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SLA
Unit 2 Lotmead Business Village
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Lotmead
Farm, Wanborough,UK.
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Swindon
SN4 0UY,
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Tel
0870 7770979
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My
three-year term of office as Hon. President of the School Library
Association came to an end at our annual Weekend Course, which
was held at Bath University. I was succeeded by Gervase Phinn,
who I hope will enjoy his time as President as much as I enjoyed
mine. I'll continue to work for the SLA in whatever ways I can.
Nothing in schools and colleges is more important than the library
and no one is more important than the librarian. In too many schools
neither receives the support they need. The SLA is the only organisation
in Britain entirely devoted to helping school librarians, whatever
their status and in whatever kind of educational institution they
work.
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| I took
on the job because I believe a well-stocked, well-equipped and |
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well-run library should be at the heart of every school, and I know
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from experience how valuable the SLA is to school librarians.
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| My links
with the SLA go back to 1961 when I was appointed a |
| teacher
of English and the school librarian at Archway School, |
| Stroud,
Gloucestershire, when it opened in a new building. I was |
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shown
an empty room lined with shelves and told to 'fill it with books
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and help to turn our pupils into keen readers'. I'd had no training
as
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a librarian and knew almost nothing about children's books.(This
story is
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still all too common - a situation the SLA works hard to put right.)
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I was saved from professional calamity by the county's Schools
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Librarian and by the members of the local branch of the School |
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Library
Association, who gave me support, a crash course in librarianship,
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and generally speaking made it possible for me to learn on the job
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without causing irreparable damage. It was at local SLA meetings
that I
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gave my first public talks, and it was as a result of my work at
Archway
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and
with the SLA that I could write my first book for teachers and
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librarians, The Reluctant Reader (Pergamon
Press, 1969, now long out of
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print). Naturally, I have a strong sentimental and professional
attachment
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to
the SLA, and am proud that I was invited to be its President.
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| These
days every organisation must publish its 'mission statement'. |
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The aims of the SLA are as simple as they are ambitious:
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| 'The
School Library Association supports all those committed to the |
| promotion
and development of school libraries and information literacy. |
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For over 65 years the SLA has: |
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supported and encouraged those working in school libraries |
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campaigned to ensure appropriate provision for school libraries and
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library services |
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provided a significant voice to focus attention at regional and national
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| No surprise
that in my opinion every school - infant, primary and |
| secondary
- and every teacher-training institution should belong to the |
| SLA.
But so should those who benefit from the work of librarians - |
| children's
and educational publishers, writers for the young, teacher- |
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librarian-training institutions - everyone in fact who depends on
or |
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to do with the reading lives of children and students. |
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| These
days, with so little comprehensive and professionally informed |
| reviewing
of children's and youth books and electronic materials |
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compared with what used be offered, The School Librarian |
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indispensable to librarians and teachers. |
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All
contents are ©Aidan Chambers unless otherwise stated.
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Library Association
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