The Save School Libraries Coalition (SSLC) is a coalition of educators, library workers, literacy specialists, writers, children鈥檚 book publishers and distributors, and advocates. They are committed to working with Ontario鈥檚 education sector to ensure that Ontario students continue to have access to school libraries and trained library staff as a foundational part of their education. 91精选, the Ontario Library Association and the Ontario School Library Association are all members of the coalition.

The coalition has sent a letter to the the Council of Ontario Directors of Education (CODE) and the Ontario Principals’ Council (OPC) to ask for their help in protecting and restoring support for Ontario鈥檚 school libraries as Directors and Principals embark on critical planning for the 2021-22 school year. The letter has been made public, and is available for viewing here:

The letter was copied to organizations representing elected school board officials. Organizations that are part of the coalition are sharing the letter with their members and through social media, using the hashtag #SaveSchoolLibraries. The coalition has also notified media organizations. We invite you to share the letter through your channels, particularly if you are in Ontario.

The Save School Libraries Coalition was formed early in the 2020-21 school year, in response to decisions being made in many Ontario school districts to close school libraries and reassign staff. The coalition wrote a in October 2020, but received no response. The coalition is also aware of detrimental decisions now being made in jurisdictions outside Ontario about school library funding and staffing for next year.

Learn more about the Save School Libraries Coalition by visiting:

Share the coalition’s letter to CODE and OPC using this shortlink:

Use the hashtag #SaveSchoolLibraries when sharing on social media

Check out the Spring Conference 2018 Conference!聽

Register now for the Alberta School Learning Commons Council (ASLC) Conference!
April 21, 2018. 8:30-2:30 at Strathcona High School.

We are excited to welcome Angela Stockman as our special guest speaker at the ASLC annual Spring Conference. You will have the opportunity to participate in her workshop and discover how to combine Makerspace activities with Writers鈥� Workshop in order to engage and support all writers. During the day, there will also be a number of additional presentations including an FNMI learning sessions from Walking Together, a Makerspace Playground and a mini Lit-Picks session.

This conference is appropriate for K-12 teachers, teacher-librarians, tech leads, ELL specialists and ELA/English teachers

See the for registration information.

We are profoundly grateful to everyone who donated seed money during our formative stages. Without your assistance we could not have progressed so impressively with projects and as an organization.

Now it’s time for us to thank you by offering a charitable tax receipt for new donations.

Support 91精选

91精选 is dedicated to professional education and research. By donating to 91精选 you help enrich understanding and improve practice to support the development of the school library learning commons program across Canada.

Online donations are easy with our CanadaHelps online form. Donations by cheque are also welcome. Find everything you need on our page.

With gratitude,

The 91精选 Board of Directors

Celebrating 91精选D Across the Country

A number of years ago the Canadian Library Association declared October 23 as National School Library Day. This celebration has become a valued tradition in many districts and provinces. 91精选 would like to continue to shine a spotlight on school libraries across Canada on October 23 as a day to recognize that school libraries make a difference in teaching and learning every day. Be inspired and enjoy reading about all of the activities, events and experiences celebrating Canadian School Library Day (91精选D) from across Canada!

Treasure Mountain Canada: October 20 – 21, 2017, Winnipeg, Manitoba

Treasure Mountain Canada (TMC) is a research symposium and think tank that fosters academic and practitioner research into the school library learning commons and associated instructional practices. This year, 91精选D comes immediately after this year’s TMC – the fifth biennial symposium, held in Winnipeg in partnership with the Manitoba School Library Association’s SAGE conference.

Building on the SAGE conference’s theme, Truth in Our Stories: Seeking a Path to Reconciliation, TMC5 participants gathered to examine and discuss close to twenty papers submitted by academics and practitioners exploring various aspects of the symposium theme, Culturally Relevant and Responsive School Library Learning Commons. The symposium concluded with The Big Think, where we explored the implications of what we had learned, and relevant future actions that will move professional learning and practice forward.

The symposium was a great success: the papers add to the growing body of made in Canada research from previous symposiums, and inspires future research and practice.

Congratulations to Anita Brooks Kirkland

91精选 is proud to recognize Anita Brooks Kirkland as the first recipient of the 91精选 Angela Thacker Memorial award.

The Angela Thacker Memorial Award was established in memory of Angela Thacker, teacher-librarian, library coordinator, and school library colleague, mentor, leader and advocate who served the Association for Teacher-Librarianship in Canada (ATLC) and the Canada School Library Association (91精选A) in many capacities. This award honours teacher-librarians who have made contributions to the profession through publications, productions or professional development activities that deal with topics relevant to teacher-librarianship and/or school library learning commons.

The award was presented to Anita Brooks Kirkland and celebrated with Treasure Mountain Canada participants at dinner in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Liz Kerr and Carol Koechlin were honoured to present the award on behalf of 91精选 and The Association of Library Consultants of Ontario (TALCO), the nominating body.

Anita鈥檚 outstanding contributions, dynamic leadership and exceptional expertise in the field of school libraries, school library learning commons, and teacher-librarianship is well known across Canada, most significantly through her excellence in the formation, development and leadership of the 91精选 organization and 91精选 website dedicated to excellence in library learning commons nationwide. Anita exemplifies teacher-librarianship and models its attributes of collaboration in schools, school districts, universities and professional organizations through thought, word and deed. Anita has made and continues to make a profound difference in the lives of learners.

91精选 is pleased to share news stories from provincial and territorial associations from across the country.

Yukon Teacher-Librarian Association

Yukon teacher-librarians have made significant progress in embracing the learning commons model and moving towards transitioning their spaces to flexible, collaborative, and innovative learning spaces which serve the diverse needs of each school population and truly engage all learners.

For the past ten years at Vanier Catholic Secondary School in Whitehorse, to celebrate National Library Month, a contest is announced at the start of the school year to choose a new school bookmark design. Students have one month to submit a design and 鈥渕ake their mark鈥�. There is much anticipation in the school while we wait for the new bookmarks to be printed and distributed in time for School Library Day on October 23. This year, it was one of our talented, artistic grade 10 students whose artwork was chosen.

As facilitators of the Learning Commons, Yukon teacher-librarians collaborate with teachers and students to enrich and enhance learning initiatives and programs. This fall, as Yukon teachers deepen their understanding of the new BC Curriculum, which Yukon schools follow, we look forward to the many ways that we can collaborate with Yukon teachers to ensure and enhance student learning. At Golden Horn Elementary Learning Commons, teacher-librarian Grace Snider is guiding her students on a year-long inquiry project using the 鈥淢ade in Yukon鈥� book The Magical Thread as her anchor resource. This is the story of two 10 year olds who lose their way in the Yukon wilderness and experience exciting adventures as they find their way home.

Happy School Library Day from North of 60潞!

The BCTLA is celebrating a victory this year. We won a fifteen-year court battle for BCTF, fixing contract language illegally stripped by our government in 2002. Our ratio of teacher-librarians to students was restored to 1:702 this year, which puts more teacher-librarians in school libraries. Some districts have an even better ratio. Thanks to the efforts of our past president, Heather Daly, visionary for BCTLA for ten years, we are looking forward to celebrating BC鈥檚 success on National School Library Day. We are recognizing Heather鈥檚 dedication to the profession by presenting her with the Teacher Librarian of the Year Award on behalf of the BCTLA.

The teacher-librarian association in BC is vibrant and has passionate leaders. Each year, BCTLA hosts a Drop Everything And Read (DEAR) challenge across BC to promote and advocate school libraries. Bonnie Chapman, from Surrey school district, initiated this province-wide event in 2007. This year, schools across BC are organizing their own special guest readers. These include the mayor, school board trustees, and other local community members and celebrities. When announced, the schools participating will drop everything and read a book. This has been extended out into the community, with other workplaces dropping everything to read for twenty minutes to show their support for school libraries.

With the recent court case success, new and previous teacher-librarians are reflecting on best practices. This is especially shown with a brand new curriculum being fully implemented this year. The BCTLA supports all of our colleagues and we are proud to release our newest document (2017).

This document summarizes three years of work by two groups of Vancouver teacher-librarians 鈥� elementary and secondary 鈥� engaged in teacher inquiry. The inquiry groups have described, in both personal and professional terms, the continuum of change upon which a school library becomes a Library Learning Commons in BC. They have been joined by voices of teacher-librarians throughout BC who have successfully undertaken similar initiatives. We give a special thank you to Moira Ekdahl. She holds many titles, including past vice-president of BCTLA, and current Faculty of Education instructor at UBC. Moira will receive the well-deserved Val Hamiliton Lifetime Achievement Award for 2017.

This Canadian School Library Day, BCTLA is proud to celebrate all of the efforts in BC school libraries, and we hope to continue our shared success. Six BC delegates attended the International Association of School Libraries conference in California this past summer. Our colleagues presented on our court case and we connected and shared with teacher-librarians across the world. This experience was transformative and inspired us to implement innovative new ideas to benefit our community as we look to the future of the BCTLA.

Jessica Bonin, British Columbia Teacher- Librarians鈥� Association (BCTLA) President

The Saskatchewan School Library Association, with the help of a grant from the Saskatchewan Teachers鈥� Federation, is actively compiling a list of resources to assist teachers and teacher-librarians across the province who are teaching the history of treaties and residential schools. This is one way that the SSLA is responding the TRC Calls to Action that we hope will benefit all school libraries in the province. At this time, we are still gathering the resources, but the SSLA plans to launch the resource list on in the spring of 2018.

Gaetan Hammond, SSLA President

We will definitely be celebrating on Oct 23, however in Manitoba we celebrate 鈥淢anitoba School Library Day鈥� on the fourth Monday of October every year (this year it falls on October 23). This day is officially proclaimed by our provincial government and The Manitoba School Library Association (MSLA) is instrumental in ensuring this happens every year. This year’s theme is “Seeking Truth Through the School Library and Learning Commons.”

In conjunction with this officially proclaimed day, the MSLA holds a Drop Everything And Read (D.E.A.R.) challenge where teachers, students and schools can register online to participate. Everyone who registers does a D.E.A.R. event at their school on Oct 23 at 11 am. Last year, we had 80 schools participate, and over 18,000 students reading across the province! This year we hope to surpass our results from last year. Schools visit and use the form to register their school for the D.E.A.R. challenge. We also make a poster every year that advertises the event and send that to our membership. It is also available at the above link.

Christine Robinson, President, Manitoba School Library Association

Ontario school libraries are taking the stage at one of the biggest school library conferences on the continent. The American Association of School Libraries conference will be held November 9-11, 2017

in Phoenix, Arizona. There were over 1500 workshop applications and only a select few were chosen; fortunately, the Ontario School Library Association will be well represented by three Ontario teacher-librarians. Diana Maliszewski from the Toronto District School Board, Alanna King from the Upper Grand District School Board, and Melanie Mulcaster from the Peel District School Board will share some of their work with the estimated 5000 attendees. In addition to the presentations, our Ontario teacher-librarians attendees (as well as other school library professionals such as Liz Kerr) plan on attending Treasure Mountain with Dr. David Loertscher and Dr. Ross Todd leading the retreat. This is fortuitous, considering that many of these teacher-librarians also attended Treasure Mountain Canada in Winnipeg just before. Another exciting aspect of the AASL conference will be the release of the brand new AASL Standards for School Libraries. Connecting this document to Canada鈥檚 own Leading Learning document will be educational and illuminating.

School libraries in Quebec have been busy! Through forward thinking, engaging and collaborative programming, librarians in Quebec are delivering a range of services to their schools. Here is just some of what they are doing.

Both public and private school libraries across Montreal are busy organizing another edition of the annual 鈥淏attle of the Books鈥� competition. Put together by librarians from across the city鈥檚 various English school boards and associations, the Battle of the Books engages high school students in a trivia contest that tests their knowledge of 12 pre-selected books. See more about the BoB .

At the English Montreal School Board (EMSB), Librarian Nick Warren is adapting library services to meet his students鈥� unique needs. Responsible for eleven of the EMSB鈥檚 Outreach and Social Affairs Schools, 鈥淣ick, The Librarian鈥� is on the front lines, fostering literacy and positive development in students who face a number of challenges.

Librarians in the Quebec English School Boards are also providing support and instruction with assistive reading technologies. To find out more about these amazing accessible reading initiatives in Quebec see: .

In these exciting times, many of our school libraries are in transition, preparing to meet the needs of a 21st Century curriculum. For example, the Lester B. Pearson School Board (LBPSB) has established a digital citizenship curriculum. Focus is placed on responsible use of digital technologies to enhance creativity and collaboration in student-led learning, as well as how to create a “positive digital footprint” online. Teachers, students, parents and librarians work together to support these important initiatives.

At The Sacred Heart School of Montr茅al from the Quebec Association of Independent Schools (QAIS), Librarian Joan Harrison used Google StreetView and Story Spheres to create a virtual tour for orientation. Using Google Cardboard, students explore a 360 degree image of the library and trigger audio tags which describe the Library services.

Finally, Quebec school librarians are continuing to make their way into classrooms, teaching students the skills required to navigate a world that is overwhelmed with information. At Royal West Academy (EMSB), Librarian Stephanie Germain collaborates with teachers from all departments, regularly giving presentations that incorporate digital information literacy into existing class assignments.

As School Library day approaches, Quebec librarians are excited to shine a spotlight on all our accomplishments, past, present and future, and to passionately advocate for our continued relevance.

Joan Harrison, ABQLA

The PEI Teacher-Librarians Association has expanded National School Library Day into School Library Week! October 23-27 is spent celebrating school libraries across the province. Some of the contests being held this week include “Guess Who’s Reading?” where students need to guess the staff member based on a photo of them reading their favourite book, and “Who’s Who?” where students guess the book series or character based only on their silhouette. Some schools are having literary-themed pumpkin-decorating contests or book-themed trivia contests over lunch hour, and many are inviting guest speakers in from the community to share their own writing or their favourite books. We are all working together to celebrate our libraries, both large and small!

An Update from Teacher Librarians of Newfoundland and Labrador

Teacher Librarians of Newfoundland and Labrador have been working together to grow the school library learning commons movement across the province while at the same time have been lobbying to improve access to teacher librarians for more students in our schools. This report highlights some of our recent activities.

Presentations and Submissions

In the fall of 2015, we made presentations and submitted multiple papers on behalf of teacher-librarians in the province to the Newfoundland and Labrador Teachers鈥� Association Panel on the Status of Public Education in NL. We argued that allocations for teacher librarians needed to be increased in order to resolve the inequity of access to school libraries and teacher librarians that exists in this province, especially in our many very small schools. In 2016, the provincial government launched the Premier鈥檚 Taskforce on Improving Educational Outcomes. Our organization made several submissions again highlighting the need for increased access to teacher librarians and school library learning commons. Happily, the final report of the taskforce included a number of recommendations related to the importance of teacher librarians and school libraries in improving student achievement.

Advocacy Work

In Newfoundland and Labrador, there is no job description detailing the roles and responsibilities of teacher librarians. Our organization has prepared a proposed Role Description and provided it to the Newfoundland and Labrador English School District in May 2016. Additionally, we have been lobbying our school district to invest in a new Library Management System for NL schools.

The Newfoundland and Labrador Department of Education is presently piloting a new library curriculum support document called Extending the Classroom: The Library Learning Commons. The document is long overdue and highly-anticipated. This year, 8 schools are participating in the pilot project, with two members of our executive acting as mentors for the project. This is creating a great deal of excitement about school library learning commons in the pilot schools and others.

Professional Development

TLNL has conducted conferences for the professional development of teacher librarians in each of the last three years. These conferences, called Teacher Librarians Connect (or TLC) have been held in three different locations across our vast province to date–in Gander, Corner Brook, and St. John鈥檚–and will once again this year take place in central Newfoundland.

Boys Undercover Reading Program (BURP)

The Boys Undercover Reading Program, created by our president Heather Godden, has expanded widely over the years, with 20+ NL schools now participating actively in the program. TLNL has supported this expansion by granting two BURP book carts and funds to start up a BURP collection to two schools each year.

TLNL continues to advocate for school libraries and teacher librarians across Newfoundland and Labrador, and in particular recognizes the need for more equitable access to school libraries and teacher librarians for all students, especially the many NL children who attend remote, very small schools.

Leigh Borden, NLTL

Nova Scotia School Library Network

Great reading from the NSSLN Blog:

Congratulations to Dianne Oberg, PhD, Professor Emerita in teacher-librarianship in the Faculty of Education at the University of Alberta. During the IASL (International School

Library Association) AGM held in Long Beach, California in August 2017, Dianne was honored as an IASL Lifetime Ambassador for her work within IASL as well as work for school librarians across the world.

Honorary members are individuals who have made noteworthy and outstanding contributions in the field of school librarianship. Unanimous approval of the full IASL Board of Directors is required in order to become an honorary member of the Association. Shown in the photo with Dianne is Gerald R. Brown, also from Canada, and former chief librarian of the Winnipeg School Division. Gerald was named IASL Honorary Ambassador in 1998. He continues to be active is library and archival endeavours.

Read more in the next 91精选 Journal!

Find out about how IASL celebrates October as International School Library Month and how you can participate! 鈥淭he 2017 theme for ISLM is 鈥淐onnecting Communities and Cultures鈥�. It is based on the annual IASL conference theme of 鈥淟earning Without Borders鈥�.

Is your district or school library association looking for a way to celebrate accomplishments and inspire further progress? Would you like to contribute to professional research to further the advancements of school library learning commons in Canada? Are you concerned about the future of education and the role school library learning commons can play?

If yes then 91精选 has a perfect leadership opportunity for you and your school district or association. We are looking for a host for the next Treasure Mountain Canada (TMC) symposium. TMC is a school library research symposium which brings researchers, writers, leading thinkers and practitioners together every second year to highlight, analyse, debate and study current research and scholarly authorship to promote continuous improvement in school librarianship and the evolution of the learning commons in Canada. Find out more about TMC:

• Read the introduction to TMC 4 papers to discover the history and future aspirations of this important biannual event. .
• Visit the to connect to past symposiums and study the thoughtful research papers that have contributed to building six years of research to support the work of school libraries in Canada.
• Explore the success of hosted in Toronto by OLA at Super Conference 2016.

Please consider the many benefits of taking on this important task as the next host of TMC:

• Inspiration for your membership to contribute their success stories and research
• Opportunities for professional leadership
• Collaboration and networking with school library professionals across Canada
• Contributions to the growth of school library learning commons
• Home grown research to share with district decision makers
• National recognition for your local work
• Opportunity to shape the future

What do we need from the host district/association?

A local planning committee supported by TMC planning committee and 91精选 would shape the symposium. The TMC planning committee will look after the call for papers, peer reviewing and publishing of papers as well as program at the actual symposium. We welcome program and speaker suggestions 聽from the local committee so that the event truly supports the local needs as well as national. The local group usually works to find facilities and other supports needed. A facility to support physical and virtual collaboration is key to success as this is not a typical conference but a participatory event where we need flexible spaces, furnishings and robust internet, much like a school library learning commons. The event has traditionally taken place over two days with a dinner scheduled in between to help build community and celebrate our work together. Other than that we welcome creative ideas and solutions from our local hosts.

Past Symposiums

We’d love to hear from you!

TMC 5 is waiting to be hosted by a school district or school library association in Canada in late 2017 or early 2018.

If you are interested in this opportunity to shape the future or you have questions please contact TMC co-chairs:

Carol Koechlin: koechlin@sympatico.ca
Anita Brooks Kirkland: anitabk@bythebrooks.ca

Celebrating School Libraries Across Canada

School libraries across the country will be celebrating Canadian School Library Day on Monday, October 24, 2016. Promoted by the Canadian Library Association since 2004 to its dissolution in 2015, Canadian School Library Day is now a grassroots movement celebrating and uniting school libraries across the country.

Canadian School Library Day celebrates the central role that school libraries play in the education and development of young people. As they evolve into school-wide learning commons, libraries are taking on more responsibility for supporting all kinds of learning, from experiential to digital. Much more than custodians of resources and managers of floor space, school libraries have embraced the issues raised by new technology and the needs of the 21st century learner.

But libraries still have books and school libraries are still committed to promoting literacy and the love of reading, a theme recognized by many of the events organized in various provinces, school districts and individual schools throughout Canada on Canadian School Library Day.聽 The provincial school library association in British Columbia () and Manitoba () have both challenged all their schools to drop everything and read at 11:00 a.m.on October 24th to highlight the importance of school libraries in the educational lives of students.

B.C. will try to beat their record from last year which saw 66,500 students from across the province dropping everything and reading.聽 Last year it was also reported that reading spilled out into the community with at least one mall and insurance company taking part in the challenge.聽 Some schools even had members of the government and firefighters coming to read to their students in their libraries and classrooms.聽 This year鈥檚 BCTLA鈥檚 theme for their D.E.A.R. day is 鈥淪hare-Celebrate-Advocate.鈥�

Manitoba is another province that is particularly proud of their school library day. The Government of Manitoba, through its Ministry of Education, recognizes the unique impact school libraries have on literacy and learning by declaring the last Monday in October, “Manitoba School Library Day.鈥� The theme for their day is 鈥淪chool Libraries: Where Creativity and Learning Begins.鈥澛犅� Thousands of students, teachers, principals and support staff will be dropping everything and reading throughout the province to celebrate this special day for school libraries.

Manitoba Proclamations (PDF):

The supports Library Learning Commons in schools across Ontario as they celebrate October 24th with a broad variety of events to engage their communities.聽 Many schools are participating in a D.E.A.R. activity, either cross-grade in their libraries, or across entire schools.聽 Others are using this day to launch their book clubs, as the 2017 nominees were聽 just announced October 14th. There are Library Learning Commons in both elementary and secondary schools hosting MakerSpace activities, board games, trivia contests, and Lego building challenges: events which clearly demonstrate the diverse interests and needs served by school libraries. The OLA embraces Canadian School Library Day as an opportunity to remind our students, teachers, and parents that the school library is a great place to connect, learn, and share.

is one example of many schools in the Ottawa region that will take time on October 24th to salute school libraries.聽 Over forty adult members of the Nepean High School community will be coming to the school to read aloud to classes and share their love of reading.聽 Readers will include local MP the Hon. , trustees and senior staff, the Imam of the , Olympic kayaker , retired teachers and many prominent and active members of the school community who will read from a wide variety of books.

鈥淲e know that students enjoy being read to,鈥� says teacher-librarian Glenn Turner. 鈥淎nd the research shows that this can change both kids鈥� attitudes towards reading and their reading abilities.鈥�

In recognition of the importance of school libraries, has proclaimed October 24, 2016 as 鈥淣ational School Library Day鈥�.

Submitted by Jo-Anne Gibson
With contributions by Kate Johnson-Mcgregor, Rhea Woolgar and Glenn Turner

You鈥檝e all heard the terms 鈥渓earning commons鈥� and 鈥渕akerspace鈥� but what do they really look like and how do they actually function in a school setting?聽 For this year鈥檚 MTS PD Day, the Manitoba School Library Association and the Manitoba Library Technician Association has planned a unique learning opportunity.聽 Two bus tours, each visiting three elementary, one middle and one high school library learning commons and makerspaces in Winnipeg, have been planned.聽 The tours are not just meant for those working in school libraries.聽 The MSLA has encouraged all teachers and school administrators who want to see their school libraries flourish in the 21st century and help them institute a maker culture to attend.

Participants in the SAGE conference will begin their day with a healthy snack, networking and visiting at their first school.聽 From there, they will board one of two fully-equipped highway buses which will travel to two different elementary schools.聽 The buses will converge again for lunch at a local high school where there will be pop-up publisher displays.聽 During the afternoon, one tour will travel to a middle school and the other to a K to 12 independent school before returning to their first school to pick up their cars.

Every school library learning commons chosen to be a part of the tours have library staff(s) that have embraced the learning commons concept and makerspace culture. Participants will find something unique and innovative in both the library programming and physical library spaces of each of the schools chosen. Every school division in metro Winnipeg and one independent school is represented on these tours.聽 In addition to schools at various levels, one French Immersion, one Ukrainian Immersion, and one English/French dual track schools have been included on the tours.

Each bus will have a tour guide who will lead activities throughout the day. To connect the two buses during the tours, participants are encouraged to use the Twitter and Instagram hashtag #mtspdday. In addition to some great door prizes, two lucky participants with receive a $400 bursary to further their education in school libraries.

Clearly there was a need for this event because it was completely sold out one month prior!