Volume 34 Nº 1 - May 1998

From the Editor

Guest editor: Lee FitzGerald

When Shirley Campbell phoned me to ask if I would act as Guest Editor or Orana, I was honoured to have the opportunity to work for a journal with such a reputation for scholarship and with such high acceptance. Nostalgia for my days of editing Scan also prompted me to accept Shirley's offer.

Since then, I have been struck with the difference between fitting editing in alongside working in school, and editing as a full-time occupation. School has top priority, of course, and it has been with great difficulty and a long time delay that I have been able to get to this issue at all. I am currently teacher-librarian at Trinity Grammar School, working alongside Darelyn Dawson, who is Head of Information Services. The work we are doing there in literature circles and in designing and teaching units of work across the school curriculum is very exciting and absorbing. Making the library and its programs indispensable to the curriculum of the school is our aim, with making a difference to student learning outcomes the prime focus of all our work. This can be on a whole grade basis, or on small, day to day encounters where the answer to questions such as 'Maam, what did you do with the cicada shell I asked you to mind?' certainly make a difference to some learning outcomes! This is by way of explanation for Orana being so late...Trinity is so busy...

This issue of Orana hopefully strikes a balance between school and public libraries, with articles of interest to both sectors. Darelyn Dawson and I have put together an article on the process and products of literature circles at our school. A perspective on the state of Australian children's libraries in the 1960s by Valerie Johnson indicates similar preoccupations with definition of a librarian's role and training as we have today. Heather Fisher, recipient of the 1996 ALIA travel grant, reports extensively on programs for children and young adults in the United States and Canada. Niki Kallenberger has contributed an article on Infocus, the State Library of NSW service for public and school libraries. in addition to these, our regular sections, Reviews, Professional Reading, and Forum make up the content of this issue. Forum has been written by Robin Dixon, a 16 year-old Trinity Grammar School student, who has strong opinions on the place of young adult literature, and has furthered the discussion in the last issue of 1997 opened by Maureen Nimon on the place of hope in the young adult genre. We welcome further discussion on this issue.

Thank you for your patience in waiting for this issue of Orana.

Lee FitzGerald