Library

Handbury and Winifred Berry Libraries:

It’s time to end the 2018 Victorian Premiers’ Reading Challenge

It’s time to verify what has been read. Please send an email or a note in the record book to say that books listed on the website against your child’s name have been read. We have some outstanding results!

Deadline for us is the start of next week to ensure we finish our work before the website closes. A full list of successful challengers will be shared once things are finalised – and it will be very long for the Junior School! Senior School completion rate is up 300%, but is still a small number of individuals. The power of reading cannot be underestimated!

Senior School Book Exchange and Junior School Little Library:

The Junior School launched their Little Library earlier this term at the request of the SRC. The Senior School’s plans, led by Lachlan Tonissen have been held up by the renovations – that is until now! Mr Dopheide painted our shelving to match the new Library and our exchange is now up and running in the foyer as you enter our building.

Little Libraries or Book exchanges are for people to leave copies of books they have bought and read for others to enjoy, and to take titles that appeal to them. These titles are read, they may be kept, they may be put into a different Little Library, or returned to the same one. They are community driven and, as such, are not really maintained by Library staff. Titles in good order may be added, and from time to time we will check the shelves for inappropriate material (in terms of content or condition) but the shelves themselves should be replenished by readers other than us!

Our Library services are based on a collective arrangement whereby we purchase titles, process them and make them available to be lent. Many people can then read the same book – one at a time, over as many years as the book keeps being returned in good condition.

Academic Success:

Readers succeed in study and in life for a whole range of reasons which are still being explored. Schools which offer well established, managed and integrated services to their teachers and students are critical. In 2003, the Australian School Library Association published an article which stated the following:

• the quality of the collection has an impact on student learning;
• test scores are higher when there is higher usage of the school library;
• collaborative relationships between classroom teachers and school librarians have a significant impact on learning, particularly in relation to the planning of instructional units, resource collection development, and the provision of professional development for teachers;
• a print-rich environment leads to more reading, and free voluntary reading is the best predictor of comprehension, vocabulary growth, spelling and grammatical ability, and writing style;
• integrating information literacy into the curriculum can improve students’ mastery of both content and information seeking skills; and that
• libraries can make a positive difference to students’ self-esteem, confidence, independence and sense of responsibility in regard to their own learning.

(PDF) Impact of School Libraries on Student Achievement: A Review of the Research. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/234608717_Impact_of_School_Libraries_on_Student_Achievement_A_Review_of_the_Research [accessed Aug 22 2018].

Marg Simkin