Virtual Library Tour

Thanks to Michelle Simms for this twist on the #EdBlogNZ February challenge. I thought it was such a great way for us to show-case our libraries.  And I figured we are closer to February than December so we can still get our library tours posted. 

I hope you enjoy the tour of Taradale Primary Schools library :-)

Where to start????  Ok ... This is one of the two main entrances to the library - I've got 5 doors in here!!!! My issues desk used to be the principals office desk. It's awesomely huge and the 'knobby' bit on the end makes for a great place to display new books. I keep these books here for the whole week so that ALL the kids and teachers can see what they are before they are issued. 

To the right is now my National Library S2S book area. I used to have a table here (temporarily around the corner) and it was my secondary display area where I promoted various books.  I wanted to have the NL S2S books in our library so that staff & students could access them whenever they needed. Also I didn't want them to get 'lost' amidst our other books. This way they are promoted as another resource, are easily locatable (catalogued in our ILS and searchable), and easy to re-shelve by myself or the student librarians. 

I re-aquired some of my old picture book bins, tipped them on their sides and voila - colourful book shelves!  I've added labels on the shelves to make it easier to differentiate the different topic & strand and reading engagement areas we requested. 

The clock above the door is one of my favourite things. It's visible from nearly anywhere in the library. I change it about 4 times a year - usually to fit in with our 'big topic'. I thought a 'how to tell the time' clock to start the year would be a good idea. Next up is a science theme. 

BlueTak, pencils and laminated images make for a quick-change crafty clock.  And keeping the clock 'faces' in plastic bags means there is always something to grab if I feel the need for a change. 

Moving around the corner is the main display wall. I've just had a TV installed so have lost space, however it will be a fantastic tool for library promotion and teaching use .... once I get myself sorted and the more urgent start-of-year tasks out of the way.  Oh ... and the teachers need to remember to use it. 

Usually there are a number of books on the (covered) platform, however my first display is promoting eBooks so it is looking a bit bare :(

Oh look ... another door!!! This one leads into a class-room - handy for the teacher!  Another place for displays for me - or to be more precise my yearly challenge.  Currently a scary life-size manga version of me complements of my son!

Love love love the pod seating. It gets moved around the library at will. So versatile. More of it around and about. 

These two tables ended up being made into 'tents' last year with some sheets I keep for tablecloths & my sons old super-hero sleeping bags. The students loved it - little hidy-holes of awesomeness - and they keep asking when I'm doing it again. 

Oh look ... another door!!! This is the other main entrance. At lunchtime there is usually a hoard of munchkins waiting to get into the library -yay!!!  Oh but wait, hiding around to the right you can just see my 3rd door to the outside world!

Usually I've got art-work hanging from fishing line but I just took it down to swap around so the library is looking sadly bare. 

The bay-ends on the shelves are such a great way of displaying books. These were new in 2013.  We did have a couple of breakages of the plastic shelving to start with but they are actually quite hardy. I had previously been using some cardboard 'book bins' that bookshops use to promote their books. Free and a really versatile way of displaying series of books. 

In 2014 there was a lot of discussion about genrefication. I didn't really see it working in our school but tossing around ideas with the awesome Steph Ellis we thought seriesificafion would be something to try in our libraries.  I was forever getting asked for book suggestions either for a series or for stand-alone titles. So after talking to a number of students I decided to give it a try ... and it has been really popular. I only seriesified our senior fiction (the shelves in the mid left) - oops the sign is upside down!!!

Moving this set of shelves into the middle-ish of the floor has given the library a multi-room feel which I quite like. 

The Teacher Resource collection used to be hidden in my office when I started. It's now housed beside the issues desk (shelves on the right) and has grown from a handful of never-used books to two bays of well-used resources.  The teachers can choose to use these for curriculum needs, read-alouds or for students to use in the class - the students themselves don't issue from here (unless I am feeling generous  - it does happen - or the teacher requests it ) 

I really like this area. It houses our picture book and junior non-fiction collection. It used to be a very light and sunny area ... until the new MLE classroom got built onto the library - you can see them through the 'fish bowl' connecting window.  Usually the floor is strewn with pillows and students laying all over the place :-)

These are the new double-height book bins that we got at the end of 2014. The only problem is that they have very slippy bases - problem solved with anti-slip mats.  They are wheely wheely useful :-)

As part of my L5 ILS diploma one of the things we had to look at was an area or group of users in our library that wasn't catered to enough. So at the end of 2014 I re-worked the junior non-fiction. The books were already sort of grouped into different categories, however it was a nightmare to find anything and for myself & the student librarians to shelve the books. I genrefied the collection and created a set of icons to match. I figured if it works for our picture books, why won't it work for the junior non-fiction?  These icons go on the front of each book with a matching icon as part of the shelf sign. It makes re-shelving the books a breeze, teachers are easily able to find the resources they want and best of all the students are able to figure out where to look for books that interest them, and put them back in the correct shelf regardless of whether they can read or have just started school.

Over the 2014/2015 summer holidays one of my plans was to make this into a dedicated maker space. However I just don't have the room in the library to rearrange shelves etc to enable this to happen :-( Still dreaming & planning :-)

One of my smaller display areas - at the end of the non-fiction section. This display was popular with the students ... They got to vote for their favourite photo that participants of the Summer Reading 'Wild & Wacky' photo competition entered. 

Oh yeah speaking of SRPs... The carnage that was my desk on the first day back this year - about 40 bags of returned SRP books - Yay!  We had 169 students participate ... just under 2000 books issued ... Blimmin awesome ... but lots of work returning them all. Just waiting on 2 books to come back :-)

Part of our non-fiction collection ... This is one of the most popular shelving sections in the library .... straight behind the table, third shelf down. The books laying on their sides are my Minecraft, LEGO & Star Wars collection (actually not the Star Wars chapter books). The year 1 & 2's race to this shelf once the doors open - well those not racing up to issue iPads!  I've ended up keeping one set of Minecraft as Reference purely so there is always a copy in the library, and have purchased 3 more sets!!!  They are NEVER in! 

We used to shelve the Reference collection at end of NF (shelves on the right) but really, they were hardly used. So last year I put them all into the main NF section and now the pay get lots more use.  It gave me more room to 'play' with the layout of some of the shelves too although I really really have to do another weed :-(

I try and have activities out on a semi-regular basis for the students to do - games trolley, puzzles, colouring.  I'm in the process of making up some square cardboard connectors (in my spare few minutes) the pat the students will be able to build things with. Cost = FREE. It's just an issue of time to make it. 

And the last area in the library ... my office. The only downside to this is that there is no window in which to see the students (some may find that a good thing ;-0 )

I used to only have one desk in here, a whole heap of boxes (of stuff) and a large poster file - which never got used by staff. So I moved the poster file to the resource room, got rid of the 'junk' and fitted in another table. Which is super handy during Scholastic book fair week (x2), and enables me to continue with book processing etc while a grandmother of one of our families comes and helps me once a week npby doing repairs and finishing off the book covering. 

Currently it's super messy with lots of books in process and all my Lit Quiz books hiding in here ready for the display next week - we are nice to our students and display books that will direct their minds to what sorts of questions we (may) ask!

Oh you may notice the MOST IMPORTANT thing in my library ... A coffee machine & fridge. Mmmmm the smell of coffee :-)  I gave up and brought myself a Nespresso machine 'cause I can't stand the coffee at work, and it was costing me freaking heaps to go and buy 'real' coffee all the time. Now I can have a decent cuppa whenever I need.  Actually I may now be drinking more than I used to so it's likely costing the same as before :-o  And of course you need a fridge to store the milk, drinks and lunch in. 

Oh look .... my 5th door!!!  

I know it's only a tiny table with the computer on, but really it's perfect. It means I've got more space on my actual desk (not that you can tell!!!!) for my book processing or other stuff. 

Here is the last area in our tour ...

Our outdoor area got made into a more intimate outdoor room when the new MLE class got built. This area is shared with the class during the day and it makes for a great extra space for the library users on nice days. It's a bit if a 'heat trap' now so a shade sail was put up late 2015. It has an added benefit of shading my office. Unfortunately it's not rain-proof, and as the classes bags are all kept outside the class, they now take up half of the covered area which had lovely comfy chairs and cushions for our readers. Oh well, we must all accept change, and it's better to have the bags where they are now rather on the left where they were to start which was blocking the line of sight for students using the outdoor area. 

Thanks for joining me. I hope you will find something of interest in this rather long post. Sorry about that ... I didn't realise just how much there was to show. 

I'm looking forward to seeing some of your library spaces, either virtually or in person.