PASSIONATE ABOUT SCHOOL LIBRARIES

Tag: Library (Page 1 of 5)

Technology: Turing Tumble review

Turing Tumble Review

I had seen the Turing Tumble on Twitter before and I was intrigued but didn’t investigate further until our library purchased 6 to use in our makerspace. I took one home over the school holidays to build, learn and play. Here’s what I discovered.

What is the Turing Tumble?

Designed from Alan Turing’s Turing Machine, the Turing Tumble is a computer. Using switches and marbles you can actually build a mechanical computer and solve problems, and run calculations. It also lets you see how a computer codes. You are coding and learning about computers at the same time.

You can find a lot more information, videos, background story, Kickstarter campaign and how-tos on the Turing Tumble website, so I won’t duplicate that here.

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Resource: New Shelf Dividers

New Shelf Dividers

It was time for an upgrade. Our library has been using cardboard boxes as shelf dividers for a while now. As our collection grows, the shelves get tighter and the boxes were taking up valuable real estate. They were also looking a little tired, not to mention the empty boxes made the perfect hiding space for students to stash books, rubbish or Easter eggs (I kid you not, the whole thing was in there all crumbled up. What a waste of chocolate!!).

So, we invested in some new acrylic shelf dividers. We purchased them from Syba Signs. While Syba sell the vinyl to stick on the dividers in a range of colours and labels, we wanted to completely control the font and colours, and customise them to our collections. Fortunately, we have a Cricut machine in the library, which can cut vinyl.

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Resource: Display furniture and equipment

Library Display Furniture and Equipment

If you have had a look around my blog you know that I love creating displays in our school library. Colourful, interactive, fun – whatever gets the books off the shelves and into the students’ hands. I am always on the lookout for new ways to present and create displays and I recently put the call out to my fellow librarians and asked them what their favourite display furniture and equipment was. Here is a quick list of things I and other librarians have used in libraries to create and present library displays.

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Technology: Cubelets review

Cubelets Review

IMG_0989 (Medium)We are always on the lookout for new technology to add to our library makerspace and, thanks to a generous gift from our school’s Parents and Friends fund raising group, we were able to make a significant purchase of new robotics. After much research I choose to request the purchase of Cubelets from Modular Robotics.  Have you seen these super cute modular robots? The tactile and seamless design of these robots was the first thing to catch my attention. And the students agree. “Ohhh, pretty” is the usual first reaction, along with a quick grab to study these cube-shaped robots. So, let’s take a deeper look at these robots, their use in our makerspace and our reaction.

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Display: Reading World Cup

Reading World Cup Display

The FIFA World Cup is on everyone’s lips this June 2018.  To join in the hype, our library is running a Reading World Cup. This display and voting activity could be tied into World Cup sporting event or literary celebration (Quidditch World Cup, anyone?).

This display was inspired by the creations of The Brown Bag Teacher and her Tournament of Books.

I started by finding our library’s most borrowed titles for the past year, choosing the top 8 from both the junior library and high school collections for our top 16. I printed the covers from these top 16 and created mini voting slips. I cut the lettering for the Reading World Cup title using our library’s Cricut machine, and recycled strips of white cardboard to create the match-ups.

The voting for the first round was open for half a week, followed by half a week each for the quarter-finals, semi-finals and then the grand final. Each time a voting slip was created for the voting, but using tokens and voting boxes would have also worked.

The books on display were selected from the top 16, and when they quickly disappeared, were replaced with soccer-themed titles.

An additional competition was run simultaneously with Reading World Cup voting, allowing students to try and guess which book would be the overall winner. Those who guessed correctly were entered into the draw to win a FIFA World Cup prize pack or a art prize pack (for those less soccer enthusiastic). These prizes were from additional items from magazine subscriptions.

 

Display: Mr Potato Head Interactive Display and World’s Greatest Shave

Interactive Display – Mr Potato Head and World’s Greatest Shave

Each March, our school participates in the World’s Greatest Shave to raise funds to fight cancer. It has become a school-wide celebration, with free-dress day, crazy hair day, sausage sizzles, bake stands, and of course the hair shaving. To promote these events and become more involved, the library posted this Mr Potato Head display in the week leading up to Shave Day. It has been one of our most popular displays to date (just shy of the Blind Date With a Book display).

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Resource: Cutting Machines in the Library

Electronic Cutting Machines in the Library

Cutting and crafting machines are all the rage in crafting circles. But can they be used effectively in a library? Library displays, decoration, events, marketing, makerspaces – the library is ripe with perfect opportunities to utilise such a machine.

Our library has been very fortunate to have had the use of a personal Cricut machine and has now purchased a new Cricut machine for use in the library.

So, is it worth it?

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Display: Windows, Walls, Doors, Mirrors and Wardrobes

Windows, Walls, Doors, Mirrors and Wardrobes Library Display

What’s your favourite escape?

Inspired by the 2017 Book Week theme, Escape To Everywhere, I made our very own library escape portal – Platform 9 3/4.

I printed off a photo of a brick wall multiple times to make the background and repurposed my Platform 9 3/4 sign from my literary signpost.

I have added other well-known escape portals, including Doctor Who’s Tardis and the magical Wardrobe from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, around the outside of the display.

I added a range of book covers and the students and teachers have since suggested some additions. One teacher even suggested that we make a version of this display to hang from the entrance to the reading room for students to walk through. Still working on how I will accomplish that….

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