Our Library Newsletter moves online

For Term 2, the LRC team put together a text based newsletter.

Distributed via email it was just a list of links and ideas - low tech!

At the end of Term 2, we did a survey with staff to see what they thought of the format and frequency and upon reflection and discussion with the LRC team, re-invented the newsletter transferring it to our Libguides platform.

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As a team we contribute to the newsletter over a two week period and when it is full distribute it with an email which lists the things that we can't put on the website, like student achievements in reading and writing.

So check it out if you want, let us know what you think!

Covid-19 Borrow Bags in the School Library

We packed another seven Borrow Bags this week for students who wanted to still borrow physical books from our collection, but who were not learning on campus. We decided not to use the term "Click and Collect" as many retailers are using this term and we wanted to emphasis "Borrowing".

There has been a great deal of discussion about Borrow Bags on the various mailing lists and Facebook groups so I thought I would document our process. I am sure that there are so many ways of doing this, but this is what worked for my team.

To start with, safety is our first priority. Not just physical safety, but mentally as well. Students and parents both wanted to know that we had taken appropriate precautions when dealing with the books.

How did we do it?

Students would reserve their books via the catalogue and also email us to say they wanted a Borrow Bag packed for them. In the email to us, students could request a mystery pack in a particular genre and also ask for books to support the Victorian Premiers Reading Challenge.

In our first lockdown in Victoria, Australia, we had one student who read through a selection of Novellas and Graphics Novels and she completed the Victorian Premiers Reading Challenge before the end of Term 2. Bravo!

We looked at using a Google Form for this, but often we would have to email back and forth with the student letting them know what was or wasn't available. A google form offered no advantage (for us) over email.

During our first lockdown, Term 2, 2020 we had lots of students interested in collecting a Borrow Bag. The interest petered off towards the end of lockdown, however the girls that were borrowing were grabbing 4-6 books each. We had two staff members come into the library on the Monday and Thursday to create and then distribute the Borrow Bags.

Each bag had a little lolly pack with a Chupa-Chump and some fruit chews in a little cute plastic bag with an "Enjoy your reading" label on them. A few students were very excited by this surprise. We also included bookmarks and some feedback/book review sheets as well.

A few button badges found their way in as well. These were received well! I have uploaded one of the button badge printables to my blog for your downloading pleasure.

Managing the Information

After creating a "group" spreadsheet of all the Borrow Bag recipients and their books while we were working from home, we printed off "receipts" that we could use to mark off whether a book was available or not.

When we came onsite, we printed off the receipts, collected the books and then folded it strategically. This was then used to label the bags. We managed to initially grab the bags from the Marketing office. They were left over from an event. But as we did more and more Borrow Bags, we finally just bought some from Officeworks, a business stationary retailer in Australia.

We constructed the bags on the Monday and then they were collected on the Thursday. Allowing three days between us handling them and the kids collecting them. The guidelines given to us by the school was to clean and then quarantine books for three days before shelving.

When students were collecting their Borrow Bags they were encouraged to return any overdue books. We suspended overdue notices during lockdown, but encouraged them to return books. 

So throughout Lockdown 1.0 this is what we did. During Lockdown 2.0 it might be a bit different as Year 11/12 students are onsite. Students will be able to pick their Borrow Bags up from the Library if they have been temperature checked a the front office. But we will still have to follow our quarantine procedure.

Please comment ...

This was the way that we did it, how did you do it?

Free Badge Printable: Reading and Books

Earlier in the year I made these badges for students who borrowed books during the lockdown period.

instagram: konstantkaos

We would throw a few into the bags with their books along with bookmarks and a few lollies.

If you have a badge maker you can download this PNG file and print it out to the desired size. My button badge maker is 1.25" in size. I have a template in Canva that I use to create these.

Publications update

Finally getting around to updating my publications list.  I've got a few articles in the "pipeline" at the moment on a variety of topics. It's been a while since I have had the energy to write, things are chaotic here in Victoria, Australia.

This was a short and sweet article, originally pitched as five things that worked for us and the editor of FYI reduced it to three things.

enjoy!

Exploring the need of a School Library Newsletter

For a while now, during Covid-19 lockdown, our team has been producing a newsletter that goes out to staff at the end of each week with relevant links to resources that we manage.

Our objective was to cut down on the wave of "all staff" emails that the team would send out throughout the week. Our staff was expressing overload by the number of emails they would get every week and if we could consolidate our communications into a newsletter, it would hopefully help.

We have received good feedback from staff but will do a proper evaluation to see if staff want us to continue with this.

What do you think?
Good idea or waste of time?

LRC Weekly Staff News: Term 2 Week 5

Library and Information Week 2020: CREATE

May 25 to May 29 is Library and Information Week, a week to celebrate library services around the nation. This year’s theme is CREATE and we’d like to invite YOU to do a little creating.  All you need is a good idea and photo to create your very own book cover.

Penguin Classics Cover generatorhttps://penguin.jos.ht/

The Penguin Classics Cover generator allows you to create your very own literary classic.

We’d love you to participate, especially the English and VisComm teachers, and all the book lovers on staff.  Your cover might be the book you’ve always wanted to write or perhaps you’d like to design your own cover for an existing title. 

Why not give it a try? You can CREATE your book cover directly from your phone or desktop. Then email it to the <Library email> so we can add it to our digital gallery

Have fun!  We look forward to receiving your creations.

Whitehorse and Manningham Libraries

https://wml.spydus.com/cgi-bin/spydus.exe/MSGTRN/WPAC/JOIN
Join up online and get access to their free streaming services Kanopy and Beamafilm. Services also include access to Ancestry.com and all their eBook collections.

Australian True Crime Podcast

https://australiantruecrimepodcast.com/

Meshel Laurie and Emily Webb delve deep behind the headlines to bring a fresh take on all things true crime.

Bark Europa

https://www.barkeuropa.com/

Built in 1911, Bark Europa is a working tall ship. They had to cancel their normal Antarctic voyages and are sailing back to Holland from Ushuaia because of Covid-19. Captain Klass is holding competitions as they sail home. The latest one is ‘When will EUROPA lose her shadow and see the sun directly overhead?’.

Humankind

https://www.humankindfilmfestival.com/

The Human Rights Film (and Arts) Festival is going online as Humankind, screening a different film each night from May 18 to 24. Tickets required. Films are free. Donations accepted. The Artist program is also online.

Collaborative Whiteboard space

https://whiteboard.fi/ 

Online whiteboard tool for teachers and classrooms!

Top Year 7 Reads
<Year 7 Wider Reading Libguides URL>

If you teach Year 7, how many of these have you read?

• Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J. K. Rowling
• Once by Morris Gleitzman
• Warriors, the prophecies begin. Into the Wild by Erin Hunter
• The Last Leaves Falling by Sarah Bernwell
• It Only Happens in the Movies by Holly Bourne

Wheelers eBook platform

https://sion.eplatform.co/

Remember you can download the eBook platform onto your smartphone so you can listen to audiobooks while you walk the dog!

Children’s Book Council of Australia: Older Readers Shortlist

https://cbca.org.au/news/announcing-the-cbca-2020-shortlist

Announced this week, these 6 books were chosen from an initial list of 100 Young Adult books.

• Ghost Bird By Lisa Fuller (eBook)
• The boy who steals houses by C.G. Drews
• How it feels to float by Helena Fox (eBook)
• When the ground is hard by Malla Nunn
• Four Dead Queens by Astrid Scholte (also on eBook)
• This is how we change the ending by Viki Wakefield (also on eBook)

Victorian Premiers Reading Challenge Update

Check out the <VPRC Libguide> for testimonials from students who did the VPRC last year.

• Term 2 Week 4          79 verified books / 663 registrations
• Term 2 Week 5         127 verified books/ 663 registrations

Borrow Bags

These are the girls that picked up their Borrow Bags, so ask them about their books if you teach them.

<List of students collecting books>

Library Stocktake

<name> and <name> have been busy stocktaking the Non-Fiction part of our physical collection. We do this to identify shrinkage, inconsistencies in the catalogue and to check the quality of the books on the shelf.

• 5,454 number of books in the Non Fiction collection.

Most popular Non-Fiction books

• Girl Stuff by Caz Cooke
• The Complete Dog Breed Guide by Kim Dennis-Bryan
• The Art of Annemieke Mein: Wildlife Artist in Textiles by Annemieke Mein

New on ClickView

We’ve just added some great new programs to the collection and we’ll have more for you next week. All episodes are short and get to the point quickly.

Health and Science (Biology)

Systems of the Human Body: Skeletal Systems

Episodes include: Functions of the Human Skeleton, Bone Health and Disease, Structure of the Skeleton, Injuries and healing, Joints and Movement. (Check out the PDF teacher resources for each episode)

Food Technology /Hospitality

Catering (Series)

Episodes include: Types of Rice and how they are cooked, Preparing a meat for a basic dish, Preparing vegetables for a basic dish, Preparing fish for a basic dish, How to cut a whole chicken for Sauté, How to cook and finish a basic meat dish, Cooking a basic fish dish, Cook and finish a basic vegetable dish, Chicken Chasseur Using Chicken for Sauté, Handling, Maintaining and Cleaning Knives.

Art/ VisComm / Drama

Constructing, painting and decorating (series)

Episodes include.

Tracing a projected image part 1: Preparation, Tracing a projected image part 2: Design, Tracing a projected image part 3: Preservation, Applying Lining Paper: Part 1, Applying Lining Paper: Part 2, Applying Lining Paper: Part 3, Applying Solvent-Borne Paint to a Door: Part 1, Applying Solvent-Borne Paint to a Door: Part 2, Applying Solvent-Borne Paint to a Door: Part 3, Applying Emulsion Paint to a Ceiling Area

#freebookmarks for your #schoollibrary - Spring Bookmarks

Here are some bookmarks inspired by the change of seasons, which is just around the corner in Australia.

Made in Canva, we print these off on 160gsm card through our colour copier.

Download the image and print as A4, splice and go!