Engaging with your users is the real measure of success

Connecting with our users through Spooky Stories Week

 

In the Library we celebrate 4 key events each year in order to connect with our students in a fun-filled, informal way. These are included in the School Calendar so they are widely publicised.

 

In Term 1 we have Library Lovers Week. Term 2 is Library & Information Week and Term 3 is Book Week of course! Which brings us to Term 4, where we are currently enjoying our annual "Spooky Stories" week.

 

 

 

Like many schools, we don't acknowledge Halloween but the themes and merchandise associated with it, provide a wonderful opportunity for promoting the supernatural and ghost books in your library collection.

 

We now have an active MSM Readers Club (who I'll blog about in another post) made up of students in Years 7 - 9 and they have provided many of the ideas for Spooky Stories Week. They suggested having an Addams Family theme so the library has been decorated with this in mind.

 

 

 

 

On the counter we have a number of "Treat" buckets and the students can win one of them by writing their own Spell or Magic Potion. 

 

In the middle of the week we'll be conducting a Maker Space activity called "Creepy Craft" where they can make their own ghoul, vampire, ghost etc. using the materials we bought from a Bargain Shop's Foam Doll Set! We'll give each girl the basic doll template and then they can cut out the foam pieces to make capes, fangs etc.

 

 

 

At the end of the week, we'll be playing the Addams Family movie during lunch time, which is rated PG and students can come into the library in costume if they wish.

 

 

These type of events provide opportunities for marketing and promoting the library as a place that's fun, upbeat and welcoming to all.



Overdrive our Digital Library Connection

Our Overdrive Experience

 

Our school was one of the early adaptors of eBooks and audiobooks and made the decision nearly five years ago to purchase the Overdrive digital library platform. In the beginning the content was heavily American but now we are able to find a lot more popular and relevant Australian material. I don't have any trouble spending the $2000 credit each year (The annual subscription fee is $4000 - of which $2000 is allocated for the purchase of eBooks and audio books.)

 

The Overdrive marketing department provide you with a plethora of promotional material which they will adapt for your own school's needs.

 

This year 107 audiobooks and 1026 eBooks have been downloaded.

In the last 30 days (which includes the Term 3 holiday break) there were 169 checkouts.

 

These statistics reinforce the importance of school libraries being able to offer content to their users in both digital and print format. We are very happy with Overdrive and would recommend it to other school libraries who have a generous budget allocation.

 

 

 



Australia's Top 100 Favourite Books

Is your favourite listed?

 

Around 5000 people responded to Better Reading’s quest to find out Australia’s Top 100 novels, in the first survey of its kind. There are certainly some surprise inclusions and omissions. Here's a sneak peak but I won't reveal Number 1 as I certainly don't agree with this choice! Do you?

 

#10 Lord of the Rings

#9 The Bronze Horseman

#8 The Potato Factory

#7 Pride and Prejudice

#6 Gone Girl

#5 Cloudstreet

#4 Outlander

#3 To Kill a Mockingbird

#2 The Book Thief

#1 ??????????????

 

 

http://www.betterreading.com.au/book_list/better-reading-presents-australias-top-100-books/

 









 







Brisbane Writers Festival

I had a wonderful time at the Brisbane Writers Festival today. This year's theme is "Minds Wide Open" and the inspirational authors I listened to, including John Marsden, Holly Black & Cassandra Clare and Jane Caro certainly did just that. It was heartening to see the long queues of school students at the book signing tables and the busyness of the Bookshop. Long live the written word!



The second book in the Magisterium series - The copper gauntlet is now available.
You can follow the authors on twitter
@hollyblack and @cassieclare

BGGS Research Learning Centre

An inspirational learning space

Yesterday  the Brisbane Sub-Committee of the Queensland School Library Association invited teacher-librarians to tour Brisbane Girls Grammar School's new Library and Learning Centre. This five-storey building, integrates flexible teaching spaces with  a contemporary library facility. Kristine Cooke, the Director of Library Services spoke to over 30 participants about the ways in which the new centre has impacted positively on teaching and learning.

 

The myriad spaces were truly awe-inspiring, as I'm sure you'll agree when you look at the photos below. Some of my favourite aspects were the use of floor to ceiling glass, sweeping staircases, soaring atriums, bespoke finishes, and the blend of traditional and modern pieces.  

 

If your school is planning to build a new library or learning centre in the future, I highly recommend you visit this wonderful facility.

 

Library Competitions

Everyone loves to be a winner

When I was the teacher-librarian in a middle school setting, the students loved participating in Library competitions. Changing to a 7 - 12 environment, I wondered if this would still be the case and the answer is a resounding "Yes!" As long as the prizes are targeted to their age group and link to a specific event, the library team have found that they are keen to participate.

 

During Book Week the students could either take part in a Scavenger Hunt around the library related to the theme of light, in order to go into the draw for one of four prize baskets. This style of competition doesn't suit all patrons, so we also handed out raffle tickets to every student who participated in any Book Week activities.

 

Here are the happy winners!



Library Bulletin Boards

Is it time for a Spring makeover for your Bulletin Boards?

Our library is located on the top level of a three storey building. Not ideal I know! But one of the advantages is that as the students and staff walk up the 50 steps to visit us they can't help but view our Notice Board. While stairwells are often not the most inviting of spaces, have you thought of whether you could place a board somewhere above a landing to highlight your library news?

 

Below is a photo of our recently revamped noticeboard highlighting this year's CBCA award winners. Laminated book covers are an easy way to brighten up any space.



Year 9 Wider Reading Unit

Looking at the world through a new lens

This term our Year 9 English students you will be completing a Wider Reading unit culminating in a multi-modal presentation in which they reflect upon their reading of at least two novels or biographies and the new or clearer understandings they have developed from this reading.

The books had to come from the reading list I provided. I loosely grouped the titles into the following categories: Class sets, War and Conflict, Other Cultures, History, Classics and Biographies and Autobiographies.

Below is a photo of the display we created of the class sets pertinent to the set theme, Looking at the world through a new lens. I purposely didn't display all the individual books from the Wider Reading List as it gave me an opportunity to teach each of the six classes how to use our Oliver Catalogue to find out whether the books were on loan or available, how many copies were in our collection, whether it was available as an eBook or Audiobook on Overdrive and how to read the abstract and record the classification before going to the shelves themselves.

 

 

Lighting up our world with Maker spaces

Makey Makey Madness

Book Week seemed as good a time as any, to dip our toes into the technology side of the Maker movement. We already offer crocheting, craft, colouring, word finds and puzzles during lunch breaks but after attending the EduTECH conference in Brisbane I was inspired to purchase Makey Makey and Squishy Circuits kits. Makey Makey is an invention kit that allows you to turn everyday objects into keys for your computer. Learn more at makeymakey.com/howto

 

Here's a photo of some students who were successful with the Cardboard Guitar Game. Go to makeymakey.com/hero

 

Later in the week we also had success with the Banana Bongos. Go to makeymakey.com/bongos

Time to start the game and ROCK OUT



Book Week fun with Marist College

 

Fantasy Writing Workshop with Paul Collins

 

Coinciding with Book Week has been the Ashgrove Literature Festival. We were invited to send some Year 7 students to Marist to participate in a Fantasy Writing Workshop with author Paul Collins. As can be seen from the pictures below, the boys and girls (who had never met before) were thoroughly engaged in creating their own Fantasy World and Plot Structure using Paul's 12 step process.

Light up your world with Colour

 

Light up your world with Colour

One of the most popular Book Week activities has been our "Light up your world with Colour" station. As can be seen in the photo below the students were fully engaged with this "Mindfulness" activity - and it was so easy to organise!

A special thanks to these students who encouraged other girls to participate in our Book Week activities.



A Light Bulb Moment

A Light Bulb Moment

 

Here's another popular Book Week activity from this week. The students have been invited to write down the name of a book that has "lit" up their mind inside one of the light bulb templates.

Common responses so far include: Maze Runner, Percy Jackson, Harry Potter, Infernal Devices & Mortal Instruments series.

What book has lit up your world?



Lighting up our world on Monday, August 24

Using the phrase, "Light up" we launched a number of Book Week activities during lunch hour today.

• Light up your world with The Great MSM Scavenger Hunt
• Light up your world with Mindfulness Colouring
• Light up your world with Puzzles and Word Searches
• Light up your world with Squishy Circuits and Makey Makey kits

All the quotes on the "Books light up our world display" relate to the theme of light.

Books light up our world @MSM

It's Book Week and this year's theme is "Books light up our world." You are invited to join in a range of exciting activities each day during lunch in the library.




We've been lighting up our world with these Winter Warmers.