Networking with colleagues at the 2017 ASCEL conference highlighted to me the fantastic work ASCEL members are doing in their public libraries and Schools’ Library Services back home and I thought a blog would help us to showcase this work.
Our most recent national ASCEL committee meeting was in Barnsley. This was my first visit to Barnsley and I really liked the place. My train journey from Stafford took me across the rolling Yorkshire Moors and that is one of the delights of our committee meetings – we get to visit some fabulous places, inspiring libraries and wonderful publishing houses.
Another delight of ASCEL national committee meetings is the opportunity to focus on developing our services for children and young people despite challenging times. Conference 2018 is starting to take shape looking at how we make our services relevant to children and young people. We have identified some excellent key speakers and workshops and Annie is now in the process of contacting everyone to check availability. We have started work on mapping the children’s offer across the Universal Offers. This work started at conference with developing a culture offer for children but we recognise that what we offer our children and young people is so much more than culture. A small group of national committee members have been working on a Family Friendly Pledge to encourage families to visit libraries. Our partnership with Beanstalk continues to develop and we are working on an MOU that will help to establish local offers, promote public libraries and schools’ library services and support literacy in schools.
Everyone works hard at these meetings. There is scintillating discussion and debate and always lots of actions at the end. I think it is fair to say that we go home tired but with a sense of achievement.
Sue Ball
ASCEL National Committee Chair
ASCEL blog 