A few years back our PAC decided that our library needed a makeover. Paint, new shelving, new carpet and a new space for working. At the time I was working in the library doing booking exchanges with primary students for 20 minutes a week. It was a glimpse into our school library. When our teacher librarian decided to retire, I decided that I would pick up a share of his job and share it with our Vice Principle. This is not an ideal situation I know! We set up a committee to research what library spaces should look like to facilitate a 21st Century learning model of collaboration, inquiry, and literacy. I will return to school late August to see phase 2 of 4 completed. Very exciting and frustrating! (too slow) We split up our duties and I found myself teaching grade 2 social studies, (community) grade 6 leadership (notables project) and a Canadian provinces research project. Two of these units were in cooperation with the classroom teacher and one of them was on my own. It was a huge learning curve and I loved it. Throughout the year I tried to anticipate the needs of teachers and what they were teaching and set aside resources that they could incorporate into their teaching and enhance their classroom libraries. I was learning the content of the library. As I did this I was reinventing the wheel as I’m sure our former librarian did, but there was no record. Teachers had no accessible record of what they had borrowed.
I was also responsible for buying resources and books for the library. This was actually the most difficult part of the job as I felt a huge responsibility to know where the library was short on materials, where materials were outdated and what areas of curriculum needed more support. I spent hours researching, buying and cataloguing. When it came to introducing new books into the library I was a dismal failure. (that’s ok, I can handle it)
So why? Why do I want to develop a portal, a window into the library? With time restraints on librarians it is critical that we be smart with our time. Accessibility. I want the following things to be accessible to teachers, students, myself and my new partner in the library (with 0 experience!) and parents:
1: What is new? Early primary, K-2 Late Primary 2-3, Intermediate 3-5 and Upper Intermediate 6—7
2: Know your library: Where to find the books you`re interested in.
3: Leadership in the Library: Adopt a shelf program will allow students to be responsible for an area of the library. They are welcome into the library during any of the open hours to come in a tidy their shelf. They will also be asked to contribute to the website a review for a particular book in their shelf!
4. Classroom resources: Each teacher will have a list of resources that will be updated to the website. I am not sure how to approach this I need teacher consultation for this one!
5. Links to our district purchased ERAC bundle and learn 360 and the school library cataloge.
6. Websites to support student learning
7. Book trailers aimed at the 4 reading levels
8. Book reviews written by students for students. 9. Poetry page