By Joseph Jeffery and Wendy Burch Jones
Canadian School Libraries and the Ontario School Library Association are incredibly pleased to announce that the theme of this year’s Canadian School Library Day / Journée nationale des bibliothèques scolaires canadiennes on October 27th will be “Dear School Library”.
What is Canadian School Library Day?
Canadian School Library Day / Journée nationale des bibliothèques scolaires canadiennes is celebrated annually on the fourth Monday in October. The day celebrates the central role that school libraries play in the education and development of young people in Canada. We applaud the brilliant work that school libraries accomplish every single day across Canada. We invite everyone to shine a light on how learning in the Library Learning Commons is making a difference in their school, and share their accomplishments on Canadian School Library Day.
Why Dear School Library?
Across Canada, school libraries are under attack. Cutbacks to school libraries’ budgets, de-professionalization of staff, and challenges to library materials have all increased, according to CSL’s survey conducted in December 2024 / January 2025. Yet, when we talk to community members, they are largely unaware that this is happening. Therefore we have decided this year we would like a unifying theme to raise awareness and bring eyes to this issue.
In 2023/2024, Ontario School Library Association launched their “Dear School Library” campaign. This was a love letter to school libraries inspired by Lindsay Zier-Vogel’s Dear Street. Students, parents, and staff across Ontario wrote what they loved about school libraries on hearts and OSLA collected their words as part of a messaging campaign.
Canadian School Libraries, with help from OSLA, is moving this campaign nationally.
Introducing Dear School Library 2.0
To take this campaign national, it needed a reboot. First conceived as a pencil-and-paper task, a new version needed to be re-envisioned with an equity lens, considering how we could better design the campaign to be more inclusive, grounded in Universal Design for Learning pedagogy. We also needed to ensure that the campaign would work in all provinces and territories, not just in Ontario.
How can I get involved?
- Visit the Dear School Library website (available August 2025) for more information about the project, including templates, instructions, letters of support, and examples from other schools
- Set up your own Dear School Library station or event
- Get participants to share why they love their school library
- Share your #SchoolLibraryJoy with Canadian School Libraries and OSLA (stay tuned for details on how to share your Dear School Library Project efforts coming soon!)
What does the Dear School Library Project in my SLLC involve?
It could be any or all of the following:
- Hearts of various sizes for people to write or draw on their message about what their school library means to them (see the website for templates)
- A laptop/Chromebook (with camera/microphone) so students can record a video or voice message for greater accessibility (see the website for access to Book Creator & Boardmaker templates) NB: Please ensure students have signed media releases for any audio or video recordings that are shared with CSL or OSLA.
- Poster paper for students to illustrate their thoughts/feelings in their own creative way (collage, drawing, poster, multimedia piece, etc.)
- Lined paper for students to write traditional “love letters” in hard copy
Why should I try a Dear School Library Project in my SLLC?
In schools across Ontario where they have already seen the results of the Dear School Library Project, the benefits are numerous. Student engagement in Dear School Library shines a bright light on the incredible work happening in your SLLC and brings to the forefront the myriad of ways that our spaces impact students that traditional data doesn’t easily capture. Dear School Library told us that students value the calm, quiet and peace in our spaces: “Thank you for providing quiet spaces to work, read, or just chill when the world is too loud.” They told us they appreciated that our spaces were inclusive: “I love my library because it welcomes everybody.” And students told us about how the library was instrumental in their lives: “You have changed my life. I remember the first time I saw you. You made me gasp in awe when I looked at you. Thank you for being a source where I could freely dream.”
The advocacy that school library professionals can capture from their own Dear School Library Projects is remarkable. Imagine using student voice from your own school community to explain why you need more budget for a more diverse collection. Or using examples from your project to help explain to administrators why staffing the SLLC through the lunch hour is critical to the mental health and wellbeing of your student community. You can read more about the impact of the Dear School Library Project in the Treasure Mountain Canada 8 paper Dear School Library: Advocacy From the Heart.
When will the Dear School Library Project launch?
Look for announcements and more details at the beginning of September. We can’t wait to share Dear School Library 2.0 with you and see a wave of #SchoolLibraryJoy spread across the country from coast-to-coast-to-coast as you start asking your school communities, “What do you love about your school library?” It makes our pink hearts sing just thinking about it!
Joseph Jeffery is the District Learning Commons Teacher-Librarian in School District 57 – Prince George, BC where he supports teacher-librarians in creating and maintaining information literacy rich library learning commons programming, designing participatory and flexible learning spaces, and developing culturally responsive library learning commons. Joseph has worked on the Collection Diversity Toolkit, the updates to Leading Learning, and the Foundations and Frameworks document. Additionally, he helped write the BC Teacher Librarian Association’s School Library Design document. Outside of school, Joseph is an avid gamer of all types from card to tabletop to video games and enjoys being transported to imaginative worlds of science fiction and fantasy as a reader.
Wendy Burch Jones, BA, BEd, OCT is an elementary teacher-librarian with the Toronto District School Board who is passionate about literacy, librarianship, and the importance of agency for students and student voice in school libraries. She works to create colourful, welcoming, safe, and student-centred spaces while ardently believing that every child has the right to see themselves reflected in story in every aspect of their intersectional identities. (Please don’t get her started on censorship and the freedom to read – it’s a hill she will die on!) She wears many hats: TDSB TL Mentor Leader & Digital Lead Learner, Forest of Reading Steering & Selection Committee member, President of the Ontario School Library Association, Canadian Children’s Book Centre Review Committee member, foster kitten rescuer, and sometimes she ekes out time to be a partner from whom she steals the covers, and mom to two teenagers that grunt at her in mono-syllablic noises she thinks might be gnomish. Above all else, you will hear Wendy loudly advocating for the key role that libraries and librarianship play in student and school community success.