Stromness Academy Library

It is the time of year that Primary 7 pupils come and visit the school. As part of the visit, puils will spend half an hour in the library to get a general overview, do a mini treasure hunt and fill in a survey.

For the first time, this year the survey is online. Click the link below to go to the survey.

P7 Survey   (Survey Now Closed)

Thank you to all P7 pupils who visited the library on Tuesday 16th June. I hope you had fun. FS

Here is another batch of comments from the recent survey.

• A room to socialise

This is a school library, not a social area although we are much more relaxed in its use at lunchtimes than we used to be or compared to other school libraries. Is this more an issue about space to socialise in the school?

• Study area for younger pupils now and again

Ah! I think I could be at fault here, having not properly let you know that the study area upstairs is available to you if you ask permission to use it. During class time it is primarily a senior study area, but at lunchtime, if you want to do some work away from the hubbub of the Lower Library then please just ask and you will be allowed to work in the Upper Library.

• If we could talk a bit more
• If you could chat!

This was a fairly common comment. I presume some of you mean that you want to chat more during your library period. Well, library periods are there to help and encourage you with your individual reading which means you shouldn’t need to be chatting unless we are doing some sort of activity which requires discussion.

• A more relaxed attitude towards people who go to the library

Okay, fair enough but it works both ways. I have a much more relaxed attitude than I used to have but at the end of the day we are all human and will have ‘off days’. For me to be able to keep a relaxed attitude you need to play your part by following the library code of conduct and instructions given by myself or your teachers and ensuring that you use the library in a responsible manner.

• Longer opening times

Not quite sure what you mean here as the library is available to you from 8:40am in the morning until 4pm (4.30pm on Tuesday). The library is shut at interval (except when there are pupil librarian meetings) and for half an hour at 12noon (1.20pm on Friday) so I can have a break and my lunch.

• We could listen to IPods while we read.
• Be able to use IPods

I understand where you are coming from with this one as so many people nowadays listen to music through MP3 players / mobile phones, etc, but it is actually a school rule that during class time you don’t use them and in the library they are only permitted in the Upper Library when senior pupils are studying. (Younger pupils may ask permission to use the Upper Library for individual study at lunch times.)

It is also quite important that you don’t get used to using them all the time when you are reading or studying because you will not be able to use them in an exam situation and it has been known for exam performance to drop as a result.

Personal music players can be quite intrusive (and therefore not personal at all) if they are not turned down very low, or to anyone with sensitive hearing. If you use them, you often don’t hear any instructions, questions, etc

• Play some music in background quietly

I sometimes do play music (often around Christmas time quietly in the background and some pupils have said they like this to me in the past. It is played very quietly so you have to be quiet to hear it.

• If there were some games or something you could win a prize every month or year
• More activities to win stuff

Good idea! I have thought about this on and off, and have tried it over the years I have been Librarian here. Sometimes pupils are interested and sometimes they aren’t. I will have a think about trying some ‘mini competitions next session but you must support them!

Seating and Furniture

• Getting some new chairs
• Having more seating areas to chill
• Comfier chairs, more beanbags or something like that!
• A few more comfy chairs and beanbags
• More comfortable chairs in the fiction section to chill
• More comfy seating areas

Okay… this appeared to be a really common request and although I think it is a good idea we really really don’t have the space. You have to remember that at the end of the library is provided to support your school work which means we need more tables and chairs than soft seats.

Computers

There weren’t as many comments about the computers as I would have expected. Many appreciated the fact that you were allowed to play games on them during lunchtime which most other school libraries I know just do not allow.

• More computers so classes can all get on them

I agree, but we don’t really have the space. Where possible, though, and if your class teacher has requested it, we will book the laptops which means everyone can get access.

• If the internet blocking would stop blocking nearly every game site

Mmmm! I am pretty certain that “every game site” is not blocked. The computer users at lunchtime seem to find plenty of games to play online.

• More space at the computers

Yeah! I know… but we are a little limited in the room we have available for computers.

Most S1 and S 2 and some S3 pupils have now completed the online survey. There have been a number of good comments made by pupils and over the course of the next week or so I will post the replies here.

The first batch of comments relates to the books.

Resources

A lot of you commented on wanting more new books but you have to remember that money doesn’t grow on trees. The library buys around 300-400 new books each year and before they are shelved they go on the display shelves. Just ensure that you check these from time to time.

• More modern books available
• More well known books
• If there was more new books by good authors

We do purchase books by well-known authors. If you can’t find what you are looking for then please put in a request for it to be bought.

• More of the newer books, I don’t like reading old ones unless its a new edition, sorry, I can be a bit fussy

Fair enough, but as we only have a set budget, some popular books can get a little tatty and we do our best clean and / or repair them and will replace them if necessary.

• I would like the library to have more girls books for our age group
• A Bigger Selection of Girls Books

Umm! There are plenty of these on the shelves and in March ’09 we did receive a box of around 20-30 books aimed at teenage girls. They were prominently displayed for a while. Remember. You can borrow books from the displays!

• To get more books that are in diary genre
• More books like the latest films
• Manga

Good idea! I will keep these in mind when I start thinking about the book orders. If you have any specific suggestions then let me know!

• More books for my age

Well, sorry if I am a bit flippant here, but Duh! This is a secondary school library and the books are specifically selected for your age range. If you really think the books aren’t suitable for your age then please let me know or discuss it with your English Teacher/

• If there were more books on things that interest me

You really need to let me know what you like. Trends in teenage likes and dislikes can change so fast it can be hard to keep up.

• If we could take out any book not just the junior fiction ones

You are able to look at the senior fiction if you want to. S1/2 pupils who are good readers  need to speak to your teacher or the Librarian if you are interested in borrowing senior fiction. You may be required to get a letter of permission from your parents.

• Put books in sections by their genre, not by author’s surname, that way it will be easier to find

Books used to be shelved by some genres but they weren’t getting used much so it was decided to go back to traditional alphabetical order. You can use the catalogue to find books by genre.

To take the library forward over the next fews years we would like your views and ideas.

The surveys  will help the librarian to evaluate library use, and by way of finding out about your reading interests, help her to purchase new stock for the library that is relevant to your needs and interests.

S1 – S3 pupils will be asked to fill out the surveys during their library periods.

Click HERE to go to the surveys page.

The blog is going through a wee bit of a redesign as your Librarian is learning more about Web 2.0 applications and how to integrate them into the blog.

In the first instance, in the right hand column, you will find Internet Bookmarks for your Projects which will supplement the internet hotlists you can access through the library website. The bookmarks are collated using a Web2.0 application called Delicious which allows you to access your own bookmarks from any computer. It also allows you to share your bookmarks with other people.

The internet was once just a reference tool which you used to search for infomation. Now, many websites are much more than a source of information and you can interact with them. Web 2.0 sites allow you to communicate, share and interact with information and people in a virtual environment. It is how the internet is now developing and growing.

Some interesting Web 2.0 sites:

Bubbl.us: Brainstorming

Survey Monkey: Create online surveys

Wordle : Word clouds

Social networking sites such as  Facebook & Bebo, blogs, and wikis are all part of the Web 2.0 family

Social Bookmarking: Diigo; Delicious; Furl; StumbleUpon

Blogging: Blogger; WordPress

Media Sharing: YouTube; Flickr; Dumpr

Social cataloguing (eg. of your books): Librarything

Virtual World: Second Life

Massively multiplayer online games are also part of the Web 2.0 generation. A good list of some of these MMOs can be found on Wikipedia

Contrary to popular belief, a school librarian will work some of the school holidays. It is usually an ideal time to catch up on all the jobs you can’t get done in a busy term time: give the library a good tidy, checking stock and planning for the coming term.

Now, coming back to the ‘tidy’ bit! Why is it that before you tidy the place becomes a whole lot messier? Everything appears to spill out of the peedie office and issue desk space onto the big tables. It is a means to an end as it helps one to take stock of the situation and also to sort out tasks that require a lot of space, which can be difficult to find when classes are coming to use resources six periods a day.

So, what is happening for your erstwhile school librarian this Easter Holidays? There is a big list of things to do but the priorities are:

• Tidy the shelves
• Check for damaged stock – repair or withdraw
• Sort out some books given to the school library
• Tidy even more shelves
• Give the plants some tender loving care
• Process new books
• Check the computers
• Create a book display on the Environment

Plenty enough to be doing with for the  moment. I look forward to seeing the pupils and staff back in school on Tuesday 14th April and hope that you will all be refreshed and ready for another term. FS

It is nearly the end of another term and as is traditional, small Easter eggs have been ‘hidden’ around the library. Pupils finding an egg should report to the Librarian and they will then be entered into a different raffle for a chocolate Easter bunny.

As all pupils should be aware, they are unable to borrow books from the library unless they produce their library card, or the back-up label in the planner. Note: “back-up”. The label in the planner should only be used when a pupil has forgotten or lost their library card. It was never intended to be a substitute. Lost or damaged cards should be reported to the Librarian.

To encourage pupils to use their actual library cards, a raffle for an Easter egg and mug has been running over the last week or so. Pupils borrowing books from the library using their card are entered into the raffle.