especially if you are willing to take over the Link, please send a letter of application and resume to Coralie Clark (Committee Chair), American International School of Budapest, P.O. Box 53, Budapest 1525, Hungary, Fax: (36) 1 275 5193, e-mail: clark.c@nk.aisb.hu

A Brief Word from the Chair

This has to be a very brief word, as we have a brand new campus here in Budapest, I have only been back for 4 days, and I am surrounded by boxes and furniture, much of it not in the right place. And I do not yet have my old computer from last year, with all my files. But it is exciting to have a brand new purpose-built school - and of course it is a wonderful professional challenge. [Note the discussion on planning a new or refurbished library at the Nice Conference. jrr.]

No new building can be perfect from the start, but I am realizing that there are particular problems when you are designing a new school which is like no other school in that country, as is the case here in Hungary. The local architects' concept of a school library is very different from the reality of an American international school. They think it is obvious what goes on in a library, so they do not need to ask. They were very surprised to learn that everything is computerized - luckily they had this information in time to install the necessary cabling!

I hope to have time to write more about this in the future, and hope that some of you will be able to visit our school. Please note that my new e-mail address is clark.c@nk.aisb.hu

Coralie Clark, Librarian
American International School of Budapest
Chair, ECIS Committee on Library and Information Services

Nice One, 2000 - Not to be Missed

continued from page 1

Carol Gordon, ex-Frankfurt International School and the author of Information Literacy in Action in ECIS's Effective International Schools series, leads a panel of international librarians and educators in a discussion of "Information Literacy in Action."

Another "old" friend is Kate Shepherd of Austral Ed. She'll be looking at "What's Happening in Australian Children's Literature", and looks especially at the way contemporary writers are reflecting today's multi-cultural Australian society.

Also looking at books and literature are Frances Hall (American School of London) and Jeffrey Brewster (International School Brussels) who team up to "Celebrate the Strength of Story: Integrating Literature and the Curriculum."

Mark Ray (ex-International School Brussels) leads a session titled "Need to Know: Technology and Staff Development," looking at models and strategies for building educational technology expertise in schools.

Two panel-led discussions are featured in the Librarians' Forum: Linda Marti and Coralie Clark look at planning and refurbishing a library, and Randi Pegnetter and John Royce consider experiences with online databases.

John also presents a two-part session "Worth a Closer Look? Web site evaluation revisited." In the first session, he looks at evaluation criteria, and in the second considers ways of passing on the message to students and to teachers.

All in all, it's a packed program, one not to be missed!

For Your Diary:
News and Events

ECIS Annual Conference: November 16-19 2000: Nice. Details on page one.

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World Book Day for years 2001, 2002 and 2003 will be held on the first Thursday in March. The event, until 1999 held on April 23 (the birthdate of Shakespeare and Cervantes) and this year in May, is moving to an earlier slot in the hope of avoiding alternative (northern hemisphere) summer term activities.

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Internet Librarian International
March 26-28, 2001: Olympia 2, London. More details at http://www.internet-librarian.com/

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30th Annual IASL Conference and Exhibition in Auckland, New Zealand, 9-12 July 2001. A round number: this will be a big one!

News from Sherry Keefer

Sherry was one of the librarians at the International School in Bern after Dorothy Braun retired. She returned to The States when her husband's job was terminated. She had hoped for a library post, but was asked to do CAS and IB History at a school that was just starting the IB program.

Sherry advises, "There are so many librarian openings in the states you would not believe!! So our profession is indeed a good one to be in. I really feel that my experience as a librarian at an International School prepared me to do just about anything!"

Sherry adds that she would love to get mail from ECIS librarians. Her address is Midlothian High School 401 Charter Colony Parkway, Midlothian, VA. 23113, USA and her e-mail address is PRSGkeefer@aol.com.

Aidan Chambers. Postcards from No Man's Land. Bodley Head, 1999.

Those who attended the 1997 ECIS Conference in Den Haag will remember Aidan Chambers' triple tour de force. He led a Forum session. Then he had a tear in everyone's eye as he told of the boy who suddenly learned how to read, having come to terms with all his home and family problems. And he spoke movingly and glowingly of someone who could have been one of the greatest authors of the late twentieth century, had she not perished in Belsen: Anne Frank. Chambers is fascinated by the place and the period: Amsterdam is a central setting for his latest book, and one scene takes place in Anne Frank's house.

I have to admit, I looked at Postcards when I was home in February. It was in several shops, but I decided its cover was too gimmicky, and I bought another of Chambers' novels instead. Then Postcards won the Carnegie, and I could NOT find a copy while we were home in July, not till the very last day and the very last bookshop - and it was the last copy!

Especially ironic here is that, in the very first chapter, one of the characters (whom Jacob fancies until he discovers that "she" is a "he") warns Jacob that things are not always what they seem to be, you can't judge a book by its cover!

And what a book. It tells two stories in parallel, Jacob Todd's visit to the Netherlands on the anniversary of the WW2 Arnhem disaster, and Geertrui's story of how she hid and cared for a soldier wounded at Arnhem, Jacob's grandfather. This is teenage literature writ large, dealing with life themes and life choices: sex inside and outside marriage, the nature of sexuality, family love and loyalties, life, death and euthanasia, the gamut of issues which are of burning interest to teenagers and which adults often wish teenagers should be totally unaware of.

It's a gripping book and two gripping stories. I'm glad I got there.

The Carnegie Medal is the British version of the Newbery Award, the most prestigious of the children's literature prizes in the country. It has been awarded by the Library Association since 1936, and past winners include Arthur Ransome, C.S. Lewis, Susan Cooper, Anne Fine and Tim Bowler. The word prestigious is used advisedly, because the winning author does not benefit directly from the award; instead the prize money is devoted to a library or children's literature project of the winner's choice.

(Helen Oxenbury won this year's Kate Greenaway Medal for her illustrations to a new edition of Alice in Wonderland. The Greenaway Medal is the UK equivalent of the Caldecott Award. Perhaps there's a Link reader who could submit a review for our next issue?)