Library News

2023 sees the restructuring of the Library begin. Just as with the rest of the school restructuring, this one is to ensure that the Library is moving with the times and meeting the educational and recreational needs of students and staff.  At the commencement of this year Ms Elinor Couper is on six months long service leave and being covered by Ms Peta Harrison. 

There have already been a few changes that may have been noticed by those who were in the school last year. The Facilities team has provided two beautiful Ficus trees that are enhancing the opening of the Library. Comfortable seating has been added to the front foyer with a view to encouraging students to take time to look at the displays so ably presented by Mrs Lubke.

The layout of the Library will be changing as the term progresses. We now have four distinct areas – 'private study', 'classroom engagement', 'reading area' and an 'interactive space' that includes a smartboard, reading chair and mat for the primary grades. The 'reading area' has some brightly coloured couches and chairs to encourage reading, while the 'classroom engagement' area has several ‘cloud’ tables that can be utilised as whiteboards to encourage students to problem solve as they work.

We are currently working on amalgamating some of our collections to reflect the change to a secondary school/ primary school environment. As we move books around, we are taking the opportunity to remove books that no longer meet the requirements of staff and students. Hopefully, this will make it easier for students to find books that appeal to them. Thank you to Mrs Pyle for the mammoth effort she has put into assisting with these changes.

Students are encouraged to make suggestions as to the books and magazines they would like to see in the Library by filling in a paper form found in the Library or accessing the online form found on the front page of Oliver.

I encourage you to explore the Library search page which gives students the option of doing a Federated search of the school Library, the databases the school subscribes to and various other institutions. All these sources have been vetted as being appropriate to schools. This can be done by clicking on “Search other sources” which appears near the search bar on the home page.

I would like to extend a warm welcome to parents who would like to come into the Library with their child/children to browse and borrow books after school. We also have a small collection of parenting books that can be borrowed. The best days for this are Monday, Wednesday and Thursday. If you would like to have a short session on how to use the databases so you can assist your child/children, please contact the Library at library@gsg.wa.edu.au

Ms Peta Harrison | Head of Library Services