NCACL Newsletter

Newsletter Volume 7 Issue 1

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Contact Editor Lynn Fletcher
info@ncacl.org.au

2020 Achievements so far ...
Introducing NCACL's new database

NCACL volunteers were pleased to virtually launch the newly created Aboriginal and or Torres Strait Islander resource. This world class resource provides unique insights into books written by and or about Aboriginal and or Torres Strait Islander Peoples. This was a 12-month long project involving many. The development of the resource was funded by the Australian Government Department of Education, Skills and Employment. The resource is for years 0 through to those of 12 years of age, their carers and educators and all interested. All 310 books selected are a joy to hold, read and share. You can free text search by annotation or title or use advanced filters for author, illustrator, publisher, date, subject, language, Australian Curriculum, the Early Years Learning Framework or a combination of these. There are annotations for each book and wonderful hyperlinked teaching resources. To read about the background to this project, Click here.

We are fortunate that the NCACL has a committed web-team of Brenda McConchie, Dr Trish Milne and Lynn Fletcher, and a dynamic website to upload such fine resources onto for the benefit of all where ever they might be. Thank you to Brenda and Trish for managing this extraordinary project.

In this issue, some of the wonderful volunteers have described what they did on this project and other projects during the COVID-19 lock down. The development of the resource could not have been accomplished without the skills, talents, and dedication of so many. To read about the work of these people, see More.

Landing page of the Aboriginal and or Torres Strait Islander Resource

Staying creative

YES - its lockdown of sorts … but for this author, and many others I have chatted to, it's not much different to the ‘usual’ working life. Sure there are no school visits and no festivals to attend - in person - but many of us are still creating.
While;
I haven’t yet crafted a loaf of sour dough (why the fascination with sourdough bread?), and,
I haven’t dived into any new hobbies.
It's also true that I haven’t dug and replanted the garden, although I have created little hothouses for a bunch of cuttings.
And the piano still does cry out for some tinkering.

But;
The house is very tidy - mostly.
The bookshelves are very organised.
The new NCACL database has been examined. See review
Text for my forthcoming picture books need to be seen with the exquisite illustrations to which I say “You got that from MY words? How delicious!”
Ideas have been formulating and the future stories notebook has a number of new entries scarring its once pristine pages.
Books have been read and reread, reviews have been pondered over and a (very) little social media and website tasks has been entertained.
I've learnt to shop at really strange hours, and if, on the rare occasions I am away from here, a mask has been worn!

So life, like the Mantle clock here at this author’s dwelling, keeps ticking along.
I hope your lockdown has been productive and not too stressful.

Christopher Cheng, NCACL Ambassador
www.chrischeng.com

What did I do in iso?

2020 is my fourth year as a volunteer with the NCACL and I enjoy the weekly visits. The tasks I do are many and varied: from filing and shelving to planning school visits, exhibitions or teacher workshops to working on special projects such as the Cultural Diversity Database or more lately the Aboriginal and or Torres Strait Islander Resource. I also really enjoy the company of the other volunteers; all are interesting people with a keen interest in children's literature. More

Rowan Simpkin Volunteer Curriculum Expert

Digitising the John Barrow Artwork Collection

Alex Stalker-Booth, Art Collection Coordinator and Project Administrator at the University of Canberra has digitised the John Barrow Artwork Collection of 136 framed artworks recently. The collection is a visual documentary of an important period in the history of Australian children’s literature covering the years from the 1980s to the early 2000s. The 1980s were a boom time for publishers and creators of picture books, when many illustrators, well known today, were just beginning their careers. The collection reflects different styles of illustration, book design and publishing trends over these 25 years. This is an important era as Australian picture books from that period are today recognised as fresh, innovative and world-class. The collection came to the NCACL under the Cultural Gifts Program.

Left Image of John Barrow, Right The John Barrow Art Collection Exhibition,

A special thank you to Jane Carstens, Editor

Click here for your copy of the NCACL journal, Behind the Imagined edited by Jane Castens.

Each year in the NCACL social media we list what has happened at the National Centre. We include articles from newspapers, items on websites, so there is plenty to read, enjoy and share. See our Twitter and Facebook accounts.

Stop Press : Libby Hathorn wins the CBCA NSW Branch 2020 Lady Cutler Award. Thanks to volunteer Pat Dickson who put the final touches on a Finding Aid about Libby during shutdown.

Cataloguing editions and reprints

The vast majority of libraries or research collections, such as NCACL, use sophisticated systems that are often networked with much larger systems creating a national, or international catalogue of bibliographic and collection information. NCACL is similarly linked in to international retrieval.So what are the challenges of cataloguing NCACL editions and reprints? More

Rose Howes, Volunteer Cataloguer

Coping with the lockdown

Unlike my hard-working, volunteer colleagues who spent an inordinate amount of time working on the Aboriginal and or Torres Strait Islander Resource database during the COVID-19/University of Canberra lockdown, I had an easy time of it. Unable to access the Artwork Frameworks held at the Centre, I had time on my hands in which to catch up on reading, walking with my wife, watching recorded TV programs, etc. However, it was great to get back into harness once the University library opened on a restricted, then regular, basis. Waiting for me were two parcels of artwork, one from Gaye Chapman and another from Bob Graham. More

Max Brown, Volunteer Art Curator and Connoisseur

Cultural Gift Program...

Valuers, Helen Maxwell and Philippa Kelly, examined and valued the papers and mss of Graeme Base and Pamela Freeman, donated under the Cultural Gifts Program.

Getting the word out ...

During the lockdown, I contributed to the Aboriginal and or Torres Strait Islander resource as a reviewer. I promoted the resource at Learn2Read meetings and it was subsequently sent electronically to the many members of that Committee. I have promoted the Aboriginal and or Torres Strait Islander resource on the ACT CBCA Facebook page and sent any details about it directly to the ACT Branch members.

Julie Long President of the CBCA ACT Branch

Display to celebrate Indigenous Literacy Day......

Books in translation cataloguing project

Cataloguing Australian titles in other languages is challenging. NCACL has raised funds to have these books externally catalogued by CAVAL, a Melbourne-based professional service.

NCACL volunteers have been involved in this project lasting 18 months.

The embassies of Portugal, Lebanon, the Federal Republic of Germany, Poland and Greece and the New Zealand High Commission, KPMG and 24 individuals contributed funding to enable these books to be catalogued. Records for 572 books in 26 languages are expected by the end of September 2020.

The Portuguese Language Program and Education Affairs in Australia Camões Instituto da Cooperação e da Língua Portugal – Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Consulate of Portugal also took a special interest in this project. Thank you!

The National Centre for Australian Children’s Literature Inc is a not-for-profit organisation incorporated in the ACT, Association Number A05328. It has been endorsed as a deductible gift recipient (DGR) by the Australian Taxation Office under Subdivision 20-BA of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997. To donate, click here.

Our emailing address is:
*info@ncacl.org.au*

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National Centre for Australian Children's Literature Inc · National Centre for Australian Children's Literature, The Library University of Canberra ACT 2601 · Canberra, ACT 2601 · Australia