A literacy programme that does not include a plan for well-stocked school and classroom libraries cannot succeed in making children literate.

Speaking at the Parnell Summer School on 15th August on the theme of Children and Equality, Dr Siobhán Parkinson, Laureate na nÓg/Children’s Literature Laureate, drew attention to an inequality of access to excellent children’s books in primary schools.

While welcoming the Minister for Education’s new Policy on Literacy and Numeracy, the Laureate pointed out that ‘a literacy programme that does not include a proper plan for well-stocked school and classroom libraries cannot succeed in making children literate’.

It is the most excluded children, she contends, children who do not have ready access to books at home and whose families do not use public libraries, the children who are most likely to need literacy intervention, who suffer most when school libraries are run down.

Read more on the Laureate na n-Og website and in the Irish Times.

Geoff Dubber, freelance consultant and trainer, will be speaking at the SLARI Conference to be held in Dublin City Public Library & Archive, Pearse Street, Dublin 2 on Friday 4th February 2011 from 9:30am – 3:00pm.
Topics to be addressed include:
•    More than Google: Developing information literacy in a library and curriculum context.
•    Read it and put it in your own words! A focus on note making/plagiarism.
•    Upskilling: Examining ways in which a range of skills can be developed through library policies and practices.
Cost (includes tea/coffee and lunch): SLARI members €50.00; non-members €65.00; Students €15.00.
Details: secretary@slari.ie

The Oireachtas Joint Committee on Education and Science has welcomed the decision by the Minister for Educaton and Skills to lift the moratorium on librarians for schools in the Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools (DEIS) programme.
Following a private meeting today, Committee Chairman Paul Gogarty, TD, said: “On behalf of the Committee, I would like to welcome the Minister’s decision to lift the moratorium on DEIS librarians for at least the next school year. Concerns had been expressed about the future of the Junior Certificate Demonstration Library Programme and the Government’s commitment to maintaining the librarian posts intrinsic to the Programme and members of the Committee had prioritised the issue for our next meeting. However, the Minister has responded to the issue by lifting the moratorium for at least the next school year. This is a positive development and one that the Committee fully supports.
“Given the Minister’s decision, the Committee agreed that its meeting with secondary school principals concerning the future of the Junior Certificate Demonstration Library Programme should be cancelled. However, we will continue to assess and monitor the situation and would look forward to a meeting with the school principals in the future to see how the decision affects schools, librarians and students in the future.”
Source: Oireachtas Committees and Press Releases (Thu, 17 Jun 2010)

Nicola Morgan, author of Blame my brain: the amazing teenage brain revealed will be speaking at the SLARI Conference to be held in Dublin City Public Library & Archive, Pearse Street, Dublin 2 on Saturday 14th November 2009 from 9.30am – 3.00pm.
Topics to be addressed include:
• The Fascinating teenage brain: the science, the facts.
• Working with the teenage brain: teachers, librarians and parents.
• Writing for teenagers: getting them reading and why they read what they do.
Cost (includes tea/coffee and lunch): SLARI members €60.00; non-members €75.00; students €20.00.
Details: secretary@slari.ie

SLARI – the School Library Association in the Republic of Ireland – is holding its Spring Seminar in St Andrew’s College, Booterstown, Co. Dublin on 25th April 2009
This year’s Seminar is entitled Teaching skills for school librarians and will be facilitated by Sharon Markless, renowned academic and lecturer at King’s College, London.