For more than a decade now the School Library Association of Victoria have been recognising school Principals who have shown an outstanding commitment to establishing and supporting school libraries. This year’s winner is our Principal Meg Hansen.

Meg Hansen has always seen the value of the Library and the necessity to have qualified staff working together to support the school community. Each of the five campuses at Westbourne has their own dedicated Library space with robust collections along with a Teacher Librarian available to assist both students and teachers.

As Director of Libraries, I nominated Ms. Hansen for the award because of her relentless commitment to fostering a love of literature across the whole school community.

Our aim has been to create modern learning environments with practical, flexible and beautiful spaces,  ‘a library without limits’. With Meg Hansen’s leadership and support for our highly qualified library team we have achieved outcomes to be proud of.

Across the five campuses we have ninety timetabled classes ranging from junior school classes to reading classes in senior school. We regularly team with senior school teachers across all year levels to assist with research requirements for their classes and our plan is to play an active role with student directed inquiry research in the junior school.

The Westbourne Libraries have large and diverse print collections available at every campus and our range of digital resources is now meeting the demands of a changing knowledge landscape. School libraries remain vital in the fast-changing world of flipped classrooms and personal electronic devices. In their role as a hub for learning and sharing ideas, they provide a safe and supported environment for our students to enquire and explore together.

I hope the whole school community will join with me and the entire library staff in congratulating Meg Hansen and in acknowledging the value of the role libraries play in 21^st Century Learning.

Bronwyn Macdonald – Director of Libraries