Library Corner is a little space for school librarians to share what’s happening in their libraries!
The value of libraries and reading for pleasure cannot be overstated and we know school librarians are the key to making the very most of library spaces.
Many thanks to this month’s librarian Lucas Maxwell from Glenthorne High School.
Author Events
Whenever we have an author event, their books will be extremely popular, in many cases this surge in popularity will continue for a very long time. There are four authors that come to mind: Jennifer Killick, Lily Bailey, Alex Foulkes and Alex Dunne.
All of these authors have visited either in person or in a virtual capacity in the last year and as a result we cannot keep their books on the shelves. Author visits have a huge impact on reading for pleasure and library engagement in general.
Clubs and other extra curricular events and activities
When it comes to clubs, one of our most popular is our Book Quiz Club and our Comic Book and Manga Club. We can have over fifty students attending each of these once a week.
This results in hoards of students borrowing manga, with One Piece being our most popular. Our most popular comic books are Bunny vs Monkey and anything by Raina Telgemeier, but also ones like Mexi-kid and Ligthfall.
Having clubs like Dungeons and Dragons, Warhammer and Open Mics also bring in students with a wide variety of tastes and interests. These students often don’t realise the wide selection of books available to them as they might not be regular library users but still want to engage in the clubs. Seeing them discover our collection on books based on tabletop roleplaying games and performing arts is great to experience!
Library Lessons
I’m very fortunate that students in Years 7-9 come to the library for a library lesson once a fortnight. Within these lessons, I can promote a huge number of books.
I’m also reading Matt Goodfellow’s The Final Year out loud to all of our Year 7s which has been a fantastic experience. These lessons have proven invaluable in getting students engaged in reading. All of our Year 9s, for example, are reading The Crossing by Manjeet Mann which is a vital book in developing empathy and understanding around an often maligned topic.
Word of Mouth
Through all of this, word of mouth throughout the school can do a huge amount. I spoke to the entire school and read passages from Steady for This by Nathanael Lessore which is a hilarious and heartfelt story that everyone should read. The interest in this book surged, therefore it prompted me to create a display called “Read with a Friend” where I simply put multiple copies of books on a shelf so students could read books with their friends at the same pace.
These are ways that have resulted in bringing new faces to the library and having a lot of books borrowed!
Many thanks once again to Mr Maxwell the librarian at Glenthorne High School.
If you or your students would like to share something on Library Corner please get in touch with Monica via our contact form here
