For the love of libraries - an ALIA Schools podcast
Aug 18, 2026 · 32 min · 10 segments
In this episode, Ela from the FTLOL team sits down with Pauline Fitzgerald, Head of Learning at the State Library of NSW, to explore the evolving relationship between the State Library and schools…
Pauline FitzgeraldGuestElaHost
We're, we're always trying to improve our practice, and we are-- we always ask for feedback and, you know, some of the feedback we get from teachers about the experience for their students is just, you know, extraordinary, and we don't necessarily share that as widely as perhaps we should, and that- that's, that's a message I would have for your listeners who work in libraries and work in schools.
You really need to be a strong advocate for what you do, and share the stories, because if you don't do it, no one else will.
And yeah, it's really important to share what you think the impact of what you're doing is on your audiences.
So they come in, and we take them to different parts of the library and give different, um, inspiration for their writing, and they actually sit and write in that spot, and then we move on and look at another collection item or something in the building, and they write again.
And then at the end of that, we send all that writing to their teacher, so the teacher gets a record of everything that their students have written while they're in the library.
And the teacher came back to us and said [clears throat] she had never seen them write so well.
There you go
And from that, we have-- we're developing a new program where we will work with students on a number of visits.
So they won't just come once, they'll come twice, so that we can work on-
Continuity
Because that, that's one of the downsides here, that we don't have the students for very long.
We're, we're always trying to improve our practice, and we are-- we always ask for feedback and, you know, some of the feedback we get from teachers about the experience for their students is just, you know, extraordinary, and we don't necessarily share that as widely as perhaps we should, and that- that's, that's a message I would have for your listeners who work in libraries and work in schools.
You really need to be a strong advocate for what you do, and share the stories, because if you don't do it, no one else will.
And yeah, it's really important to share what you think the impact of what you're doing is on your audiences.
So they come in, and we take them to different parts of the library and give different, um, inspiration for their writing, and they actually sit and write in that spot, and then we move on and look at another collection item or something in the building, and they write again.
And then at the end of that, we send all that writing to their teacher, so the teacher gets a record of everything that their students have written while they're in the library.
And the teacher came back to us and said [clears throat] she had never seen them write so well.
There you go
And from that, we have-- we're developing a new program where we will work with students on a number of visits.
So they won't just come once, they'll come twice, so that we can work on-
Continuity
Because that, that's one of the downsides here, that we don't have the students for very long.
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