To celebrate LGBT History Month, the librarian visited the LGBTQI+ pupil group for a chat, our LGBTQI+ participatory budgeting session books arrived and members of the pupil group did a great job creating our LGBT History Month display.
This month, we’ve been busy working on reorganizing the library by expanding and adding new sections to our Fiction and Nonfiction collections. So far, we’ve expanded the Comedy, Horror, Fantasy and Science Fiction sections. Our new sections include:
Equality & Empowerment: Fiction and non-fiction books about equal rights for all and include our Shelf Help section with books about mental health and wellness.
Historical Fiction: Stories set in the past.
Slice of Life: Realistic stories, families, friendships, and romance.
Thrillers: Action, crime, and mystery stories.
What’s Trending: Popular and recently borrowed books this month.
Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater
The Extremely Embarrassing Life of Lottie Brooks by Katie Kirby
Recent Arrivals: New book highlights.
The Football Encyclopedia by Emily Stead
Amazing Ancient World Atlas by Nancy Dickman
Trending Booklists
Epic Reads – New Releases
The Guardian – Children’s Book Roundup
Love Reading for Kids – Books of the Month
Scholastic – Books of the Month
Scottish Book Trust – Book Lists
Toppsta – Our Favorite New Children’s Books This Month
Waterstone’s – Books of the Month
Recent Awards
Klaus Flugge Prize – Shortlist
Waterstone’s Children’s Book Prize – Shortlist
YOTO Carnegie Medals for Writing and Illustration – Longlist
Book Buzz
What’s On – March
World Book Day week:
5 Word Book Review Prize Draw – This year, we’re encouraging pupils to submit book reviews of some of their favourite or most recently read books using only 5 words. Each entry goes into our World Book Day prize draw. The reviews will be displayed outside the library on our bulletin board.
World Book Day Quiz – We’ll also be hosting our annual World Book Day quiz, hosted by members of our Pupil Library Committee during lunchtime.
Shakespeare Week:
Choice Board – Pupils can learn more about Shakespeare and his work using our interactive choice board which will be posted on our Teams Library Channel.
Shakespeare or YA Quiz – Participants must guess if a given quote was featured in either one of Shakespeare’s plays or from a popular Young Adult novel.
Displays and Booklists for March: Booklists of monthly cultural and literacy events.
Anti-Racism Book List: Anti-Racism fiction and nonfiction.
STEM Nonfiction Book List: STEM nonfiction.
Neurodiversity Book List: Nonfiction and fiction books featuring neurodiverse characters.
Ramadan Reads Book List: Fiction and nonfiction books by Muslim authors.
International Women’s Day Book List: Fiction and nonfiction books about women’s history, feminism, and equal rights.
Trans & Gender Nonconforming Book List: Nonfiction and fiction books featuring transgender and gender nonconforming characters.
Here’s a roundup of what’s been happening in Shawlands Academy School Library during February.
MYSP meet and greet: Our LGBT Youth Scotland MSYP representative held their first drop-in surgery during lunchtime, where pupils could come and discuss important issues.
Shawlands Acaddemy Anti-Racism Association: Shawlands Academy’s Anti-Racism Association group meets in the Library every Thursday during lunchtime where they discuss issues and plan events for the school. They were excited to unbox the new books we ordered as part of our participatory selection which will be added to our Equality and Empowerment collection:
Let Me Hear A Rhyme by Tiffany D Jackson
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
City of Stolen Magic by Nazeen Ahmed Pathak
Brown Girl Like Me by Jasprett Kaur
American Born Chinese by Gene Lurn Yang
Stolen History: The Truth about the British Empire and How it Shaped Us by Sathnam Sanghere
Black Skin, White Mask by Frantz Fanon
The Night Diary by Veera Hiranandani
SfL Book Group: Our S3 book group in collaboration with Support for Learning continues as we select different short stories from Horowitz Horrors, a collection of spooky stories by Anthony Horowitz.
Pupil Library Committee: Members of our Pupil Library Committee have been busy helping tidy the library this month and prepping for our upcoming March display for International Women’s Day, British Science Week, Anti-Racism Day, Ramadan, and Neurodiversity Celebration Week
School Library Mascot reveal: Congratulations to Candice for the winning design of our School Library mascot! Each participant received a small prize for their amazing entries.
What’s Trending: Popular and recently borrowed books this month.
One of Us is Lying by Karen M McManus – ‘Saw this on TikTok and wanted to read it’
Heartstopper 5 by You Are A Champion: How to be the best you can be Alice Oseman – ‘I’ve been waiting ages to read this book! So excited to see it in the Library’
My Hero Academia by Kohei Horikoshi – ‘My favorite Manga series’
Glitter Boy by Ian Eagleton – ‘I laughed. I cried. Great book for LGBTQ+ teens!’
You Are A Champion: How to be the best you can be by Marcus Rashford, Carl Anka, and Katoe Warriner – “This is a nice book”
‘Book of the Day’ chosen by pupils: Featured pupil recommendations.
Onyeka and the Academy of the Sun by Tola Okogwu
Diary of a Confused Feminist by Kate Weston
The Weirn Books, Vol 1: Be Wary of the Silent Woods by Svetlana Chmakova
Five Nights at Freddy’s: The Silver Eyes by Scott Cawthon
A Kind of Spark by Elle McNicoll
Queen of the Tiles by Hanna Alkaf
Recent Arrivals: New book highlights.
All About Romance by Daniel Tawse
I Feed Her to the Beast by Jamison Shea
Mythopedia: An Encyclopedia of Mythical Beasts and their Magical Tales by Good Wives and Warriors
City of Stolen Magic by Nazeen Pathak
Trending Booklists
Epic Reads – New Releases
The Guardian – Children’s Book Roundup
Love Reading for Kids – Books of the Month
Scholastic – Books of the Month
Scottish Book Trust – Book Lists
Toppsta – Our Favorite New Children’s Books This Month
Waterstone’s – Books of the Month
Recent Awards
Klaus Flugge Prize – Shortlist
Waterstone’s Children’s Book Prize – Shortlist
YOTO Carnegie Medals for Writing and Illustration – Longlist
Book Buzz
What’s On – March
World Book Day week:
Annual Book Mark Contest – Each year during World Book Day week, the School Library hosts a book mark design contest. Submissions are posted anonymously on the Teams Library Channel for pupils to vote their favorite design. The design with the most votes becomes the official School Library bookmark for 2024.
5 Word Book Review Prize Draw – This year, we’re encouraging pupils to submit book reviews of some of their favourite or most recently read books using only 5 words. Each entry goes into our World Book Day prize draw. The reviews will be displayed outside the library on our bulletin board.
World Book Day Quiz – We’ll also be hosting our annual World Book Day quiz, hosted by members of our Pupil Library Committee during lunchtime.
Shakespeare Week:
Choice Board – Pupils can learn more about Shakespeare and his work using our interactive choice board which will be posted on our Teams Library Channel.
Shakespeare or YA Quiz – Participants must guess if a given quote was featured in either one of Shakespeare’s plays or from a popular Young Adult novel.
Displays and Booklists for March: Booklists of monthly cultural and literacy events.Interactive booklists available on the Library Channel on Teams
Anti-Racism Book List: Anti-Racism fiction and nonfiction.
STEM Nonfiction Book List: STEM nonfiction.
Neurodiversity Book List: Nonfiction and fiction books featuring neurodiverse characters.
Ramadan Reads Book List: Fiction and nonfiction books by Muslim authors.
International Women’s Day Book List: Fiction and nonfiction books about women’s history, feminism, and equal rights.
Trans & Gender Nonconforming Book List: Nonfiction and fiction books featuring transgender and gender nonconforming characters.
What a fabulous February we’ve had at Eastbank School Library ! It’s such a short month, but we’ve packed so much into it here at Eastbank.
Spring is coming soon and Mrs Marshall our School Librarian has been spring cleaning – or refreshing – some of our favourite sections of the library. First of all, the senior section is looking so much better. The shelves have been tidied and books refreshed with some new stock. 
The display is looking far more contemporary and the addition of the new stock has really brightened the place up.
There is even a new area now showing all the senior arrivals. Hopefully the students don’t get too distracted from their studies by hunting for books with so many great choices displayed in front of them.
And there’s plenty of new books for all the other students to enjoy as well. 
These manga were loaned out within 2 days!
2 of the new Black Clover books didn’t even make this photo as they were loaned out the same morning they came in….
Some great new books about beauty and transport also were a welcome addition to our stock. They look amazing and I’m sure they’ll be popular too.
Following on from January, our staff book club is going from strength to strength.
In the library on the last Tuesday of the month we all gather and talk about all things bookish, and compare reads and recommendations. We also 
participate in the entirely voluntary book dare scheme ! It’s a great example for the pupils to see how many staff, across all different subject areas in the school, love reading too. And the staff really enjoy showing off their, “Ask me what I’m reading?” badges as well.And that’s not all. Also, we’re really looking forward to World Book Day in March. The tokens have just arrived ! Watch this space and we’ll tell you what we get up to all through next month.
February was a great month at St. Andrew’s with some exciting news!
New Look
We have had a make-over! Our new shelving has arrived plus the walls received a much-needed lick of paint. We are still waiting on some new furniture arriving – at which point we will have our official grand re-opening! In the meantime, we have at least been able to welcome both classes and our lunchtime crowd back!
Brian Conaghan
On Tuesday 20th, we also welcomed Brian Conaghan to the school as part of our SLIF project with Renfrew Council. He chatted to our S3s about his life growing up in Coatbridge, his journey in becoming an author and also about his new book, Treacle Town.
March is shaping up to be even busier with two author visits, World Book Day, Woman’s History Month AND British Science Week all coming up!
We end February here with a bit of mystery at Lochend Community High School. We all love a new book, and what better sight than a brand new Peter’s delivery box landing on the library desk. I wonder what’s inside this time? You’ll need to wait until next month !
We’ve been lucky enough to have lots of new books in the past month which have been flying off the shelves. Our quick reads section is one of our most popular areas in the Lochend Library. With so many quick reads books arriving in February, it was easy to highlight the choice in both subjects and length of books available here at our inclusive library. Just check out the amount of quick reads we have to choose from on the trolleys !
Our book of the month for February though is the wonderful 100 Tales from the Tokyo Ghost Cafe. 
This quirky title is an unusual mix of manga and traditional novel styles, with cartoons then followed by a chapter of writing. The story itself is great too. It’s about Julian who meets a rabbit called Chie-san who leads him to the Tokyo Ghost Cafe. There Mama-san welcomes them to this strange and unusual place, and tells them that she has found a young boy called Akira-San who has wondered into the cafe and told her that he is lost and needs to go home. Mama-san asks them to guide Akira-San home. However, this isn’t straightforward as Akira-san doesn’t quite know where home is and no-one really knows who he is. As each trip progresses, Akira-san seems to remember more and more about home along the way. However the group are met by set backs such as tigers, temples, crocodiles and snow blizzards – which stop them in their tracks. You’ll love this action packed adventure – with the unusual styles and Japanese words to learn thrown in – you won’t be able to put it down… Lochend loves it !
And of course we are looking forward to World Book Day early in March ! Our tokens have already arrived, and Mrs Marshall is guarding them in a secret location….. The books will land at Lochend on the Friday (as the library isn’t open on a Thursday) – and there’s lots of exciting plans for then too. Here’s a taste of what’s to come …….
Every week in the library, the librarian posts a new Library Poll on the whiteboard. Over the weeks, this has become a highlight of the day for pupils as they excitedly gather around to discuss the Question of the Week. We’ve had bitter disagreements and shocked outrage, but most of all we’ve had fun!
Here are four of the most recent (and most divisive) polls!
This project runs concurrently in 10 secondary school libraries across Glasgow and Renfrewshire, with each school hosting 3 author sessions for S3-5 pupils. These sessions emphasize the advantages of reading, inspire teenagers to find connections between their experiences and the books they read, and assist them in navigating their thoughts, emotions, and feelings. The author sessions will delve into themes that resonate with their daily lives, ensuring relevance and engagement.
The three authors, Graeme Armstrong, Brian Conaghan, and Alan Bissett, serve as positive male reading role models. Their books delve into gang culture, covering topics such as reputation, respect, and retaliation. The sessions will focus on harm reduction by exploring the reasons why young people join gangs, including the desire for acceptance, protection, a sense of identity, and feelings of belonging.
St. Mungo’s Library had the privilege of hosting Brian Conaghan on the 21st of February. His work primarily focuses on the lives and relationships of working-class teens, as well as characters who exist on the margins of society. During his presentation, he inspired our S4 pupils by sharing his journey of overcoming challenges with words and reading to achieve success as a writer, despite facing adversity along the way.
The session sparked a curiosity in our youth- two of them were inspired to borrow his book!
We are looking forward to the upcoming visits from the two other writers and we hope that they will generate equal, if not greater, enthusiasm towards reading and literacy.
This Project is supported by the Scottish Government School Library Improvement Fund.
Bannerman High School is among 10 secondary schools across Glasgow City Council and Renfrewshire to take part in a project co-run with Renfrewshire School Libraries. The project is called “The Library Young Team” and it is supported by the Scottish Government School Library Improvement Fund. It will see three thought-provoking authors visit the participating schools to talk to S3/4/5 pupils about topics as gang culture, crime, toxic masculinity, and ways out of these suffocating environments – as well as share some of their writing journeys.
For the first session of this project, it was great to have Brian Conaghan at Bannerman High School introducing his book “Treacle Town” to a crowd of S6 pupils, talking about gang culture in Scotland but also giving writing advice to senior pupils working on their English portfolio. The project will see Alan Bissett and Graeme Armstrong visiting the school in the next couple of months.
/
This Project is supported by the Scottish Government School Library Improvement Fund.
February is LGBTQ History Month! A wonderful opportunity to uncover the rich tapestry of contributions and impact made by LGBTQ individuals across History, Literature, STEM, Music, Art and more. Such contributions are slowly becoming part of the school curriculums and becoming common knowledge, which is why it’s important to keep raising awareness on LGBTQ History.
In fact, initiatives like these help bring LGBTQ history-makers to the forefront of the educational offer to our young people, creating a landscape of equal representation and visibility for this community which is still marginalized in several fields. We continue to celebrate LGBTQ history so that year after year, it will get better and better! ❤🧡💛💚💙💜
You can also learn about LGBTQ History by borrowing e-books and audiobooks on the Libby app thanks to your school library card. There is a teens’ list on Libby:
Teens – Young Adult – LGBT+ – Glasgow Libraries – OverDrive
Pertaining the historical aspect, the librarian would like to put a focus on this LGBTQ History source available on Libby:
Find out more online at:
LGBT+ History Month at lgbtplushistorymonth.co.uk
LGBT+ History Month 2024 at Stonewall
LGBT+ History Month: Everything You Need to Know at The Proud Trust
