Professional Learning Opportunities October 2023

Happy International School Library Month!! What a month to celebrate everything we love about school libraries. Here’s your October list of professional learning. There’s something for all school library staff and in any format that you want to learn. Highlights this month are some awesome book lists, including graphic novel audiobooks, a few research papers from some of our favourite researchers and the Softlink School Library survey. Happy learning. 

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Webinars and videos

Welcome Back! Boss Librarian and Friends Clubhouse Meeting – 1 October, 2023, 7pm EST – free.

The art of call numbers: Arranging resources for accessibility – ASLA with Renate Beilharz – 4 October, 2023, 7:30pm – $20 members, $40 non members.

Rescuing our world from the harms of censorship: Providing access to information in unprecedented times – IFLA – 4 October, 2023, 3:30pm – 5pm CEST – free.

Aim Higher: Helping students succeed in higher education – 5 October, 2023, 3:30pm GMT – members free, £20 non-members. 

New development in school libraries: The latest research – SLA – 11 October, 2023, 9:45am -3pm GMT – Free.

Advocacy – SLANSW – 17 October, 2023. More details to come.

Making the invisible visible: Strategic planning is your superpower – EduWebinar with Lori Korodaj – 18 October, 2023 7pm AEST, $40.

Spectacular Spaces: Making a big impact on a small budget – SLA with Lucas Maxwell – 18 October, 2023, 3:30pm GMT – £25 non-members. 

Practical Application of Artificial Intelligence in Libraries – IFLA – 20 October 2023, 9am – 12noon CEST – free.

Skilling up, up, up! ALIA with Trish Hepworth and Jacqui Lucas – 21 October 2023, 10:30am AEST – $44 members, $66 non-members.

Spectacular Spaces: Unleash the potential of your library space – SLA – 25 October, 2023, 3:30pm GMT – £20 non-members.

Reading Forum Series: Book Clubs – SLAV – 26 October, 2023, 4:30pm – 6pm AEDT – $40 non members.

Conferences

The Australia Reads Volume: Building A Reading Nation symposium recordings can be accessed and viewed on the Australia Reads website.

Special Events

October is International School Library Month. The theme for 2023 is “The School Library: My Happy Place where Creativity and Imagination Flourish”

How are you celebrating International School Library Month? Softlink has some great ideas for how to celebrate.

Twinkl International School Library Month resources

This post is for the School Library Month celebrated in April, but it has some create ideas for Top 10 Ways to Celebrate School Library Month.

Survey

It’s that time of the year, time to enter your data for the Softlink 2023 School Library Survey. The data this captures is so vital for understanding and advocating for school libraries. Make sure your library is represented. Australian and Aotearoa New Zealand submissions.

Book Lists

2023 National Book Foundation National Book Awards – fiction, nonfiction, poetry, translated literature, and young people’s literature

19 Audiobooks Adapted from Graphic Novels – SLJ

Children’s books that support social emotional learning – Simon and Schuster

Articles and Blog posts

Putting ChatGPT to the test: Will it help your library with promotions? Angela Hursh provides some tips for using ChatGPT to write social media posts, generate ideas for blog posts and help create displays. She also shares a spreadsheet of prompts to get you started. 

Project-based learning: Nurturing curiosity and creativity throughout the years. Karen Bonnano shares some ideas on how to incorporate project-based learning for year level.

School libraries are an ally to students needing an escape. We can’t let them vanish. Did you see this post from Nova Weetman? It got attention in the library sphere internationally. A great one to share with parents, families and your network.

It’s fun to see the future, isn’t it. Well, here’s the Top 10 Emerging Technologies of 2023. And you’ll be surprised, AI doesn’t quite make number 1. There are some interesting ones on the list for school libraries. 

Ready for Book Week 2024? Teacher Librarian Janet has you covered with this post about the theme and official artwork. Reading Is Magic!

A School Librarian’s Guide to Managing A Successful and Low-Stress First 2 Weeks of School! Fantastic post from Kelsey Bogan and some great tips for any time of the year.

Making the case for school library. Are you up to date on the research? By John Chrastka via SLJ.

Resources

Kelsey Bogan has shared her Big List of “This or That” Questions to use in the Library. Very helpful for display ideas.

Thank you, Lucas Maxwell. A year’s worth of library lesson resources. For free. Amazing.

Reports

Libraries and Media Literacy Education – Sora Park, Barbara Walsh and Jing Su. 

Awards

School Librarian of the Year – SLA UK. Nominations close December 2023.

Want more professional learning?

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