CBCA Shortlist 2009

The Children's Book Council of Australia 2009 shortlist has just been published.

Book of the Year: Older Readers (These books are for mature readers):

D.M. Cornish: Monster Blood Tattoo Book Two: Lamplighter
Anthony Eaton: Into White Silence
Jackie French: A Rose for the Anzac Boys
Melina Marchetta: Finnikin of the Rock
James Mononey: Kill the Possum
Shaun Tan: Tales from Outer Suburbia
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Which have I loved best, by far? (not that I have any influence).
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Read the list in full here.   And the (longer) Notables list for older readers is here.
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I read it first on the Read Alert blog here (see, it pays to refresh your own blogroll!)
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The happy life of teacher librarians

This afternoon.
"Miss?"
"Yup?"
"This library, miss."
"Yup?"
"I like the way it changes, and it's happy."
"Thank you."
"I remember coming in in Year 7 and thinking Wow!, and it's still wow."
"Thank you!"
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They do notice!
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NSW Premier's Literary Awards 2009

The NSW Premier's Literary Awards include two categories of particular interest to teacher librarians.
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Ethel Turner Prize for Young People's Literature:
2009 shortlisted writers are...

• Dianne Bates: Crossing the Line
• Michelle Cooper: A Brief History of Montmaray
• D.M Cornish: Monster Blood Tattoo Book Two: Lamplighter
• Alison Goodman: The Two Pearls of Wisdom
• Nette Hilton: Sprite Downberry
• Joanne Horniman: My Candlelight Novel

Read more about this shortlist here.
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Patricia Wrightson Prize for Children's Literature:
2009 shortlisted writers are...

• Urusla Dubosarsky & Tohby Riddle (Illustrator): The Word Spy
• Bob Graham: How to Heal a Broken Wing
• Sonya Hartnett and Ann James (Illustrator): Sadie and Ratz
• Glenda Millard and Stephen Michael King (Illustrator): Perry Angel's Suitcase
• Tohby Riddle: Nobody Owns the Moon
• Shaun Tan: Tales from Outer Suburbia

Read more about this shortlist here.
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Good ideas for school libraries: 16. Cinema posters

I've mentioned cinema posters for the library before.  Take a squizz at these:

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The brick in this area is, like all the library, undistinguished (and that's being polite), and the wall behind is institutional cream.  This wall rises the height of the library (ground floor + mezzanine + upstairs) and so you need something very big to have impact.  There's also impact from the repetition (not many films offer this possibility, but some do have several posters rather than one).  These didn't cost a lot, but are working hard to make the library space more interesting, give the kids another thing to look at.  These are vinyl/plasticised on the front and paper on the back, so not quite as durable as all vinyl, but still a lot better than paper.  Whatever your opinion of the film, they're also a patriotic note above our history and geography section.

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What you need: as said before, keep an eye out at cinemas and video shops.  Ask.  Tell them you're a teacher librarian and you want to make children's lives happy and beautiful.

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Good ideas for school libraries: 15. Playing with paint chips

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Dream big.  Play with paint chips.  Imagine what might be possible.  I won't tell you where these are for yet...but one day I hope you'll look at this blog and go AHA! as you see pictures of what I am currently imagining.  They are, from left to right, light olive, chartreuse, purple-blue, orange and a dirty apricot.

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The great thing about paint, however, is how cheap it is and how much it can achieve.

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What you need: a hardware store, and probably some plans to put your case.  Take some pictures of dreary before, and have some images of thrilling after.  Time to prepare the surface and to paint.  Maybe some extra willing hands.  Everything you'd expect, and the possibility of something special to come.

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Trailer: Where the Wild Things Are

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I hope this trailer will work; it's from trailerspy.com, and their trailers have before been fine to work within school/DET portal firewalls etc. 

url: http://www.trailerspy.com/trailer/3117/Where-the-Wild-Things-Are-Trailer-HD

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The word is that this film is not pitched at little kids, even though inspired by a picture book.  Not sure of its rating in Australia yet, but worth checking before you plan your excursion, if you're in a primary school.

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Australian release date is 10 December 2009, according to IMDB.

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These are screenshots from the trailer.

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Found via Alien Onion (a lovely publisher blog), which has a link to Apple's trailerpark of options.
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Good ideas for school libraries: 14. Harmony Day 2009

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Our school always does something for Harmony Day - varies year to year.  I aim to involve the library.  Here's our foyer:

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Which, if you've read this blog before, you'll realise involves the same bookcase, but different books and a different banner.  This fabric is Ikea Gunilla ($9 per metre, not at all expensive).  I spotted it earlier in the year, and since the Harmony Day colour is orange, I snapped it up (the birds imply harmony of a kind, too).  The face-out books have some connection to Harmony Day; the orange spines are there to be orange, and for general browsing (maybe some kids will find something new, even though our choice is entirely and aribtrarily based on the orange spines! - we sometimes do other 'colour-themed' displays, as a different way to bring the attention of kids to various books and to support various themes).

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What you need: the banners are as described (with making instructions) last week, the books are from the bookshelves of the library and you can find a bunch of Harmony Day graphics and more on the Harmony Day website.

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Good ideas for school libraries: 13. What is your library's message?

Slideshare has a bunch of Powerpoints - worth trawling through to see what you might find. This one certainly has ideas worth thinking about in relation to the school library and the messages we send, eg:

• How many signs in your field of vision at the entrance?
• What is the readability of our font choices? 
• How do we format library messages, whether signs/emails/documents?
• How does your library accommodate different learning styles?
• How consistent is the message of your library?

How To Be Effective

View more presentations from Peter Bromberg.

I was talking to a fellow teacher who's at a different school Somewhere In NSW.  There, the teacher librarian posts the overdue notices on the library entrance door.  Using large fonts, and highlighting and so forth.  What sort of message is that to encourage library use, or even getting anywhere near the library door, let alone through it?  It must surely deter potential borrowers and would it be effective on the miscreants?  What is the value of the message's purpose as against its effects (intended and unintended)?
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I know our library's a long way from perfect, but you can learn from so many places.
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Skerricks in the world (thank you!)

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Ah, the Skerricks influence extends...(yesterday we had over 1200 page views - that's A-mazing!).  Here's a school that's running with the bookmarks idea.  Lots of ideas on the Salesian College blog - take a look.

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my library. my life. one school librarian's YouTube video

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Ali Schlipp, a Baltimore school librarian, talks about why she loves her work.
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Did you write a piece as suggested last week, about your work as a teacher librarian?  What would you put in a film, or what would be your script if this was about you, not Ali?
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If the embedded video above doesn't work for you, this is the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8dSUSxpyeE.
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Good ideas for school libraries: 12. Library design principles

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From Opening the Book.  Read more here, while I toddle off to see how our library measures up - and how we can make it even better.

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Year 7's questions

I've been doing Year 7 library orientations this term.  Several questions arise:

1. Why are there no men library staff?
2. Why did you paint the wall purple?
3. Can I really borrow every day?
4. Where are the Star Wars books/Guinness Book of Records/Choose your own adventure books/Dolly magazines/and so on?
5. Why do you have flags hanging from the ceiling?
6. Why is the box for returns pink?

...and so on.  It's an illuminating window.  My favourite so far (when I was 3/4 of the way through the copiously illustrated PowerPoint highlighting features and services of the library):

• Miss, is this nearly finished yet? I want to borrow a book now.

And the answers?

1. Not here, but there are in other places
2. Why not?  Isn't it beautiful now?
3. Yes, and any mix you like of fiction and nonfiction
4. Directions given as needed, note taken of their interests.
5. Because we can
6. See 5.
7. Yes, and you can, very soon.  But it's probably not polite to ask me that, sweetie.

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Of such small amusements are our days made.  Gotta love the energy and enthusiasm and (well, sometimes) innocence of Year 7 kids.

Skerricks in the world (thank you, thank you very much)

A couple of nice mentions of this blog recently - thank you!

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The Feminist Peace Network liked our International Women's Day activities. (And I learned a new webbreviation, h/t meaning hat tip!)

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Moonlightquill liked our Harmony Day ideas (more of those coming later this week, to show what we did this year).

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Good ideas for school libraries: 11. Rearrange the furniture

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I will admit, up front, to being a burglar of ideas.  The reading lounge (as previously blogged) came from something I saw at a colleague's library.  Holiday borrowing was influenced by another colleague's practices.  Ditto bookmarks, Ditto lots of things.  Imitation.  Flattery.  The creative soup of sharing (and I guess by coming here to this blog you're aiming to pick up some possibilities to burgle and use too - hope you do!).

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Last week a few colleagues and I gathered at my school library to share ideas.  Everyone brought photos of their libraries on their flash drives/nerd necklaces, and we took a 'tour' of each on the big screen.  To admire, to suggest, to enquire, to ask for help, to give advice, to see what had been done and, hey, let's be honest, to see what we could burgle!

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In one library, there was an arrangement of tables in a hollow-centred square, seminar-like.  "How does that work?" I asked curiously.  It does, I was assured.

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The idea took root, and I talked about it with my school assistant the next day.  Could be interesting, we thought.  Could be interesting.  The photo above gives you a glimpse of the nonfiction seating arrangement before we started.  Six tables, six chairs around each, the tables arranged in two lines of three tables.  It's the layout I inherited when I came here and which, until now, I haven't seen any way to change.  This idea, however, seemed to have possibilities worth exploring.

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We would need more tables.  We did some rejigging of what was where - in the glassed in seminar rooms for example, we could reduce four tables to two without major negative impact, and those two tables could go to the classroom area down the back, while two of the tables there (larger, and the same timber laminate veneer top as the other nonfiction tables) could come into the nonfiction section....

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A teacher came by while we were rejigging, and I asked her what she thought.  Hmmmm.  She didn't like the idea of a closed rectangle, she wanted to be able to get into the middle of it for teaching (or what I think of as "Geoffrey Robertson Hypothetical Mode").  Fair enough.  Useful feedback.  We swapped in one smaller table, leaving a gap.  Here's how it looks now:

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It faces, you will note, away from the entrance to the library on the right, so kids are less distracted by the general comings and goings of people.

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We observed, interested to see how it might go.  It's not going to suit every teacher instantly, but then that doesn't mean it doesn't work.  It means it's new. 

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What I like about it, and these are first thoughts: it presents a nonverbal message about the library as a learning space, thanks to its 'seminar' style.  It breaks up groups (which can become rowdy) and says, we're here to learn together.  That said, it's still possible to do group work.  It makes the kids more accountable - instead of being clustered in groups, with friends across the table, it makes each student more visible.  Their front is to the world, not protected by the mates across the table.  Psychologically, it's a different game, and the impact of this is something we're only gradually seeing.  Of the classes who have used it so far, our unscientific observation is that they're quieter, maybe because of that visibility.  I also like that it looks more mature, more sophisticated, treats the kids in a more adult way.

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Remains to be seen how it goes in the longer term.  I'm asking teachers and kids for feedback, and observing classes as they use it.  Our lovely cleaner says it's easier to vacuum around, and my helpful school assistant wants to try this in our other two classroom areas (not sure if we have enough tables for this, or enough space, but it's noted as a possibility!).

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What you need: enough tables, enough space and some musclepower to move them.  And a shiny optimistic enthusiastic smile for the staff members who look at it and say "Oh..." in that tone.  And a grin for the students who stop dead and say, "Oh!" because it's different.

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Google/Carle

The very hungry caterpillar made a guest appearance on google.com.au today, to mark the first day of autumn.

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Good ideas for school libraries: 10. Be inspired...

Last year, at a teacher librarian conference, I saw a picture of a school library in New York, one of those created with funds from the Robin Hood Foundation.  To make positive change in poverty-stricken areas, and for one of their programs specifically in schools, they worked out that a school library may be 5% of a school's space, but making this an exciting space can impact 100% of students.
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Our purple wordcloud wall, blogged a few days ago, was inspired by that picture I saw at the conference.  I've blogged about the wall, and provided in those entries links to the original work.
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There are some remarkable new Robin Hood-funded school library renovations: read about them here, and see pictures here.  I particularly love the natural-history-alphabet one.
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These are renovations designed by architects and artists and designers using what they describe as modest budgets.  To me, these are full of ideas to inspire, adapt, rework to be a part of my school library.  A primary school library, for example, could have a lot of fun with an 'alphabet letter of the week and artefacts that start with this letter' idea.  So what you need is a mind open to see what's possible, and how these ideas can inspire you.
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The New York Times has the full article by Randy Kennedy, and a slideshow and more pictures, here.

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Image source.

Good ideas for school libraries: 9. Cinema posters

One of the challenges you may face in your library is scale.  Our library is on three levels - you walk in on the middle level, go up to fiction and down to nonfiction.  There are two large voids, and high walls of cream paint and an undistinguished brick (I'm being polite).  On some of these walls, an ordinary poster looks tiddly and slightly daft, surrounded by cream paint and/or undistinguished brick (I know, I shouldn't go on about it).

Cinemas have big posters.  Keep your ears and eyes open, and you may be able to acquire (legally) some of these.

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This is part of our fiction section.  The Incredibles posters end up, high on the wall as they are, almost at eye-level, and tie in colourwise with the banner beside them (a bought banner that one - more about it and its friends later) (they also relate to the yellow struts, and orange light fittings, how DID you guess this library was built in the 1970s?).  A lot of film posters can have a tie-in with various books; these ones I just got because of the kapow! colours and the animation.  They're not too little-kid for a high school library, either.  One thing you find in our library is that there is always something to look at, to catch the eye, and I like offering students that sort of engaging environment.

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Many of these large large posters are also pretty durable, printed on vinyl, so they have the added attraction of not being silverfish luncheon fare, but instead lasting well and looking good while they're about it.  These weren't the most well-known characters from The Incredibles, but I'd rather have these than nothing.

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We do have other cinema posters - more of them later, too.

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What you need: to be paying attention for when cinemas or video shops are selling off their posters and advertising material.  Ask, if they have something you covet, and explain that you're a teacher librarian and want it for your library (some cinemas are leery of people who acquire stuff they then sell off on eBay).  They may say no, but they might not.  These posters cost under $20 each, from memory - excellent value, when an ordinary little poster can easily run over $20.

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Twilight: the concert

..if you're in Penrith, NSW, Australia, and you book you can be in the audience; or else you can listen to the radio (ABC Classic FM) and hear it:

Sunday 22 March at 3.00pm - LEICHHARDT ESPRESSO CHORUS



The Leichhardt Espresso Chorus began in 1998 when Elizabeth Mulrennan of Norton Street Bookshop decided she wanted to be part of a local choir made up of people who ‘simply wanted to sing’. Musical director Michelle Leonard leads the chorus today in Love, Lust and Longing — Songs for Edward and Bella, an all Australian program inspired by American writer Stephanie Meyer’s vampiric novel Twilight.

Learn how to book (it's free!) here.  Thanks to the TL colleague who tipped me off to this!

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Good ideas for school libraries: 8. Be inspired

There are the most wonderful essays to read among the winners of a contest on the topic: What I wish everyone knew about librarians.
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Read them here.  Be inspired.
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And then, write your own version.  As a celebration of what you do every day, and why, and how you feel about it.  Focus on the positive - acknowledge the things that get you down, by all means, but write something that will inspire you about the work you do every day, and how you do it, and the things that are good, or funny, or just the-way-things-are.  The contest's over, and maybe the piece you write is going to be just for you.  But the very act of writing it is a gift to yourself.  Do it.
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Link found on Pimp My Library.  Go take a squizz at the blogroll.  Over there on the right.  Look at what all those good people have been writing.  Click on something!
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Good ideas for school libraries: 7. International Women's Day (including a banner)

I know it's past for this year, but it will come around next year...
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We had bookmarks, because as you know if you read this blog, bookmarks are something we do:
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The colours of IWD are the suffragette colours, green and purple.  Quote burgled from the IWD 2009 page for the front, link and library name on the back.

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Banners, with a twist.  Plain purple homespun cotton fabric ($6/metre from Spotlight).  Made as described yesterday.

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This is the foyer, including our lovely foyer bookcase/showcase, with various books about women.

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What's the writing?  As announced on the whole-school assembly, all the girls and women of our school were invited to sign the banners.  Interactivity!  We had lots of takers, as you can see - a busy lunchtime, and quite a few requests since then to be allowed to add names/messages.  And lots of people reading them.  We asked the signers to write something positive about girls/women.  Like I did:

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And I would like to report that it almost worked.  Some people slip in ads anywhere, don't they?

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What you need: Bookmarks: three colours of green paper, bookmark created in Microsoft Publisher using a fancy font from scrapvillage.com.

Banners: plain lilac homespun cotton, banner stuff as outlined in yesterday's blog entry, green marker pens (and whip out some black ones if two green ones aren't enough), old newspaper to put under the banner while it's being signed (the pen goes through), a slot on the school assembly...

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The girls liked signing.  The boys often wanted to know when International Men's Day was going to be (same month as Movember).  I know I could have let them sign too, but I guess a point was being made...

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Good ideas for school libraries: 6. Banners

Australia doesn't go nearly as berserk on Valentine's Day as some other places in the world - our school has a fundraiser run by Year 12 towards their formal, involving the delivery of a (well, an artificial) rose or bud on the day for a small fee, but there isn't the wholesale gotta-give-everybody-I-like/love-a-greeting that can be the norm elsewhere.

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Valentine's Day also falls near to the start of the Australian school year. As I was thinking about how to present the library foyer to welcome our students, new and old, I put the two together. You'll see a certain pinkness among the books, to keep the colour theme - we reefed out pink books to put here, and love stories that mightn't be pink. Oh, and I do remember some of our Twilightery regulars selecting favourites to display here as well, a lot of which seemed to have the very welcoming cover colour of black... (and in case you wonder, our returns box is the same colour all the time, it just happens to work in with this rather nicely).

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The banner, however, is a new idea. You can buy banners for school libraries, on various themes, from various suppliers. I've always caught my breath at the prices. And wondered about the whole, if-it's-up-too-long-will-they-still-see-it. Some stuff in libraries does stay the same longer term, like our flags, but other things are better being changeable.

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So. Minimum budget, maximum effect (well, as maximum as possible). As is often the case with school libraries, you need some size for impact.

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Quilting fabrics come in a 110cm width - about 40 inches. Prices range from $5/metre at the bargain table end on up to shading $30 or more at the not-bargain end. I worked out that one 3m length would work on two of our pillars, one by the door and one near the top of the main stairs. Cut it in half, lengthways, and if you spent $5/metre, for $15 you have two potential banners.  And repetition, which is more effective than a single banner.

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I have more library banners planned (watch this space!). For these, the fabric is a punk-influenced one, with swirly seventies heads (so fresh and modern, unless you remember them from the seventies!) with lovely pink skull and crossbones (I was avoiding Valentine cliche roses, I figured the kids would rather have something with a bit of attitude, and from the feedback, I guessed right). I don't plan to add applique if I can help it, but the heart seemed worth doing for these. 

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I do want to avoid adding text, as that can look clunky and needs time to get right/straight/even/sewn; I want, if I can, to have the mood/meaning set by the fabric.  That way, it's a simple hemming/sewing job, not elaborate.

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There are a bazillion themed quilting fabrics. Try your local quilt shop, or chain stores like Spotlight or Lincraft, or take a squizz online at places like http://www.equilter.com/. There are so many pictorial/conversational fabrics, you'll hardly know where to start. Get the right fabric, and it can do the work without need for applique or anything more fancy than straight machine stitching. Achievable by anyone with a sewing machine.

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The idea here is to make several banners to hang through the year, to celebrate/mark various events/occasions. And next year, whip 'em out and give them another airing.  It's part of our goal of keeping the library a place where things change, where there's something different to see when you come in; having different bookmarks through the year is part of this game.  Anything to intrigue, engage, make 'em interested to come and see (I hope).

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What you need: enough fabric to hang in your longer space, allowing an extra 15in/40cm for top and bottom hems. I buy 3m as it's a tad more than enough for ours and a nice round number. Our hangers - two hooks to screw into the wall, the rod and ends - came from Ikea, for $2.95. (Product name is Irja). Neutral thread - ecru vanishes into most colours. General sewing supplies including a sewing machine and iron. Dowel rod of reasonable diameter to weight the bottom of the banners.

Using these hangers, I made the banners with tab tops rather than a casing. If you are using different hangers and can do a casing, it's a tad faster and easy too. Your call.

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The instructions are written assuming basic sewing knowledge - if you're not sure about something, check with one of your lovely home eccies, if you're in a high school, or someone else you know who can sew. This really is simple sewing, though, so give it a try... Takes me about half an hour per banner, what with pressing.  If you're not sure of your measurements, do the side hems and sew on the top hem and tabs, then hang your banner to get the length right. Maybe you could get some kids to help?

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How to: Across the WIDTH of your fabric, cut a 4in strip. Cut this into 4in squares. The way our banner hangers/hooks are set up, I've made three tab loops to hang the banner. Fold two opposite sides of each square over 1/4in and 1/4in again, press, sew down. With right sides together, sew the two raw edges together, then turn right side out. Press in half. You need three loops per banner, if you're doing it like ours.

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Cut the rest of the fabric in half along the LENGTH, to make two long pieces. Press in 1in on each side (I haven't bothered cutting off the selvedge edges) and then tuck in the raw edge to make a 1/2in doubled seam.  Sew these down. 

Press 4in over on the top of each banner, then tuck in the raw edge to create a 2in hem. Pin, for now. Pin three tabs across the top, one either end and one in the middle, with about 1in overlapping the top of the banner. Sew a rectangle, across the bottom hem, up the side, across the top (catching in the tabs) and down the other side.

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Screw the hooks to the wall, insert the hanging rod and hang your unhemmed banner. Mark where you want the bottom hem to be, then press each one up at this mark (our two banners are different lengths as the columns are different heights). Mark at 6 /12in further on from the bottom mark, then trim off excess fabric. Press over 1/4 in and sew along this seam. Press on the hem mark and pin up the hem.  I used a wideish hem for weight/effect on the bottom - a narrow hem would look skimpy, imho.

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Note: the way I've constructed the bottom hem allows for a dowel to give the banner structure/help it hang straight. I decided to make a pocket rather than a sleeve, so the rod wouldn't fall out and trip anyone.

Sew up either side of the banner hem. Sew along the top, leaving a 3-4in gap at one end of the hem, to allow for slipping a dowel rod in and out (I'm using the same rods, moving them from banner to banner as we change them over).

Cut your dowel to size, bung it in the hem pocket, hang your banner, and feel smug!

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Applique: cut out your shape in paper. Trace it (reversed if it's not symmetrical) onto the paper side of fusible webbing (eg. Vliesofix, only a few dollars per metre at any fabric store). Cut out the shape, iron it onto the WRONG side of your chosen fabric, peel off the paper and iron this in place on your banner. Sew around the edges - if you have a blanket stitch on your machine, that's good, but a straight stitch just inside the edge of the shape will do the trick.

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So. How do you like them? The kids did! And this was only the first banner idea. More to come!  I'll try to take some step by step photos of one being made for a future blog entry.

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One request: I've shared this original idea freely and hope you'll find it useful. If you do use it, or refer to it, or blog about it, please include a link back here to its original home on Skerricks to acknowledge its beginnings. Thanks! Ms.B.

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Hello & the happy life of teacher librarians

The blog stats have gone crazy today - hundreds of visitors!  Many from the UK.  I'd be interested to know if you've been prompted by another blog post, or a mention on a mailing list or something - leave a comment, would you?  Was is the brilliant ideas that got you in?  The entertaining/useful content?  How did you come to visit?  Welcome!
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The happy life of teacher librarians.
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Young teaching colleague: "I've only known two cool teacher librarians."
Me (wondering): "Oh?"
YTC: "And you're one of them."
Me (relieved): "Thank you."
YTC: "You drop everything to help anyone, and you run the school assemblies well."
Me: "Thanks!"
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Food for thought, for me.  I do try to help when I can.  I've run the weekly whole-school assembly here for most of the years I've been at this school.  It's useful PR for the library, and shows a wider teaching role and involvement in the school for me as teacher librarian; and I'm not much worried by microphones (although I never thought, when I was at high school, that one day I'D be Mr Nelson, who ran assemblies there to a standard I hope one day to reach).  Still, it's good to get a view of your work from outside, and see what is noticed.
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(It's most amusing to be cool, middle-aged as I am, when I doubt I ever was as a young tacker!)
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And now it's the weekend!  Hurrah!

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Good ideas for school libraries: 5. Bookmarks

Bookmarks.  Useful, of course, but also An Opportunity.  Happy users, happy not-turned corners on books, another moment to make life easier and give something for nothing.  We aim to put one with each loan, and they are rarely refused.  Good library PR, of course, and a small task that can be tucked into corners of the day/week to keep the supply going.

Here you can see two of our bookmark styles.  The yellow ones are the ones we make ourselves using quotes/ideas/themes through the year.  This is our start of year Neil Gaiman quote (as blogged here).  The other ones make use of damaged books - see how useful a Tintin book with missing pages can be?  The cost, either way, isn't great (and with the damaged books, we're recycling). 

The bookmark pot on the borrowing desk doesn't have the same thing in it week in week out, but offers choice and variety, and the kids look to see what's there.  Another small, constantly changing aspect of the library, keeping things fresh, keeping things new.

What you need: for the cardboard bookmarks, cardboard, a program such as Microsoft Publisher, a photocopier, a guillotine.  I set up a 2x4 grid table in Publisher, centre a box inside one, compose the bookmark front within this, group all items (if I have multiples such as a graphic, plus text box, plus...) then paste this grouped element in the other grids.  As my dear papa says, there are two sides to a piece of paper, so the back of the bookmarks is used too - another 2x4 grid.  If there's a website relevant to the front of the bookmark, or further info, it goes on the back - along with, always, the name of our school library.

What you need for the Tintin bookmarks: a damaged book that you'd otherwise be writing off, with suitable content for making into bookmarks interesting to kids (oh yes, we have more ideas - I'll bung 'em here over time! - not giving everything away ALL at once!).  You can see how the cartoon boxes of Tintin work rather nicely...Trim to a rectangle and put several at once through the laminator using an A4 sleeve; guillotine/trim.

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Good ideas for school libraries: 4. Wall words

Ah, our beautiful purple wall.  First blogged about it here (including links to the original inspiration from New York, and a straight-on picture of the wall).  It's an idea that's achievable on the very limited budget of school libraries, and not impossible to do, if you have a steady hand and patience.

The words are a carefully-chosen vocabulary that expresses our philosophy of the library - a place to read, explore, grow, connect, aspire, ask...and more.  It's an overt statement about this place.  So if you're going to play with this idea in your library, think about your words.

We painted one word at a time, thinking about how they overlapped, which colour to use for each, what size, which location, long word here, short word there.  It was painted over a period of some weeks, when we had time.  If you only paint one word at at time, then one word done is one word less to do.  Besides, the kids looked to see how it was developing.  So the instant overnight option might not have been as effective (even if it had been possible, which it wasn't!). 

What you need: paint - 4 litres of good quality low sheen acrylic for the wall, folk art paints (from Spotlight - we got about a dozen different shades of purple, some of which didn't look so purple on this background, but what the hey!) for the lettering, plastic paint palettes and decent brushes for the big painting and the detail painting.  Overhead projector, transparencies and photocopier - we used chalk to outline each word for painting.  A font (we are using the same one as our 'library font' for consistency, for wall lettering, signage, library documents etc).

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Good ideas for school libraries: 3. Readers as heroes

As you walk upstairs to fiction, there's a long row of readers.  This is one year 7 class whose teacher brought them to the library to borrow fiction.  Other classes are coming, and will be photographed, and the photos in the frames will be replaced with new ones.  The kids have pored over these too - where am I?  where's my friend? Some weren't thrilled about being photographed, they said, but they've still gone looking... The colours are those we've used in the foyer, so they are visually linked to other parts of the library.

What you need: a digital camera (photos were printed at Big W for 12c/print on special, but even at 19c/print, the usual price around the place, this isn't pricey (and is cheaper than printing yourself).  Frames: Ikea (3 for $1.50 - plain pine, dirt cheap).  Paint: the folk art acrylic paints we have used in the foyer (they're about $4.50 per pot).  We did use a trigger tacker/staple gun and string to put stronger hangers on the back through which we could string more string to prevent individual ones going missing (we have nasty suspicious minds).  Stick-on velcro to attach them to the wall (bought from Bunnings' hardware, about $12 for the pack, I think).  The next round will only cost the price of the photos (less than $6).

The faces have been smudged, for privacy reasons.

Good ideas for school libraries: 2. Readers as heroes

Feature the readers, promote the 'sizzle' of reading. 

These photos were taken at lunchtime (with readers hidden behind their choice of books so others could play guess-the-reader) and quickly wrangled in Microsoft Publisher into these A3 posters.  These went up on a library noticeboard and certainly got attention from the kids.   Readers as heroes!

What you need: digital camera, a program like Microsoft Publisher (you can do basic cropping/lightening in this without needing a separate photo editing program), a fancy font or two (eg. from Scrapvillage).

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Renovation: creating a reading retreat

In our multi-level library, the narrow mezzanine on the entry level has, for several years, housed the reference collection.

The blue chairs on the left are often occupied at lunchtime by someone looking for a corner in which to read.  The graphic novels are here, too, on the first shelf on the left - it's only a small collection at present, but we're working on it.  We've just painted these two pillars to match the other one (just out of shot on the left).

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At lunchtime, it was usual to find little clumps of kids, or individuals, sitting between the reference book bays on the left, little groups reading/sharing books in small spaces.  How could we facilitate this, in a better space?

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A couple of ideas came together in my mind.  At a colleague's school, now 7-10 and in one of the 1970s libraries featuring a mezzanine most often used as a senior area, the teacher librarian had made this area into a 'reading lounge' used by class groups, with comfy seating - this is a separate area to fiction.  It was very popular, she said.  I filed that one away, with all the other stuff I'd read and seen  about library renovations catering to teenagers liking lounges in which to read.  Our fiction area has, and needs to keep, tables and chairs for class work, so although it has a few comfy seats, more there isn't possible right now.  Another colleague had mentioned her interfiled reference collection, interfiled with nonfiction, that is.  That idea brewed, too.  We've been doing some culling of old/outdated books, and have created some space on our nonfiction shelves; but I wasn't sure how we'd go, transferring an entire reference collection from this mezzanine, to make something else of the space.

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In various areas of the library, we've been working on making the space as inviting as possible, user-friendly, inspiring, encouraging, a good place to be.

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So a couple of weeks ago, we started making changes, not quite sure how it would work out, but taking the leap that it would...

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The interfiling took several days of hard work, moving books and consolidating - most shelves in nonfiction downstairs needed some shuffling/rejigging.

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We also needed some comfy seating.  I thought of a couple of places from which I could borrow, and then our lovely cleaner mentioned some comfy chairs which were just marking time elsewhere in the school.  I asked if we could borrow them, and here is how the space looked a day or two later:

The lounge was from elsewhere in the school, too, and as you can see we still had some reference books to move.  The seating layout was arrived at after some trial and error.  We didn't want a waiting room look, but we only had a certain width with which to work - this is also a throughway to the steps to the senior study upstairs.  This layout also doesn't encourage huge groups - it's a quiet reading retreat, not a group hangout.  The sofa arms aren't happy to be sat on, either, so this layout also discourages that (or at least, so far so good).

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A couple of days later, and the reference books were all reshelved - a huge task completed in a little over a week.  Yay for the library staff! (yes,the library was open and being used)

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We're adding face-out books to those shelves, on rather horrid wire stands, but the plan is to get sloping shelves to put here.  Some reference books particularly identified as having browsing potential have remained (eg. visual guides to Lord of the Rings/Star Wars) and we're aiming to cycle nonfiction through here too, to catch students' eyes for browsing and alert them to what the library has to offer (eg. books about bugs and sharks).

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To give you a lunchtime view (with faces obscured for privacy reasons - and this particular lunchtime in our co-ed school it seems to have been mostly boys there):

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It's a work in progress, but the progress has been good.  We need to organised the shelf change, for a better display look than our old wire easels.  The balcony wall (there are Aboriginal artworks done by students on the other side) doesn't look up to much, so we'll look at getting some mdf cut and work on painting some panels to match our wall words as used elsewhere in the library - probably in aqua background to match the foyer, which is on this level of the library behind the photographer.  We can then screw the panels in place. 

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We've left a stand of dictionaries and one of large atlases in the space, partly because there isn't an obvious location for them downstairs and partly for easy access for fast questions.  They can also provide buffer/barriers in separating these seating pods.  Downstairs, we have a double-sided shelf housing several encyclopedia sets, to keep them easily visible and also because we didn't have space for them in the nonfiction Dewey run.

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Right now, our dollar expenditure has been nil.  We're allowed to borrow the green chairs indefinitely, but if they are required elsewhere then we'll have to organise seating.  The green chairs may be standard school issue, but they're pretty new and are more comfortable than school chairs as found at desks.  We may have to pay for the sloping shelves, and will have to pay for the mdf, although we can then paint it (a job to fit in when we can) and can get it installed at no cost.  We're also working on signage - of which more later.

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The pluses?  A new area to encourage reading and browsing.  Some seniors are using it during study periods as well, to read and study when they don't need a desk/table.  We hope that the interfiled reference books will make them more useful and used, on the same floor as the nonfiction books.

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Sprucing up the library, one step at a time.  Any questions? Comments?  Want more library photos?!

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Good ideas for school libraries: 1. Atishoo!

Have tissues on the borrowing desk for whoever needs them.  A simple thing that helps people (and prevents erky sniffling).  Cheap goodwill, a small kindness.

What you need: a box of tissues, and another one to replace it when it's empty.  Doesn't cost much - you can buy tissues in bulk through school supply companies.

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Library renovation ideas: photo inspiration

The UK Love Libraries (public) library campaign included setting up a Flickr group to which people can post photos of their favourite public library.  Plenty of inspiration - the above is just a screenshot of one of many pages.  Flickr tip: you can choose most recently uploaded photos, or most interesting (those which have been looked at more often, or favourited more often - a guide to popularity that may or may not align with inspiration, but offers you another view).  Take a squizz here.

Over the next while, I'm going to show here a bunch of the ideas we've put into practice in this school library.  Some we've thought of here, some we've borrowed, some are blue (respectably so).  They'll all be tagged under 'ideas for libraries', so you can find them.

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Pride and Prejudice as a Marvel comic

Marvel is issuing Pride and Prejudice in comic book form, five issues.  Read more here, including several preview pages (this is the source of the above image).  Adaptation is by Nancy Butler, artwork by Hugo Petrus.  They're taking online orders until March 9 on the Marvel site (works out at around $50AU delivered).  Not sure who/where will stock this in Australia, but undoubtedly comic book retailers will know.

ADDED LATER: I ordered this online and the overseas shipping for 5 issues showed at $14.  When I asked about this (as this was the usual amount for 12-issue subs) it was changed to $5 shipping.

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Library renovation ideas: Newquay

The UK Love Libraries initiative included the renovation of several public libraries, to show what was possible. While the budgets may be beyond the reach of most, if any, school libraries, the ideas and inspiration are not. This one is Newquay Library. Before picture is above; after picture is below.

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Read more, and see more After pictures, here (which was the image source).

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Library renovation ideas: Coldharbour

The UK Love Libraries initiative included the renovation of several public libraries, to show what was possible.  While the budgets may be beyond the reach of most, if any, school libraries, the ideas and inspiration are not.  This one is Coldharbour Library.  Before picture is above; after picture is below.

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Read more, and see more After pictures, here (which was the image source).

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Digital footprint

From the Pew Internet report: Digital Footprints: online identity management and search in the age of transparency.  Read more here.

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Copyright-Free Photo Archive

Image source

Atlantic salmon eggs

The Copyright-Free Photo Archive says:

The images and photos found in this archive come from three main sources: the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS). Each of these sites clearly state that their photos and images are in the public domain and give the conditions for their use. Please read their statements.

The archive has a (very long and sometimes odd but still useful) list of master keywords to aid your searching, which is how I located the rocket image I used a couple of blog entries ago.  The individual sites also have search options, which might sometimes be a tad more reliable.

There are all sorts of images - space, wildlife, some historic ones, oceans and seas, moons and fish and rockets and all sorts of other things you'd expect (and not) from those archives.  Worth a look (which is why I chose the Atlantic salmon egg image, with its eyes....)

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Google/Seuss

Google marked the good doctor's 105th birthday yesterday.   Excellent fun!

Experiences with netbooks

The netbooks are coming to the school system in which I work.  Will Richardson blogged about them the other day - I found the comments very interesting as a snapshot of how netbooks are being used in a variety of school systems, the issues and benefits.  Read the blog entry and comments here.

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