August – a massive month in the school library calendar here in Australia and a big month of preparing to return to school in the northern part of the world. Between all the Book Week preparations and celebrations or holding onto your last bit of summer, you might find time to squeeze in some professional learning. If so, I have rather an epic list for you, with webinars, podcasts, articles and more.
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Webinars
LIW webinar: What does it mean to be able to read and write in a digital era? – ALIA – 1 August 2025 12pm – 1:15pm AEST – free for ALIA Members, $25 for non-members.
All My Own Work (AMOW): How to make it more engaging for students – SLANSW with Siobhan James and Karen Seeneevassen – 5 August 2025, 7pm – 8pm AEST – $45, free for SLANSW members.
AI Meets Student Voice – Ethical Guidelines for Student Media Creation – KQED – 5 August 2025 4pm – 5:30pm PDT – free.
Empowering your library program with AI – Follett with Shannon McClintock Miller and Bill Bass – 5 August 2025 – 5am AEST – free.
Digital and Media Literacy – How to get engaged with the world – ASLA facilitated by Kris Darell – 6 August 2025 – 7:30pm – 8:30pm AEST – ASLA members free, $40 non-members.
Schools Program Professional Learning Biography Task – Virtual War Memorial Australia – 7 August 2025, 4pm – 5pm
Fire up Creativity with AI: Safe, Smart & Student-Friendly with Adobe Firefly – Adobe – 13 August 2025 4pm – 4:45pm – free.
Talking Books: Building AI Chatbots for Reader Advisory and Beyond – Eduwebinar with Fiona Philip – 13 August 2025 7pm – 8pm AEST – $45
Video editing made easy with Adobe – Adobe with Tim Kitchen – 20 August 2025 4pm – 4:45pm – free.
Copyright and school libraries: what you need to know – ALIA with Arabi Shivaramanan – 20 August 2025, 1pm – 2pm AEST – Free.
Launch of Schools Cataloguing Community of Practice – ALIA – 20 August 2025, 4pm – 4:30pm AEST – free.
Gamified Literacy – Turning Reading into an unmissable adventure – Eduwebinar with Gabrielle Mace – 27 August 2025 7pm – 8pm AEST – $45
Maximising Your school library budget: achieving more with less – ALIA – 30 August 2025, 10:30am – 11:30am AEST – ALIA Members free, non-members $55.
Online Conference
The Joyful Reading Summit – 1-3 August 2025. Free, $17 for VIP access (to recordings).
Videos
Webinar recordings from Adobe Education, including topics on digital animation, AI, and creating presentations.
Supporting Reading Through Audio – SLA
Podcasts
Your Kid’s Next Read – recent episodes include Books about Weddings, 10 minutes with R.A. Spratt, and Preparing for Author Visits.
School Librarians United – recent episodes include Young Teen Lit, Making a Difference in the World, Fulbright Teacher Exchange: Dr Samantha Hull
AI Ethics Now – recent episodes include AI and Practice: From principles to real-world solutions, and AI and Students: What universities don’t know.
Articles and Blog posts
SCIS Connections – Term 3. This term’s edition includes inclusive cataloguing and updating your manga collection.
The Race is On: Big AI and the battle for the student market – Miriam Scott
It’s time for a controlled burn – Laura Bain
To remove or not to remove – Krystal Gagen-Spriggs
Australian Media Literacy Alliance takes a major leap forward – ALIA
Me, Myself and AI research: Understanding and safeguarding children’s use of AI chatbots – Internet Matters
Verse novels are quietly reshaping the reading landscape – and it’s time we paid close attention – Gabrielle Mace
The AI use to human expertise correlation: why AI use must scale with human skill – Laura Bain
Australians, especially men, are reading less than ever before – Charlotte Wilkes
Book mail: Books about crushes, animal adventures, climate change, neurodivergence and more! – Amanda MacGregor
Like This, Try That: Squid Game – Riley Jensen
Creating a vision statement for the school library – New York City School Library System
Involving your school community in reading celebrations – Amanda Struckmeyer
Want more professional learning?
Have a look through last month’s professional learning list.