Author Archives: Mr McGregor

St. Andrew’s February Round-Up

February has seen a little ‘re-jigging’ of the library lay-out. We have moved our Shelf Help section to the front of the library, making it easier to spot and more accessible for young people and hopefully encourage them to reach out to our excellent selection of literature dealing with mental health issues and exam stress.

In its old spot, we have set up a ‘Gaming and Coding Corner’ which includes game guides, computer game-inspired fiction and various books on coding and programming. Not only will this provide a clear resource for those interested, it also gives yours truly a chance to discover more about what makes our young people tick with regards to games and coding. For this section, I got some of our lunchtime crew to pick out images of their favourite computer games characters to go on the wall.

This month also marks LGBT+ History month and we have set up a small display at the front of the library to mark this, complete with both fiction and non-fiction material covering LGBT themes. Its important that young people from all walks of life feel welcome in the library and that the diversity within the school is reflected as much as possible in the libraries’ resources.

March will most likely see a weekly, or bi-weekly, update as there will be a lot to cover! Next week we will be welcoming Neil Slorance and John Wagner to the library as part of the Wee Write! Festival as well as World Book Day on the 5th. Furthermore, Amnesty International’s Words That Burn poetry project will be kicking off in St. Andrew’s from the 11th!

St. Andrew’s Library Returns!

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After a rather uneventful couple of weeks due to the prelims, the library at St. Andrew’s is back up and running in its full glory! It has been a busy week but it was great to see everyone back using the library again.

During the prelims I ran a ‘Mobile Library’ system in which I visited some classes with a selection of books for them to borrow. The system was such a resounding success that one of our Drama teachers, Mrs. Little, asked if we could make it a permanent fixture for the Safe Space she operates from her classroom Wednesdays after school. This gives pupils who are struggling with social anxiety issues a chance to benefit from the services that the school library provides in a more ambient and relaxed environment.

Wednesday also saw the return of our Manga Club which we are hoping to branch out from being primarily a drawing class, to include games, videos and discussion. I have also been giving the club first dibs on new arrivals!

In other news, on Thursday we had renowned author Kwame Alexander visit the school. This was organised by our Literacy department but it was a pleasure to be there and Kwame’s talk for the S2 pupils was excellent. I was sure to stock up on plenty of extra copies of some of Kwame’s books in preparation. I’m glad I did too as his books have been flying off the shelves since!

There are many more exciting things to come over the next couple of months so watch this space!

Book Week Scotland @ St. Andrew’s

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As Book Week Scotland comes to a close, my first as a school librarian, I can safely say that the week has been a great success and a lot of fun. All week we have been running a book swap station where staff and pupils have been encouraged to bring in old books in return for new ones. We also had a BWS Manga Club Special with the young people designing their own Manga book covers.

However, the highlight was definitely the Reading Lunch on Thursday, run along with our PT of Literacy. The turnout was excellent and it was great to see so many young people and staff come along with their books, ready to discuss them over a spot of lunch.

S1 Library Cards!!

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It has been a long time coming, but the S1s have finally been getting their library cards this week. Our 1st Years have been frequent users of the library and seem to really value it as a space in which they can read, do homework or even just have some quiet time away from the crowds during break time!

It is apparent to me that just having a library card makes the pupils feel like the library really is for them and I have already seen a massive increase in borrowing over the last couple of days. Above all, it is great to see so many young people keen to read and borrow books. Long may it continue!