Holiday Borrowing

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For the last two weeks of term, I've been wearing this 'egg' necklace as a nonverbal reminder of holiday borrowing.  It's actually an Easter decoration I bought from Bed Bath 'N' Table, $9.95 (I restrung it on hat elastic).  Pretty/amusing.  Or maybe I'm just easily amused.

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It didn't take too much time to do the various things we've done to promote holiday borrowing.  The costs were small - cardboard, prizes etc - plus of course time.  But many of the templates are reusable next year, with the odd tweak (eg. date due).

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What have been the effects?  In comparison to other years, when we haven't promoted holiday borrowing, the loan stats are up over 80% on the figures for the last two weeks of term for those years.

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The kids are anticipating holiday borrowing now; it has a place in their sense of the school's yearly pattern.

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There have, this time, been more conversations than ever about reading, and reading as a fun, chosen activity, all around the school: through the quizzes, through students talking with teachers about what's on their badges; and through teachers discussing what's on their badges with their colleagues.  Each one is good, another positive.

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We've been constantly refilling the displays near the library entrance, the bookshelf and the table - lots of books finding friends, gaps appearing throughout the day as books are borrowed.

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There's plenty more we can try next time: more classes coming in to borrow for the holidays, maybe some 'direct marketing' by email to junior students, some roll teachers have asked if the quizzes can have a prize at the end: lots of possibilities.

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So it's been a busy end to a busy term (our loan stats this year are up for the whole term too, in comparison to other years) and we are looking forward to our Easter holiday break.

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Thanks for reading this blog this term, and especially thanks to those who've left kind or informative or appreciative comments - I appreciate your feedback.  It's good to know this blog is proving to be a useful resource to teacher librarians.

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Normal blogging will resume in late April/early May.  We plan to do some more painting in the holidays - remember those paint chips from a week or two ago??!!

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Cheers, Ruth