Subcommittee Updates

SLAQ President’s Report – Gold Coast - 2010

The Gold Coast branch of SLAQ held its opening dinner at a local Italian restaurant on the 9 February. A new treasurer (Louise Lynch), and Councillor (Janet Cartlidge) and president (Anna-Mieke Mulholland) were voted in. Former president (Annie White) and treasurer were heartily thanked for all their fine work! Jan Curran agreed to stay on as the excellent secretary.

At that meeting, it was decided to continue our practice to have a Termly and Timely dinner each term. Additionally, a professional development session was planned for each term.

During Term 2, School Libraries Association of Queensland (Gold Coast) hosted a Judges talk for the CBCA shortlist at All Saints Anglican College. Dale Byrnes from Symons Educational, and a non-fiction Judge for this year’s Awards, soke about the non-fiction books. A selection of members also gave overviews of the fiction books.

A Literary Dinner was also held during Term 2 at Toscani’s in Robina. Carole Wilkinson, author of the Dragonkeeper series, spoke to a group of about 30 teachers, librarians and teacher librarians about the process of writing Sugar Sugar, her latest book. Carole also answered questions about her previous work.

During Term 3, a Smart Art workshop was run by Annie White and team at St Steven’s College. This workshop was based on art ideas for celebrating the shortlisted CBCA books and was well received.

Also during Term 3, a dinner was held at the north end of the Gold Coast where Barbara Phillips, a Gold Coast local, and current member of School Libraries Association of Queensland, spoke about her work as a teacher librarian in Hong Kong. Barbara spoke about the importance of local networks of librarians and gave an insight into how she applied for employment overseas and the pitfalls!

The next meeting of the GC branch of SLAQ is scheduled for early Term 4. A technology roadshow is being hosted by Emmanuel College during which local members will be sharing hot tips for ways of integrating new and old web 2.0 technologies into the curriculum. A wiki will be set up to store presentations and discussions, and is hoped to become a useful and ongoing tool for sharing ideas and supporting colleagues in utilizing exciting new collaborative technologies..

So far, 2010 has been an exciting and varied year with many opportunities for networking and collegial friendship and support. 

Anna-Mieke Mulholland, President, SLAQ Gold Coast Sub Committee

Last updated 27 August 2010