Celebrating our Top 20 Borrowers

How do you acknowledge your top borrowers?

In the past, we have always acknowledged our top borrowers with a special morning tea during Book Week but this year decided to wait until the final week of school, in order to generate the most up to date statistics.
This meant for the first time, we didn't include Year 11 or 12 students as they were on exam block; however, looking at the data, no students from these year levels were in our Top 20 anyway.

Our top borrower for 2016 was a Year 8 student, who as of November 7, had borrowed out an amazing 98 books across a wide range of genres! By the end of the year, she had well and truly gotten past 100 loans!

The break down of the Top Borrowers by year level were:

Year 7 - 10 students
Year 8 - 2 students
Year 9 - 4 students
Year 10 - 2 students

Each student was given a personal invitation to attend a special morning tea in the Library by email, as many of these students have indicated to us previously that they do not like being named in the Student Notices as a reader!

The Principal, Deputy Principal - Curriculum, and Director of Literacy were sent their own personal invitations too.

Each top borrower received a laminated certificate which we used as a place-mat, so when they came into the library they could see where to sit. On each placement was a small packet of chips, a chocolate golden coin and a hand-crafted bookmark. The Library staff did a lovely job of decorating one of the more cosy areas of the library and putting out all the morning tea treats. The girls loved the way we waited on them, asking what they wanted to drink - Apple juice or orange juice only :)

Proud recipients of the Top 20 Borrowers' certificates.

During the break time, we shared our favourite reads of 2016 and presented our top borrower, Paris, with a special prize in recognition of her endeavours.
To finish off, we paired up the girls (as many of them didn't know each other) and had them participate in a written Literary Quiz. The winners of the quiz were each given a Xmas stocking which contained some small treats.

Enjoying a well-deserved morning tea for their reading efforts!

We've decided to tap into the talent of our Top 20 Borrowers in 2017 by asking each one in turn to recommend a book they've read in the past. That will give us 20 weeks or a whole Semester's worth of reading recommendations!

Would love to hear how you reward your best borrowers.

Is it time to update your Library site?

When I was appointed to my school nearly 7 years ago, as the Curriculum Leader : Library and Information Services, the Library portal was accessed via our SharePoint LMS - Learning Management System. SharePoint has continued to work well for us as a secure place to store, organise, share and access information but the Library Staff knew that the interface to the Library Site was starting to look tired and uninspiring.

We had two options:
1. Convert to LibGuides
2. Rebuild our Library site

Because we had invested so much time in building up our Pathfinders and CMD on our own site which is free, as opposed to the ongoing costs associated with a subscription to LibGuides, we decided on Option 2!

Our Pathfinders are helpful guides that have been prepared for students by the Library team to assist with assignment tasks. They provide a pathway to help students navigate the research process by providing links to reputable and authoritative websites, recommended readings contained in the CMD, and helpful hints on how to search our library catalogue and databases.

Our CMD or Course Materials Database contains electronic copies of recommended readings selected by teachers. The readings on the CMD can include:

• Journal articles
• Book chapters
• Book excerpts 
• Web pages
• Web articles

Full bibliographic details are provided on the front page of each​ CMD article.


On the front page of our new Library site we decided to group these two types of resources together under the heading of "Assignments." It took a year of planning and valuable input from our ICT Officer - Design to create a new interface which uses 12 icons to take users to the following areas.

1. Oliver Library Catalogue
2. Other Library Catalogues
3. Digital Footprint
4. ClickView online
5. Assignments
6. Databases and E-Resources
7. Referencing
8. Research Tools
9. Reading @ MSM
10. Overdrive
11. Library Blogs
12. About Us

This mammoth project was co-ordinated by our Library Technician with input from all members of the Library Team. We have had very positive feedback about the new Library Site since its launch, from both staff and students. It is now a professional looking Content Management site which allows us to easily curate, manage and share resources with our users.

Organising a Literature Week in your High School

The Library has always celebrated Book Week on a small scale but an invitation to be more involved in the Ashgrove Literature Festival and the appointment of a new Director of Literacy in 2016, helped to reshape the week.
I decided to rename the week, "Literature Week" and had it placed on the schedule of events in our College Calendar. All the planned activities were "branded" with the Ashgrove Literature Festival logo, and banners were designed and purchased from Officeworks.

The English Staff and Library Staff joined together to plan and implement the following events:-

On Monday, August 22 we launched Literature Week with our guest speaker, Rebecca Sparrow. 

We also opened our Great MSM Book Shop. Donated books from the College community were on sale for the duration of the week, with all proceeds going to the Indigenous Literacy Foundation.

On Tuesday, great fun was had at our Book Character Dress Up Day and Parade. (Yes, high school students, especially Year 7s love dressing up ....... and so do their teachers)

On Wednesday, we had a variety of activities on offer in the Library, including going on a "Book Character Hunt," adding to our Continuous Story and a competition to see who could wrap up a book in the fastest time.

Then on Thursday, our Year 9s listened to Performance Poet, Grace Taylor who was in Brisbane as part of the Queensland Poetry Festival, while some of our Year 10 students were selected to participate in a workshop with Dr Jo Lampert from QUT, to review the newly released picture book, "Welcome to Country" by Aunty Joy Murphy and Lisa Kennedy.

Meanwhile, Marist College invited some of our girls to two of their Literature Festival events:- workshops with author Jack Heath and youtuber Ty Curtis.

During lunchtime on Thursday, further fun was had in the library with our Great MSM Spelling Bee and the opportunity to create sculptural pieces from old books.

On Friday morning a number of staff listened to award-winning journalist, Matthew Condon discuss his soon to be released book, "Little fish are sweet" at the Ashgrove Council Library and at lunch time we went outdoors to "Rug up and Read" and to create some bespoke Bookmarks.

Was it a lot of work? Yes! But the feedback we've had makes it all worthwhile. If you are part of a wonderfully supportive English Department and Library team, then I'd highly recommend having some type of Literature Week at your school in 2017.

Sandra Mannion

Curriculum Leader: Library & Information Services

Developing a strong staff reading culture in your school

We are lucky to already have a strong reading culture in our school. Many of our staff  love reading and talking about books so we always ensure that a proportion of our Library budget is set aside for purchasing adult literature.

At least once a term, we publish a newsletter called "Bookends" which highlights our recommendations to all staff. This is printed out and displayed in the Staff Room, as well as being emailed and uploaded to our blog "Between the pages"

A recent initiative has been the setting up of a Staff Book Shop at the end of Semester 1 & 2. At our school, the last week of each semester is a Student Free Week, so we have the advantage of being able to set up the book shop within the library, without having students around.

Books are arranged in categories

General interest books as well as magazines, are included in the selection.

It's important to offer an incentive for staff to make the climb up the stairs to our library, which is located on the top of a 3-story building! We always provide some sweet treats and this time the staff was spoilt with some home baking from our Library Technician. Reporting Week is always an intense time in any school, so staff were thrilled to be offered this small respite from their marking.

Books, biscuits and chocolate. What more can you want?

So much to choose from!

 All staff who borrowed went into the draw to win one of these prize packs.

90 items were lent out on the first day we opened the Staff Book Club.

Reading Circles with Year 7

After successfully running a Literature Circle program in Year 8 English at our College for several years, it was decided to introduce a similar program called “Reading Circles” when the Year 7s commenced at the beginning of 2015.

Choosing the books
Reading Circles takes place in Term 2 and the novels all relate to the genre of fantasy. The books were chosen by the Curriculum Leader: Library and Information Services and the Director of Literacy, with input from the Year 7 English teachers.

The collection includes: The golden door by Emily Rodda, Dragonkeeper by Carole Wilkinson, Percy Jackson and the lightning thief by Rick Riordan, Song for a scarlet runner by Julie Hunt, Ingo by Helen Dunmore, Howls’ moving castle by Diana Wynne Jones, Skellig by David Almond, The lion, the witch and the wardrobe by C.S. Lewis, The wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin and Northern lights by Philip Pullman. The books have been listed in order, from easier reading level titles through to those more suited to students who are reading at an advanced level.

Year 7 Reading Circle selection of titles

Allocating the books and groups

Currently we own 20 copies of each title – 200 books in total for approximately 160 students. It means that each class gets to read 6 or 7 of the possible titles. The class teachers are asked to allocate the books and groups based on the spreadsheet I create and disseminate. We don’t have enough resources for students to pick their own books, and while there may be some disappointment when students don’t “get the book they want” they generally seem to accept the process and are happy that we go to the effort of putting them into a group with like-minded readers or friends.

About to start Skellig in one of our Fiction nooks.

We made sure we also had Australian authors represented.

Adventures to be had with Percy Jackson!

Excited to be reading Northern Lights

Time Frame and Organisation

Before the 4-week program begins, all the students and their teachers are booked into the Auditorium for an initial presentation from me about Reading Circles.

They have already borrowed their book from the library and when they arrive at the Auditorium they are each given a hard copy of the Reading Circle Booklet. The Year 7 English teachers schedule a Reading Circle lesson into their program once a week during the month.

Many of the chosen books are the first in a series, and last year we had a high proportion of students wanting to borrow out the other books that followed. There was positive feedback across all the classes asking if Reading Circles could continue into Term 3.

The roles

Many of the familiar Literature Circle roles were adapted for our Reading Circles program in Year 7.

Facilitators

The English teachers organize the groups, allocate the books and give their students time for reading in class. They also oversee the completion of the Reading Circle Planning Guide and set schedules and due dates for the Role Sheets and Activities. On the day of the Reading Circles’ meeting, they move around the room checking that all students are participating appropriately, as well as assisting the time keeper.

Discussion Leader

This is the most important role and must be performed first each week. It is an amalgamation of summarizing and questioning. As well as writing up a brief summary of the chapters read, Discussion Leaders are expected to created 3-6 literal, inferential or interpretive questions. Other roles are Time Keeper and Illustrator, Word Wizard, Perfect Puzzler and Time Liner (only required if there are 5 group members)

Using Google Slides

All our students have a Google account so we have made a set of blank Google Slide templates for each book, containing every role for the 4 weeks. Each class teacher is then able to share the template with only those members connected to a particular book. This allows them to work on their activities in real time with each other. The students love showing off their work in a visual way which enables them to create and edit their presentations before and during their Reading Circle meetings.

Conclusion

I strongly encourage other teacher-librarians to implement a Reading Circle or Literature Circle program in their school. It is one of my favourite ways in which to share quality literature with students and helps promote authentic student discussion and enthusiasm for reading. Most importantly, it develops students’ ownership and responsibility for their learning.

Library Orientation - Part 2

 Easter Fun with Overdrive and a Scavenger Hunt

Previously, we have only offered one Library Orientation lesson to our Year 7 students in Term 1, as the lesson is not timetabled. This means the Library staff have to ask to "borrow" a lesson from another subject area which has always been English. At a recent TL Network meeting, I asked how other school libraries organised their Library Orientation lessons and was inspired by Brigidine College who run a Library Orientation program consisting of 4 lessons throughout the term.

In consultation with the Library Technician we decided to offer a second lesson to all Yr 7s at the end of this term and when we asked if we could take a Religious Education lesson, it was met with positive approval.

The focus of this second lesson was to introduce the girls to Overdrive our Digital Library and then to have them undertake a Scavenger Hunt, to see how much they remembered from their first lesson about our services, using the Library catalogue and our different collections. The timing was perfect, as it was the fortnight before Easter holidays, so we decided to issue all the groups with an "Easter Bag" in which to collect their items.

Here is a copy of what the girls had to collect and answer. Once, each team was finished they had their answers and items checked by a member of the Library Staff, and this became an "entry form" in our Easter Basket Prize draw.

Your Library @ MSM – Year 7 Orientation Challenge

Names of team members: ___________________________________________

1.     Go to the general Fiction area and place a novel by Jackie French into your carry bag.

2.     Up to how many items are you allowed to borrow over the Easter Holidays? _______________

3.     Find our Picture Book Collection. Place a picture book into your carry bag which has the letters CRE on the spine.

4.      In the box below, draw the symbol which is used to show that a novel is a romance book.

5.     Using the catalogue, do a basic search for the book, “When my name was Keoko." Who is the author? _______________________

6.     Go into the Non-Fiction section of the library. What Dewey number is written on the Black and white laminated guide card for Shakespeare? ______________Clue: Head into the 800s.

7.     While you are still in the Non-Fiction section, find the 500’s section.  What subject would I use these books for? _______________________

8.     Using the library catalogue, do a basic search to find the call number for the book “You are the earth” by David Suzuki and Kathy Vanderlinden. (Hint – It’s a three digit number and has three letters). ____________________

9.     In the magazine section, find a magazine about food or recipes and place it in your carry bag.

10.  What is the PIN number for all students if they want to log in to Overdrive? ___________

11.  Go to the Library Wiki. Click on the link to New Fiction. What is the title of the new Fiction book written by Kirsty Logan? ___________________

12.   How many eggs are on the back wall of the Easter display behind the Circulation Desk? ____ (Hint – they are big and pink)

13.  What animal is featured in the library Easter display? ____________

14.  What slogan have we used in our Easter display to promote holiday reading?

___________________________________________________________________

When you have finished, present this answer sheet and your items to one of the Library Staff at the desk. If they are all correct, this will become an entry form for your team into our Easter Raffle.

GOOD LUCK!

Now you can borrow for the holidays!

Looking for a Picture Book with "CRE" on the spine

Where can I find a Jackie French novel?

Yes! I've found one!

Looking for answers by using the Oliver Library Catalogue

Celebrating Library Lovers' Week

Romancing our way through February

For the last few years we have extended Library Lovers' Day into a whole week which is scheduled into the College Calendar. Week 4 is the perfect time to focus on all the things we love about Libraries, as by then, the teachers and students have settled into the rhythm of a new school year. While it's not as high profile (or as much work) as Book Week, it's a great way to foreground the importance of our library to our school community especially with the Year 7s. As explained in my previous post, the range of Library Lovers' activities were promoted to the Year 7 cohort through their Library Orientation lessons.

What we offered:

A Library Lovers' Staff competition announced at morning briefing on Monday, February 15. Staff had to match the names of famous couples in literature to go into the draw for a book and some Valentine-themed chocolates. Winners were drawn at Staff briefing on Friday.

A similar competition was held for students in Years 8 -12

Year 7s were all given a heart-shaped template during their Library Orientation lessons in Week 2 or 3. They could use this as a competition entry by simply writing their name, homeroom, title of a book they love and why they love it. For those more artistically inclined, they could decorate the heart as well, and these entries were judged and then turned into a display called, "Year 7 loves books."

 

MSM Reads - A whole school reading event took place during extended Home Room on February 16. The students were encouraged to borrow out a romance-themed book from one of our two displays - "Save the date to read a good book" and "Romancing through February."

 

 





MSM Junior Readers Book Club was launched for the year on Friday, February 19. This is aimed at students in Years 7 - 9. The MSM Senior Readers Book Club for Yrs 10-12 will start up again in Week 5 in another part of the library. Both clubs are overseen by me and one of the English teachers who is a voracious reader of young adult fiction.

 

By default, we really end up with a Library Lovers' month, because we keep up the displays until early March when we start to change things over for Easter.

It's school library orientation time

What first comes to mind when you think about the beginning of a new school year? For many teacher-librarians, introducing their new Yr 7s to the library, in a way that's both engaging and fun is a high priority.  

Year 7s excitedly borrow for the first time. So many choices!

Last year was a whirlwind, as 10 classes (6 x Yr 7s and 4 x Yr 8s) all had to be scheduled for an introduction to the library in a short amount of time.

Fast forward to 2016  and our second cohort of 160 Year 7s have just commenced high school and we only get one shot to "sell" them on the importance of the library - So you really want to make it count!




Bright ideas is a blog by the School Libraries Association of Victoria (SLAV) and the State Library of Victoria (SLV). Their post "Revamping your school library orientation" (December 12, 2013)http://slav.global2.vic.edu.au/2013/12/12/revamping-your-school-library-orientation/comment-page-1/#comment-7221 contains some excellent ideas for

• Introducing the school library
• Becoming familiar with the library
• Understanding Fiction and Non-Fiction

Confidently using the catalogue


 

During Week 2 and 3 all the Year 7 English teachers brought their class to the library during one of their lessons. There is no set text for English in Term 1, and the teachers love to start their classes with 10 minutes of sustained, silent reading so we had no trouble getting any of them to make a booking with the Teacher-Librarian and the Library Technician for their Library Orientation lesson.

So What Did We Do?

We started with some word jumbles projected onto the big screen. The words related to things the girls would find in the library e.g. KOBOS - BOOKS and NGMIESAAZ - MAGAZINES

After having all members of the library team introduce themselves to the girls, we then highlighted the main areas in the library they could use. Next up, was a game of True or False in regard to our Library Services. The girls were encouraged to look for the correct answers either in their diary or on our Library Site on the Intranet which was projected on the screen.


Learning how to search for an item on Oliver


 

Then it was time to be introduced to our Library Management system, Oliver. After playing a short video created by Softlink which we've embedded into our Library site, our Library Technician provided some practical examples relating to the searching of both fiction and non-fiction books. It was delightful to see how excited the girls were to borrow for the first time (especially when they heard we allowed them to borrow up to 10 items at a time!) and many of them were confident enough to even ask for an item to be reserved if it was out on loan. To guide them during borrowing time, we provided hard copies of the "Recommended Summer Reading List for Year 7s" which we had sent home to all their parents at the end of last year.

After borrowing, the girls returned to their tables and were each given a "Heart template." We always celebrate Library Lovers Week and this year we created a couple of competitions only for the Year 7s to enter. For the first competition, all they had to do was write their name, homeroom, the title of a book they love and the reason why, inside the template. For those who were more artistic, they were encouraged to decorate their heart and were told they would be judged on artistic merit.

We've had a lot of positive feedback from the teachers in regard to our sessions and the borrowing statistics have certainly gone up since then. Most importantly of all, many Year 7s have now found a home somewhere in the library during break times which makes it all worthwhile Would love to hear from other TLs out there. What do you do for Library Orientation?




One of the many displays the Yr 7s were able to borrow from.