History

Lifetime Membership

Established in 1975, ISLA has a long history of serving the school library community in the Illawarra. This has been made possible through the actions of many people from the school library community who have generously given their time through service. These wonderful people have served in small and large ways from supporting peers to organising conferences that have benefited the wider community. At times the efforts of individuals have been recognised as particularly noteworthy through the awarding of lifetime membership in recognition of their services to ISLA and the community.

Criteria for lifetime membership:

Nominee has made a significant and outstanding contribution to the development of teacher librarianship in the Illawarra.
Nominee has a commitment to the principles that define teacher librarianship.
Nominee has made a significant and outstanding contribution to ISLA.
Nominee has served for at least five years in an executive role in ISLA.
Please note: lifetime membership is open to non-teacher librarians.

Lifetime members include:

Bev Richardson
Bev Ratcliffe
Georgia Phillips
Kerrie Bennett
Sue Lacey
Cecilie Yates
Celia Owen
Kath Kennedy
Jane Pretty
Margaret Cooper

Please note: any lifetime members listed above can contact ISLA (contact@isla.group) to gain ongoing access to all members areas of this ISLA website.

Past Events

Moving Forward With Libraries – ISLA Conference 2023

The conference was held on 19th October 2023 at The Grange, Kembla Grange. The following poster shows the wonderful speakers who made presentions:

Following is a selection of photos from the conference (thank you Lourdes for the photographs):

For All Readers – School Library Conference 2022

The 2022 conference was held on 16th September 2022 at Stanwell Tops. Guest Speakers included Paul Macdonald (The Children’s Bookshop), Louise Saint-John (TL & CSU Lecturer), Gabby Cundy (ALIA Graphic Novels and Comics Team), Debbie Rosa (DOE / Oliver), Maryam Master (author), and Christopher Chen (author/illustrator).

Below you will see some photos from the day:

Paul Macdonald Zoom Meeting

Just a shout out to say thanks to everyone who attended our Zoom chat with Paul Macdonald from The Children’s Bookshop. As always Paul was informative; it was great to hear about the current trends in publishing, what’s hot with the buyers, what to look out for in the upcoming awards. This was generally an inspiring and fun way to spend the afternoon. It was also great to hear other peoples answers to Pauls questions, thanks for your contributions. I don’t know about you, but I now have a long shopping list of books for school and at home!

If you missed this, you can keep up with Paul’s recommendations by signing up for his newsletters here.

Jackie French Author Talk September 2020

On Wednesday 1st September 2021 ISLA presented a Zoom author talk with the wonderful Australian author, Jackie French. It was attended by approximately 29 members and was a very positive experience for all. Over 75 minutes Jackie shared insights into her life as an author, the development of her writing, her life as a reader and her thoughts as an advocate for libraries and teacher librarians. At a time when lockdown left us isolated from our libraries and school library community, it was very positive and inspirational for us all to share this experience. Our meeting with Jackie was booked and kindly hosted by Creative Kids Tales Speakers Agency. Thanks to Jackie French for her generous insights into her world and enthusiasm in answering our many questions. Learn more about Jackie from her website: https://www.jackiefrench.com/