PASSIONATE ABOUT SCHOOL LIBRARIES

Tag: Library Collections

The Ins and Outs of Weeding

The Ins and Outs of Weeding

I am actually shocked it has taken me this long to write this post about weeding. Weeding is one of my absolute favourite collection management tasks.

Weeding is also known as deaccessioning, culling or deselection. It’s the process of carefully removing items from your school library collections using a specific criteria that meets your collection development policy.

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The Importance of a Diverse Collection

The Importance of a Diverse Collection

We all know the importance of a diverse collection. At least, theoretically. It might be something we mention in our collection development policy, or nod our heads to during a webinar. Maybe we’ve even put a diversity collection audit on our to-do list. But in the busyness of daily school library life, diverse collection development and promotion can sometimes slip.

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Ramblings: School Library Annual Reports

School Library Annual Report

It’s the end of the school year and that means it’s annual report time. Or does it?

When I mentioned to a colleague this year that I needed to put together the library’s annual report, I was a little shocked by their reply – “Why bother. No one is going to read it.”

It made me reflect on why I create an annual report each year and why I firmly believe it is worth the time and effort to create an annual report. 

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Ramblings: Magazines in the School Library

Magazines in the School Library

Do magazines belong in the school library? It’s not really a question I ever asked myself until recently when it came time to audit our magazine subscriptions. But in our changing world, do magazines still belong in school libraries? If student interest drops, is it time to unsubscribe?

The first school library I volunteered and later worked in had a lovely magazine collection. It also had a most magnificent non fiction collection, but that’s another post entirely. The magazines were well used, as indicated by loan statistics and student use for browsing and reading during reading lessons.

This year, when I took over the library at my current library, I undertook a bit of an audit of the magazine collection. The magazines in the secondary library were hardly touched, let alone borrowed. Some of this could attributed to our new location while we awaited renovations. The magazines had to be tucked into a back corner. But stats from the previous years demonstrated loans half of that from my first school and only 12 loans total for magazines from the secondary library. It wasn’t for lack of promotion or choices.  We had over 25 magazines in the secondary library and just a few in the junior library. Yet the interest and use of magazines in the junior library was huge. Massive loan stats, sneaky visits from junior students to the secondary library to borrow some of our titles, interest and love for magazines from the junior students was high. Continue reading

Ramblings: Graphic Novel Collection Updates

Updating the Graphic Novel Collection

I love graphic novels but that love doesn’t come close to how much my students love graphic novels. They adore them. I’ve seen that time and again at all the school libraries I’ve worked in. However, their engagement with the graphic novel collection always varied and that’s because the graphic novel collections in all of those libraries varied significantly. Some were tidy and small, others large and outdated and one was big, plentiful and beautiful and let me tell you the students adored it!!

So, when I took over as head of library this year, I knew one of the first things I wanted to do was show the graphic novel collection some love. Lots of love.

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Professional Learning: Genrefication: Beyond the Buzzword

Professional Learning Genrefication: Beyond the Buzzword Webinar with EduWebinar

I had the great privilege of talking genrefication again by presenting a webinar with EduWebinar all about genrefication.

It was great to revisit my genrefication process, especially as I am looking to start all over again at my new school. It was also fascinating to revisit the research in this area and see what the current trends are.

If you would like to view the webinar, you can register for the recording at EduWebinar.

You will find my slides from the presentation below.

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Professional Learning: Genrefication Webinar

Professional Learning Genrefication: Beyond the Buzzword Webinar with EduWebinar

If you follow my blog or know me at all, you’ll know that I quite enjoy talking about genrefication. I am by no means an expert, but I love experimenting and reflecting on the things I have tried across a few school libraries. 

I am so excited to announce that I will be presenting a webinar with EduWebinar all about genrefication.

Join me on Wednesday, 15th of September 2021 at 7pm AEST as we talk all things genrefication. The webinar is free for EduWebinar members or $30 for non members. 

Register Now

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