Engaging and Empowering School Libraries

The golden threads of your school library

This week we are discussing how school librarians can empower themselves and the profession by focusing on the organisations and schools they work in.  We also covered the importance of building support networks within and beyond school libraries. 
I was joined by my co-hosts and school librarians Sabrina Cox and Ruth Maloney and our guests were Sue Wills MBE Assistant director: Arts, Culture, Heritage at Surrey County Council, Sue Williamson MBE Vice President of CILIP and Luke Burton Director of Libraries at Arts Council England
More information about my membership can be found here https://www.elizabethahutchinson.com/aboutmembership 
ASCEL - https://www.ascel.org.uk/ 
CILIP - https://www.cilip.org.uk/ 
SLA - https://www.sla.org.uk/ 
Libraries Connected - http://www.librariesconnected.org.uk/ 
Steam up your library -https://www.librariesconnected.org.uk/sites/default/files/STEAM%20Up%20Your%20Library%20Guide.pdf 
 
If you have any comments on this podcast we would love to hear your thoughts. 
 

School libraries and online resources. Bedrock Learning, Massolit and more: Insights from school librarians

This week we are returning to the topic of online resources for school libraries. Back in November we chatted to school librarians about how school libraries could provide online resources on a budget. This time however we are looking more closely at 2 resources that bring something else to teaching and learning. The first is Bedrock learning, the second is Massolit, and for those with very little budget we are including some free ones for you to consider too. 
In this session I am joined by my co-hosts and school librarians Sabrina Cox and Ruth Maloney and our guests are also school librarians Gareth Evans and Clare Brumpton.
More information about my membership can be found here https://www.elizabethahutchinson.com/aboutmembership 
 
Resources spoken about during podcast discussion and some extra ones from Gareth
Abbeyfield School Bedrock Learning Help Zone: https://sites.google.com/view/abbeyfieldlrc/bedrock-learning-help-zone
Bedrock Learning: bedrocklearning.org
Britannica Magazine: https://britannicamagazine.co.uk/ 
IDL Literacy and Numeracy : idlsgroup.com
Into Film +: www.intofilm.org 
Issues Online: https://www.issuesonline.co.uk/
Newspaper for Schools “News Library”: https://www.nlamediaaccess.com/newspapers-for-schools/ 
Open Access Research Databases: https://sites.google.com/view/abbeyfieldlrc/open-access-research-databases 
The National Theatre Collection via Drama online: https://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/learn-explore/schools/national-theatre-collection/#uk-state-secondary-fe 
VLeBooks: VLeBooks (brownsbfs.co.uk)
QFiles: https://www.q-files.com/ 
We would also recommend that you use your local public library to gain access to free online resources
 

Great School Libraries: Campaigning, misconceptions, AI and a way forward

This week we are talking about campaigning for school libraries and why it is important. The Great School Libraries Campaign was set up 4 years ago as a joint venture between the School Library Association, CILIP (Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals) and CILIP SLG (School Library Group). 
Tonight I am joined by my co-host and school librarian Sabrina Cox and our guests this evening are the joint Chairs of the campaign, Alison Tarrant, CEO of the School Library Association and Mary-Rose Grieves, a school librarian working at the Hartland International School of Dubai.  
We talk campaigning, misconceptions, Ofsted, AI and the future of school libraries. The future is bright...
Great School libraries campaign https://www.greatschoollibraries.org.uk/ 
 
Letter to the mp is on the 'how can I help' page 
https://www.greatschoollibraries.org.uk/how-can-i-help
 
https://twitter.com/GreatSchLibs
https://twitter.com/uksla
https://twitter.com/CILIPSLG 
Check out my membership here https://www.elizabethahutchinson.com/aboutmembership 

Empowering Learning through ChatGPT and AI: Insights from School Librarians

This podcast is about ChatGPT and AI within education and the role that the school librarian can play in helping students and teachers engage with with it. After initially deciding that I needed to know more about all of this back in December the AI world has exploded and it is virtually impossible to keep up to date with everything new that is now available. We felt that another conversation about what the school librarian can and should be aware of going forward.
Tonight I was joined by my co-host school librarian Sabrina Cox as well as John Royce a freelance consultant and trainer,  Susan Merrick a teacher-librarian who is at an international school in Surrey and Jeri Hurd is a teacher-librarian based in Korea.  We are very grateful that she has got up at 4am to be with us. 
Resources spoken about during podcast discussion
https://elicit.org/
Google Scholar on Speed
 
https://www.ib-schools.com/our-services/blog/7/the-international-baccalaureate-and-ai-chatbot-technology
IB Blog
 
https://ditchthattextbook.com/ai/
Ditch That textbook
 
https://usergeneratededucation.wordpress.com/2023/01/22/chatgpt-with-my-students/ This one is pretty interesting too.
 
Jeri Hurt's post about the ChatGPT student chart
and this to (and graphics) about Elicit
 
Matt Miller's AI post at Ditch That Textbook.  The graphic about levels of student AI use is good, but the whole post is worth reading.
 
Other podcasts
If you want to listen to previous podcast about ChatGPT you will find them here. https://www.podbean.com/ew/pb-tz753-1361bb0 https://www.podbean.com/ew/pb-ki5s3-138719d 
 
My membership information https://www.elizabethahutchinson.com/aboutmembership  
 

The school librarians role in organising an author visit

This podcast was recorded on Twitter Spaces in May 2022. Ruth Maloney and Elizabeth Hutchinson chatted to author, Ann Bryant about the role the school librarian plays in making an author visit something memorable for both the visiting author and the students. 
We had a wonderful conversation about how to make sure the questions your students ask are of value to everyone. Some great ideas to ensure this happens. 
Ann Bryant. https://www.annbryant.co.uk/
Find out more about me on my website https://www.elizabethahutchinson.com/ 

World Book Day: How do we balance silliness with seriousness

This podcast is about World Book Day, a day when many schools take the time to celebrate books and reading. Over the last few years, the interest in World book day has been dominated by the craze of ‘dressing up as your favourite book character’ and whilst this is fun it can cause much angst among parents and children who don’t have the time or money to join in. We have many school librarians who do love this practice so tonight's chat is not about saying we should not be dressing up but exploring other ways to celebrate world book day. 
Tonight I was joined by school librarians Ruth Maloney, Sabrina Cox, Emma Whiting and Cath Skipper who shared some wonderful ideas for WBD that we hope you will take and use as your own.
If you want to listen to the podcast about author visits mentioned in this podcast you can check it out here https://www.podbean.com/ew/pb-g4dpp-13b58a9 
My membership information https://www.elizabethahutchinson.com/aboutmembership  
 

ChatGPT, School libraries, inquiry and questioning skills

This podcast is about ChatGPT and how the skills needed to navigate it well are part of the skillset that school librarians already have. 
I want to welcome back Domonic Sunderland Headteacher Capella House school who joined me a few weeks ago on my previous podcast about  ChatGPT and my other two guests who have got up rather early to talk to us from Australia, Andrew Herft who is a curriculum advisor and Leon Furze who is an Educational Consultant. 
Webinar - A beginners guide to ChatGPT for school librarians 
Leons resources:-
Blog - full of useful information and resources https://leonfurze.com/blog
PD February 16th will be live and recorded: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/practical-strategies-for-chatgpt-in-education-tickets-528941106087 
 
My membership information https://www.elizabethahutchinson.com/aboutmembership 
 

Graphic novels and their role in supporting literacy

Are graphic novels just comics and do they have a place in our school libraries? In this episode, Ruth, Sabrina and I unpack the power of graphic novels on students reading and are joined by experts Paul Register, school librarian and founder of Excelsior awards and Rebecca Simpson-Hargreaves, Lecturer in Education, University of Manchester. 
Resources mentioned in the podcast:-
Richard Ruddick https://padlet.com/rruddick9zra/graphic-novels-73uh2srzpbia 
The Excelsior Awards https://www.excelsioraward.co.uk/ 
Some favourites graphic novels from Rebecca :-
The Graveyard Book - Neil Gaiman (2 vols)
Minecraft  Stories from the Overworld – different authors in the anthology
When Stars are Scattered- Victoria Jamieson and Omar Mohamed
The Weirn books - Svetlana Chmakova
Beowulf – Stern, Steininger and Studabaker
Hilda (any of them)-Luke Pearson
Pilu of the Woods - Mai K. Nguyen
Tom’s midnight garden by Edith
The Animation Game Alan Turing Decoded – Jim Ottaviani and Leland Purvis
Darwin: An exceptional voyage - Fabien Grolleau and Jeremie Royer
Coven – Jennifer Dugan
Information about my membership can be found here https://www.elizabethahutchinson.com/aboutmembership 
 

School libraries - too essential to lose

Today I talked to guests Sean McNamara, CEO of CILIP Scotland, Dr Dorothy Willaims, Emeritus professor from Robert Gordon University and school librarian Anne De’Ath about the essential role of school libraries and librarians within education looking at the impact of school library closures across Scotland. 
Great School Libraries Campaign website https://www.greatschoollibraries.org.uk/
 
Some of the research that Dorothy was talking about:- 
Lance  K.C. and Kachel D.E. (2018)  Why school librarians matter: What years of research tell us.  Phi Delta Kappan, 99 (7), pp 15-20.   Available at:  https://kappanonline.org/lance-kachel-school-librarians-matter-years-research/
Teravainen, A & Clark, C. 2017 School Libraries:   A literature review of current provision and evidence of impact. National Literacy Trust, 2017 https://literacytrust.org.uk/research-services/research-reports/school-libraries-literature-review-current-provision-and-evidence-impact-2017/          
Williams, D A, Wavell, C and Morrison, K  (2013) Impact of school libraries on learning.  Critical review of published evidence to inform the Scottish education community. https://scottishlibraries.org/about-us/our-publications/special-studies/impact-of-school-libraries/  Or  https://scottishlibraries.org/media/1211/impact-of-school-libraries-on-learning-2013.pdf  (Also available via the School Library Association website and RGU’s OpenAIR repository)
Research portals to USA studies
Overview of USA studies https://antiochlis.libguides.com/schlibcert/research
The Lance studies - https://www.lrs.org/data-tools/school-libraries/impact-studies/
The Todd studies - https://cissl.rutgers.edu/research/impact-studies/
School Library Association - Impact of school libraries.   Links to research reports, summaries and infographics from the School Library Association’s webpage: https://www.sla.org.uk/impact
Membership information https://www.elizabethahutchinson.com/aboutmembership

Supporting school libraries from the top. Can senior leaders make a difference?

Do head teachers have a responsibility to ensure that their school library and librarian are understood and valued in their schools? We talked to two esteemed leaders in education. Richard Gerver, an award-winning speaker, bestselling author, and School Library Association President, and Peter Middleton Headteacher of Oswestry school about the critical role senior leaders have in supporting their school library and librarian.
My membership packages can be found here https://www.elizabethahutchinson.com/aboutmembership