The School Libraries & Information Literacy Unit at State Office, NSW DET, is asking for comments on the question, “Do we need a school library in 21st century schools?”. There is a School Libraries 21C blog and associated readings.

The moderated discussion blog will be engaging a diverse range of perspectives, working towards a common vision. Discussion started 1 June 2009, and concludes 26 June 2009.

Dr Ross Todd, Director, Center for International Scholarship in School Libraries (CISSL), School of Communication, Information and Library Studies at Rutgers University, USA, and Lyn Hay, Lecturer in Teacher Librarianship at Charles Sturt University, are guiding the discussion.

The Suggested background reading, “School libraries building capacity for student learning 21C” by Lyn Hay & Colleen Foley is linked from the site. It is also in hardcopy in the current issue of “Scan”.

The discussion is organised under three main headings:
1. The future of school libraries
2. The school library of the future
3. What will it take to get there? Supporting continuous improvement and capacity building in school libraries.

Please do join in the discussion. It’s also a great way to become more familiar with blogging in education.