Newspapers in school libraries

I'll admit that reading the newspaper is part of a daily routine for me at the start of the day. This is the same as those who need a coffee to start the day and something I could easily go on and on with

There has been so much discussion within the media itself about the role of newspapers in society. The rise of the internet has cut the cost of publishing news down to zero. Online news sites can cater to specific audiences or topics. News can be relayed through television, radio and the internet as soon as it happens. Competition is tougher than ever.

Printing a newspaper has never been cheap either. It's the advertising and classified sections that has kept the cover prices down for decades. With revenue falling, cover prices have had to rise. Back in Year 10 (2001), newspapers cost around half the price they are now.

More and more, people question the need to read (or buy) a newspaper. This question also comes up with School Libraries. For newspapers like The Sydney Morning Herald and The Australian they no longer offer heavily discounted subscriptions to schools, not even to students themselves. Merely, they have given up on trying to recruit new readers. As they say, "get em when they're young". That message is gone.

There are digital subscriptions available for The Sydney Morning Herald that allow access to digital replicas of the days paper and archived papers (from 2006 onwards) but they are not necessarily cheap.

I have found in many instances, students barely touch the newspapers in the libraries that have them, Schools have stopped providing newspapers altogether. So what is the problem even though this saves the student from going out and buying their own copy?

I feel that students are probably not aware that they are available in the first place. They don't know that the library provides them. At one school we encountered this by promoting their availability in print and electronic form especially The Sydney Morning Herald. Alot of subjects still require students to collect a portfolio of newspaper articles especially at HSC level. I even tutored one student in how to access it online and this was only after I told them that it was available. Make sure its reported in your library feature in the school newsletter. I should challenge myself at any school to promote periodicals including its relevance to learning,

The other big issue is that young people can have a mindset that the web is the "be all and end all" for news but this isn't good for learning. As a Teacher Librarian, I have to educate students on the need to use a variety of sources in their learning. Newspapers are invaluable in providing material to support student learning. I think newspaper websites leave out alot of the smaller articles that might be embedded say 12 pages in on the top right corner of the page.

Schools now have photocopying systems that have free scanning to the persons email address. Again, us library staff forget to remind our students that such a service is available. No pages need to be cut out at all and the student can always print the clipping out if they need to.

I have been impressed how teachers at some schools rely on the newspapers to aid their classroom teaching and learning especially where the articles will relate right back to what they are learning. Newspapers can make the learning more relevant because the link to the real world is established.

Teaching Availability - Mid Year 2016

I thought that being the middle of the year, I would like to remind schools that I am available for work in school libraries, either as Teacher Librarian or as a Library Assistant. This can be either in a casual, temporary or permanent capacity.

More details can be found here, but I am prepared to broaden my horizons and consider work interstate, especially Melbourne. This week I made a decision to consider some casual or temporary work down there, and contacted a school in relation to filling in a short term vacancy.

I have posted messages on various Teacher Librarian messageboards like OZTL_NET also indicating availabilty for unpaid work in school libraries. Despite what I hear of library staff being overworked etc, I have not received any responses from schools that require help, yet need someone to assist. I would like schools to consider this offer as it is not often that one is prepared to give up their time (and money) to work for free.

20 Tips for Better Book Displays

Sometimes when confronted about creating a new book display, my mind can go blank and that happened to me recently for some reason. Some of the ideas that are suggested tend to go along the lines of the American School Year, which follow their seasons, not ours.

I needed remind myself of the some of the rules that can make a book display a good one.

Also I thought I'd share a link  with tips on how to make a library display more eye catching. It was prepared by Lynne Mannolini, a library officer in Western Australia. It can be anything library related as well where you can apply it to.

Picking the right book with the PLUS Model

I wrote this feature on picking the right book as part of a library report for the newsletter at Marsden High School, I based it on this article which suggests applying the PLUS model.

From time to time, I will have a student say to me “I don’t like reading”. Why might a student resent having to read? There are many factors at play. We may be told that we have to read a certain book as part of our learning and that it doesn’t interest us, or we may feel that our level of reading is “not up to scratch” against our peers.  

In the past fortnight, I have completed The Sky is so Heavy by Claire Zorn and Pennies for Hitler by Jackie French. I enjoyed reading both of them, and was quite tempted to not put the books down.

So how do you pick the right book to read? I recommend applying the PICK method (Purpose, Interest, Comprehend, Know the Words).

Purpose - Finding the reason/s why we are reading the book. Hopefully it is for fun or to learn something new.

Interest - What interests us in our lives like our activities and pursuits. There might be topics or themes that relate straight back to it. Have a look at the cover/s, read the blurb on the back cover or flick through the pages of a book to help you make a decision. In the library, books can be identified through genre stickers (Fiction) or by organising books by subject (Non-Fiction) to guide students.

Comprehend - Selecting a book according to our reading ability and being able to understand the information that is being presented.

Know the Words - Understanding the language or words used. If it is too hard, do not select it.

So how did I apply this model with my recent reading? I read the books for enjoyment, but also to recommend to students (Purpose). I enjoy reading Science Fiction and books set around historical events. For instance, Pennies for Hitler is set in World War II Europe and Australia (Interest). My understanding of the events of World War II also guided me in my selection of Pennies for Hitler while The Sky so Heavy allowed me to challenge my understandings of the outcome of a Nuclear War on society (Comprehend). Given that the books were written for younger audiences, I knew I would have little difficulty understanding the language (Know the Words).

There are other tools available to guide in the selection of the right book. The library catalogue is available online and includes reading lists to guide your reading. As mentioned, genre stickers have been placed on Fiction books to identify them by genre. Library Staff are there to assist as well.