Live at the Library: Forging geographic gaps and advancing community engagement
VALA2024 CONCURRENT SESSION 11
Thursday 11th July 2024, 1.50-2.20pm
Troy Bullock
- Program Officer, Schools Engagement
- State Library of Queensland
Presentation
Abstract
Live at the Library, a transformative initiative from SLQ, aimed at extending its reach to remote and regional communities by providing students and teachers with real-time access
to collections, resources, and staff expertise. Launched in October 2022, the program has garnered interest from over 90 schools, 83% of which are in regional Queensland. More than 6,700 students have participated in over 240 workshops, highlighting the program's success in bridging geographical gaps and increasing engagement with regional schools. This paper documents the journey and insights gained during the implementation of Live at the Library, offering a valuable template for libraries seeking to develop or enhance their virtual engagement programs to
bridge geographical divides, ensure educational equity, and enrich the library experience for the communities they serve irrespective of their location.
Biography
Troy spends his days hosting interactive, live-streamed workshops for State Library of QLD teaching students research strategies and sharing QLD stories through State Library’s impressive heritage collection. He is a qualified and experienced Secondary teacher with a long career producing some of Australia’s best and most innnovative digital education products for companies including Jacaranda Wiley Publishers and the ABC.
This work is licensed under Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International.