Margaret Merga is Founder and Lead Consultant at Merga Consulting, working with schools, professional associations and government departments on a range of literacy-related projects. She also holds the position of Honorary Adjunct at the University of Newcastle, New South Wales. Margaret is author of over 100 peer-reviewed and research-informed publications, with six non-fiction books on literacy, libraries, research methods and research communications. Her research has been cited more than 2,500 times and translated into many languages. She is an experienced educator and has taught in Australia, India, Thailand, Turkey and the US, across the age spectrum from kindergarten to adult education contexts. Her recent publications include 'School Libraries Supporting Literacy and Wellbeing' (2022) which highlights her research on the relationship between libraries, reading and wellbeing and 'Creating an Australian School Literacy Policy' (2023) which details how to design and implement a whole school literacy policy. Committed to sharing research knowledge beyond academia so that professionals can use research findings in practical ways, Margaret has won numerous awards for public engagement while her work has been featured widely in the media.
'Overall, the biggest strength of this book is the very current and relevant research base Merga cites combining international perspectives and research in addition to Australian-focused studies, including many of her own from the last decade which have really targeted reading in Australia. With its broad focus on the whole school community, this book presents a strategic opportunity for teacher librarians and other school library professionals to begin (or continue) critical schoolwide conversations about the importance of reading and how they can work together to develop a school reading culture.' -- Kasey Garrison * Synergy, the research journal of the School Library Association of Victoria. *