May 15

Mrs Robinson has made these two new guides to the Library Services at The Dixie Grammar School:

Joint Library Services

Governor Guide to the Library Services on Issuu:


Junior School Library

Staff Guide on Issuu:


We hope you find them interesting and helpful. Here is full range of our Library Guides.

written by Mrs Robinson \\ tags: , , ,

Apr 20

We are now getting nearer to the development of the library in the Summer Holidays! The whole thing will start at May Half Term, when the partition between the Library and Room 8 will be removed and also the current shelving and some furniture. All of the resources and equipment will be boxed up and the Librarian re-located to Room 9 until the new Library is ready! The main work will begin at the very start of the Summer Holidays.

There has been a lot done in two terms and it is again time to look at how far we have progressed:

(1) Establish a baseline for future assessment – complete

(2) Learn how to use the Eclipse 2 Library Management

Continuing to develop skills. Small number of  Student Library Helpers have been recruited and I am training them on the system.

(3) Start to get-to-know the school community and systems

  • Attend staff meetings, special events and assemblies – on-going
  • Talk to staff and students both formally and informally – on-going
  • Begin to recruit and train Student Library helpers - see above. Small number recruited – learning essential systems in readiness for Autumn Term opening.
  • Deliver a presentation to the whole school in assembly – done

(4) Library management and administration:

  • Library Procedures Manual setting out all library administrative systems – on-going
  • Library Handbook gathering evidence of the Library and Librarian’s impact on teaching and learning in the school – on-going
  • Monitoring reports for the Senior Management and Governors – on-going

(5) Library resources:

  • Weed, re-catalogue, clean, mend and label Fiction stock – done
  • Weed, re-catalogue, clean, mend and label Non-Fiction stock – almost finished!
  • Begin to purchase new stock items after consultation with staff and students – will continue towards end of Summer Term and during Summer Holidays
  • Put up new signage and guiding – done. Note – this will be removed when Library dismantled at May Half Term. New signage will be designed for Library when ready.

(6) Library use and impact on curriculum:

  • Re-organise physical layout of tables etc – done
  • Open at lunchtimes and after school – every day
  • Publicise Reading Champions group and begin meetings – done. New Reading Champions Wiki being developed in conjunction with students to allow them to discuss their reading with each other.
  • Library Induction for Year 6 students – took place on the afternoon of International Day – very successful according to student feedback
  • Helping students and staff to choose suitable reading material – developing
  • Supporting students and staff with range of research queries – developing

(7) Library development:

  • Attend relevant planning meetings – on-going
  • Liaise with school staff to support co-ordination of the project – on-going
  • Continuing to develop a wish-list for the development – on-going
  • Plan a series of visits to other suitable school libraries – on-going
  • Open discussions with suitable library furnishing companies – done
  • Consult with school community – on-going
  • Survey students – done – Year 7-13 Survey see results and comments/feedback, Year 6 Survey see results, comments and feedback
  • Create plan for library as a result of these consultations - on-going. Plan mainly finalised, but there will be some “tweaks” over the coming weeks
  • Library shelving and furnishing suppliers chosen – done

(8) Use of ICT and developing technologies:

  • Create the Library Online website – done
  • Continue to develop the site to be a support for teaching and learning in the school – on-going
  • Development of wiki for Reading Champions Group - started, but awaiting feedback from students

(9) Enjoy my new job:

Definitely! And this is continuing…

written by Mrs Robinson \\ tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

Jan 16

After a term in the school, it is again time to look at what progress we have made:

(1) Establish a baseline for future assessment – complete

(2) Learn how to use the Eclipse 2 Library Management

Initial phase complete, but continuing to develop skills. Next phase to recruit some Student Library Helpers and train them on the system.

(3) Start to get-to-know the school community and systems

  • Attend staff meetings, special events and assemblies – on-going
  • Talk to staff and students both formally and informally – on-going
  • Begin to recruit and train Student Library helpers - after February Half Term to ensure that they are trained in readiness for September 2009
  • Deliver a presentation to the whole school in assembly – done

(4) Library management and administration:

  • Library Procedures Manual setting out all library administrative systems – on-going
  • Library Handbook gathering evidence of the Library and Librarian’s impact on teaching and learning in the school – on-going
  • Monitoring reports for the Senior Management and Governors – on-going

(5) Library resources:

  • Weed, re-catalogue, clean, mend and label Fiction stock – done
  • Weed, re-catalogue, clean, mend and label Non-Fiction stock – on-going but not much left to do!
  • Begin to purchase new stock items after consultation with staff and students – on-going
  • Put up new signage and guiding – done

(6) Library use and impact on curriculum:

  • Re-organise physical layout of tables etc – done
  • Open at lunchtimes and after school – every day
  • Publicise Reading Champions group and begin meetings – done
  • Library Induction for Year 6 students – took place on the afternoon of International Day – very successful according to student feedback
  • Helping students and staff to choose suitable reading material – developing
  • Supporting students and staff with range of research queries – developing

(7) Library development:

  • Attend relevant planning meetings – on-going
  • Liaise with school staff to support co-ordination of the project – on-going
  • Continuing to develop a wish-list for the development – on-going
  • Plan a series of visits to other suitable school libraries – on-going
  • Open discussions with suitable library furnishing companies – done
  • Consult with school community – on-going
  • Survey students – done – Year 7-13 Survey see results and comments/feedback, Year 6 Survey see results, comments and feedback
  • Create plan for library as a result of these consultations - on-going

(8) Use of ICT and developing technologies:

  • Create the Library Online website – done
  • Continue to develop the site to be a support for teaching and learning in the school – on-going

(9) Enjoy my new job:

Definitely! And this is continuing…

Many thanks are always due to my school librarian colleagues, particularly those on SLN who have given me so much support, ideas and good cheer during these first few weeks in a new post.

written by Mrs Robinson \\ tags: , , , , , , ,

Oct 28

The Library at The Dixie Grammar School belongs to the whole school community …

… we are beginning the exciting task of planning a new re-furbished Library and we need your help. So …

Question

… let us know what kind of Library you want!

You can comment on this website and …

… fill in the survey which will be coming soon to your form.

Go on – have your say!


Images are from the Flickr website

 Dom Dada, wok, -bast-, tantek and Stefan

written by Mrs Robinson \\ tags: , ,

Oct 17

Well, I have now been at the school for seven weeks, so I think that it is time to look at what has been achieved so far – sorry, this is a long post but I have livened it up with a few fun images:

Dixie Library as a Rubik's Cube

Dixie Library as a Rubik's Cube

(1) Establish a baseline for future assessment:

  • Inventory all furniture and equipment – done
  • Stock-take and count all resources – done
  • Take statistics from the Library Management System to assess past borrowing – done
  • Work out previous patterns of use – done
  • Photograph library – done
  • Write assessment report for Senior Management – done

(2) Learn how to use the Eclipse 2 Library Management System for:

  • Updating and enrolling students and staff – done
  • Cataloguing – on-going
  • Creating reports - on-going
  • Searching for resources – on-going
Dixie Library as a Polaroid

Dixie Library as a Polaroid

(3) Start to get-to-know the school community and systems:

  • Attend staff meetings, special events and assemblies – on-going
  • Talk to staff and students both formally and informally – on-going
  • Begin to recruit and train Student Library helpers - on-going
  • Deliver a presentation to the whole school in assembly – after October Half Term

(4) Library management and administration:

  • Begin to write a Library Procedures Manual to set out all library administrative systems – on-going
  • Begin to compile a Library Handbook to gather evidence of the Library and Librarian’s impact on teaching and learning in the school – on-going
  • Plan a series of monitoring reports for the Senior Management and Governors – on-going
Dixie Library as an Amazing Circle

Dixie Library as an Amazing Circle

(5) Library resources:

  • Weed, re-catalogue, clean, mend and label Fiction stock – done
  • Weed, re-catalogue, clean, mend and label Non-Fiction stock – on-going
  • Begin to purchase new stock items after consultation with staff and students – on-going
  • Put up new signage and guiding – on-going

(6) Library use:

  • Re-organise physical layout of tables etc – done
  • Open at lunchtimes and after school – on-going
  • Publicise Reading Champions group and begin meetings – done
Wordle based on the functions of a school library

Wordle based on the tags in this site

Image made using Wordle

(7) Library development:

  • Attend relevant planning meetings – on-going
  • Begin to create a wish-list for the development – on-going
  • Plan a series of visits to other suitable school libraries – on-going
  • Open discussions with suitable library furnishing companies – done
  • Consult with school staff – on-going
  • Start the consultation process with students – after October Half Term

(8) Use of ICT and developing technologies:

  • Create the Library Online website – done
  • Continue to develop the site to be a support for teaching and learning in the school – on-going

(9) Enjoy my new job:

Definitely!

Many thanks are due to my school librarian colleagues, particularly those on SLN who have given me so much support, ideas and good cheer during these first few weeks in a new post.


If you like the rather strange photographic effects, try your own photos on this site:
Dumpr

written by Mrs Robinson \\ tags: , , , , , , ,

Sep 16

The stock-take was completed last week and an Initial Assessment Report on the Library was sent to the Headmaster and my Line Manager, Mr Haddon. This will enable us to have a baseline against which to measure the future development of the Library.

This week, I am continuing with the following things:

  • Assessing and weeding all stock
  • Cleaning, repairing and re-cataloguing remaining stock
  • Designing and printing new guiding and signage
  • Beginning to plan displays – particularly with Open Morning in mind
  • Getting to know staff and pupils
  • Developing the Library Online Website

The Library is now open at lunchtimes as well as after school for all pupils – see previous post. A small collection of magazines has been started. I am also planning how to involve the pupils as Library Helpers – note not Librarians!

Now, I also have to think about how to promote the services of the Library and especially this website – more on that soon!

written by Mrs Robinson \\ tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

Sep 09

These are the main things that are happening in the Library this week:

  • Stock-take all resources – finished at end of week
  • Begin to assess and weed all stock
  • Clean, repair and re-catalogue stock
  • Continue to get to know staff and pupils
  • Write an Initial Assessment Report to establish a baseline against which to measure future developments – finished at end of week

written by Mrs Robinson \\ tags: , , , , , , ,