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Latest news:

October 2008

Australian Computers in Education Conference Canberra

Australian Teacher Librarian of the Year Award announced

LinksPlus - SLAV Innovators Grant announced

SLAV Conference Melbourne

September 2008

Syba Signs Conference Adelaide

Queensland Teacher Librarians' Conference Brisbane

August 2008

LinksPlus Commendation Award presented at the IASL Conference University of Berkeley,
California, USA

July 2008

Australian English Teachers' Conference Adelaide

June 2008

WASLA Conference Perth

May 2008

Syba Signs conference in Sydney

NSW Catholic Primary School Librarians Conference Sydney

October 2007

3rd-5th ASLA Conference Adelaide:
Australian Teacher Librarian of the Year Award:
National award presented to an outstanding teacher librarian chosen from State nominees.
Pat Pledger presenter

Late October visit Carel Press UK and Malta schools.

22nd SLAV Innovators Grant:
The SLAV Innovator's Grant sponsored by Pledger Consulting Pty Ltd, Links Plus, takes the form of a package of $800 worth of SLAV professional development and / or publications plus $200 worth of Pledger Consulting Products.

August 2007
6th -7th ALIA Conference Adelaide trade exhibitor

July 2007

Pat Pledger presenter and IASL Award sponsored by Pledger Consulting presented at Taiwan Conference

May 2007
18th May Catholic Primary Teacher Librarian Conference, Sydney

March 2007
SLAV Conference Melbourne

October  2004

July  2004

June 2004

May 2004

October 2003
Announcement of the Australian Teacher Librarian of the Year 2003
and
launch of new book: Fantastic Fiction by Fran Knight at ASLA-CBC Island Journeys Conference, Hobart Oct 3-6th, 2003

September 2003
Attending trade exhibition for SLAV, Melbourne, 5th September, 2003

July 2003
Pat Pledger presenting paper and workshop  at IASL Conference Durban, July 7th - 10th, 2003

June 2003
Attending AISWA Libraries Group Conference Perth, June 6th, 2003.

March 2003
Pledger Consulting sponsors Learning Quest winners. Attending SLAV conference in Melbourne 28th March, 2003.

February 2003
Pledger Consulting consortia agreement  reached with Northern Territory Library and Information Service.

Testimonials:

"As Coordinator of two Libraries in a busy Catholic Coeducational College in Adelaide, South Australia, catering from Years 6 to 13, I am a real fan of WebLinks Online, produced by Pledger Consulting.

It enables students and staff to access the Internet quickly, successfully and safely during lesson times, and avoids much time wasting by students. It is so easy to use, and teachers feel confident that these sites have been specially selected by competent professionals to suit the needs of the school curriculum.

It is also excellent to be able to email our requests for web sites on specific topics such as Endangered species and have them added to the data base so quickly.

WebLinks is very inexpensive compared with other products, and the information is appropriate for school students. It contains relevant, up to date information, and can be used by multiple users with no extra charges. I have no hesitation in recommending it highly as an extremely useful research tool both for individuals and classes."

Rosemary Kopli, Cabra Dominican College

WebLinks Case Study: Christies Beach High School

September 2003-09-19

School profile

History of the use of Weblinks in our school

Implementation in the school

•  The Internet is widely promoted within the school as being one of the tools available for research. Students are made aware of the importance of efficient searching in order to use time and money wisely.

•  WebLinks is introduced to all beginning students as the prime way of ensuring that this happens. For all Year 8 students, this is done in a formal class session in which they are introduced to various forms of Information Technology available in the school.

•  Older students are offered an information sheet which details the benefits of, and the method by which, WebLinks can be used. Resource Centre staff try to find the time to go through this sheet personally with these students.

•  It is made clear to all students and staff that they are able to use WebLinks on their home computers and this is actively encouraged.

Daily use by students

From a staff point of view

•  ‘It is an important search tool for students who otherwise can’t “filter out” the salesmanship and other distractions that the Internet is full of.’ (Science teacher)

• “I use it with my Year 11 Physics class for research on normally difficult to research topics, such as, electromagnetism.” (Physics teacher)

•  It is a real time-saver for teachers looking for resources on a topic.

From a student point of view

• Students have actually sighed with relief when they are reminded of the existence of WebLinks and, having done a search, find that they have maybe 10 sites to deal with, rather than 3 million. It certainly gives them confidence that they will be able to find a useful website.

•  Website descriptions are carefully annotated and act like the blurb on a book-cover giving the students an accurate summary before they view a site.

• The quality websites motivate and engage students.

From a librarian’s point of view

•  We rest on the knowledge that the database was initially set up by a teacher with an understanding of the breadth of the South Australian curriculum and that the subject headings were established by a trained and experienced librarian. The use of these terms allows modelling of effective Internet searching techniques.

•  This “filter” of websites results in a safe, high-quality, educator-selected, manageable database. It is, in effect, a first search-engine before other, more complicated and often daunting, search-engines are used.

•  It is an ideal resource for research or inquiry based learning.

•  Resource Centre staff are freed of some of the responsibility of ensuring that web-sites offered to students are kept up-to-date.

Continuing exposure

•  We try to remind staff and students regularly of the existence of WebLinks and of its benefits.

• We publish the monthly list of updates that are emailed to each school along with a brief reminder of how to access and use WebLinks.

• Notices posted around the Resource Centre remind users about WebLinks. A link is provided on the school’s internet home page and WebLinks is set up in such a way that no user ID is needed. All this makes it very “user-friendly”.

Significant features

• Staff are encouraged to ask WebLinks staff to find websites on particular topics. This is one of the ways in which WebLinks remains up-to-date and relevant to an ever-changing curriculum.

•  What’s new? feature alerts students, librarians and teachers to new resources they might not otherwise be aware of.

• Since each website is assigned an ID number, a teacher, having selected a suitable site, can simply ask the students to type in the article ID, rather than a complicated URL.

• The relatively low cost means that we do not have to agonise about including it in our budget. Its cost means that we do not have to choose between it and other resources because it is affordable.

• WebLinks truly is a “neat little package” that has certainly filled a need in our school.

(Ms) Jenny Mutton Teacher-Librarian    (Ms.) Di Garwood Principal

Online:

WebLinks K-12 Online (Secondary)

LinksPlus for K-7 Online (Primary)
ReadPlus Online

Library Catalogue:

LinksPlus MARC K-12 (Secondary)

LinksPlus MARC K-7 (Primary)

Magazine Subscription:

WebLinks for Teacher Librarians Subscription

Books:

Senior Fiction
Senior Fiction Book 2
Senior Fiction Book 3

Fabulous Fiction

Fantastic Fiction
Values Fiction
Historical Fiction
Flash Fiction
Great Library Ideas

Game:

The Reading Game

Data:

World data at your finger tips

LinksPlus Marc

Weblinks for Teacher Librarians