Welcome to the home of the ECIS Library & Information Services Special Interest Group!
We welcome all international school librarians, ECIS members and others who have an interest in international school libraries.
The purpose of the Library & Information Services special interest group is to transform practice through professional learning opportunities that feature leading practice and are evidence-led; a further goal is, where appropriate, to create a collaborative community that transforms research and/or research opportunities around particular problems of practice.
The ECIS Library and Information Services Special Interest Group is devoted to advancing diversity, equity, inclusion and justice in all of its forms. We embrace and model this within the school library context in order to have a direct impact on the learning of the entire school community.
We advocate for intellectual freedom and support learning through informed curation of resources and educational materials that promote acceptance and understanding of our diverse humanity and individual uniqueness. We encourage lifelong learning with a DEIJ perspective by promoting this thinking through our diverse library collections, instruction and communications with our community.
Want to share best practices and engage with colleagues? Did you just finish an amazing project and want to brag about the great work you have done? The ECIS Library Committee encourages you to submit a proposal to present a webinar for our series “Lessons From the Library.” We are looking for dynamic, original proposals for workshops, panels or presentations that offer in-depth information about international school library trends and best practices that would be accessible to attendees at a variety of experience levels.
Webinar sessions run for about one hour with the presentation lasting 45 minutes and 15 minutes for Q&A. This could include exploring topics like:
AI in the library
diversity audits of the collection
advocacy
leadership
library policy manuals
book challenges
multilingual collections
Share your knowledge and the wonderful work you are doing in your schools. We want to celebrate you and your accomplishments!
Rebecca Leonhard is current chair of the ECIS Library and Information Services Committee. In 2023, she became the Information Services Librarian at University of Doha for Science and Technology in Doha, Qatar. Previous to this, Rebecca worked in international school libraries in Switzerland, China and Germany since 2011. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Penn State University and her Master’s of Science in Library Science from Clarion University of Pennsylvania. In addition to her secondary school experience, Rebecca worked in college and university libraries in the United States since 2004. She regularly serves on various committees within the American Library Association and the international school community. In 2014, Rebecca was named an American Library Association Emerging Leader.
Vivienne Blake
Vivienne Blake is a High School Librarian at EF Academy in Thornwood, New York. She specializes in developing research skills that prepare students for college and university. Academic integrity is both a guide and a challenge in the 21st century. Vivienne helps students learn to select digital tools that safeguard academic integrity, encourage their unique voices, and contribute meaningfully to a collective pool of knowledge. Artificial Intelligence is a passion of hers and she enjoys exploring its development in relation to education
Clare Brumpton
Clare Brumpton is Head of Research Centre at the International School of London, an IB school where she is responsible for three libraries and the ISL Research Institute. She has worked in school libraries for 25 years within the UK and has experience of the International Baccalaureate, the International Primary Curriculum and UK National Curriculum.
Clare has a BA(Hons) in Social Sciences, an MScEcon in Library and Information Management where she specialised in School Librarianship and a PGDip in Educational Leadership and Management. She is active in a number of library forums and groups within the UK and internationally, has co-authored a series of best practice articles for publication, and has presented and published on the principles of the ISL Research Institute.
Elizabeth Nye Di Cataldo is Director of the Library, Educational Technology, and the iLab at St Stephen’s School, an international IBDP secondary school in the heart of historic Rome, Italy, where she teaches robotics, Artificial Intelligence, mixed realities, emerging technologies, and research, reference, and digital literacies. Elizabeth has an MS in Library and Information Science from Syracuse University and is a Google for Education Innovator and an ISTE Certified Educator and community leader. She believes that the right technologies can support learning and enhance teaching and problem-solving in education and that students need opportunities to explore technologies that will impact their educational, professional, and personal lives. The complexities of digital literacies and data privacy issues require schools to provide guidance for students to safely and intelligently work and live in the online environment.
