Posted in Libraries, tagged pop-up library on May 14, 2013 | Leave a Comment »
A pop-up-library, designed and built by Nick Korody of Los Angeles district Pacific Palisades, has appeared just outside the Canyon Charger School.
Developed as part of his architecture and urban studies course, it’s always pleasing to see any kind of initiative that promotes reading and literature!
Posted in Books & Reading, Libraries, Library Promotion, tagged role of teacher librarian, School Library on February 19, 2013 | Leave a Comment »
It’s a daring question to pose to those of us working in school libraries ….. but ….. clearing out the entire book collection is exactly what has happened in one school library in Minneapolis in the US.
Seen to be responding to the February 2012 Obama Administration’s challenge to schools to embrace digital textbooks within 5 years, Benilde-St Margaret’s last year scrapped its entire print collection to create a learning space where students and staff can meet to share ideas, research and access online databases on iPads, laptops or computers, or to just read!
I first read about this story in an article in the January 20th issue of the Huffington Post: Minneappolis School Library Without Books Thrives After Clearing Entire Print Collection. Quoting the high school Principal, Sue Skinner, the report is, as expected, upbeat in its praise of the task undertaken. While a few books were left in the library for ‘reference’, teachers throughout the school were able to take books they wanted for their classroom libraries. All the remaining books were packaged up and donated to schools in Africa.
Responsibility for the dismantling of the library seems to have been completed by none other than the school principal. In the new digital Benilde library, Math and Literacy coaches work with students as they research using online databases such as Gale and ProQuest. A look at the school website is a little frightening though. There is no mention of a school library or library staff. So who then directs this new library? Sadly, no one!
Digging a little deeper for more information about this story, I found a very comprehensive report on School Library Journal. Incorporating a far more in depth interview with the school Principal, Sue Skinner, the clincher comes when Skinner confides that the current librarian is retiring and that a search is underway for a visionary leader who holds similar views to Skinner to take the concept forward. Some of the ‘tongue in cheek’ comments following this article reflect the range of thoughts and questions that virtually all Teacher Librarians working in schools would want to pose!
Posted in Book Trivia, Libraries, tagged Raul Lemesoff on May 16, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
A mixture of creativity and benevolence is behind Argentinian artist Raul Lemesoff’s conversion of a car into a tank.
By taking an old 1979 Ford Falcon, a popular car used by the army during the dictatorship, and converting it into a tank laden with books, Lemesoff symbolically demonstrates how acts of war and hate can be transformed into acts of peace and love.
Revamped as a tank, the car, which Lemesoff named Weapon of Mass Instruction (Arma De Instruccion Masiva) has 900 publications stacked into it. Touring the country from end to end, Lemesoff takes pleasure giving books that have been privately donated to his project away to readers of all ages.
With the aim to bring literature to places where it can’t be found, to share education and to allow others to have a good time, Lemesoff says that his effort is
a contribution to peace through literature.”
An amazing effort – no?!
Posted in Book Trivia, Libraries on May 14, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
In this, the National Year of Reading, all our efforts are focused on encouraging students to engage with reading and to explore the many advantages and benefits it has to offer..
Coming across this feel good story in China Daily of Chinese High School student Liu Jiahao, keen to provide opportunities for the impoverished children in the city of Changzhou, East China’s Jiangsu province, by building a library is indeed uplifting.
Liu said the library will help poverty-stricken students and inspire more people to read.
How inspirational!
Posted in Book Trivia, Books & Reading, Libraries, tagged books, community, literature, Little Free Library, reading on May 9, 2012 | 1 Comment »
How coincidental it is when one has an idea that is the same as someone else on the other side of the world ’cause that’s kind of what happened to me just recently!
A few weeks ago, I noticed a post on FaceBook by the NYOR team promoting a Swap Box which had been established by someone or some organization somewhere in Australia. Regrettably I didn’t jot down the name of the person behind the idea. I did however keep a picture of it to share with my colleagues in our school library. The picture I saved was this:
Needless to say ….. it didn’t take too long to create a very similar box which now sits on display on our circulation desk. Filled with a starter bundle of books which library staff cobbled together, the Swap Box has been a source of interest since and is a really great way to promote an interest in that wonderful feeling of holding, reading and owning a book!
Soon after getting our box up and running, someone sent me a link to a newly established website: “Little Free Library”. Begun just a short while ago, these pop up libraries, first begun in Wisconsin in the USA, can be found in more than 40 states across the US as well as in 20+ countries around the world. Found predominantly decorating the front yards of homes or residential neighbourhoods, the Little Free Library looks like a box on a short post, much like a letter box. With the motto “Give a book ….. Return a book” the Little Free Library is a new way of inspiring and promoting a love of reading while building a sense of community.
Posted in Libraries, tagged Columbia, Luis Soriano on October 12, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Next time you think of complaining about the size and space in your library or the amount of money you have to spend on purchasing books for your library, just take a moment to think of Luis Soriano.
Luis piles books onto the back of his two donkeys, Alfa and Beto, and travels up to 11 kilometres over eight hours a day to provide a visiting library service to children living in rural Columbia. His dedication over the last ten years to the needs of children is commendable. Determined to break the cycle of illiteracy among his people, Luis tells us in this short video clip that he is helping to build Columbians of the future. His determination extends to building a more solid physical space to house the many books he has piled up in boxes in his ramshackle hut.
Take a long hard look around your library today. Appreciate all that is housed inside its walls.
Posted in Libraries, tagged East Melbourne Library on June 23, 2011 | 2 Comments »
I had one of those wonderful weekends – staying overnight in a little B & B in East Melbourne. Relaxing, enjoyable and absolutely lovely.
Around 4.30pm while wandering down George Street on the way to take a look at the beautiful Fitzroy Gardens, a very modern looking building popped into view. Surrounded as it is by old stately terrace houses, the structure, which in the twilight hours glowed at us, was like a magnet, attracting us to explore. Lo and behold we happened upon East Melbourne Library. Needless to say I just had to stop and go inside to look, see and explore.
Although only a little Library, it is packed full of all kinds of goodies. Best picks greet you at the entrance. From there you quickly move around the cavernous furniture displaying magazines, reference books, fiction, large print and all the usual fare that we’ve come to expect in a Library. Both the signage and the unusual shelving are inviting and add to the warm ambience. The whole Library glows. I very nearly ditched my weekend away and curled up with a book there! Add this one to your must visit.
Posted in Book Trivia, Libraries, tagged automated retrieval and storage system, The Joe and Rika Mansueto Library, University of Chicago on June 3, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Like it or not, libraries as we know them are certainly undergoing some radical changes! And not all those changes are heading in the same direction.
While just a few days ago in a post titled: New hi-tech library to do away with books! I reported on Wellington College which intends to rid its library of hard copy books and replace them with eBooks, it seems that other libraries are as equally intent to not only preserve hard copy books but aim to ensure that their students use these books for reference and research purposes.
The Joe and Rika Mansueto Library at the University of Chicago officially opened for use on May 16, 2011. A stunning architectural construction, this library has the capacity to store 3.5 million books. The difference is that not one book is on display!
Instead, the books, sorted by size, are barcoded to enable tracking of their location and are placed into a storage bin. Each bin holds 100 volumes. A staggering 24,000 bins are stored using automated storage and retrieval system 50 feet (15.24m) underground. Using the library catalogue, users, either locally or anywhere in the world, can place a request for books and within five minutes of making this request the book will be available for pickup!
See how this astounding process works:
