— Fall 1995 —
— Fall
1995 —
The Link is the newsletter of the ECIS Committee on Library/Media Centers. If you have any questions, comments, queries, or suggestions about the Committee and its activities, contact:
Richard Barter
American School of Las Palmas
Apartado 15 - Tafira Alta
35017 L. P. de Gran Canaria (SPAIN)
fax. (34) (28) 43 00 17
One of the highlights on the calendar of international school librarians is the European Council of International Schools' Autumn Conference, with its dessert-cart assortment of tasty workshops and appetizing seminars about school librarianship, and the whole range of issues germane to the professional development for educators in international schools. As we do every year, the Committee on Library/Media Centers has worked with the ECIS Secretariat, advising them as to the sessions we feel would be of the most interest and value to "our" librarians. In addition to the Friday-Sunday offerings that make up the conference, both SIRS and Winnebago will be offering all-day additional workshops for the many international school libraries which use their information/resource systems. (Both firms plan mailings to their customers or potential customers with more detailed information). A regular tradition these recent years has been the informal librarian's dinner evening, and this year's Friday night event (with a choice of 3 menus to suit every taste and budget) looks set to be a worthy successor to the much-enjoyed get-togethers in The Hague and Hamburg. Please contact The Link, or Marie-Claire Billington at The International School of Geneva (La Grande Boissiere campus) as soon as possible if you are interested in attending. We will send you the full menu and price details of our evening at Le Museum Restaurant in Montreux, as well as a reservation/payment slip. As in years past, to keep costs down, there can be no last minute reservations. All reservations (and payment) must be received by a deadline some weeks before the event. Don't wait; Do it Now!
Speaker Profiles:
Among the speakers who are slated to present at the Montreux Conference are:
Gillian Cross, the noted British author, has said of her life: "I can't remember a time without stories." Starting in 1979 with the novel The Iron Way, Gillian Cross has shared well over 20 of her stories with us, and with our children. One of many honors, the American Library Association named two of her novels Best Books for Young Adults: On the Edge (in 1985) and Chartbreaker (1987). David E. White is Professor of Education at Keene State College (in New Hampshire). An expert in children's literature, he has shared his wisdom at the "In Celebration of Children's Literature" annual conference at the University of Southern Maine, The American Institute for Creative Education, the State of Maine Early Childhood Education Conference, and has served as Guest Curator for a show at Brattleboro Museum, presenting illustrations by Vermont illustrators. He is a guiding force behind the Keene State College Children's Literature Festival, an increasingly important festival, attracting noted presenters like the award-winning Patricia C. McKissack. Pam Berger is a school library media specialist. She is publisher and editor of the newsletter Information Searcher, and Chair of the annual MULTIMEDIA SCHOOLS conferences, and was 1994-1995 Chair of the Technology Committee of the American Association of School Librarians. A frequent presenter at national and state conferences, her participation in Montreux has been made possible by Follett Library Resources. Barrie Jo Price is Professor and Director of International Programs at the University of Alabama. Her colleague, Dr. Anna C. McFadden is Associate Professor and Director of Technology Support Services. Their workshops at ECIS will look at applications of the Internet for administrators, for teachers, and, of course, for librarians and media specialists.
If you have any news or dates that you would like to share with
colleagues at other schools in this regular column, pass them along to:
John Royce
International School Hamburg
Holmbrook 20
22605 Hamburg (Germany)
Virginia Hill left her post as Upper School Librarian at the Sir James Henderson British School in Milan in June: Gill Garrett is taking over. Good Luck, Gill. Keep in Touch, Virginia. Virginia writes, "I take this opportunity to thank you and the rest of the team of The Link for providing a useful service -- it has been good to feel 'in touch' with other librarians around the world. I must also add that it makes a very pleasant read, although sadly too short!"
Our good friend Carola Yeakle has left SIRS to take up a post with another company in the USA. She'll be doing a lot less travelling, having more time with her family, and sharing her charm and efficiency with a new group of people. We'll certainly miss her. Jennifer Palmer is taking over, and we look forward to working with her.
Chris Leftley shared with us the good news of the official opening of the new Academic Resources Centre at St. Clare's Oxford. The school, with 300 students from over 40 nations, now boasts a modern, spacious library facility, with provision for the disabled, on three floors of a historic Edwardian house. Well Done, Chris!
The cover-letter sent out by ECIS Executive Officer Dixie McKay with the Professional Development Bulletin packet of materials contains an interesting sentence: "It has been suggested that school heads might want to designate their resource librarian to be responsible for appropriately distributing the Professional Development Bulletin when it arrives." Even if the distribution is done by your school secretaries or administrators, what other activities are you involved in to promote professional development at your school? Not your business, you say? Hardly. Take a quick look at the accreditation guidelines that apply in your school. More likely than not, assisting staff in locating professional development information is strongly urged as part of effective school library service. Why wait and react to staff requests? Be proactive in seeking and sharing ideas, suggestions, and sources of information with school staff. It is your business!
Do you need information? Want to get in touch with colleagues in other schools? Whether it's a problem or a request, practical or professional, write to The Link, and we will try to put you in touch with someone who can help. Just ask and ye shall receive!
The Link recently heard from one of our readers from the Other Side of the World. Margaret Burden of Mercedes College in Australia writes: "I am very interested in maintaining links with other schools and libraries in international schools. There are only two in our state. Is there an Internet connection we could use?"
Well, Margaret, have we got news for you!
As our readers will know, The Link is made available through the generosity and support of Social Issues Resources Series (SIRS) of Boca Raton, Florida. SIRS is now "online" and so is The Link! SIRS works in conjunction with a number of organizations (including our ECIS Committee) on projects ranging from newsletters to scholarships and awards. The SIRS home page on the World Wide Web includes several major categories, one of which "Partner Programs" contains the full-text of the latest issue of The Link. If there is sufficient interest, we may also use this site to archive recent back issues. Would this be useful? Those of our readers who have access to cyberspace are urged to take a look, and let us know what you think.
At the risk of stepping on the toes of our very own "Librarian in Cyberspace" (see the following page), you might also want to check out another section of the SIRS web site called "The Knowledge Source," a selective list of pointers to other sites on the Web that offer excellent information on a variety of topics: a guide to research on the Internet. Check it (and us) out!
The Link is written by librarians in international schools for librarians in international schools. In a nutshell, it's only as good as you help it to be! Have a question about the Committee or its activities? Need more information about some aspect of international school librarianship? Have news you want to share with our readers? Want to write an article for, and for the benefit of, you peers? Keep in Touch!
Richard Barter
American School of Las Palmas
Apartado 15 -- Tafira Alta
35017 Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (Spain)
FAX: (34) (28) 43 00 17
The ECIS Committee on Library/Media Centers is proud to announce that we are holding a conference especially designed to meet the in-service and professional development needs of library professionals and paraprofessionals struggling with the special challenges of librarianship in an international school environment. Libraries in International Schools: Meeting the Challenges will be held at the Munich International School (Germany) on May 24-26, 1996. The conference will offer a variety of workshops and seminars on subjects ranging from the "nuts and bolts" of school librarianship, and of sources of supply, to those topics especially important in a pluralistic, multinational, multicultural, and multilingual school library community. Planned workshops will examine areas as diverse as Selection Policy documents, theme-based storytimes, book protection and repair, trends in scheduling, multiculturalism and libraries, and the special needs of the Middle School student. Taking advantage of our good fortune in getting Munich as our meeting site, we have made arrangements for a special guided introduction and visit to the International Youth Library (Internationale Jugend Bibliothek). Speakers, topics, and events are being constantly added as we plan the conference best suited to meet your needs.
Knowing that funds and time for professional development are hard to come by, special care is being taken to make the conference as convenient and affordable as possible. A location in the center of Europe, with good rail and air links. A weekend that is preceded by the annual get-together of the German International school librarians group (LAMP), and followed (in many countries) by the Monday Whitsun/Pentecost holiday. At every step of our planning, keeping costs low and fees minimal has been central. Having a whole weekend also allows us to go into subjects in greater depth than is possible at the ECIS Annual Conference, and to ensure that the needs of our entire community are met, from the experienced professional to the novice paraprofessional.
To be included on the mailing list for further (and more concrete) details about the conference, contact Richard Barter or our host librarian:
Helen Thomas
Senior School Librarian
Munich International School
Percha, Schloss Buchhof
82319 Starnberg (Germany)
Like most librarians, I find cyberspace exciting and frustrating at the same time. Exciting because there's so much information out there. Frustrating because there's too much information out there! How is a librarian to handle it all?
Karen Coyle, from the University of California Library Automation Department, gave an excellent talk (distributed on the Net) called Access: Not Just Wires. She reminded folks in cyberspace that there are "certain social responsibilities in relation to information." Collection, Selection, Preservation, Organization, and Dissemination. She argues that we must rigorously apply these principles of librarianship...to the Internet!
One way to do this is to find good sites and then organize them using the Bookmark system of Netscape. Taking advantage of the ability to create headings to group your best sites by category, which allows students and teachers to explore on their own, or to take advantage of your expertise and experience with information.
IFLANET -- Int'l Federation of Library Associations and Institutions -- (http://www.nlc-bnc.ca/ifla/) One-stop shopping site containing links to important library documents, policy statements, library associations, national libraries, Internet tutorials, publishers, bookstores, and such traditional library monoliths as DIALOG, OCLC, and Wilson. With this one address there's no need to keep hundreds of others on file.
Bookwire (http://www.bookwire.com/) If IFLANET is libraries, Bookwire is books, Books, BOOKS! Book reviews, book lists, publisher's catalogues, online libraries, literacy mailing lists, book awards, author information, and much more. Today I toured the Interactive Scholastic catalog and found myself staring face to face with R.L. Stine (who looks more like an orthodontist than a best-selling horror writer!). Children's Literature Web Guide is a great starting point for Lower School librarians.
The Internet Public Library (http://ipl/sils/umich/edu/) is like having your nicest Library School professor around to get you a great job, explain library issues, or hold your hand as you come to terms with the newest technology. Like entering a super-friendly public library, apart from Librarian Services, you can chose to enter departments like Children's or Reference (great gateway for ready-reference resources on the Net).
How many schools can afford more than one professional librarian plus adequate paraprofessional or clerical help? All school librarians tend to work, therefore, to some degree in isolation by the very nature of the job. None more so than the International school librarian, who has the added language barriers to overcome to have access to professional or practical advice and ideas for the day-to-day working routine. Away from your native land, one expects to acquire language skills for everyday living_so why not for our professional work, too? When was the last time that you talked to the School Library Service of your host country, or even bothered to find out if there was a national group, and what they had to offer you?
If I am talking about practices you already follow, please forgive me, but I make no apologies for refreshing your memories or giving new impetus to tired minds. By the very nature of our profession, we are the communicators of the world, so let us communicate with our host country professionals, as well. On a two year contract (and then, perhaps, on to a new continent), why should one take up hours of evening class time to struggle with Dutch (or whatever)? English is the working language of the school, so why bother?
I found that the support I gained from my Dutch colleagues (at first very patient with my lack of Dutch) very helpful and invaluable. I now practice my erratic (or perhaps I should say eccentric!) Dutch on them and have found that I can understand how "to get blood out of a stone" because the language has given me the basic insight into their culture and therefore thought patterns and professional ways of thinking. I will admit that I follow the policy of being a first point of information for all my library users, not the only source, and therefore promote the Dutch Library Service. I use the Dutch version of Dewey and, once the shock of seeing the long Dutch words for various subjects is overcome, staff and students do appreciate being able to find their way around the local library themselves, even if they speak no Dutch.
Yes, I do realize that my experiences with the Dutch Library Service may not
be applicable in all international schools, but I have access to the following
things locally:
Please make the effort to get to know professional colleagues in your host country. Try the language. To ask is not to show a failing or weakness in your library provision, but rather to show a willingness to your students and staff, to your school management, and to yourselves, to improve your own service and training, and to improve the quality of library services made available through the school.
One final thought: When was the last time you had contact with other international school libraries and librarians in your host country? Do have an informal meeting group once or twice a year. Stem the feeling of isolation and improve the quality of your work by learning from others. A list of names and phone numbers can really make such a difference, and can provide a much-needed potential source of personal in-service training and inspiration. You might provide an inspiration to someone... or be inspired yourself!
An Editor's Note:
Common wisdom is that the Dutch are the exception rather than the rule, that
they have an excellent National Library Service and School Library Service,
the likes of which are unlikely to be found in other non-English speaking countries
around the world. What have your experiences been in your host country?
Similarly, the International School of The Hague is a "Dutch" school,
an international stream of the national education system. How many of the schools
in the ECIS community are similarly structured, and does it make a difference
in the types and amount of support available from the host country authorities?
The Link is intended to be a forum for sharing amongst ourselves, and
it is hoped that others will write in with details of their local conditions,
so that we may continue to bring our readers up-to-date with developments in
other schools, in other countries.
Your CommitteeCoralie Clark completed her two years as Committee Chairman, and in keeping with what has become committee practice, stepped down. She remains on the committee, and the new Chariman is John Royce. Anthony Tilke has joined the Committee and is taking over as editor of The Link. Please contact any one member of the Committee if you have concerns, requests, ideas or suggestions as to how the Committee can support you. John Royce (Chair), Robert College, email: jroyce@robcol.k12.tr |
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The Link is the newsletter of the ECIS Committee
on Library and Information Services
and is edited by Anthony Tilke, Yokohama International Schools. Email: tilkea@yis.ac.jp; fax 81 45 621 0379 |