Adventures of the Lifting Librarian

Aesthetic and Efferent Reading

During my reading for my PhD, I discovered a concept from the 1970s and 1980s that divides all reading into two categories: Aesthetic reading and efferent reading. This concept was put forth by Louise Rosenblatt (1904 – 2005) and has since been supported by the work of many researchers, including Beumer Johnson (2011), Krashen (2020),…

Reviews of Rainbow Reads

I’ve been reading a bit of LGBTQIA+ fiction lately and thought I’d do some quick reviews! Clearly I’ve been reading lots of MLM (man loves man) fiction and need to discover some other reads – suggestions welcome in the comments please! Young Adult Fiction Heartstopper is an oldy but a goody and is widely acknowledged…

Three power pieces for your reading advocacy playbook

There is a wealth of information out there on the motivation to read for pleasure, and a lot of it focussed on children and young people. I thought I’d write a quick blog with three great research power pieces that you can use to beef up your argument for including reading time in your school…

2022 Intentions

My long-time readers will know that I’ve developed a bit of a habit in reflecting on the year that’s been and writing my intentions for the year ahead down. I’m a little late to the party this year as it’s the last day of January and I’m only just getting around to this… Oops! Better…

Wrapping up my teaching career

It’s usually about this time of year when I start to write my “Year in Review” posts. This year’s is a little different though as I’m moving on to different things. On the 13th of December, I will be started at Charles Sturt University as a Lecturer in Teacher Librarianship. This is a massive change…

A brief history of school libraries and teacher librarians in Australia

I’ve been doing some reading into the history of school libraries, teacher librarians, and the different School Library Associations around Australia to better understand where I, as a teacher librarian, come from, the continual fight for school libraries and teacher librarians, the structures of these organisations and how they support teacher librarians within their states…

Reading Efficiency

I recently came across the concept of the “Matthew Effect” and how it applies to reading, and so I thought I’d share some of my learnings here and combine it with some of the literature I’ve been reading. Firstly, the Matthew Effect is a concept that has been around for a very long time –…

Librarian things: metadata & tagging

So, you know about hashtags but do you know about metadata and tagging for research purposes? My brother has just started a Masters degree and one of the first courses he had to do is on conducting good research. As part of this course he learned about the ways in which librarians set up catalogues…

The magic of Harry Potter

As a teacher librarian I regularly come across the phrases “I hate reading” and “I’m not a reader” in my day-to-day work. I am never angered by these comments, nor am I surprised, but rather I like the challenge that this possesses. For many students it’s often about simply finding the right book, but more…

2021 Intentions

2020 certainly taught us a few things about ourselves and the world around us. For me, I learned giving myself a goal tends to heap on a lot of pressure which often leads to me feeling so much stress and anxiety that no progress towards my goal happens at all. So, for 2021 I have…