PASSIONATE ABOUT SCHOOL LIBRARIES
I’ve been writing about how I have been reinvigorating the non-fiction collection in my secondary school library. But why? Aren’t school libraries culling their non-fiction and students turning to online sources? I believe that non-fiction still plays a vital part in the school library for all ages. Here’s my thoughts around the importance of non-fiction, why it deserves pride of place in any school library and how to get it right in your school library.
I wrote this post a year ago and was never brave enough to post it. Thanks to Lee Crockett’s keynote at the ASLA 2023 Conference, I am finally hitting the go button. His talk about practice never being perfect but always a work in progress and change being neither painful or personal inspired me to share my thoughts on this topic.
As I have been digging into reading culture and assessing reading cultures recently, I have come across many checklists and guides for good school libraries. It had me questioning, how does my school library stack up? Is my school library good enough?
Non-fiction has been a bit of a hot topic in school library discussions in recent months and for good reason. On one hand we are embracing genrefication and challenging the status quo of using problematic library layout systems and on the other hand school librarians are investigating the importance of non-fiction and its place in the school library.
I started my process of reinvigorating the non-fiction at the start of 2022 when I took over my current library. I was only unofficially acting head of library, but I didn’t let that stop me from making some big decisions and prepping for change. In post 1 of this series, I shared about how I started and what my plans were, in post 2 I shared how all those plans had to change and the benefits that had. Now in this third post, surprise surprise, plans changed again (or were just delayed). This section of our journey to reinvigorate the non-fiction collection is from term 1, 2023.
I am in the middle of reinvigorating the non-fiction in my secondary school library. Non-fiction has been a bit of a hot topic in school library discussions in recent months and for good reason. On one hand we are embracing genrefication and challenging the status quo of using problematic library layout systems and on the other hand school librarians are investigating the importance of non-fiction and its place in the school library.
Note: I wrote the my first post in this series back in June of 2022, after just six months of taking over as acting head of library services at my current school library. I was delayed in posting it, and then I was given the news that we needed to pack up the secondary school library and put the majority of the collection and shelving into storage and move into a temporary location. This meant my plans to weed the secondary library non-fiction collection before we moved into our brand new space had to be halted. I didn’t have enough time until we had to vacate our space and the non-fiction collection would all be in storage offsite for at least a few months, so I wouldn’t have access to it to weed or genrefy it. All plans were halted and I had to go about things very differently, or at least a lot more slowly. This post covers what I did in Term 4, 2022 to continue to reinvigorate the non-fiction collection.
Non-fiction has been a bit of a hot topic in school library discussions in recent months and for good reason. On one hand we are embracing genrefication and challenging the status quo of using problematic library layout systems and on the other hand school librarians are investigating the importance of non-fiction and its place in the school library.
Note: I wrote the below post back in June of 2022. I didn’t post it, as I was waiting to get a few photos to add to the post. Then, we received news that we’d have to pack up the secondary school library and put the majority of the collection and shelving into storage. Including the non-fiction collection. All plans were halted and I had to go about things very differently, or at least a lot more slowly. Here’s how I started the process.
It’s everywhere on my socials and in my inbox at the moment – Artificial Intelligence and ChatGPD. We’ve been told for years that technology is changing and will have big impacts on the world, jobs and education. We’ve gone from fearing AI to encountering it on a daily basis (and possibly still fearing it). These past few weeks seemed to have reignited a focus on what AI and chatbots can do and how they are set to impact our lives. As a teacher librarian, I know I need to up-skill and learn about this area, as it is set to impact how student search, research, write, edit and submit their work. It will change how teachers prepare lessons, mark, how we check for plagiarism and how we teach students about AI.
If you, like me, need to read up in this area, I’ve collated a few of my favourite articles and courses that I’ve found in the past few days. Most come from a teacher or library perspective.
Are the students in your school library bookmark mad? Mine are. While you can buy beautiful bookmarks to give out to students, perfect for author visits, book week or special events, I find that most readers, especially the younger students, go through too many bookmarks for me to be able to afford to keep up a steady supply. I’ve always printed bookmarks to have at the circulation desk. The students love picking out a new design, it prevents the dreaded dog earring of pages and they are easy to tie into special events. I used to search online for free printable bookmark designs, and while this did find me some great deigns, I was limited in what I could use.
A fun activity I’ve run this year was designing t-shirts with our Cricut machine. I’ve it with two class groups and will extend that to a lunchtime activity and after school activity once we have our new space next year.
I love our Library’s Cricut machine. I even convinced the Design Tech department that they needed one, so now I have two to use.
Designing t-shirts is so easy with the Cricut machines and the end products look great. I loved how quickly my students picked up the design, cut and heat process. Once they got the basics down, they quickly started attempting more detailed designs.
Marketing and branding can be such a powerful thing for our libraries. If you want to follow along with this post series as I explore creating a library marketing plan, check out all the posts here.
When I started to investigate creating a library marketing plan for our school library, I drew upon my marketing and branding knowledge from the business sector and started researching the topic. You’ll find some links to great articles, podcasts and further reading in my second post in this series.
Are you wanting a Cricut machine for your school library? Maybe you’ve heard others talk about how helpful they are or the displays they’ve created with a Cricut. Maybe you already have one and are wanting to upgrade. If you are not sure if a Cricut machine is right for your school library, you might like to start with my Cutting Machines post, where I explore what a Cricut is, what you can do with it and why you might like one for your school library.
But, if you are ready to purchase and just not sure which machine to choose, read on.
I love having a Cricut machine in my school library. Over my time in school libraries I have had and used all the different types of machines, from the very early and now outdated Expression, to the tiny but powerful Joy and the super Maker 3 and a few others in between.
In this post, I’ll explore the current Cricut machines and help you decide which one you should purchase for your school library.
Well, you are spoilt for choice. Don’t forget, Cricut is a brand. There are other cutting machine brands out there. You might like to explore what Silhouette offer. I’ve always used Cricuts, so I’ve always stuck with Cricuts.
Cricut currently has three main cutting machines – Joy, Explore and Maker. Cricut also produces heat presses, mug presses and other tools.
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