SCHOOL LIBRARIES

A library for the new millennium

How to put a 21st century library into an 1828 building. Librarian Anne Robinson discusses the impact of a new library and the importance of a professional librarian

I

N THE 21st century, students cope with a tsunami of information – how we help them chart their way through this, evaluate content and actually create something meaningful from it is a huge challenge for schools. International research clearly shows that professional librarians with good school

libraries have a central role in developing students as information-literate independent learners. The Dixie Grammar School dates from 1320 and

was re-founded in 1601 by an Elizabethan merchant and Lord Mayor of London, Sir Wolstan Dixie. The main building of today’s school was built in 1828 and faces the historic market square of Market Bosworth. The school was re-opened in 1987 as a selective,

independent, day school for boys and girls between the ages of 10 and 18. There are approximately 350 students, with about 70 in the 6th form. The head, John Wood, had been determined to

improve the library since his appointment. He had experienced working with professional librarians in the past and so had a very good idea what a refurbished library, run by an experienced librarian, could do for the school. An experienced professional librarian, I was

appointed a year ahead of the refurbishment to support the school in planning the new library, and then to develop use of the library including reading development and information literacy skills teaching.

professional librarians in the past and so had a very good idea what a refurbished library, run by an experienced librarian, could do for the school

‘

I also have the remit of supporting the school with the use of ICT in teaching and learning. The old library was situated on the top floor of the

1828 building. On the plus side, the windows were large and the ceiling high. The floor, however, sagged and could not support a lot of weight. Furniture and fittings were dated and inadequate for the needs of the school. There were no ICT facilities for the students or staff to use, although the school wi-fi did extend into the library. The brief for the new library was radical. First of all,

the building is Grade 1 listed, which meant that we had certain restrictions in terms of development. It was clear that the existing floor would not safely support a new library. A new floor would be supported on steel girders and would be about a metre higher than the existing floor.The main idea was to remove the wall between the library and the neighbouring classroom and rebuild it to make a smaller classroom and a larger library space. From the beginning, I knew that I needed to have a

plan and a vision for the short and long term. As the first professional librarian in the school, I could not afford to wait until the new library was finished to show the impact I could make. My first action was to write an assessment report of the library facilities and how they had been used. It set a baseline against which future developments could be measured. To write the report, I did a full stock-take and took

statistics from the Library Management System. I also observed the use made of the library and talked to students and staff to ascertain what had been going on prior to my arrival. Watching how students made use of the library at lunchtimes and after school was also revealing.

SecEd • May 6 2010

I created a website, called Library Online (see

further information), to track the development, using the site to show what I was doing and as a place for putting useful resources and progress reports for all to see. I also took photographs regularly and uploaded these to the website. This was to prove very useful as the development progressed. I decided to make visible improvements to the stock.

So, alongside a systematic weeding programme, plus re-cataloguing, cleaning and labelling, which took most of the year, I also began to add new items. It was also helpful to encourage staff and students, particularly 6th- formers, to make requests which I would fulfil as much as possible.That way I could show that I would respond positively to their needs. It was a high priority to demonstrate the value

of a professional librarian by putting in systems of management and administration for the future. A handbook, procedures manual, development plans, library policy, annual report, financial management were all written. These could all be developed as I got to know the school better. It was essential to talk to members of the school

community to find out how they were currently using the library, how they might like to use the new library and what their own vision was for the development. I was interested to know about teaching methods, find out about the curriculum, learn about teachers’ ideas for use of the library, and ask them about resources. I also began to respond to requests for resources

from staff by gathering evaluated weblinks on a social bookmarking site called Delicious. This became a tailor-made service and had an impact on my status in school. Some teachers continue to use this and have begun to send 6th form students to me with requests. In such a small school, it is relatively easy to create a personalised service like this and it has proved very popular. These links are put on the library website and I hand out a business card with the address. Later on, I heard that some students had passed these on to their parents – I had great feedback from some of them. Just as with the staff, I found that the students had

mixed experiences of libraries and librarians. Some had low expectations of both. I set about trying to give them an idea of what was possible – by the kinds of swift reactions to requests that I have already mentioned and

The head had experienced working with

also by developing a personalised service.This started to create an excitement about the new library among many students. One of the tools I used to connect with students was a school-wide survey. Very many helpful ideas were generated by this. But the biggest surprise was a level of concern and resistance to change that came from some of the older students. All of these issues were fed back into the planning of the new library. I also spoke to as many parents and visitors as

’

possible at school events, attended a governors’ meeting and also took every opportunity to liaise with the local community. Market Bosworth is a small town and soon many of the shopkeepers had heard about the new library. Some even saved boxes for the move! The greatest source of ideas, as well as support for

the project, came from librarian colleagues, not only in schools, but also from a range of sectors. During the planning year, I developed an extensive network which really helped me through the challenges as well as the exciting days as the plans progressed. I visited school, college and university libraries and so was able to feed back a variety of ideas for our own project – many of which can be seen in the finished library. To steer the development, we formed a Library

Committee. This met regularly with each member having specific tasks set by the group as a whole. After receiving a range of plans, we took the feedback, ideas, photos of other libraries and discussions and came up with our own layout. This was then submitted to library design companies for them to give quotations. We eventually chose a local shop-fitting company who created a bespoke design that would fit the historic room. To put a modern library into this small space,

create a classic look that would not jar with the ethos of the school, while giving the school 21st century facilities was a tall order. The Michael Parker Library opened in October

2009 to positive responses from the school. The stock is improving and we have facilities that the staff and students deserve. But this is only the beginning – we now have to get the library used and continue the conversations that I started so that the school can get the best from its library and librarian. Already we can see the impact on reading – parents have made positive comments about their children’s reading and our issue figures are rising. The library is used all day for private study, classes and group work. Lunchtime is buzzing and we have held our first Book Week. Creating opportunities to work collaboratively with

teachers is the next step – embedding information literacy into the curriculum is essential to help support our students’ independent learning. My interest in the use of developing technologies for teaching and learning is also starting to have an impact – the library website has developed into a virtual 24/7 service, all accessed through Library Online, including a range of Web 2.0 tools such as Flickr, Netvibes and Animoto, which we are beginning to use with classes. We have so much still to do, but we have truly created a library service fit for the 21st century!

• Anne Robinson is the school librarian at The Dixie Grammar School in Leicestershire.

Further information

• Library Online website: http://library-online.org.uk • Delicious: http://delicious.com/DixieLibrary

Independent thinking

What would aliens think of us?

JUST HOURS after this article is published, all votes will be counted and a new government in place – unless the election result is so close run that the parties are still haggling over power. As I have misplaced my crystal ball and have no clear idea of the outcome, I shall devote this column to a flight of fantasy. In a recent lecture, Professor Stephen Hawking

suggested that we should all avoid engaging in conversation with the aliens, who are obviously out there and will in due course direct their attention to our planet. Imagine those little men from the

early “Smash not mash” advertisements (apologies to my younger readers) arriving and attempting to understand our education system. Especially if they arrived in the summer term. When the volcanic ash gushed into the

airstream, did the media and schools concern themselves with the science of volcanoes and how aeroplanes fly and how turbo-engines work? Not really.The focus was more about how British school children stranded abroad could be enabled to keep up with their studies in this vital period before their public examinations. We had reports of school parties

trapped in China being given five hours of revision classes a day, individual pupils being despatched to internet cafés to download lessons, and constant advice from the examination boards about what flexibility there was. Panic was legion because it might only be April but the public examination season was already upon us! As an old-fashioned head of an independent

school, I have attempted to hold back the rising tide of examination modules and have more or less banned them from all but the summer term and from years 11 and above. I am only too aware that in many schools public examinations are taken throughout the year – after all, if one sits an examination on several occasions surely an appropriately good grade will be achieved at one or other sitting? This has been forced upon our schools by the high-

stakes judgements made about percentages of pupils achieving five GCSE A* to Cs, and the more recent

insistence that mathematics and English be included in that measure. So, my alien friends – we have created this

massive educational edifice, where schools and colleges pay enormous amounts of money in fees to examination boards and hiring invigilators (rather than spending it on books, teachers, support staff, ICT, other resources, trips out of school, or stimulating and fun activities) so that our pupils can be subjected to a “rigorous testing regime”. Meanwhile, most of us both

inside and outside of education have lost confidence in the validity of these examinations to produce a really meaningful assessment of a pupil’s ability. The move to criteria-based assessment, transparent published mark schemes, bite-size modules and more “closed” tasks which can be

marked by computerised systems, plus the ability to retake modules, have led inexorably to more students achieving high grades. These high grades then do not act as a sufficient discriminator – so we invent even higher grades such as A*. I believe that there were more than 70 different university entrance tests used by UK universities this year and employers, too, conduct their own

recruitment tests. Would an alien understand why we do all this? Should not our students be investigating

the volcano, dismantling a jet engine, going on trips, making music, acting in plays, enjoying art,

making clothes, meals and furniture, getting involved in sport, working with the community, reading, engaging in debates, undertaking science experiments, and enjoying learning for learning’s sake? Most of us are probably trying to include many of

these things in our school programmes – but we are only too aware that it is the examination results by which we are measured. It is certainly a crazy world!

• Marion Gibbs is headmistress of the independent James Allen’s Girls’ School in London.

Lighting fires

“They can because they think

they can.”

Virgil

“Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong

mental attitude.”

Thomas Jefferson

“Keep steadily before you the fact that all true success depends at last upon

yourself.”

Theodore T Hunger

“Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and

day out.”

Robert Collier

“Success is sweet: the sweeter if long delayed and attained through manifold

struggles and defeats.”

Amos Bronson Alcott

“Failures do what is tension- relieving, while winners do

what is goal-achieving.”

Denis Waitley

9 Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16