Skills Act

Thanks Isobel for directing us to http://www.ala.org/ala/aasl/aaslissues/SKILLS_Act.cfm - an interesting US development to monitor:

" The SKILLs Act
On Tuesday June 26, 2007, Senators Jack Reed (D-RI) and Thad Cochran (R-MS) and Representatives Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) and Vernon Ehlers (R-MI) introduced the Strengthening Kids’ Interest in Learning and Libraries (SKILLs) Act that guarantees students across America will be served by highly qualified, state-certified school library media specialists and will have the library resources they need to succeed.

Requires school districts, to the extent feasible, to ensure that every school within the district employs at least one highly qualified school library media specialist in each school library;

Defines highly qualified school library media specialists as those who have a bachelor’s degree and have obtained full state certification as a school library media specialist or passed the state teacher licensing examination, with state certification in library media in such state;

Establishes as a state goal that there be at least one highly qualified school library media specialist in every public school no later than the beginning of the 2010-2011 school year;

Broadens the focus of training, professional development, and recruitment activities to include school library media specialists;

Ensures that funds will serve elementary, middle, and high school students; and

Requires books and materials to be appropriate for and engage the interest of students in all grade levels and students with special learning needs, including English language learners."

This text has been sourced directly from the website: http://www.ala.org/ala/aasl/aaslissues/SKILLS_Act.cfm

The Australian School Libraries Research Project

The Australian School Libraries Research Project is a partnership between the Australian School Library Association (ASLA), the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) and
Edith Cowan University (ECU).

All school library personnel eg. teacher librarian, librarian, teacher, library technician, library officer/assistant/clerk, library volunteers are requested to take time to complete the survey.
Survey dates: Survey 1: Australian School Libraries – State of the nation - Runs from 6 – 20 August 2007.
Survey 2: Australian School Library Personnel and roles - tba.

Visit the website to see more background information - http://www.chs.ecu.edu.au/portals/ASLRP

As the infomration notes: ...."Within the teacher librarianship profession, the lack of national data about school libraries has long been recognized as a factor that limits the effectiveness of advocacy. Lonsdale (2003 p.32) in the ACER Report commissioned by ASLA on the Impact of School Libraries on Student Achievement: a Review of the Research pinpointed the serious nature of this gap. She commented:
Perhaps a useful starting point for Australian library professionals would be to gain a more accurate picture nationally of the current state of school librarianship … Before embarking on a sustained and systematic program of research, or even a promotional campaign to highlight the positive contribution that school librarians can make to student learning, it would be useful to have an accurate snapshot of what is currently happening around the country in regard to school library staffing."