Ever heard of the SLAQ/IASL? No? Neither had I before getting involved in the Australian school librarians’ push to get better conditions in school libraries, and then the Government inquiry into the issue.

Last week, Brisbane was the lucky Australian city to host the School Library Association of Queensland Biennial Conference and the 39th International Association of School Librarianship Annual Conference – the 14th International Forum on Research in School Librarianship. Teacher Librarians from across the globe filled the Brisbane convention & Exhibition Centre at South Bank. Their theme: Diversity Challenge Resilience

Sixteen lucky Australian authors or illustrators (mostly from Queensland) were fortunate to be guests at their Authors’ Breakfast.

We included Belinda Jeffrey, Christine Bongers, Clare McFadden, David Cox, David McRobbie, Hazel Edwards, James Moloney, John Danalis, Kierin Meehan, Michael Bauer, Narelle Oliver, Peter Carnavas, Richard Newsome, Wendy Orr, Rebecca Johnson and me.

We each got to give a run down of what we do and show an artifact to do with one of our stories. I took along my cast of dinosaur footprints from the Lark Quarry Dinosaur Stampede at Winton, plus a piece of 50 million-year-old coprolite, fossilised turtle poo. Many fascinating things to see – highlight for me was author, John Danalis’s possum fur cloak presented to him by the  Wamba Wamba elders.

It was also fabulous to meet and talk with so many enthusiastic TLs – without their commitment to literacy and literature, many children would not have the chance to read the books we write. And there would be many, many authors finding it even harder to make a living without the chance to get paid visits to school libraries and classrooms.

The battle to save school libraries continues with a new Government installed. The Inquiry had been launched by Julia Gillard last year – and playing a central role was Rob Oakeshott, a member of the Inquiry committee. Let’s hope he will continue to bat for TLs and school libraries in his role as an Independent in Parliament.

If you would like to know more about the Government Inquiry into the parlous state of School Libraries in Australia and also Teacher Librarian jobs, here’s the link to The Hub – a support blog.

And why wouldn’t you want to know? After all, without Teacher-Librarians and school libraries, authors and illustrators would not sell as many books, would we?