John Hirst Award

2008 Ms Jennifer Watts

Jenny’s passion for the importance of school libraries in developing a knowledge society is evident in her actions. She has virtually put herself on call for the many schools in Orange and Lachlan regions, lobbying for funds, supporting first experience teachers and promoting and developing professional learning within this rural environment. Her mentorship extends to principals, teachers, clerical assistants and parent volunteers, providing further evidence of her excellence as a model teacher librarian.

Jenny’s publication Procedures Manual for Small Schools has been popularly received by not only the school libraries in the Orange and Lachlan regions but across New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and Papua New Guinea, evidence of her ongoing commitment and contribution to regional school libraries.  Jenny has undertaken the production and distribution of this manual, such is the extent of her support for rural teacher librarians.  

As a lobbyist to improve professional learning in her district, Jenny has been successful in attracting relevant training personnel over the past few years.  As part of this commitment, she has become an accredited trainer with a focus on developing low cost professional learning to schools.  The success of the annual WATL Conference can be hugely attributed to Jenny’s vision of professional support for regional teacher librarians.
    
Jenny’s creativity in working out ways to get the best mix of resources and professional learning for colleagues and students is evidenced in the establishment of the Western Boundary Riders listserv.  Primarily used for disseminating information about the WATL annual conference, it gives local library staff access to resources and information relevant to the western district of New South Wales.
    
Jenny is a superb role model for lifelong learning.  She is a member of ASLA (NSW)’s CAR-TL.  Her action research project is focussed on the benefits that students gain through contact with knowledgeable teacher librarians.

Jenny has given unstintingly to her profession and is a model leader in the Western District of NSW, mentoring, volunteering, developing procedures to help rural libraries and training colleagues in the use of learning technologies.  These selfless attributes have earned Jenny the prestigious John Hirst Award for 2008 in recognition of her outstanding leadership to the Western District of New South Wales in teacher librarianship and school libraries. 

2007 Ms Maureen Nicol

Maureen Nicol, a graduate of Sydney University in Arts and Education received her Graduate Diploma in Library Science from the Riverina Murray Institute of Higher Education. After a short time teaching English, History and PDHPE, Maureen received her first appointment as teacher librarian in 1974 and she never looked back. Maureen has had various career opportunities as a teacher librarian and as a consultant for Libraries in the Dubbo region of New South Wales. She has made her most significant impact in teacher librarianship in the area of distance education and in particular, at the Dubbo School of Distance Education, a merit appointment.

Maureen has promoted the professional role of teacher librarians throughout her career. A conscientious editor for AdLib, the journal for the Western District teacher librarians, a committee member of the Western Region Teacher Librarian Association, co-founder of Macquarie Area Resource Sharing Group with a network of 32 local libraries, she was honoured as being the first teacher librarian to feature in Scan’s series of articles focussed on teacher librarians who make a difference.

As a writer on issues pertaining to teacher librarianship including integrating learning and teaching activities to include the development of strong information literacy skills in students, Maureen is noted for her numerous articles in Scan. Her most recent article was commended by then Minister for Education, John Watkins, entitled Integrated and interactive: teaching outback kids. Maureen is also known for her tireless work as a former OASIS Library trainer, mentor and writer for school-based support courses for untrained teacher librarians. She not only coordinated the library network for NSW Distance Education Centres but she was co-writer and editor for Off the shelf: the guide for small school libraries as well as co-writer for Handbook for NSW School Libraries. Maureen has presented a number of workshops, seminars and keynotes based around her passionate interest in literature, library management and information skills including Quality teaching and student engaged learning, HSC Seminars on Information Skills for Success. She has coordinated numerous literary events in the Western Region of New South Wales and has been hugely successful in obtaining ALOUD grants to enrich literature experiences for young people. A significant moment for Maureen was the month long Dubbo Children’s Literature Festival of which she was duly recognised for her achievement.

Maureen is described by many of her teacher librarians as an outstanding leader who is recognised for her; high level of organisational skills, innovative thinking and leadership’. Further testimony to the respect in which teacher librarians hold Maureen Nicol can be represented by the comment from her peers that Maureen is ‘passionate about school libraries and incredibly positive in her dealings with people whether they be school library assistants, teachers, executive or the general public’. She is recognised as having a motivation that always focuses on the ‘betterment of students, schools and school libraries of her district and beyond. She has given her talents and vigour to seeing that schools and teacher librarians did not suffer the tyranny of distance.’

2005 Dr Ken Dillon

It is with great pleasure that we announce the winner of the John Hirst Award for outstanding service to teacher librarianship in NSW to be Ken Dillon. Ken has been working in and for our profession since he took his first appointment as a teacher librarian in 1981. After working in both government and non government schools, in 1987 he took up a position as Lecturer in Teacher Librarianship at Charles Sturt University. At CSU he is currently Head of the School of Information Studies, Associate Professor of Teacher Librarianship and Course Coordinator of the Master of Applied Science (Teacher Librarianship).Ken's teaching and research interests include online learning communities for teachers, issues related to student access to the Internet, the information needs and professional development of teachers and teacher librarians and models of leadership in educational settings. He also explores approaches to authentic online collaboration, contemporary conceptions of teacher professional learning, teaching and learning online and censorship in schools. All of these issues are central to our professionalism. In his various roles at CSU Ken has worked as a consultant, served on university committees, published and edited extensively and made numerous conference addresses. As such he has given significant public profile to teacher librarianship. Through all his devotion and rigour in working for the betterment of teacher librarianship, his noted characteristics include his good humour and ability to spin a good yarn. Ken embodies the virtue of the classic all rounder, perhaps one of the very reasons that teacher librarians find such satisfaction in the challenge of their careers. We praise Ken for his energy and enthusiasm. Teacher librarianship has come a long way since John Hirst’s leadership. Only with the inspiration of those such as Ken Dillon, who forge new paths for us, can we continue to make our profession vital to education.

2004 Mrs June Wall

June has been a champion of Teacher Librarianship and ASLA for the past 25 years. Her unique range of skills in information management, information technology and learning and development has signified to our profession the virtues of innovation and creativity as well as the prerequisite need for racticingn. Her consistent drive to emphasise knowledge management and change management put her in the forefront of our learning community. Long ago I remember her speaking with passion about managing files on the computer. Her words left a deep impression on me and since then I have maintained a basic but consistent goal of creating folders and saving documents in the appropriate place. Such a simple task but so powerful in outcome, thank you June.

It is impossible to summarise June’s achievements without leaving out what would be significant accomplishments to many others. Here are some of the milestones; Project management for an educational system on library system on library software replacement, delivering workshop training on file management, intranet development, website planning and development, cataloguing, collection and curriculum mapping and information retrieval. She has run strategic planning workshops for schools as part of the quality assurance mechanism and workshops on curriculum integration K-12. Most recently she has run ASLA (NSW) workshops on the Web and Flow building online learning resource activities. A feature of June’s workshops has always been her meticulous work in flexible design and delivery in presentation, trainer notes and course participant documents. She has presented at conferences ceaselessly, most specifically on Knowledge Management and the integration of information literacy and ICT literacy.

I have articulated these achievements without context but of course they happened as June was busy in the workplace as a practicing teacher librarian and a library administrator. She began her school library career in 1980 at Our Lady of the Way, Emu Plains where she established a new library and implemented one of the first automated library systems. With typical foresight she researched, purchased and installed large numbers of computers, became a member of the system wide library committee and ran sessions for T-Ls on CPPT and flexible scheduling. Before long she was being released from school to help other T-Ls and was on conference committees for T-Ls in the Catholic system. From 1988 to 1992 June continued at the forefront of change at St Thomas Aquinas, Springwood and Holy Family, Luddenham developing further CPPT and starting the implementation of OASIS. From 1993 to 1996 she managed the office library of the Catholic Education Office, Sydney in the role of Resource Centre Officer and participated in OASIS training for the Archdiocese. She was the catholic representative on the committee that developed the State Library Schools Research Service that we now know as Infocus and was elected President of the National Catholic Resource Centre Association. From 1997 to 2000 June worked as a Professional Development Consultant and Education Manager for Intouch Consultancy and from 2000 to 2003 she ran her own consultancy. Never one to shy away from the big challenge she was recently appointed Executive Librarian, Saint Ignatius’ College, Riverview.

The history of June’s commitment to ASLA at the state and national level also deserves to be recounted here. As a member since 1980 she is now one of our longest serving members. After going to Hobart in 1987 for ASLA X she joined the NSW Committee and became through default the President of SLANSW and went to her first ASLA Council meeting in Melbourne in 1988. In the late 1980s and early 1990s the association was on the verge of disappearing but June took a central role in urging it forward. As the Conference Secretariat she was part of the committee that engineered the successful ASLA XII Conference in Sydney in 1991 with the theme “Treat Yourself Professionally” and it was this conference that proved the turning point for the association. Country PD activities also took off when June formed a team with John Lee and Terry Bruce and went outback with PD show and tell sessions. In this period the inaugural SLANSW Conference was held at Panthers and again June had an instrumental role. During the late 1990s and until 2002 June took on a number of leadership roles at the state and federal level including that of National President. She was NSW representative on the revision of Learning for the Future, eventually becoming consultant editor and also wrote a white paper outlining issues facing the association and challenging members to consider its future. Both ASLA (NSW) and ASLA are in strong and viable positions today. In no small part is this due to the outstanding efforts of June Wall B.Ed. Grad Dip Teacher Librarianship, Master of Information and Communication Technology. In reviewing her devotion to Teacher Librarianship I have no doubt she would endorse the motto of her new school “Quantum Potes Tantum Aude”- Dare to do your best.

2003 Sr Betty Brown

Sister Betty Brown began her teaching career in 1953 at St Josephs Primary School, Port Macquarie. Through the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s she taught in schools in NSW and Queensland taking on many challenging positions with enthusiasm. After many years as a classroom teacher, she graduated from Canberra University in Librarianship in 1976 and achieved registration with ALIA. She was appointed Principal in 1975 and held this position in two new innovative and team teaching schools till 1986. She developed their libraries with the support of voluntary parent helpers and helped volunteers in other schools with the development and management of their libraries. From 1987 to 1996 she served as Library Consultant at the Catholic Schools Office Newcastle, identifying the information services needs of the schools and making recommendations for improving their conditions. She was instrumental in staffing all the primary schools with teacher librarians to work with teachers and students, and library assistants to manage the technical services of the libraries. She co-coordinated the racticingnon of all the diocesan school libraries K-12 and was responsible for training and supervision of library staff. She visited the schools regularly and promoted information literacy, emerging technologies and the integration of these into the curriculum. She also promoted children's literature and facilitated the professional development of Teacher Librarians and assistants. From 1997 to 2001 Sister Betty was Information and Technology Services Adviser as the emergence of the digital information age began to be felt deeply at the coal face of education. She was involved in planning and implementing the diocesan ICT program and encouraging the integration of the library program and the technology program in all areas of the curriculum. She worked to ensure that information service needs were considered in the roll out of the system technology infrastructure. In 2003 Sister Betty is still at the wheel. She is Curriculum Adviser - Information and Technology Services in the Catholic Schools Office Newcastle. Not only is she responsible for quality control in the implementation of information and technology services she is also active in working with Teacher Librarians and assistants, ensuring that they are trained effectively in the delivery of information services to students and staff. She writes and edits articles for professional journals and encourages library staff to promote their activities in local and professional publications. Never content to sit quietly on her own patch, Sister Betty has networked widely in constantly seeking opportunities for professional development and joining numerous professional associations. Apart from being a committee member of ASLA (NSW) she is also a member of the Children and Youth Services of the Australian Library and Information Association, the Australian Council for Educational Leaders, the Children's Book Council and many other voluntary groups.

Sister Betty has demonstrated an outstanding commitment to school libraries and teacher librarianship. After fifty years of service to the community she still shines brightly for practitioners who are currently engaged in the monumental task of engineering the evolution of ICT Literacy. Her life is an example to those who are to follow in her footsteps as an energetic and dynamic Teacher Librarian.

2002 Mrs Georgia Philllips

Georgia Phillips has had a varied career in teacher librarianship. She has been involved for over 30 years in the profession. She has held positions including Regional Library Consultant on the South Coast, OASIS Trainer when OASIS was first introduced to schools, President of the Illawarra School Library Association and is a life member of that association, editor of Teacher & Librarian, the journal of ASLA (NSW), for four years and a Project Officer of the TILT Project for the NSW Department of Education & Training. She was also teacher librarian at Smith’s Hill High School and Kanahooka High School in the Wollongong area. Presently she is the listserv coordinator for ASLA (NSW). Georgia has presented numerous professional development courses for such groups as ASLA (NSW) and the NSW Computers in Education Group and articles by Georgia have been published in several journals.

Georgia has demonstrated a sustained commitment to our profession. She has been generous in her time and level of commitment to both local and state collegial associations.

2000 Mrs Terry Bruce

Terry began her her teaching career in 1969, teaching grades 3-6 for the next few years. In 1982 she graduated with a Graduate Diploma in Educational Studies (Reading and Language). She followed this with a Graduate Diploma in School Librarianship in 1986. In 1991 Terry co-authored "Survival Strategies for Teacher Librarians" with Mirjana Verisan. Over the next few years Terry was active in a number of areas involving teacher librarians. These include being a reviewer for Australian Library Review, a New South Wales Councillor to the Australian School Library Association, President of ASLA (NSW) for two years, a member of the Course Advisory Committee for Teacher Librarianship programs at Charles Sturt University and a co-presenter of Teaching Information Skills: Best Practice at the International School I Conference in Vancouver.

Other activities Terry has been involved in include; being a team member member developing the CD-Rom 'Teaching Information Skills", a member of the Board of Studies Curriculum Discussion Group, an external assessor for Information Consolidation at the University of Technology, Sydney and a presenter at numerous conferences on time management. Terry Bruce has been a tireless worker for this association. She has been a member for over 15 years and has at various times taken the roles of secretary, sub-editor, publicity officer, ASLA National Councillor, Vice-President and President.

Terry's contribution to school libraries and teacher librarianship has been significant. We thank her for her effort and commitment to all teacher librarians and congratulate her on this award.

1999 Associate Professor Dr Ross Todd

Ross Todd began his career in school libraries in 1973 as a part time teacher librarian at Dalby State High School, Queensland, followed by his appointment as a full time teacher libarian at Avondale High School, Cooranbong, NSW. Ross gained his Graduate Diploma in School Librarianship, Riverina College of Advanced Education, gaining the College Medallion (with distinction) in 1985 hile working as a teacher librarian at St. Ursula's College, Kingsgrove. In 1989 he gained the Outstanding Student Award, Master of Arts (Library Science) from Kuring-gai College of Advanced Education, Lindfield, NSW, and later became an Associate of the Australian Library and Information Association. His citation for the 1993 UTS Excellence in Teaching Award referst o Ross' great ability to teach in the discipline of Teacher librarianship, and especially his ability to relate theory and methodology to current professional practice. In 1997 Ross gained his PHD in the area of information racticing.

Since 1986 he has progressed from being a part time lecturer and tutor for the School of Library and Information Studies at Kuring-gai College of Advanced Education through to his more recent appointment as Head of the Department of Information Studies at the University of Technology, Sydney. During that time a host of research activities, refereed papers, editorials, conference presentations and published articles both independently and in collaboration with others has served the profession of teacher librarianship in New South Wales. His continued appointments to educational committees and boards, often as chairperson, was carried along with his work with the journals ORANA and SCAN. His advice has been sought as a consultant for many school library educational policies, projects and programs, which has brought teacher librarianship into a higher professional focus. Many NSW teacher librarians have gained their professional teacher librarianship qualifications with guidance from Ross, grateful for his sensitivity to students' academic needs.

More recently, Ross' appointment as Vice President of the International Association of School Librarianship has turned the international eye to happenings in New South Wales school libraries.

1998 Mrs Robin Morrow

Robin Morrow has a Bachelor of Arts from University of Sydney, a post-graduate Diploma of Children's Literature from Macquarie University and a Master of Arts (Literacy and Children's Literature) from the University of Technology, Sydney. She has been involved with further education of teachers and teacher librarians for many years, lecturing at Universities, and is known in the wider community as a regular reviewer of children¹s books for The Weekend Australian and Sydney's Child newspapers used by many parents and teachers for their children and students. Lately she has been involved with the Literature Board of the Australia Council, as a judge with the New South Wales Literary Awards and as an editor working on projects for several publishers.

Robin was nominated for this award, however, for her twenty-five years work as founder, proprietor and manager of The Children¹s Bookshop which was for many years the only such specialist shop of its kind in NSW. In particular, her mail order service, telephone consultancy and guidance for country teacher librarians is appreciated by the more remote members of ASLA (NSW), many meeting Robin for the first time when making their annual buying trips to Sydney. The Children¹s Bookshop hosted many "meet the author" functions which brought national and international names to life for children and teacher librarians alike. Her support in promoting literature and reading to parents, teachers and pupils from pre-school onwards is appreciated by teacher librarians.

Robin has established a reputation throughout NSW and beyond for knowledgeable and responsible book advice. Through her initiative of The Children¹s Bookshop, Robin and her staff assisted countless teacher librarians who came to rely on their expertise and advice to fulfil the roll in schools. Thank you and congratulations!

1997 Ms Lyn Hay

Lyn was the foundation teacher librarian at Batemans' Bay High School where she set a high standard for library service in schools. It was while there that Lyn took part in the initial outreach in professional development that the then SLANSW undertook to assist country members. Lyn hosted our first Country Professional Development Day in Batemans' Bay in 1992 drawing teacher librarians together for mutual benefit. Lyn commenced as an Associate Lecturer at Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga, advancing to a Lecturer working full time with the post graduate correspondence course. This course has proved extremely valuable for the more remote teacher librarians as a means of gaining qualifications in the teacher librarianship profession.

It was while there that Lyn prepared a successful submission for the establishment of OZTL_NET, an innovative listserv. This listserv is a forum for the needs of teacher librarians, a sounding board for ideas, enquiries and current isssues and is accessible from anywhere, once again addressing the needs of all teacher librarians. Similarly, Lyn has taken part in KidsConnect, an international mentor program for school students based at the University of Syracuse and is currently conducting a trial of OzKidsConnect in the hope of providing a similar service to our students here in Australia.

Lyn acted as a strand co-ordinator of the Teacher Librarianship strand of the 1996 ITEC Virtual Conference where an international group of 45 presenters, provided 51 papers for professional development of a high quality to New South Wales Teacher Librarians. This conference, once again, addressed the needs of all teacher librarians in New South Wales no matter where they are located. Lyn has undertaken formal research into our profession, namely the relationship between the role of the principal and the teacher librarian, publishing and sharing her findings for stage 1. We look forward to the completion of stages 2 and 3. Trough her willingness to travel from her home in Wagga Wagga, Lyn has made herself available to spend some weekends lecturing to groups of teacher librarians all over New South Wales. Lyn's standing in the teacher librarian community has lead to her racticin to Cuba to give a paper.

1996 John Lee

John commenced in school libraries in 1962 at a Cabramatta Primary School and was the first teacher librarian to gain a promotions position from the library. His career took him to Central schools in New South Wales and then from 1972 he worked in a number of school libraries in New Zealand where he was active in professional issues. He returned to Australia in 1979 and within a couple of years had set up the first racticingn library system at St John's Lakemba, running Micmarc software. In 1986 he established a joint-use library between two schools - one a 7-10, the other a senior high school. This resource centre, known as the Muldoon Resource Centre became widely accepted as a benchmark for those developing automated systems.

By 1989, John had CD-Roms in a network arrangement. Alongside this technology, he also developed access for students to Fiction through his Fiction Subject Headings. In 1992, as a measure of appreciation, his Diocese sponsored a study tour of the USA. John shared his findings through publications and talks. On his return from the United States John was instrumental in establishing the Technology Centre for The Broken Bay Diocese that ractic on the implementation of OASIS throughout the Diocese. During this time John also held office as President and National Councillor in the then School Library Association of New South Wales - now the Australian School Library Association (NSW)Inc.

The award is granted for the balance of his achievements in technology, the measure of significance of his Fiction Subject Headings and the professional approach to sharing his knowledge. A quote from the citation address:- Throughout your long and distinguished career you have been seen as a leader and innovator... Your contributions to the acceptance and widespread use of information technologies in school libraries have ensured that teacher librarians are aware of the value of these to their students and their own library management.

1994 The Nutcote Trust

The Nutcote Trust has, over the last few years, succeeded in raising the value of a children's literary heritage, providing a focal point for a children's literary culture. The trustees have created a place especially for the children of New South Wales - a haven which marks the birthplace of uniquely Australian characters created by the one author and illustrator. It was at Nutcote, over the many years that May Gibbs lived there, that Snugglepot and Cuddlepie, their cousins, Bib and Bub, along with all the other bush babies were conceived.

In mounting an international appeal to save Nutcote, thus saving it as a permanent monument to May Gibbs¹ work, it has taken on the custody of maintaining the early Australian literature for children. To do this it mustered forces from the ranks of schools themselves in order to achieve its goals. School libraries are grateful for your efforts!

1993 Peg Craddock

Peg Craddock commenced her teaching career at Granville and eventually began her career as a Teacher Librarian at Walgett in 1969. She has always been interested in, and a driving force behind, professional development for teacher librarians. During the 1980s Peg was the backbone of the then SLANSW, acting at one time or another as President, Secretary, Treasurer, Editor of Teacher & Librarian, and ASLA national Councillor. This year she has come to our aid and is once again Editor of T&L. She has created reading resource audio tape kits for use in remedial reading programs, prepared policy statements for teacher librarians and been a volunteer storyteller at Forbes Library.

It was Peg's determination and tenacity to the field of teacher librarianship which held SLANSW together through the turbulent times when decisions were being made outside the control of teacher librarians which caused disappointment and frustration for them. Peg served on the Regional Library Committee of Metropolitan West Region and has presented many inservice courses introducing Aboriginal Studies policies.

In the early history of SLANSW, Peg shared her ideas and energies with her colleagues, culminating in 1991 with her role on the racticingno team for the national conference ASLA XII. And this was also the year the the Department of School Education rewarded her with the highly esteemed 'Excellence in Teaching" Award.

In particular, her concern for teacher librarians who are outside the Metropolitan area or larger country centres, has led her to support and encourage them through professional development programs.

1992 Mrs Jean Hart

Jean Hart became Principal Education Officer of Library Services, the support service for school libraries provided by the New South Wales Department of School Education. From 1981 until her premature retirement, she indicated her concerns for teacher librarians and the efficient, effective racticing of their role in schools. One of her initiatives was the introduction of the external studies course in teacher librarianship at the then Riverina College of Advanced Education to support the one available at Kuring-gai for Sydney based students. The second of her initiatives of national and lasting significance was her original concept of the journal which became SCAN, published by the New South Wales Department of School Education's Library Services.

Jean Hart made a major contribution to the development of a policy for school libraries that officially racticing the central role of the library within the school and the racticing role of the teacher-librarian. She contributed to the planning of ASCIS (now SCIS) and was very influential in the writing of the ASCIS (now SCIS) subject headings list. The concept of the teacher librarian as a partner in the development of curriculum, and the implementation and evaluation of curriculum was a factor in the perception of the teacher librarian as a professional, equal partner in the planning and delivery of high quality educational services. Jean Hart built a foundation provided by her predecessors at the then Library Services, keeping to the vision of national standards of excellence, and the continual development of the school library as central to the school's primary function. She continually promoted the concept of a highly professional teacher librarian, skilled in all aspects of the teaching role, being perceived as an essential partner in the planning, implementation and evaluation of the school's program.

Mr Jack McCann

Jack McCann stepped into the position of Treasurer of SLANSW at short notice and continued in that position for many years although he was not a teacher librarian. Jack has always been there and provided incredible and constant support and wise advice to the committee. He has handled all business and financial management to the benefit of the Association and has been the pivotal force behind the Association, always there to remind the racticin of what it is about!! Being one of the most staunch supporters and advisers, it can be said of Jack that the Association would not exist without him. He has been there to test ideas, give advice and has been the racticing influence on the Association.