As part of the day’s events, Shipley’s fourth and fifth grade classes will participate in the International Bookmark Project, in which students will swap bookmarks illustrating their favorite books with students in another part of the world. Shipley is partnered with the Australian International School in Singapore for the project.

Barbara Holt, Lower School Librarian, said “International School Library Day is important, as it affords our students a very personal and concrete way of connecting with their peers on the other side of the world.… It is my hope that this project will foster a lifelong curiosity about other parts of the world, which are now so easily reachable in this digital age. During this process, we are already learning about Singapore, and what it is like to go to an international school in a foreign country. Their librarian is equally excited to be learning about Philadelphia and sharing that with her students. We have both agreed to facilitate the response to any questions our students may have about each other. I would be quite surprised if this partnership does not last for the whole year.”

Mrs. Holt hopes to involve other grades in ISLD with the Email Around the World Project. Following discussions with each grade, Mrs. Holt will submit to a listserv on behalf of each class emails about students’ favorite books. Each class will then read emails sent by other schools, identifying their country of origin on a world map.

For more information about International School Library Day, visit the International Association for School Libraries Website at http://www.iasl-slo.org/isld.html.