Volume 33 Nº 1 - February 1997

The Marjorie Cotton Award - 1996 Winner Heather Fisher

The Marjorie Cotton Award commemorates the pioneering work of New South Wales's first professionally-qualified children's librarian who initiated programs which are the basis of services to children in public libraries today. These included:

• weekly story times
• contacts with schools
• stocking children's stories in languages other than English
• appointing qualified specialists to the position of Children's Librarian.

As the first president of the LAA Children's Libraries Section in 1953, Marjorie Cotton worked with other section members to introduce the quarterly Book Review Bulletin for children's librarians. She lobbied for the easing of trade restrictions to allow imports of the Caldecott Award picture books, persuaded artist Desmond Digby to create Waltzing Matilda which won the CBC Picture Book of the Year Award in 1971, and wrote a section for Maurice Saxby's second volume of The History of Australian Children's Literature. She also lectured during the 1960s to students of the Children's Paper in the LAA Registration Examination.

The inaugural Marjorie Cotton Award was presented to a very worthy recipient, Heather Fisher, children's and youth services librarian for Gosford City Library Service since 1991. Heather was nominated by Jennifer Gleeson (User Services Librarian) and seconded by Ross Barrett (library services manager) who attest to her initiative and competence in managing all aspects of children's and young adults' services at Gosford, with special emphasis on outreach programs and summer reading programs for students of all ages.

1995 Book Week activities
In August 1995, Gosford City Library Service was awarded joint-first prize by the Children's Book Council for the best Book Week activities in NSW public libraries. Activities organised by Heather included the preparation of a Book Week brochure and successful attempts to impress upon local businesses the need to sponsor Book Week prizes. Heather also co-ordinated a visit by children's author Maureen Pople, accompanying her to three high schools and to the Central Coast teacher-librarians' dinner in Terrigal.

Each branch of the Gosford City Library Service had a special Book Week party to celebrate the fiftieth birthday of the Children's Book Council. Birthday cakes, cordial and cups were donated by sponsors, and the library's volunteers assisted at each party. Heather was approached by three radio stations and gave interviews on 2NUR-FM (Newcastle University Radio), 2GO (Gosford) and 2CCC-FM (Central Coast).

Sharing knowledge and expertise
Heather participates in co-operative networks, committees and groups which further the development of public library services to young people.

• Heather is a member of the Country Public Libraries Association [CPLA] - Zone Children's Librarians.
• In 1993 Gosford hosted a Children's Expo and Heather was a very active member of the organising committee.
• MAC Festival: The Multi-Arts Confederation of the Gosford Local Government Area holds an annual festival, and the Gosford City Library Service always participates.
• In 1993 Heather organised an Aboriginal speaker to discuss native food and medicines and in 1994 a big fish which could hold children for storytimes was imported for the event. She arranged for the local Girl Guides (of which she is an enthusiastic leader) to assist.
• In 1994 Heather organised Write to Read workshops for teenagers. The guest writer for the week was Kate Walker. Hundreds of school children from Gosford schools participated.
• Heather has shared her knowledge and expertise with others in the form of research and publications - notably the account of setting up the Gosford Toy Library which was featured in Orana's 'Quiet Achievers' series in November 1995.

Raising the profile of children's librarianship
Heather has demonstrated her willingness to raise the profile of children's librarianship by taking on many extra duties in the Gosford community and beyond. She has been:

• Children's Writing Judge for the International Year of Literacy in 1990.
• Rotary Youth of the Year Judge for the Central Coast over a three-year period.
• National Book Day Judge for children's writing in 1995.
• Vice-President of the Young Adult Network which holds meetings at the State Library of NSW.

Due recognition
Heather's contribution to her profession has already been recognised. In 1994 and 1995 she received the Gosford City Council's Staff Award for Exceptional Service and in 1994 the Gosford APEX Citizen of the Year Award.

It is now the occasion for the Children's and Youth Services Section of ALIA to recognise her achievements and dedication in presenting to her the inaugural Marjorie Cotton Award.

Congratulations, Heather!

'A real life fairytale'

Heather Fisher shares her experiences with Orana readers.

Once upon a time there was a children's librarian who was committed to a job she loved, dedicated to the cause of education in the widest sense and family literacy in particular, and reaping very pleasing rewards in terms of personal satisfaction from watching a steadily improving quantity and quality of service throughout her world of the children's library service... and thus the story could have continued on and ended with 'and she lived happily ever after'. But 1996 inserted a whole new chapter in this story for me and now the plot has expanded way beyond my wildest imaginings... and who knows what the ending will be!

Early in 1996, my supervisor, Jenny Gleeson, saw notification in Incite calling for nominations for the inaugural Marjorie Cotton Award for Children's Librarianship. Criteria were fairly specific but Jenny prepared the details and off the paper went. No doubt the wheels of ALIA's Children's Services Section turned busily in their part of the world, but on my front-line the demands of a very active children's library service covering seven service points and the requirements of planning programs and competitions, conducting activities, author visits and children's literary luncheons both within the library and out in the community and the usual frantic lead up to Book Week - not to mention the turmoil of Job Redesign and Enterprise Bargaining - precluded all else and I have to admit that I didn't give the matter another moment's thought.

The letter from the National Chairperson of ALIA Children's Services arrived on an otherwise ordinary workday but it delivered an impact ranking about 9.5 on the Richter Scale and my life hasn't been the same since! It was unbelievable news - I had been awarded the Marjorie Cotton Award! What an incredible honour. Although it was coincidental, I was going to the National ALIA Conference in Melbourne where the award would be presented. There, I would be able to enjoy and digest the thought-provoking discussions on global issues and philosophies, trends and directions of the library world. The conference program was mindbending and perspective-enlarging but there was a warmer side to events for the presentation of my award brought together a group of librarians orientated towards the children's service sector and there was a very satisfying blend of common interest.

Back in the library, battered about the brain but immensely gratified, the frantic pace of ordinary work continued as before - resting on laurels is not part of the Job Description! However, there was an exciting five minutes of fame: both local newspapers featured photographs and interviews, and the Mayor of Gosford both phoned and wrote a congratulatory letter. Beyond the human interest angle, Gosford Library and the children's service in particular received some very favourable public exposure.

Then the gods smiled on me again! In October I was notified that a submission I had prepared earlier in the year - in response to another ALIA notice in inCite - had been successful and attached was a cheque allowing me to undertake a study project involving travel. Unbelievable! This was happening to a person who has never won a local raffle! This was cream on the cake though in fact the cream and the cake were not related.

My submission had outlined a dream I have entertained for some time which involved gathering ideas of vigorous and innovative library-based programs for children and young adults - both short and long-term, simple and more complex, competitive and non-competitive, active and more passive with a particular focus on activities for understaffed and under-financed public libraries.

The award of the ALIA Travel Grant will enable me to follow up e-mail contacts I made some time ago with libraries in the US and Canada which appear to offer successful programs covering a wide range of age groups and content. Though no firm plans have been made, the general package will involve contacting libraries in the United States and Canada which offer new and innovative ideas. I'll visit them and gather data on preparation, costs, publicity, resources, staff required, etc.

Starting on the East Coast (probably in Baltimore which is famous for its young adult outreach programs) and travelling north to the Toronto area and then to some interesting libraries in the US Midwest, my trip will finish in British Columbia from where there have long been reports of very successful summer reading programs.

The coming months will be a whirl of e-mail activity, establishing definite destinations and deciding on priorities. My ETD (estimated time of departure) is mid-June, the most active season for children's libraries in North America.

For libraries back home there will be a very practical outcome in the form of a manual (published by the Gosford City Council on a cost-recovery basis) outlining a whole range of activities, programs and family literacy strategies.

Now, here is the commercial: please read on! I am anxious not to overlook some of the great ideas which have been part of the Australian and New Zealand children's library scene in recent years and I would like to invite any library staff who have had successful ideas for 2-18-year-olds to contact me and share the details. Storytimes for preschoolers are probably fairly well covered by most of us, but any other program - whether it be a one-off baby-sitting workshop for teenagers or longer-term homework help strategies for students or holiday puppetry workshops using junk materials - will be of interest to others in our library family and I would encourage you to share them. All ideas used will be acknowledged.

It will be a pleasure to assemble details of the applied energies and ideas of children's library staffers from different places and I would like to keep a comfortable balance of sources in the manual. Enthusiasm can be so contagious and there is great joy and satisfaction in the camaraderie of sharing the worthwhile things we do. Please ring, fax, write or e-mail me at one of the contact points below to discuss any details or simply put the planning outlines, brochures, costs, staffing requirements, resources required, evaluation criteria and other details into writing and send them to me. As the report on each activity will be condensed to a maximum of one or two pages including illustrations, there will be no need to send a weighty tome.

Can you offer other libraries some of your ideas? Can you take a little time to share by contributing? I will wait expectantly for a flood of responses. I hope to prepare the manual during October-December but it would be very helpful if I had all the Australian and New Zealand content prepared before mid-June. Can you help?

Please stand by (down the track a little!) for a very useful compilation of program shortcuts and planning strategies which hopefully will be of service to all frazzled staff.

Heather Fisher
Gosford Library, PO Box 21, Gosford 2250
hfisher@ccris.iniaccess.net.au
Phone (W) (043) 24 6711 (H) (043) 24 6730
Fax (043) 237086 ('Attention Heather F')

PS...
A very special postscript has occurred concerning my receipt of the Marjorie Cotton Award. The citation outlined the background of the award, giving details of the outstanding energy and innovation Marjorie Cotton had demonstrated in the field of children's librarianship in the Sydney Northern Beaches area in years past. Then, in the week before Christmas, imagine my surprise and delight to receive a very interesting and sincere congratulatory letter from Marjorie Cotton herself! There is enough in her story to be a separate tale for another time but it was a special honour to receive her words and gift.