By Dianne Oberg
“Enhancing awareness of global educational research, innovation and best practice in school libraries” (p. 4) is one of the objectives of the School Library Association of Victoria (SLAV) in Australia. The Association’s journal Synergy, established in 2003, has been a key instrument for achieving this objective.
Synergy Highlights: The First Fifteen Years brings together in book format a selection of articles from the journal, carefully chosen by Rosemary Abbott and Robin Zeidler. Eighteen articles, written by authors well-known both in Australia and internationally, address contemporary school library issues, present quality research relevant to the profession, and illustrate the “unique and critical role of teacher librarians as both information and education experts” (p. 5). The articles are arranged chronologically by date of publication.
The overarching theme of this book is the importance of evidence-based practice, and Pru Mitchell’s two-part article “What’s So Hard about Evidence-based Practice?” (2015) is an excellent introduction to the concept which is examined from a multitude of perspectives throughout other articles in the book (see, for example, Carol A. Gordon, 2013).
A sub-theme that particularly captured my interest was that of understanding reading in the context of a digital age: slow reading by Pam McIntyre (2015); exploring format by Susan La Marca (2016); and screen reading by Barbara Combes (2016).
Developing ‘Next Generation’ school libraries is a strong sub-theme as well, developed in articles by: Ross J. Todd (2010); David V. Loertscher and Carol Koechlin (2014); Carol A. Gordon (2014); Karen Gilbert (2014); Anne Whisken et al., (2017); Elizabeth Greef (2017); and Rosemary Abbott (2017).
Understanding the impact of school library instruction is the third sub-theme and the focus of articles by: Lyn Hay (2005); Camilla Elliot (2009); Ross J. Todd (2011); Carol A. Gordon (2016); and Kasey Garrison and Lee Fitzgerald (2017).
In total, this book gives ready access to a valuable collection of articles, and it deserves a spot on the professional development bookshelves of teacher librarians looking to refine and/or transform their practice. There is much here to consider, to read and reread.
Synergy Highlights: The First Fifteen Years is available for purchase from the School Library Association of Victoria Online Store.
Dianne Oberg, PhD, is Professor Emerita in teacher-librarianship in the Faculty of Education at the University of Alberta in Canada. Her research focuses on teacher-librarianship education and on the implementation and evaluation of school library programs. Dianne co-authored with J. Branch the award-winning professional document, Focus on Inquiry: A Teacher’s Guide to Implementing Inquiry-based Learning (2004). She was an early adopter of online technology for graduate-level school library education. Dianne co-edited, with Luisa Marquardt, Global Perspectives on School Libraries: Projects and Practices (2011) and, with Barbara Schultz-Jones, the second edition of the IFLA School Library Guidelines (2015) and Global Action on School Library Guidelines (2015). Dianne was the founding editor of the peer-reviewed international journal, School Libraries Worldwide, which she edited for 15 years. She continues to contribute to the work of IASL and the IFLA School Libraries Section.