We will develop and maintain strong partnerships with the Qatari and global community to ensure great opportunities for students and to support delivery of the ASD Mission.
Linda Hoiseth was recognized for her work with students and teachers in Debbie Abilock's essay "From a Foot in the Door to Being There" in The Many Faces of School Library Leadership.
Linda's article on ASD's author visit program and the librarians' action research on it was published in the online journal School Library Connection.
Hoiseth, Linda. "Are Author Visits Beneficial to Students? An Action Research Study." School Library Connection, April 2018, Home/Display/2143890. https://
Qatar Reads is an organization started 20 years ago that promotes literacy in Qatar. The goal is to share professional expertise, to promote literacy and 21st century skills, and provide valuable learning opportunities to teachers from around Qatar. The Teachers Teaching Teachers (TTT) workshop, is presented one to two times a year, in both Arabic and English to the teachers in Qatar. Our librarians support the project as members of the Qatar Reads executive board, organizers, and presenters at the TTT's. Each year Qatar Reads hosts author Karin Littlewood who worked with our school and several others here in Qatar as part of our mission to encourage literacy in Qatar.
Ms. Littlewood did a wonderful job of sharing her experiences and stories from Somalia and beyond. She drew pictures from her stories, and helped the students imagine themselves in the stories she told. As with all the authors we invite here, she opened up a new story,a new land, and a new imagination path for the students.
During our annual Teachers Teaching Teachers, held on February 5th this year, we offered 13 different sessions on a variety of topics all dealing with literacy. We have had a great response from teachers within the Qatar community coming to share their knowledge, especially for those in the Arabic speaking community.
For several years, ASD has benefited from the amazing digital resources available through Qatar National Library. Their collection of databases is invaluable. Some of the databases (such as Proquest) we are able to access from campus, and others require membership. The ASD library continues to urge our faculty, students, and parent community to get their own memberships to QNL.
The Qatar National Library's physical space opened in November, and it is truly amazing. The 7th grade students had a chance to see the library during Qatar History Week, and IB World History Students were able to spend an afternoon there finding resources for a research project. Our opportunities for collaboration with QNL will only continue to grow as their services and programs expand. What a fantastic resource to have in our community!
ASD Librarians belong to an active group of School Librarians from around Qatar. Schools take turns hosting a monthly meeting in their respective libraries.These meetings serve to keep us all in touch and apprised of current library happenings around the country. Email conversations are also frequent. We appreciate the opportunity to share and learn from one another on issues unique to international and Qatar school librarianship. This year we have hosted librarian visits from the Swiss International School, and Qatar Academy.
ASD enjoys a collaborative relationship with the library at GU-Q. This year the IB world history students took a field trip to the library, where they had an opportunity to tour the library and a lesson in using their catalog. The students then were able to check out books to use for their research.
This year ASD students and faculty borrowed 48 titles from Georgetown.
ASD Library Mission:
The ASD libraries are committed to the intellectual and personal development of our students
by empowering them to be ethical users of information, critical thinkers, and lifelong readers.