SLA | Leading School Libraries: Library, School, Sector

FOSIL Group members Darryl Toerien and Barbara Stripling will be delivering a keynote address at the School Library Association Weekend Course 2021 – Leading School Libraries: Library, School, Sector.

—

Inquiry: an educational and moral imperative

The IFLA School Library Guidelines, rooted in the IFLA/UNESCO School Library Manifesto, remind us that the school library exists to serve its educational purpose – improving teaching and learning for all – and its moral purpose – making a difference in the lives of young people. While equally important, our educational purpose forms the frontline of our struggle to secure a vital future for our libraries. In order to fulfil our educational purpose, we must actually be essential to the educational process, as both the Manifesto and Guidelines proclaim. As a student-centred educational process to which the school library is essential, inquiry not only enables us to fulfil our educational purpose, but also our moral purpose, and so becomes our educational and moral imperative.