2007: Susan Perkins, Joanie Proske, Kim Anderson, Jade Graber and Laurie Lewis (Langley)

This award honours teacher-librarians who have made contributions to the profession through publications, productions or professional development activities that deal with topics relevant to teacher-librarianship and/or information literacy. The above named collaborative team from Langley School District #35 in British Columbia created a district professional development resource guide: Library Information Skills Survival Guide.

Langley elementary teacher-librarians saw a need to develop an information literacy plan so that students could find their way around a school library, locate the information they need from print and digital resources, and organize this information meaningfully.  The Library Information Skills Survival Guide offers a simple overview of what needs to be taught to allow for continuity of instruction and to help set priorities within timetables. The authors put together a K-7 sequence of information literacy skills and suggested strategies for teaching them. The document clearly supports the main purpose of all members of the school community, that students will develop the knowledge and habits they need to be information literate in our society.

The information literacy skills have been set up as parts of lessons or units cooperatively planned between teachers and teacher librarians. The group has given at least twelve workshops across B.C. and copies of the guide are now available through the British Columbia Teachers’ Federation (BCTF) lesson aids.
The British Columbia Teacher Librarians Association (BCTLA) has also recommended the guide as an educational document of interest for teacherlibrarians
across Canada. CASL is pleased to award the 2007 Angela Thacker Memorial Award to Susan Perkins, Joanie Proske, Kim Anderson, Jade Graber and Laurie Lewis of
Langley School District # 35, British Columbia for an outstanding document that can serve as a model for other districts in B.C. and across Canada.

2007: Dr. Marlene Asselin (UBC)

The Margaret B. Scott Award of Merit honours an individual who has made an outstanding contribution to school librarianship at the national level.

Dr Asselin, from the University of British Columbia, stands out for her incredible resolve in solving the issues around combining two national school library organizations in 2003 into the current CLA division, CASL.

Creating a new common ground for the national school library context represents a clear demonstration of Dr Asselin’s interpersonal skills, political savvy, personal integrity and dogged determinism in bringing the national school library community back together under one umbrella.

She co-edited the national school library standards document: Achieving Information Literacy; she facilitated the development of the School Library Information Portal (SLiP); and she oversaw the survival and transition of School Libraries in Canada (SLIC) to an online journal for school librarianship. Dr. Asselin and Dr. Ray Doiron from UPEI were joint recipients of the CLA research award in which they investigated how new teachers are being instructed to teach information literacy once they become teachers. She has given many workshops at CLA, UPEI summer institutes, Alberta Library Association meetings, Ontario Library Association Superconferences and throughout the lower mainland of British Columbia as part of BCTLA, and the local chapter of the International Reading Association.

Dr. Asselin has brought the school library beyond the library community by presenting to the Canadian Society for the Study of Education and several international venues such as the American Educational Research Association, the International Reading Association, National Reading Conference and many International Association of School Librarianship conferences. She has spearheaded the Research Forum for the CLA conferences on several occasions and helped develop the new format for the annual CLA conference.

She has co-edited books with Dr. James Henri from Australia, as well as one she and Dr. Doiron co-edited in 2005: Literacy, Libraries and Learning. 

She has been co-editor of a special issue for Feliciter, the professional journal of the Canadian Library Association, and has written several articles on the vital roles school libraries play in students’ learning.

She has been an enormous support to individual teacher-librarians through her innovative school librarianship program at the University of BC; she has been a mentor to the dozens of graduate students who choose to pursue graduate work in school librarianship; and she has shown her academic colleagues how libraries are vital links and tools for helping students navigate the rich information world in which they live and how to handle it critically and with ethical and effective learning strategies.

Dr. Asselin’s work at the international level has brought recognition to our Canadian school library community. Recently, she has been nominated to serve as Director from Canada on the Board of International Association of School Librarianship (IASL). She gives exemplary service as an Editorial Board member of School Libraries Worldwide, the refereed journal of IASL. She has also been involved in consultancy work in Europe over the past few years.

Dr Asselin has just agreed to be co-editor for a special issue of School Libraries Worldwide and has undertaken innovative work for the University of Zurich in Switzerland. This is a clear signal that her incredible contribution to school libraries in Canada is spreading and growing in international stature.

Dr. Asselin’s publications indicate the breadth and depth of her concerns.

Her 2001 paper on Grade 6 research process instruction shows her deep knowledge of classroom instruction and the inquiry process; her conclusions are insightful and her implications point out useful directions for further research. Two of her recent papers address very interestingly a major problem in teacher education (the lack of attention in Canadian Faculties of Education in preparing teachers who are able to provide appropriate instruction in the area of information literacy) and offer practical suggestions solidly based on research findings. Dr. Asselin’s teaching and research activities have engaged the professional community in significant ways. She  demonstrates a strong commitment to collaboration and to reciprocal relationships with professionals in the schools as well as with other researchers and educators in education and librarianship.

Since her appointment to the Department of Language and Literacy Education at the University of British Columbia, Dr. Asselin has taught four different courses, at the graduate and undergraduate level. Dr. Asselin has coordinated undergraduate teacher education courses and served on interdepartmental committees for two graduate-level joint degree programs.

She has worked with over twenty graduate students, both doctoral and masters students. She is preparing the teacher-librarians and school library and literacy educators that we need now and in the future.

Dr. Asselin’s career provides a record of sustained and productive scholarly and professional activity. She has established herself as a scholar in teacherlibrarianship, in teacher education, and in information literacy. She has a strong record of participation in both professional and academic communities as well as in the affairs of her Department and University.

Dr. Marlene Asselin clearly merits recognition of the highest caliber for her sustained contributions to the field of school librarianship in Canada. CASL is honoured to award her the 2007 Margaret B. Scott Award of Merit.

2005: Karin E. Paul (Victoria)

The Margaret B. Scott Award of Merit honours an individual who has made an outstanding contribution to Canadian school librarianship at the national level. Karin has displayed leadership by providing inspiration and motivation as a mentor and role model. Karin Paul, B.A., Ed. Cert., M.A., has been a school-based teacher since 1983. During her tenure at St. Andrew's High School in Victoria, B.C., she has taught senior English and Social Studies, and worked as a Teacher-Librarian. Karin has also taught first year English and Teacher-Librarian courses in the Faculties of English and Education at the University of Victoria. Karin's conviction, courage, and exemplary effort challenge colleagues and students to aspire to excellence. Most impressive is her commitment to developing learning environments where students are truly engaged in "learning how to learn". Her work with classroom teachers, planning and team-teaching units, and developing resources for gifted and academically challenged students is exemplary.

Karin has been a leader in professional associations. She was the editor of two journals, Emergency Librarian and School Libraries in Canada. During Karin’s involvement with the Canadian School Library
Association she was instrumental in organizing the successful National School Library Summit in 2003.  She also helped arrange for Shaw TV to produce a school library video and to carry school library stories throughout their areas of operation.

Karin successfully tackled organizational change within the Canadian Library Association by advocating for special membership categories for school library staff and for a single national school library association. Her efforts within CLA paved the way for the merging of the Canadian School Library Association and The Association for Teacher-librarianship in Canada, which occurred in June 2004.

Karin is a model educator who has an unaffected enthusiasm for her own discipline and a wide and deep interest in others. She persistently strives to get things "just right". Her leadership and commitment to excellence inspire all who come in contact with her, which is why CASL is pleased to award the 2005 Margaret B. Scott Award of Merit to Karin E. Paul.

2004: Lillian Carefoot (Nanaimo)

The Canadian School Library Association is pleased to announce Lillian Carefoot as a recipient of the 2004 Margaret B. Scott Award.  This award is a recognition of Lillian’s life-long commitment to public education, the philosophy of the K-12 Education Program, and the principles of learning. Lillian has demonstrated a remarkable range of talents throughout her extensive career. She has specialized in educational communications, information retrieval and utilization, learning resources, integration of educational technology, media literacy, school library programs, and resource-based teaching and learning and, most recently in elementary school administration combined with the provision of library service.

There are people in this world who give without seeking special recognition and acclaim. Lillian Carefoot is one of those people. Her entire career has been devoted to the provision of quality education to children and young adults. Her experience and her professional accomplishments are a chronicle of work and achievement that cannot be simply measured. She has taken up exceptional projects and moved them to completion. She has met thousands of deadlines- at work in the resource centre that was gradually being affected by restraint, or in the principal's office in a school that faced enormous challenges with aboriginal education, impoverished children and eventual closure. She has been the school librarian and the school principal and the grade 5 teacher all at once. The school libraries in the schools of School District #68 are not the same as they were when Lillian was lured from Saskatoon to direct the Learning Resource Centre in Nanaimo. She was able through all of her positions in Nanaimo to provide exceptional leadership for the provision of school library services and programs at all levels.

Lillian Carefoot is a survivor - moving to administration after a valiant attempt to maintain District Resource Services. But even as all these changes proceeded she continued to support professional groups like PIMA, AMTEC, and CSLA. Five years ago she accepted the call to assume the editorship of "School Libraries in Canada". Her work at the helm of this publication has helped to make it the exceptional journal it has become. She has made a great contribution to SLIC and to the Canadian school library community.

She has demonstrated individual leadership and dedication to the whole field of learning resources and learning literacies. She has been an ongoing voice for school libraries and teacher-librarians in Nanaimo and other areas of BC. She has given exceptional service and vision to her work as Editor of School Libraries in Canada.

The Canadian School Library Association takes great pride in being able show its appreciation of all that Lillian Carefoot has given to our profession and is pleased to honour her achievements with the Margaret B. Scott Award of Merit.

2007: Mary Locke (Vancouver)

Mary Locke is an outstanding teacher-librarian who has developed an active school library program in a French immersion elementary school. She collaborates with teachers at all grade levels in both English and French.  Teachers and teacher-librarians within B.C. and beyond have benefited from Mary’s participation in committees, workshop presentations and mentorship.  Mary is a tireless advocate for school library programs.

Mary has been acknowledged by the University of British Columbia Faculty of Education for welcoming and collaboratively planning with pre-service English and French Immersion teachers as well as hosting visits by out of country librarians (e.g. librarian from Switzerland who job-shadowed Mary). 

Mary has held various British Columbia Teacher-Librarians’ Association (BCTLA) executive positions including Communications Officer, Working and Learning Conditions Co-Chair (she was instrumental in moving the provincial survey from being paper to computer based), President and currently Past President.

Mary is also an executive member of the Vancouver Teacher-Librarians’ Association (she has been the Advocacy chair for several years). She is an executive member of the Vancouver Elementary School Teachers’
Association. 

Mary has met several times with BC politicians in Victoria speaking on behalf of school libraries. She has held several press conferences on National School Library Day and has organized district-wide NSLD events in
conjunction with Friends of the School Library. 

Mary actively promotes Friends of the School Library by recruiting, encouraging others to recruit and by organizing teacher-librarians to maintain databases of members at each school site.

In all respects, Mary Locke is an outstanding award winner of the 2007 CASL/NBS teacher-librarian of the year.

2006: Karen Cordiner (Vancouver)

The Canadian Association for School Libraries is pleased to announce Karen Cordiner as the 2006 recipient of the Canadian Association for School Libraries /National Book Service’s Teacher-librarian of the year award.

This award is presented to a school-based teacher-librarian who has made an outstanding contribution to school librarianship within Canada through planning and implementing school library programs, based on a collaborative model which integrates library and classroom programs.  Since 1984 when she first took the teacher librarian position at Prince of Wales Secondary School in Vancouver, where she has been department head since 1987, Karen has demonstrated all the qualities of an outstanding professional in the field. 

Karen is widely known for her innovative work with technology to support teaching and learning. She provides teachers and students with a continuously updated wealth of resources targeted to literacy and subject area curriculum on the award-winning school library website that she developed (http://pw.vsb.bc.ca/library/index.htm).  Her school library website features a mission statement that is collaboratively composed annually with teachers in her school, web quests to support development of students’ information literacy, and collaborative units across grades 9 – 12 in science, social studies/history, English, career and personal planning, modern languages, and English as a second language. She is a much valued mentor and guide for her colleagues as she regularly gives workshops for her staff and in many school districts. Karen is a frequent and well known voice on teacher librarian listservs where she shares new resources, computer tips and program suggestions. Karen has served the field as well through her work in numerous district, school and provincial committees.

Two words that best describe Karen’s approach to the library program are excellence and innovation.  She serves as a model for other teacher librarians in the district and is a strong advocate for collaborative library programs that integrate the most current and effective uses of technology. Karen is tireless in her efforts to ensure that her school’s library is the center of teaching and learning and the model she has developed is one that represents the best in Canada. 

In all respects, Karen Cordiner is an outstanding award winner of the 2006 CASL/NBS teacher-librarian of the year.

2005: Hazel Clark (North Vancouver)

This award is presented to a school-based teacher-librarian who has made an outstanding contribution to school librarianship within Canada through planning and implementing school library programs, based on a collaborative model which integrates library and classroom programs. Hazel Clark exemplifies the spirit of the award as evident in these insights from her colleagues: “As Balmoral’s librarian, she has earned the reputation of being supportive and ready to assist the classroom teacher – especially in unit planning. She has shown leadership in the district with the ‘Web in the Classroom’ initiative and has brought this expertise to the school. She has been a driving force in introducing and incorporating computer and media technology to Balmoral.” 

“My teaching and our students’ learning are enriched through her desire to engage all of us in the intelligent conversation of a culturally literate world.”

Two words that best describe Hazel’s approach to the library program are enthusiasm and commitment. She is noted for her boundless energy and willingness to share beyond her school community. She serves as a model for other librarians in North Vancouver, BC and is a strong advocate for collaborative library programs wherever she goes. Hazel loves her job. Combine that with her ongoing commitment to professional development, a ferocious appetite for learning, and her outgoing personality and you have a person who exemplifies all that librarians should be.

In all respects, Hazel Clark is an outstanding award winner of the 2005 CASL/NBS teacher-librarian of the year.

2003: Bonnie McComb (Sidney)

The Canadian School Library Association is pleased to announce Bonnie McComb as this year’s recipient of the National Book Service's Teacher Librarian of the Year Award. This award recognizes Bonnie's outstanding achievement in establishing and developing a collaborative school library program at Parkland Secondary, Sidney, British Columbia. 

Bonnie has been the teacher librarian at Parkland for the past 10 years during which time she firmly established her school library as the 'heart' of the school. She accomplished this in many ways, some of which were to: cooperatively develop more than five hundred collaborative units with teachers of every subject and grade level; cooperatively plan student centred units that contain strong links to Ministry curricula; develop cross grade units that promote and support the development of information skill objectives; and coordinate the school's annual Writes of Spring literary festival.

Bonnie's collaborative and cooperative work in her library extends well beyond the walls of her library. For example, she collaborates annually with the nearby middle school teacher librarian in a production titled Night of the Nobles in which students research and present a notable person and guests use questions to try and guess their character's identity. Bonnie also extends the reach of the library by coordinating Parkland's staff and student book clubs.

The dedication to the development of her profession also extends beyond her school's walls. For example, she has published thirteen articles in Bookmark, the journal for British Columbia Teacher Librarian Association (BCTLA), and actively supports a variety of British Columbia's Teacher Librarian associations. For example, her professional positions include Vice President and President of the Saanich Teacher-Librarians' Association, Chapter Councilor of the BCTLA, Communication Officer BCTLA, and Committee Member for the BC Ministry "Research Process" Model.

These examples are only a few of the many ways that Bonnie demonstrates the characteristics of a master teacher-librarian. Her leadership qualities, collaborative abilities, and service to teachers and teacher librarians from the local to provincial represents, as stated by her current principal, "the very best of what we expect of our teacher librarians".

It is with great honour that CSLA and NBS present this year's Teacher Librarian of the Year Award to Bonnie McComb. 

2001: Kay Treadgold (Kelowna)

CSLA/National Book Service Teacher-Librarian of the Year Award is Kay Treadgold, the teacher-librarian at Kelowna Secondary School in the Central Okanagan School District.
Kay has been a classroom teacher and teacher-librarian for over 20 years and she has created an excellent school library program through her collaborative work with her colleagues and administrators.  Kay is described as an exemplary teacher-librarian who has provided leadership for a very active school library program that includes information literacy and information technology skills, as well as activities to encourage a love for reading and learning. She has an excellent rapport with her staff and students. She works collaboratively with experienced teachers and mentors new teachers and student teachers.  Kay has taken many leadership roles outside her school including active duty on Ministry committees, writing and publishing for a variety of projects, as well as membership and leadership in provincial teacher-librarian organizations. She advocates earnestly for the role of the teacher-librarian by lobbying provincial policy-makers and politicians and by making person presentations to various community-based organizations. Kay developed an evaluation tool for teacher-librarians, as well as several information technology documents that are used by many of her colleagues.  National Book Service has sponsored this award for several years and honours each recipient at the Canadian School Library Association Annual Conference which will be held this year, June 13-17 in Winnipeg.  Kay Treadgold will receive her award at the CSLA Awards Luncheon.

1998: Willa Walsh (Richmond)
 

2006: Pamela Hossack (UBC Student)
2005: Karen Lindsay (Victoria)