Professional Learning Opportunities January 2023

Happy new year! Well, almost. Another year, another chance to learn, experience and grow. There are so many incredible learning opportunities coming our way and I can’t wait to share them with you this year. I hope to make these lists relevant for all school library professionals. If you have any suggestions, ideas or have a professional learning opportunity you’d like me to include, please get in touch.  

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Webinars and videos

If you missed the LARK Reflections on Research in Practice webinar in December, you can watch the recording and grab the slides from the LARK blog. 

Using Professional Reviews for Collection Development with Amanda Jones, Steve Tetreault, Deborah Zeman and Wendy Pray

Making Digital Citizenship Meaningful – Sparkle Peters, Brianna Lucas and Mel Mollick via EdWeb – 9 January 3pm EST – free – online. Register here. 

KC Boyd is so incredibly generous with her time and knowledge and she continues to share incredible, free PD for librarians. Check out all the recordings from her BossLibrarianPD

Courses

An Introduction to School Librarianship – this free course would be perfect for anyone who thinks they might like to become a school librarian or who is just starting on their school library journey. 

Books

Margaret Merga’s latest book is being released on the 31 of January 2023. Creating An Australian School Literacy Policy.

Podcasts

Did you listen to the ALIA Graphic end-of-year wrap-up? They share some of their favourite graphic novels of the year. 

Missed any of the fantastic events offered by SLAV? Check out the podcast recordings. 

School Librarians United – recent episodes include Supporting Rural Librarians and an incredible episode with Margaret Merga, Supporting Literacy and Wellness. 

The Yarn have a look back at some of the best children’s literature from 2022 in Taking a Look Back: Our 2022 Year in Review episode

Book lists

Looking for some non fiction books to support STEM? The Nonfiction Detectives present their Best STEM books for kids 2022

Wish you could see the YA releases for 2023 in spreadsheet and calendar view with all the key information about the book? Check out this incredible resource at Rec-It Rachel

Ready to start purchasing for the 2023 year? Here are 2023 Young Adult Books to Have on Your Radar, along with Picture Books and Middle Grade Books

Are your teen readers Colleen Hoover mad? Try these 16 YA book recommendations from Epic Reads

Events and resources

Have you heard about Crayola Creativity Week? No? Me either. Together with AASL, Crayola is celebrating creativity with resources, giveaways and virtual content from the 23rd of Jan to the 29th. Check it out here. 

If you have Overdrive Sora, you might like to check out their Diversity Audit feature. For anyone who doesn’t have the platform, they also share a few book lists for Diverse titles and graphic novels. 

Articles and Blog posts

Are your teen readers obsessed with Colleen Hoover and other adult books? Are you confused about what’s happened to YA fiction? Karen Jensen looks at this from a teen librarian’s perspective in The Difference Between YA and NA and Why it Matters.

It feels like everyone would have heard about the book challenges happening in the USA, right? But are those outside of the library profession aware of what’s going on? Steve Tetreault explains in his article “Turn It Up!” Helping the Message Escape the Echo-Chamber.

Literacy and reading promotion via your school library by Elizabeth Hutchinson about the true role and value of school libraries. 

We all know and use them, but how much do our students know about QR codes and how can we educate them to use them wisely. Dr Kay Oddone explores in It’s Hip to be Square – Educating about QR codes

Want to promote that non fiction collection? Try these tips for Speed Dating with Nonfiction Books by Karin Greenberg. 

What’s the future of research in the Library profession? Dr Suzana Sukovic reflects, At the end of LARK’S anniversary year: Three insights for the future

I seriously need to use YouTube better in my school library. It’s the one platform ALL of my students use regularly. Angela Hursh gives us The 2023 Guide to Social Media for Libraries: New YouTube Success Secrets for this Year.

Need even more articles to read? Check out SLJ’s list of Top 22 Knowledge Quest Posts of 2022 compiled by Maureen Schlosser. 

Want more professional learning?

Check out my professional learning series or have a look through last month’s professional learning list.