Mantle Conference

Meet the committee bringing to you.

Our committee are a volunteer group of TL’s - retired or working with a wealth of combined experience and knowledge.

Amanda is the treasurer and social media manager and has been a TL for 16 years working in the public primary setting. She is passionate about advocating for the library and the TL role.

Kerry is our website guru and tech expert on the committee. She is retired from working in schools but she is a podcaster, author and newly minted president. She has a wealth of knowledge and is often the voice of reason within this group.

Jae is our secretary, merchandise manager and has the sharpest eye for detail you’ll find. She is currently working part time in a public primary school where she has been a valued member of the community for over 20 years.

Carolien is our logistics officer ensuring all the i’s are dotted and t’s are crossed when it comes to programming and delegate experience. Carolien works across two public primary schools and in her down time is a volunteer wildlife career.

Helena is responsible for bringing our awesome trade partners to you. Helena currently works in a Catholic primary school, though her career has seen her working as a CRT and TL in schools in Australia and England. She works as an executive at her school, maintaining the library and as the technology coordinator.

Jenna is our venue liaison, and presenter experience liaison. Jenna is an experienced TL in primary public schools and is an active member of TL networks in our region. Jenna has brought an enthusiastic presence to our team.

While we each have our roles within the team, we work together to organise presenters and the program. Our robust discussions ensure we deliver quality professional learning that is unique to the TL role.
We do these extra jobs in our own time, on top of our professional and personal lives.

The current committee have been working together for the past two years and we are already working on the 2027 conference ideas and presenters.

Anna Burkey from is a wealth of knowledge about the reading habits of Australians and it’s an absolute pleasure to have her attending to present a keynote and then a session that will be filled with practical insights.

Keynote
Reaching readers: insights for school libraries
Armed with insights from the new Reaching Australian Readers report, Anna will unpack the key findings to address the question: how can school libraries instil a love of reading in increasingly disengaged students?
Now more than ever, school libraries need to be equipped with the right tools, tactics, messages and data to engage students with books and reading.
Anna takes a look at how we can apply research insights to increase reading, and provides some hope on how we can work together to develop a stronger reading culture for students.
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Workshop outline
Reaching readers workshop
Building on the Reaching Readers keynote presentation, this session will take a practical approach to applying reading research insights in school libraries.
The workshop will provide participants with the chance to explore new tactics for their own libraries, across collections, programs and events, marketing & messaging, and the physical layouts of spaces.