"At the heart of education" - ASLA feature article

I was reading through the current edition of ACCESS by the Australian School Library Association (ASLA) and read a feature prepared by Gold Coast school student Annie Rogers, who presented a student perspective on the role of school libraries.

It was well written and should be read by all library staff because it even has strategies that can improve our engagement with students. Many of us already incorporate them on a daily basis, including being approachable and welcoming, walking around the library to encourage students to approach you, providing clubs and activities, greeting students as they enter and mentioning that you are there to help. It also aids with building a rapport, and the students appreciate it when you either greet or farewell them.

Also, Rogers, mentions that the library has impacted on her as a learner but in her life as well. Such testimonies are great to share, and our challenge is to identify examples in our schools and day-to-day work where the library has made a good impact on our students. It can become an advocacy tool. 

A real sign of normality

On Monday, public health orders meant that cohorting groups by grade ended in New South Wales schools. For school libraries, it has meant the end of restricting access to students e.g. One year group utilses the library at lunch time on one day and another year group the following day.

I felt good that anyone who wishes to use the library, especially during break times can do so again. It has been challenging having to turn students away simply because they were not in that grade. Some students have not enjoyed this, because they love the library as a space to undertake private study or simply to escape the activity that occurs on the playground. 

The bigger challenge will be if the hordes return, which is common in many schools. Will students feel comfortable to visit the library when there are alot of their peers around?

Being in a secondary setting, I believe it is important to establish a rapport with the incoming Year 7 cohorts. We lost four weeks and it was their first four weeks of high school. This did not happen at this time last year. They are keen to make use of what the school has to offer, including their library. They are curious as well. They want to see what they can borrow and read. I will need to identify ways to bring them in, but I was encouraged by their turnout during their designated times in cohorting. 

Back to normal (in NSW)

This week was a huge week with the resumption of full time schooling in NSW after two months.

As an educator, it has been great to see the atmosphere back to what it has been. The kids appreciate being back even if they dread school and teachers can go back to normal.

For our school libraries, library lessons can resume in our primary schools and students in our secondary schools can utilise the library collections and learning spaces that the library has to offer.

There will be changes in the way that school libraries are managed for the time being. For example, there will have to be limits on the capacity of the library, especially during busy periods such as recess and lunch. Even in normal times, library capacity is often a discussion point for teacher librarians especially in terms of supervision ratios, and being required to accomodate so many in what can be a limited space.

We will also have to quarantine returned books to minimise the spread of the virus and that will reduce accessiblity for some items. Some activities e.g. board games cannot be provided to minimise the spread of COVID-19

While the changes will slow or limit the way library services are provided, I am sure that students will be able to accept the inconvenience. Our public libraries are still closed in NSW at the time of writing this article, and that also has caused inconvenience. Some students find comfort in studying in the local library after school and for bookworms, access to fewer books.

The global pandemic is not over, but we are so fortunate that in Australia, we have been able to bring the virus under control. There will be more people infected as time progresses, but I have faith that we will control this.

AISTL Professional Development Day - The Liminal Library - March 23 2018

I had the opportunity to attend a Professional Development Day organised by the Association of Independent Schools at The Kings School at North Parramatta.

My motivation to attend was because my current school is intending to undertake a renovation of the library. I wanted to obtain an insight into the process that is involved in redesigning library spaces and also examine some case studies.

The keynote speaker was Anne Whisken who is the Head of Resource Centre at the Carey Baptist Grammar School in Kew, Victoria.

After her presentation, I felt that I will need to consider the following in any school library renovation:

• Providing a library space that is unstructured and trans formative.
• Use research to inform your decision making.
• Be flexible.
• Include stakeholders in the process.
• Consider future proofing the library and allow for adaptation.
• Library spaces should allow for creative spaces.
• Blending traditional services with new expectations.
• What learning experiences do I want to see occur in the spaces?

St Andrews Cathedral College undertook a change recently to its provision of library services to provide a branch for the junior school, middle school and senior school. More ideas that I may wish to consider include:

• How to provide a taster of what is to come e.g. introduce new furniture before major renovation works or purchase a small set of furniture that can be expanded on.
• Make decisions quickly.
• Furniture may to be custom made.
• Consider the needs of the school.
• Considering what I see as a dream library.

It has left me with food for thought but also I am looking at doing a follow up visit to St Andrews Cathedral School to see the branches for myself. 

Puzzles in the library

One thing that has become a bit of crowd puller this term at my current school is jigsaw puzzles.

It began simply out of a pastoral care period. The students had an opportunity for one period to work on puzzles or play board games in the library. A group had spent the fifty minute period working on a puzzle and we didn't want it to be dismantled.

We left it on the table and as students came to the library, they then took the initiative and the puzzle has taken shape.

It is not finished. Sadly there have been two incidents of students walking past and smashing the puzzle to pieces. Fortuantely, they get reassembled quickly.

It's proving to be a great recreational activity to promote because it requires:

• Collaboration (people working together)
• Problem solving (does the pieces fit etc? Should we work on borders first)
• Organisational skills (sorting pieces by colours, types, featured objects etc).
• Concentration

In addition jigsaw puzzles have a:

• Calming effect on the students.
• May attract students that may not normally use the library for reading or for learning during break times.
• Ability to fill time like when waiting your turn to access printing services.

I look forward to spending the summer working on some 4D puzzles which have been a challenge to those who have done it. 

Libraries as an "extension of the playground"

I recently raised on two Teacher Librarian forums the idea of the library acting as an “extension of the playground.”

I received more than a dozen responses and have decided to share some of the information that was received or posted. Thankyou for your contributions.

Some do not support the idea of the library acting as an extension of the playground citing the library as a learning space and/or reading occurs. Loud conversations etc are not encouraged. One response was explicit in that the library was “not the playground”.

Another response cited personal experience where the application of the idea attracted the disenfranchised as opposed to those who may be seeking the library for learning, reading or even quiet activities e.g. board games. This stemmed out of the idea that libraries were in the eyes of teachers spaces for socialising.

Other responses supported the idea of the library as a “community” space during break times to allow students to access library services in a more informal manner. Social activities of a passive manner are allowed e.g. board games, playing (appropriate) games on computers, reading, homework and quiet chatter. Interestingly there was no reference in the postings and discussion to the library as an “extension of the playground”.

So then the question is, what is meant by the idea of libraries as an “extension of the playground?"

To understand the idea of libraries as an “extension of the playground”, it required me to define what is meant by “playground”. According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, it “refers to a piece of land used for and usually equipped with facilities for recreation especially for children”. So if applied to a library during a recess or lunch break, the library must be equipped with facilities for recreation in order to be deemed a “playground”.

Therefore if the concept were applied, as Teacher Librarians, it would be our responsibility to provide students with appropriate recreational activities to keep them engaged.

I do have concerns with the idea of libraries as an “extension of the playground” in terms of the wording of the phrase. The word “playground” can be opened to many interpretations, as suggested by one contributor. Some may see this phrase as allowing behaviours allowed in outdoor settings to be applied indoors. If allowed, it creates concerns for learning and social needs along with safety of others. There are one or two schools which I have observed personally as adopting this approach. This has created behaviour management issues, particularly as they may behave in a manner that would not normally engage in within the normal classroom setting. Students complain, insisting they have a right to engage in the behaviour e.g. sitting on a table or entitled to warnings despite the imminent risk of safety.

Therefore we should not apply the idea of libraries as an “extension of the playground”. I have supported the concept of libraries as a recreational space during break times within the context of encouraging recreational activities that are passive when compared to normal playground activities - whether it is playing board games, card games, (appropriate) computer games or reading. Quiet chatter while seated is acceptable. It is important that it is explicitly stated as to what is allowed and not allowed in the library during break times along with expectations for behaviour. I would involve students and staff in the process as a means of encouraging ownership of library spaces and resources.

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.

Revisting Weeding in 2015 (II)

It has been a few weeks since I last reflected on my work to do with weeding the collection.

Things have slowed down a bit there, but have been encouraged by what I have managed to do. Time for me has been difficult as I contend with the other challenges of weeding the collection.

I have been impressed generally by the response of colleagues as they select books to be retained or to be disposed of. I have felt quite confident as I communicate about progress. Even as books have been moved into sorting areas before discarding them on OASIS, I have been flexible in letting teachers come to pick what they want. A few books have found their way back onto the shelves which is fine.

The weeding itself is going to take much longer than what I hope for, but I have found some side projects as well that I feel are linked back to this - like following up on overdue books, removing duplicate borrowers and accounting for other unreturned items.

Revisting Weeding in 2015

Back in 2011 as part of my studies, I explored the issue of weeding on it.

Where I am at the moment, one of my short term challenges is to remove items from a collection that has aged significantly, especially the non fiction collection where there appear to be few (if any) contemporary resources available. The shelves are overcrowded and in fact can barely accomodate much more.

I've actually had to create my own weeding policy simply because the library does not have a collection development policy.

What I have done so far, is that I'm focusing on what I want to keep as opposed to what I want to dispose. I have my criteria set up for weeding e.g. poor physical condition and outdated information. I have been placing stickers on shelves as I check items, while placing stickers on the items that are to stay in the collection.

I also have consulted teachers and invited them to inspect the collections to see what they want to keep while explaining to them as to why we "weed" the collection e.g. helping us to decide which resources need to be purchased so that students can have easy access to resources that are contemporary and relevant to learning. I emphaised the positives of doing so because weeding can seen on the surface as "negative". They have been keen so far in their input. There are items no longer relevant to the kids but they are still relevant to teachers.

I even will need to document areas that really need updating, like books on computers and sport.