Lit Up! conference program
Friday 3 May 2023
- 8.30 – 9.00 Registration
Macquarie Room
- 9.00 – 9.10 Welcome to Country
Metcalfe Auditorium
- 9.10 – 9.15 Welcome to the State Library of NSW
Metcalfe Auditorium
Dr Caroline Butler-Bowdon, State Librarian
- 9.15 – 9.20 Welcome to Lit Up! Stories behind the stories
Metcalfe Auditorium
Pauline Fitzgerald, State Library NSW
- 9.20 – 9.50 Keynote: Bruce Whatley
Metcalfe Auditorium
Pencil to Pixel: 30 years of illustrating picture books
Bruce Whatley is one of Australia’s most highly regarded authors and illustrators for children. His award-winning titles include The Ugliest Dog in the World, Looking for Crabs, Detective Donut and the Wild Goose Chase, Diary of a Wombat, The Little Refugee, Flood, Fire, And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda and Cyclone. In 2021 Pandemic, written with Jackie French, won the prestigious Chen Bochui International Children's literature award.
Bruce constantly experiments with his image making processes to create the visual narrative best suited to complement the text of each book. Revisit some of these much-loved books and discover the stories behind the stories!
About Bruce Whatley
Bruce Whatley worked in advertising as an art director and illustrator before publishing his first children’s book, The Ugliest Dog in the World, in collaboration with his wife Rose Smith, in 1992. Since then, he has written and/or illustrated more than 100 children’s picture books. In 2008, he completed a PhD, Left Hand Right Hand, looking at the implications of ambidextrous image making. In 2020, he began painting and sculpting again for exhibitions.
Find Bruce at www.brucewhatley.com
- 9.50 – 10.20 Keynote: Gary Lonesborough
Metcalfe Auditorium
A Boy from Bega
Gary Lonesborough is the author of two young adult novels — The Boy from the Mish and We Didn’t Think It Through — but once upon a time, Gary was a quiet, confused, frustrated Aboriginal boy, living with a big secret in a small town called Bega. Now living in Western Sydney, Gary’s challenging and inspiring path to becoming an author is one you won’t want to miss.
About Gary Lonesborough
Gary Lonesborough is a Yuin man, who grew up on the Far South Coast of NSW as part of a large and proud Aboriginal family. Gary was always writing as a child and continued his creative journey when he moved to Sydney to study at film school. Gary has experience in youth work, working with Aboriginal health, child protection, the disability sector (including the youth justice system) and the film industry, including working on the feature film adaptation of Jasper Jones. His debut YA novel, The Boy from the Mish, won the Booktopia FAB Debut Book Awards and the Ena Noel Award and was shortlisted for the CBCA Awards, the QLD Literary Awards, The Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards, the Indie Book Awards, the Adelaide Festival Awards, the NSW Premier’s Awards and was selected as a White Raven. It was published in the US in 2022 under the title Ready When You Are. His second novel,We Didn’t Think It Through, was published in 2023.
- 10.20 – 10.45 Morning tea
Macquarie Room
- 10.50 – 11.20 Session 1 options
JBF Learning Centre / Gallery Room
Secret Cyborgs at the State Library? (JBF Learning Centre)
Join a hands-on exploration of ideas for using AI in a school context. Matt will explain some of the key aspects of generative artificial intelligence and highlight the ways in which schools might start to leverage this technology. We will discuss the opportunities, as well as the challenges presented by this kind of technology in a school setting. Whether you are just beginning or have some experience with AI tools, you are welcome. The only prerequisite is curiosity! You will leave this workshop with strategies you can apply right away.
About Matthew Esterman
Matthew Esterman is a History teacher and Director of Innovation and Partnerships at Our Lady of Mercy College, Parramatta. He holds Masters degrees from Macquarie University and the University of Sydney, and is the recipient of several awards, most recently the Commonwealth Bank Teaching Fellowship for 2023. His role involves establishing and maintaining valuable partnerships with external organisations such as universities, industry partners and charitable organisations, as well as seeking out and adopting innovative approaches to the school experience. Matthew recently launched the Mercy Multicredential initiative at OLMC, which allows students to curate a portfolio of evidence from across their school experience towards a nationally recognised, formal credential. He is a keen lifelong learner who believes we can bend the future using creativity, critical thinking, and compassion.
Making the most of FREE databases (Gallery Room)
Discover State Library resources for secondary students, particularly HSC students, with a focus on getting teachers up to speed on the common tools across some of our key databases. This guided instruction will be useful for those less familiar with databases, as well as more experienced users looking for a refresher. We will also introduce you to a handful of resources you can use for your own research and professional learning. Bring along your device and your questions!
About Holly Radunz
Holly is a Specialist Librarian at the State Library, leading the Students’ Team in Reader Services. Holly has worked in many different libraries, including at a university where she helped students and academics with their research. Holly enjoys helping people to find information, as well as inspiration, for their work.
- 11.25 – 11.55 Session 2 options
JBF Learning Centre / Gallery Room
The School Magazine: Addressing inclusion, diversity and teacher workload (JBF Learning Centre)
Do you want to learn more about how The School Magazine is helping teachers transition to the NSW Syllabus and Australian Curriculum? Elise will share her insights into the decision-making that is shaping The School Magazine in 2024 and beyond. She will also discuss how The School Magazine is collaborating with Dharug language custodian, Jasmine Seymour, to include Dharug words in the publication. Don’t miss this chance to discover how The School Magazine is adapting to the changing needs and expectations of students and teachers.
About Elise Moore
Elise Moore is an educator with 25 years of experience as a classroom teacher and 23 years of that as a literacy specialist, who lives on the lands of the Wodi Wodi people of the Five Islands Dreaming. She has been responsible for peer professional learning and student literacy growth at a classroom, school and system level, and in the last 3 years has turned that focus to supporting teachers through The School Magazine at a state and national level working with both the NSW English Syllabus and Australian English Curriculum. Elise is enthusiastic and focused on ensuring that all children see and hear their voices on the pages of The School Magazine.
We are such stuff: Using Shakespeare collection material in the secondary classroom (Gallery Room)
This session draws on the State Liibrary’s significant Shakespeare collection to frame an exploration of the way historical material can speak across time to contemporary students. It presents a theoretical frame for inviting young people to engage with Shakespeare. You will leave this workshop with new ideas to use in your classroom.
About Dr Lauren A. Weber
Dr Lauren A. Weber is Lecturer of Language, Literature and Literacy in the School of Education at the University of Wollongong. She specialises in the teaching and learning of English from primary to tertiary contexts and has published her research in a range of outlets including English in Education, Literacy Research and Instruction, and Cordite Poetry Review. She is a core member of the Shakespeare Reloaded project team. Lauren often works in community to connect children and young people with rich and authentic opportunities to read and write works of literature.
- 12.00 – 12.30 Session 3 options
JBF Learning Centre / Gallery Room
Using the Information Fluency Framework with a literature focus (JBF Learning Centre)
In this workshop participants will work through a broad overview of the Information Fluency Framework (IFF), with explicit examples for each element. We will then explore how to use the IFF to support the ‘Understanding and responding to literature’ focus in the NSW English Syllabus.
About Carmel Grimmett
Carmel Grimmett is Library Coordinator with the NSW Department of Education. For 20 years, Carmel was teacher librarian at a large primary school in the inner west of Sydney. Before becoming a teacher, she worked as a children’s librarian in the public library system. Carmel has previously served on the committee of her local teacher librarian network and has acted as a mentor for newly graduated teacher librarians in NSW public schools. She is committed to supporting the provision of high functioning school libraries which encourage reading engagement and enable the development of information fluency and critical thinking skills. Carmel is currently developing support materials aligned to the Information Fluency Framework, for primary and secondary teacher librarians to use and adapt to meet the requirements of their individual schools.
Good prices for good material: collecting personal diaries from the First World War (Gallery Room)
Just weeks after the Armistice was declared in 1918, the State Library of NSW began advertising in Australian newspapers, encouraging returning soldiers to sell their personal diaries to the Library. Known as the European War Collecting Project, this acquisition program was the first of its kind in Australia.
In this workshop, Elise will show some of the personal diaries purchased over a century ago and will discuss the Library’s approach to collecting these accounts — examining the role of archivists in assessing, appraising and privileging some collections over others.
About Elise Edmonds
Elise Edmonds works in the Library’s Collection Acquisition & Curation branch. Elise received a staff fellowship to research and scope the Library’s First World War collections, which included analysing the large collection of personal diaries written by servicemen and women during the war. As a result of this research, she curated a suite of First World War exhibitions at the State Library including Life Interrupted: personal diaries from World War I in 2014, Colour in Darkness: images from the First World War in 2016 and Quick March! The Children of World War One in 2019.
- 12.30 - 1.10 Lunch
Macquarie Room
- 1.10 - 1.50 Up Close with the Collection
Various locations
Attendees to choose one tour to attend (40 minutes).
Wadgayawa Nhay Dhadjan Wari (they made them a long time ago) exhibition tour
The significant Aboriginal objects featured in Wadgayawa Nhay Dhadjan Wari (they made them a long time ago) were removed from Country around 200 years ago. They have travelled back to Sydney so that Aboriginal communities can reconnect with them to rebuild and share knowledge and understanding about how they were made and used. The 30 belongings have been selected by members of the La Perouse Aboriginal community from five different cultural institutions across the United Kingdom. Damien Webb, Head of Indigenous Engagement at the Library will guide you through the exhibition and share some of the incredible stories behind the show.
About Damien Webb
Damien Webb is a Palawa man and Aboriginal liaison/library professional, currently managing the Indigenous Engagement Branch at the State Library of NSW. Damien has a passion for decolonising archives and library collections and has extensive experience working with researchers to understand the legacies of white explorers from an Aboriginal context and return authority over heritage materials to Traditional Owners and Aboriginal families.
Shot: 400 photographs, 200 photographers, 3 centuries
Join a curator-led tour of Shot and immerse yourself in Australia’s past as seen through the lens of Australian photographers. This is the first exhibition to comprehensively review the Library’s photo collections — one of the largest, most diverse, and significant in Australia. This tour will take a closer look at the works of Australian photographers, from the first commercial photographer through to present-day practitioners. With a representative image from almost every year between 1845 and 2022, this tour presents visitors with a fascinating take on Australia’s past.
About Geoff Barker
This tour will be led by Senior Curator Geoff Barker who curated the exhibition and is a specialist in the history of photography from Australia and Oceania.
Paintings from the collection exhibition tour
Join Richard Neville, the Michell Librarian and Director, Engagement for a very special tour of the Paintings Gallery. Richard will share the stories behind some of the iconic works on display.
About Richard Neville
Richard Neville is Mitchell Librarian and Director, Engagement at the State Library of NSW. Richard has been extensively involved in the acquisition, arrangement, description and promotion of the Mitchell Library’s renowned Australian research collections. He has has published widely on, and curated many exhibitions about, nineteenth century Australian art and society, and recently co-edited Reading the Rooms, a book about the Library’s paintings collection.
Step into the stacks
Unseen beneath the Library’s Macquarie Street building are five levels of storage with over 80 kilometres of shelving. This educator-led tour will take you into the heart of the Library to look at rare gems and the inner workings of one of Australia’s major cultural institutions.
Collection Care - Ainsworth Conservation Laboratories
Come behind the scenes to see the Conservation Laboratory and see the work undertaken by the Collection Care Branch.
The Collection Care branch ensures the rich and extensive collections of the State Library are available to all those who wish to use them, now and in the future. The Collection Care Branch consists of several teams of conservators, registrars, and storage specialists with responsibility for the various aspects of collection care. The collections include many varied formats: books and serials, manuscripts, prints, drawings and paintings, photographs and negatives, architectural plans and maps, objects, film, oral history, and sound recordings.
Please note: this tour involves a significant amount of walking so may not be appropriate for attendees with mobility issues.
Digitising the collection
The Library has created nearly 14 million high quality digital master files of items in our collections, across every format including books, newspapers, maps, drawings, paintings, negatives, manuscripts, realia, video, oral histories and more. Even with all this material digitised, readers still find things that they need copied. . In this special tour you will visit our photography studios, meet the imaging team and learn about the processes used make such a diverse collection accessible to the public in digital form.
- 1.50 - 2.15 Fast 5
Metcalfe Auditorium
In this fast-paced session you will meet five freshly minted published authors as they introduce us to their work. Presenters include Fiona Lloyd (Being Jimmy Baxter, CBCA Notable 2024), Apsara Baldovino (The Lucky Shack, CBCA Notable 2024), Kristin Darell (Football Fever), Amanda Leiber (My Giant Seashell), and illustrator Nisaluk Chantanakom (A Teaspoon of Light).
- 2.15 - 2.45 Keynote: Sally Rippin
Metcalfe Auditorium
Meet Sally Rippin the NEW Australian Children’s Laureate
Sally’s theme as Laureate is ‘All kids can be readers!’ She will spend her two years as Laureate sharing the message that all children can be supported to access reading in the way that suits them best. In this presentation Sally will share her vision and her writing journey as the author of more than 100 books.
About Sally Rippin
Sally Rippin is Australia’s highest-selling female author and has written over 100 books for children and young adults, many of them award-winning. Her widely popular books are beloved across the globe and have sold more than 10 million copies in 18 countries. Currently, she is working on several books for children as well as adapting her work for the screen. Sally loves to write stories with heart and characters that resonate with children, parents and teachers alike.
Brought to you in partnership with the Australian Children’s Laureate Foundation.
- 2.45 - 3.30 Farewell and Prize Draw
Metcalfe Auditorium
What's new at the State Library?
In this final session of the day Pauline Fitzgerald, Head of Learning at the Library, will showcase new and exciting resources. Onsite excursions, virtual excursions and rich learning resources are designed to connect students and teachers to the Library from wherever they are in NSW. You will also find out about Atlas, our junior membership program, and Incredibilia, an exciting theatre production based on a selection of Libby Hathorn’s books.
In this session two lucky schools will win a free excursion to the State Library.
About Pauline Fitzgerald
Pauline Fitzgerald is Head of Learning at the State Library of NSW. She is a primary-trained teacher with experience in diverse learning environments including primary and secondary schools as well as cultural organisations. Pauline has taught in Public, Independent and Catholic schools in NSW. Pauline joined the State Library in 2009 when Learning Services was established and was instrumental in the establishment and development of the branch. The focus of her work has been the design and development of engaging learning experiences for children and young people. The Learning team offer programs for K-12 students and teachers onsite, online and on tour around NSW. Since her appointment as Head of Learning in 2020 Pauline has led the development of extensive digital resources and virtual excursions leading to increased engagement with the Library from across NSW and beyond.