A history of the School Library Association in Canberra and District: the first decade 1971-1981

Abstract

This study traces many of the highlights which occurred during the first decade of the history of the School Library Association in Canberra and District (SLACAD). The roots of this association lie deep in the history of school libraries and teacher- librarian ship in Australia. Many SLACAD members belonged to other state school library associations and to the Australian School Library Association (ASLA) confederation since the establishment of these associations in the 1960's. These teacher-librarians have been dedicated in their attempts to further the cause of school libraries and their teacher-librarianship profession. The decade covered by this study embraces the greatest period of expansion in the development of school libraries seen in Australian history. During this decade the A.C.T. established an independent education system and it took many years for the A.C.T. Schools Authority administration to finalise its organisation. SLACAD members were anxious that school libraries in the A.C.T. should keep pace with school libraries in other Australian states and this study documents the constant efforts of its members to obtain improvements in school librarianship. Teacher-librarians in the A.C.T. have continued to maintain a close liaison with ASLA and many A.C.T. teacher-librarians have held executive office in ASLA. SLACAD has hosted seminars and conferences and this study documents numerous submissions and reports which were a necessary feature of the expanding A.C.T. school library association milieu.

Date of Award	1988
Original language	English
Supervisor	Maxine Rochester (Supervisor), Belle Alderman (Supervisor), Peter Biskup (Supervisor) & Nancy Lane (Supervisor)