Volume 37 Nº 1 - March 2001

International School Library Day

Laurel A Clyde

'School libraries need their own special day', said Dr Blanche Woolls (USA), president of the International Association of School Librarianship (IASL), in mid-1999. Her proclamation of International School Library Day, to be celebrated on a Monday in October each year, was welcomed by advocates for school libraries in many countries. The first International School Library Day was celebrated on 18 October 1999, and the 'day' is now an established fixture on the professional calendar. In 2001, International School Library Day will be Monday 22 October. From the beginning, Australians have been enthusiastic supporters of International School Library Day, along with Canadians, Americans, and South Africans, in particular. IASL's new co-ordinator of International School Library Day is Barbara Braxton, a teacher-librarian in the Australian Capital Territory who is known to many other teacher-librarians through her 'Read Around Australia' project...

Dr L Anne Clyde, an Australian, is currently professor in the Faculty of Social Science at the University of Iceland, Reykjavik. She has worked as a teacher, librarian and teacher-librarian in Australia, and has taught in colleges and universities in Australian and Canada as well as in Iceland. Her books include School libraries and the electronic community: the internet connection (1997), An introduction to the internet (1998), and Managing InfoTech in school library media centers (1999); in addition, she writes for professional journals, including a regular InfoTech column for the North American magazine Teacher Librarian. Anne also serves as webmaster for the International Association of School Librarianship (IASL).