International School Library Month (ISLM)

Bookmark Exchange Project

The Bookmark Exchange Project involves matched schools making homemade bookmarks (any style, shape, etc. Be creative! Keep this year’s theme in mind!) to exchange BY POST with each other during October or early November. The Bookmark Exchange Project is a simple, fun way of sharing the pleasure and delights of books and libraries and of making new friends through school libraries worldwide. If you and your students did not get involved last year perhaps you will this year.

You might wish your students to communicate with their partnered school(s) as you make your bookmarks so that they can learn something about another culture and a different way of life. Alternatively, your students might do an in-depth investigation about each other’s localities. If you don’t want to do either of these things you can simply just swap bookmarks or devise your own activity. What you make of your exchange is entirely up to you.

NEW for 2019!!!!

Due to the very high numbers registering for this project in recent years, a slight change in project management and administration is being introduced this year. The project will have two separate coordinators, one to look after the Aged 12 and Under section, and one to look after the Over 12 Years section. Your coordinators are as follows:

• 12 Years and Under: Breege O’Brien

• Over 12 Years: Ms. Ramandeep

Contact details for both coordinators are given below.

NOTE: This project requires you to exchange bookmarks BY POST.  If you prefer to participate in a digital exchange please see the 2019 Digital Bookmark Exchange Project.

The following information may be of use to you in completing your project:

1.    Registration for the project is by online registration spreadsheets (separate forms for Aged 12 and Under and Aged Over 12. See links below. If for some reason you are having difficulty accessing the online form you should email your full details to the Project

Coordinators:           islmbookmarkexchange@gmail.com (for 12 Years and Under)

                          ramandee49@yahoo.com (for Over 12 Years)       

2.    Please make sure that the email contact details you give are correct, current and that there are no security settings in place that would result in your assigned partner or the coordinator not being able to contact you.

3.    For this project, partners are assigned by the project coordinator; registering groups do not select their partners.

4.    A number of factors are taken into account when assigning partners, including any wishes or requests expressed by participants when registering, but no guarantees can be given in relation to what partner/s are assigned.

5.    Partner details are recorded on both the Registration tab and the Partners tab of the online project registration spreadsheet.  

6.    All the contact details you need for your partner school/s are available on the Registration tab.

7.    You should NOT change your details on the registration form once you have inserted them.  If any of your registered details change, please contact the project coordinators Their contact details are at #1 above.

8.    Once you have been assigned a partner/s, you should contact them to arrange the exchange of bookmarks and the rest of the project.

9.    Please note, there may be slight differences in numbers of students matched and if this arises in your matched groups you are asked to send the extra bookmarks so that each students will receive at least 1 bookmark.

10. In registering for the Bookmark Exchange Project you are committing to exchange bookmarks with your assigned partner/s. Unfortunately, it does happen each year that a small number of groups are disappointed when the bookmarks they are expecting from a partner do not arrive. We all rely on each other’s sincerity and professionalism for this project to work to everybody’s benefit and enjoyment. PLEASE BE SURE TO CARRY THROUGH ON YOUR COMMITMENT.

11. Please note, the Bookmark Exchange Project is a separate project to both the Digital Bookmark Exchange project and to the Skype Project. Please see separate details for these.

If for any reason you need to contact the coordinator for your age group  about your participation in the project after your group/s have a registration form line reference, please include that in any emails to the coordinator.  This is for greater clarity and helps to reply more promptly to you.

Bookmark Exchange Project Coordinators:

12 Years and Under: Breege O’Brien, islmbookmarkexchange@gmail.com

Over 12 Years: Ms. Ramandeep, ramandee49@yahoo.com

The closing date for registering for the 2019 Bookmark Exchange Project is: October 11, 2019.

Click here to view the 12 & Under Registration list 

Click here to view the Over 12 Registration list