7: Image

While searching for the reputable website connected to my interest area (Competency 9: Internet), I found the International Association of School Librarianship (IASL). That was actually the first hit after a search on Google. On its Advocacy page, there was a link to International School Library Day celebrated on the fourth Monday in October each year. Clicking on that link brought up this image.

Interestingly enough, as I researched more about this image through the IASL site and also on Google Images, there were numerous references to October as International School Library Month.

Day or month? Does it matter? Here, the concept matters, a day (or even a month) to celebrate school libraries around the world. In my international school, this celebration could take the form of displays, author visits, book talks, and activities to promote the use of the library as a research center. Since the date comes early in the school year, the library could begin planning for the month early. Having a month-long celebration would allow for a wider variety of activities and events.

With my interest area in influencing instruction through the library, I envision this event and the activities surrounding it as designed to place the library firmly in the minds of all international school constituents: students, teachers, administrators and parents.

As for the image itself, my interpretation is that the strands of different colors represent cultures or library stakeholders in an international school, joined at the center by the school library. That all of the strands “meet” at the center of a book binding could suggest that the library “holds everything together” on campus.

Whatever interpretation the image brings to mind, the key for the international school librarian—or for any librarian, for that matter—is to showcase the library as a partner in instruction to benefit students as well as the entire campus community.

Copyright Information: The International School Library Day logo was designed by Peter Rugendyke for the International Association of School Librarianship (IASL), the holder of the copyright. An exact copyright date was unavailable on the IASL website, although the logo was not used for the first International School Library Day announcement in 1999. It did appear on the 2006 online announcement. However, since there are no announcements after 1999 or before 2006, determining when it first appeared is difficult. The webpage with downloadable copies of the logo was last updated in 2003, so perhaps that provides a clue.