Since the establishment of the Stone Soup Happy Reading Alliance (“the Alliance”) in March 2012, the Foundation has adjusted the focus of the project and made effort to assist alliance schools in building their libraries into learning resource centres which, on the basis of happy reading, would help libraries serve the function of providing support to both teaching and learning. In November of the same year, the Foundation collaborated with the Baohe Education Bureau in setting up and launching the first phase of the “Teacher-Librarians Training Certificate Course”. Through support received from the Principal Roundtable, the teacher-librarians who took part in the 18-month training also established the Hefei Teacher-Librarians Association (“the HFTLA”). The Association aims to influence and promote the establishment and operation of school libraries in Hefei and throughout Mainland China.

In November 2012, some of the school principals and teacher-librarians visited, school libraries in Hong Kong – an event which broadened the participants’ insights into the concept of school libraries. In 2014, upon the completion of the first phase of the course, the HFTLA began to work on the first mission - to create a “Teaching and Learning Handbook for Library Courses”.

After careful consideration, members of the HFTLA took the view that the fundamental concept of a school library should be such that library is treated as a carrier and reading promotion as the path, and through reading education, schools can nurture students’ love of reading, ability to learn and enrich their lives. From this, the HFTLA ascertained the proper role of library courses: to assist students in acquiring the ability to use the library, learning how to use reading strategies to resolve reading-related problems, gaining basic informational competence, and becoming responsible citizens.

Based on the experience learnt from Hong Kong and Taiwan in respect of library education, and taking into account the practices and demands of local schools, the HFTLA have decided to develop a library curriculum development book known as My Library Lesson. The Association members believed My Library Lesson would systematically sums up the experience and explorations of the Alliance in reading and school library education, but would also consolidate materials developed through the year into a book which available for the public. In light of this, HFTLA believes the publication of My Library Lesson will contribute to the development of school libraries in Mainland China on both conceptual and practical levels. This include promoting awareness among more schools of the school library and its functions, and providing schools with a handy and reliable reference tool.

During the five-year development phase, the teacher-librarians from the member schools collaborated closely in writing up and editing the contents. In September 2018, My Library Lesson was jointly published by the Alliance and the HFTLA. This set of books comprises five volumes, providing teaching materials in three major areas and under seven sub-topics.

Library competence: aims to enable children to understand what a library is, know what a picture book is, and learn how to access various reference resources, in order to assist them in cultivating good reading habits.
Reading competence: teaches students how to read various types of texts, and, by learning reading strategies, aims to enhance reading comprehension skills among students.
Informational competence: helps students know about the reading media around them; cultivate their ability to search for information, analyze and select information and use information; enables students to experience the inquiry-based learning process

The library course is not a standalone academic subject as such; rather, it focuses on providing guidance to schools. It provides support to subject teachers and give students a practical learning experiences. The purpose of the course is provide students the skills and knowledge required to develop their critical thinking skills. Since its publication, My Library Lesson received extensive praises in the sector and was considered a professional set of teaching materials for school library courses. The writers of this set of books have all undergone professional training in school library science, and their valuable input, in terms of both knowledge and real-life practice in teaching, has helped make My Library Lesson the most comprehensive compendium of teaching materials for school library courses.

During the five years of writing up and editing the contents of My Library Lesson, a number of teacher-librarians from Hong Kong and Taiwan also made immense contributions and provided all-rounded guidance. In addition, the book was endorsed by the highly respected Professor Chaochen Chen from National Taiwan Normal University. The formation and publication of the course and its materials is not only an important outcome of the years of joint effort by the Foundation and the Alliance in promoting the development of school libraries, but is also the result of cross-border collaboration among teacher-librarians from Hong Kong, Taiwan and Hefei. As Professor Chen pointed out, the historic transformation of school library education in Mainland China began in Hefei

The development of this course is based upon the establishment of school libraries, the development of professional knowledge and skills of teacher-librarians under the Alliance, and the refinement of educational philosophy among schools. These three “bases” precisely sum up the journey which the Stone Soup Alliance took step by step over the past five years. The practical experience gained by the Alliance and My Library Lesson can be promoted to even more regions in need. This is also the shared objective of the Alliance and the Foundation. The sea of stars is our goal, and it is not far away!