Category Archives: News

A.P.D.E.N (Association of French Teacher librarians) national congress in Grenoble (France)

The 11th congress of French teacher librarians « professeurs documentalistes » of State secondary schools will be held this year, from the 22nd to the 24th of March 2019.

We are pleased to announce you that registrations are now officially opened !

Online registration process : go to the official congress website

You can now find on it the following information:

We wish to see you in Grenoble !

For the national board of A.P.D.E.N

Valérie Glass

[email protected]

Launch of the website “Profession : prof doc” about French teacher librarians

The A.P.D.E.N (Association of French teachers librarians of State secondary schools) is very pleased to announce you the launch of the website called « Profession : prof doc » (in english : « Profession : teacher librarians »).

The website is available on : http://professionprofdoc.educapass.fr/

This website is intended for those who wish to know more about French professeurs documentalistes, to update their knowledge about the profession and to confront their representations to official texts and the reality of school practices.

4 sections are available on this website : the profession in short (statut, missions….), statistical data (number of teacher librarians in public and private schools….), field surveys (conducted by the A.P.D.E.N) and words from teacher librarians (webradios podcasts).

For the national board of A.P.D.E.N

Valérie Glass

[email protected]

Programme School Libraries Section for IFLA WLIC 2016 approved

The programme as proposed by the School Libraries Section for WLIC 2016 Colombus was approved by the IFLA Professional Committee.

‘Inclusionary practices to support school libraries’
The conference theme aligns well with the section’s new school library guidelines, which were developed to assist school library professionals and educational decision-makers in their efforts to ensure that all students and teachers have access to effective school library resources and services, delivered by qualified school library personnel.

Building on the Congress theme and Section guidelines roll-out, presentations will be considered that address the theme and examine:

• the role of the community to support school libraries and implement school library guidelines; and

• inclusionary practices in supporting school libraries and implementing the school library guidelines

Room to Read Impact

The International Association of School Librarianship congratulates Room to Read on its milestone in improving the education of 10 million children through the provision of school libraries, children’s publishing in their own languages and through girls’ education scholarships.

Room to Read shares many of IASL’s goals. Room to Read works in Asia and Africa to achieve these. The co-founder Erin Ganju points to 17,500 transformed government schools, 10,000 teachers trained every year in reading and writing instruction and library management, and more than 30,000 girls who have been able to pursue an education with the aid of Room to Read.

Room to Read continually evaluates data on how they are achieving their goals. As part of its milestone, Room to Read has released a document based on their data which may be of interest to IFLA members and friends, What we’ve learned works in global education after educating 10 million children. The main points are:

1.     Children’s speed of reading and comprehension is raised through systematic reading instruction focusing on phonics

2.     Children’s likelihood of learning to read is much greater when their teachers have been trained in how to conduct reading activities, such as reading aloud and shared reading

3.     Children have a preference for illustrated fiction books, e.g. folklore and fantasy

4.     The operation of school libraries is more effective when they are consistently evaluated and monitored

5.     Students’ interest in reading both at school and at home is affected by access to a school library

6.     Transparency is important and results in greater community participation

7.     Working in partnership with local governments is crucial for advocacy and improving instruction and professional development for teachers

More findings related to girls’ education and an excellent infographic showing these findings are available at http://ow.ly/UKQGz

UN Sustainable Development Goals for 2030

UN Concludes Post-2015 Negotiations in New York

 On Sunday 2nd August, after more than three years of negotiations and intense involvement from many stakeholders, including IFLA, the Member States of the United Nations agreed the final version of the post-2015 Development Agenda – now known as 2030 Agenda.  The new 2030 Agenda is a framework of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with a total of 179 Targets spanning economic, environmental and social development. They lay out a plan for all countries to actively engage in making our world better for its people and the planet. The official version of the post-2015 Development Agenda will be adopted by Heads of State upon during the United Nations Summit in New York, September 25-27 2015. IFLA will continue to raise awareness during the Summit for access to information and the essential role libraries play in fulfilling this.

 

IFLA welcomes the 2030 Agenda and is pleased to see access to information, universal literacy, safeguarding of cultural and natural heritage, as well as access to Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) strongly represented across it. We are particularly pleased to the see the strong mention of access to information in Target 16.10: “Ensure public access to information and protect fundamental freedoms, in accordance with national legislation and international agreements”

 The new vision

The 2030 Agenda will help all UN Member States focus their attention on poverty eradication, climate change, and the development of people. Libraries can support many aspects of its vision and the supporting SDGs. Libraries are key public institutions which have a vital role to play in furthering development on every level of society. The Agenda also creates a UN Interagency Task Force on Science Technology and Innovation. The Task Force will look at information and technology transfer mechanisms world-wide and collect these in one place to ensure access to information, knowledge, best practises and lessons learned are available to all. IFLA welcomes the creation of this task force, and will continue our advocacy to ensure our views and the expertise of the information community are taken to account in its creation.

Outstanding concerns

All Member States have agreed to the new Agenda, however follow-up is voluntary and the Agenda represents political rather than legal commitments. Furthermore, IFLA would like to stress the importance of integrating the results and ongoing achievements of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) within the Means of Implementation of the new Agenda.

 What is next?

Leading up to the UN Summit to launch the new development 2030 Agenda in September 2015, IFLA will work on a detailed analysis of the SDGs and provide information on how libraries can contribute to reaching them.

IFLA will also actively participate in monitoring the progress made on the access to information target (Target16.10), other relevant targets, and ensure appropriate data regarding libraries as access points will be included. We will publish a Development and Access to Information (DA2I) report which furthermore will strengthen the monitoring of the impact of access to information on the SDGs.  The 2030 Agenda will be implemented at national levels. IFLA would like to encourage librarians to continue your active work in engaging with your governments and their National Development Plans and ensure libraries, as information, skills and ICT providers as well as agents to safeguard cultural heritage, are represented in these.

Thanks to you

IFLA together with you, our network, and the signatories of the Lyon Declaration we advocated and promoted access to information as an essential aspect to ensure the success of the post-2015 Development Agenda. The hard work done by all of us means that the new framework offers libraries a great opportunity to help fulfil their country’s National Development Plans by showing how their activities and skills can support the newly established SDGs – now we must rise to the challenge and prove that libraries are crucial partners for sustainable development.

 

Julia Brungs, Policy and Projects Officer, International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA)

IFLA School Library Guidelines approved

We have IFLA School Library Guidelines lift off!

The approved final version of our IFLA School Library Guidelines is available at: http://www.ifla.org/publications/node/9512?og=52

Please share the link with your colleagues and beyond. Our 2 years of hard work, numerous workshops, various meetings and international feedback has culminated in this final document. We know there will be revisions in the future but for now, let’s celebrate the delivery of this international effort. Please note that the title is IFLA School Library Guidelines. It will be a longer process to receive UNESCO endorsement so it is only the first edition that holds the IFLA/UNESCO distinction.