James Herring at IASL

Our very own James Herring recently gave a keynote address at the International Association of School Libraries conference in Berkley, California, USA.

Catch a few minutes video of James being interviewed (at http://www.librarymedia.net/IASL.html ) about the issues and ideas that he is currently emphasising in his teaching, research, workshops and speaking.

Subversive technology

It is interesting to note the subversive effect that the Internet is having on political action. Marginalised populist movements are able to mobilise using the web to bypass the mainstream media channels.

There are many examples of this from the broad coalition of anti-globalisation groups or organisations against the invasion of Iraq through to specific movements such as that of Beppe Grillo in Italy. Beppe Grillo is a comedian with a strong political motivation who, through the web, is orchestrating a one-man campaign to clean up Italian politics. How? Through one-man stage shows to thousands and using his blog - - to keep up the momentum. Is the Web the new public sphere for politics?

winner of both the Australian Library and Information AssociationStudent Award and the Softlink Australia Teacher Librarianship Prize

JM, Ailsa Moyses, Ailsa's Dad
Originally uploaded by CSU Information Studies.

Dr Joy McGregor with winner of both the Australian Library and Information Association Student Award and the Softlink Australia Teacher Librarianship Prize, Ailsa Moyses (and her father)

winner of the Zenith Management Services Group Postgraduate TeacherLibrarianship Prize

AF, SD, Raeanne & JM
Originally uploaded by CSU Information Studies.

Ashley Freeman, Sally Dallas and Dr Joy McGregor with winner of the Zenith Management Services Group Postgraduate Teacher Librarianship Prize, Raenne McLean

TL Group photo

TL Group photo
Originally uploaded by CSU Information Studies.

Graduates in Teacher Librarianship

All LIM Graduates

All LIM Graduates
Originally uploaded by CSU Information Studies.

Graduates in Library and Information Management

Sally Dallas with Frances Dodd (Zenith Undergrad Prize Winner)

1. Sally Dallas with Frances Dodd (Zenith Undergrad Prize Winner)
Originally uploaded by CSU Information Studies.

Sally Dallas of Zenith Management Services Group with winner of the Zenith Management Services group Postgraduate Teacher Librarianship Prize winner, Frances Dodd.

LIM Postgrad students

LIM Postgrad students
Originally uploaded by CSU Information Studies.

Dr Philip Hider with postgraduate students in Library and Information Management, including newly awarded PhD, Dr Meryl Ubel-Yan (centre).

SIS leads the research strand of the ASLANSW-NSWDET State School Libraries Conference

Professor Stephen Kemmis presents his keynote address

The School of Information Studies played a significant role in supporting the conference program of the inaugural ASLANSW-NSWDET State School Libraries Conference which was held at The Kings School, Parramatta on Friday 28th and Saturday 29th of March. The theme of the conference was 'School Libraries Leading Learning', with around 300 participants attending a number of keynotes and workshops across the two days. As part of Friday’s program, Lyn Hay presented a mini-keynote on the findings of her Student Learning through Australian School Libraries research project and at the end of the day hosted a social event for 1½ hours within the trade fair area which featured CSU wine and cheese, sponsored by CSU’s Faculty of Education. CSU’s Centre for Information Studies also donated a number of its recent publications as lucky door prizes for this event, and Duncan Ball, author of the Selby and Emily Eyefinger series launched one of his recent children’s books.

Saturday’s program began with Professor Stephen Kemmis (pictured) presenting the opening keynote address on ‘Research Circles and the Participatory Action Research Process’. Stephen’s keynote was sponsored by CSU’s Centre for Studies in Teacher Librarianship and it was the first session of a full-day program strand devoted solely to research-based conference presentations. Our own Dr Kirsty Williamson built on Stephen’s introduction to action research in her keynote address ‘Action research in school settings: Method, techniques and exemplars’, and after lunch Dr Ross Todd worked with Kirsty and Lyn to host an afternoon workshop for those participants who wished to explore their ideas on implementing an action research project at their school. Feedback from participants who attended the research strand was very positive and we hope ASLANSW and NSWDET will include a research strand in future conference programs. On the Sunday morning, Kirsty followed up with a post-conference workshop on interviewing techniques for ASLANSW’s Community of Action Researchers – Teacher Librarians (CAR-TL) members. Given all of the above events, CSU’s presence did not go unnoticed!

Professional development courses in information organisation

Photo: 399 Lonsdale Street, which houses the CSU Study Centre, Melbourne

Two short courses in the field of information organisation (known to older generations of librarians as cataloguing and classification) were conducted by Dr Philip Hider on 26th and 27th March at the CSU Study Centre in the Melbourne CBD. The two one-day courses, organised by the School, covered MARC cataloguing and Dewey Decimal Classification, and were attended by both CSU students and ‘private’ participants. The two courses were both ‘sold out’ well in advance, indicating the continuing demand for professional development opportunities in the ‘cat & class’ area. Participants hailed not only from in and around Melbourne, but also from regional Victoria and interstate – e.g. Sydney, Wollongong, Canberra, even Perth!

Philip was very much encouraged by the high level of interest and participation shown in the courses and plans to hold more in the future. He would like to thank Judy O’Connor, from our School, who did a great job with the administration, and also the staff at Study Group Australia, who run the CSU Study Centre and accommodated the courses.