Holidays on the horizon

With the holidays in our sights, we’re all looking forward to a little festive feasting and relaxation.

We’ve been a bit quiet here at Bright Ideas over the past few months (even though we didn’t have reports to write!) and we’ve used the time to do some planning . Hopefully our efforts will continue to inspire, challenge and support you, wherever you are, in the new year.

From all of us, we wish you all a safe, restful and enjoyable holiday season and we’ll see you back here in 2014.

Image credit: Period swim wear (c. 1945-50), Argus Newspaper Collection, State Library of Victoria

 

 

Find inspiration on Pinterest

Pinterest is the perfect place to find and store inspirational images of cutting-edge library designs, quirky library posters, Book Week ideas, or the next library display, to name but a few. Pinterest is an online tool that allows you to collect and organise images by pinning (or bookmarking) them to virtual boards. Each pin also lets you know the original source of the image so you can find it again and others can too. This great social media platform gives you the chance to follow boards you like and create group boards to share ideas. You can organise your home feeds to receive images that suit your interests, such as school library design, library display etc.

Once you sign up to Pinterest, you’re guided through how to use it. The site asks what you’re interested in via the search bar. A search for ‘school library’ will prompt suggestions of ‘school library decorations’, ‘school library ideas’, ‘school library design’ and ‘school library activities’. You can search for individual pins or thematic boards and access your account on your iPad, mobile or any computer. There are so many images to interest and inspire your work in the library and beyond. There will often be a blurb explaining the pin, and sometimes a comment stream.

Have fun exploring and using Pinterest! It’s amazing how many interesting things you find that you would never have thought of before. Use other people’s pins, and feel comfortable sharing your own images. You never know what will inspire others.

Revamping your school library orientation

Does your library orientation plan for next year’s students feel a bit stale? Have you been doing the same lesson for the last few years (or more)? Do you feel bored just thinking about what you have planned? If yes, here are some great ideas to help revamp your next school library orientation, from teacher librarians and library technicians across Australia:

Introducing the school library:

  • Promo video: Have current students create a promo video about what they thought the library was going to be like, what it actually has to offer, and what they think the students will like about their library. Barbara Braxton, retired teacher librarian.
  • Student presentation: If you have a library committee, get current members to create a presentation (such as a Powerpoint presentation) to tell new students the basics of the library, e.g. opening times, where the OPACs are, and how many items you can borrow. Rueleen Weeks from Dubbo Christian School

Becoming familiar with the library:

  • Prior knowledge: Ask the students what they already know about school libraries. It will open up discussion. Barbara Braxton, retired teacher librarian
  • Library relay: Each pair of students takes a question card, searches the library for the answer, then returns with the answer for their next question card. The first team to complete all the cards wins a prize. All the questions are reviewed at the end of the lesson. Sue Crocombe from The Glennie School
  • QR code QnA: Students move around the library to approximately 25 QR codes and scan them for the questions they need to answer. It gets the students moving and asking questions. Shelagh Walsh from Tennant Creek High School
  • Research Frenzy: Students are divided into two groups, one using computers, one using books. In teams they draw a question from a central bowl. Once they find the answer (either via computers or books), back goes the slip and another is drawn. The students swap from computers to books (or visa-versa), and discuss what they found at the end of the lesson. Shelagh Walsh from Tennant Creek High School
  • The Great Race: Have five junior secondary school students run this race. They create cryptic clues to help participants explore the library. In teams, the students receive their clues, and have to be the first to find all the answers to receive a prize. The same group of students running this game hand out ‘treasure bags’ at the end of the lesson, consisting of things like pen, notepad, library brochure, bookmarks, chocolate frogs and jelly snakes. Rueleen Weeks from Dubbo Christian School

Understanding Fiction and Non-Fiction shelving:

  • The coded letter: An activity to get students used to where things are in the non-fiction section is a letter from someone on holiday with words left out and Dewey numbers in their places.  Students go to the Dewey number and work out the subject there and place that in the space until their letter is complete (and makes sense).  You can have a simple letter and a more complicated one depending on the class.Peta Wilson from Lyneham High School
  • Class A-Z: Put the class in fiction order by their surname and then get them to take themselves to the shelf where they would live if they were a book. Peta Wilson from Lyneham High School
  • Marco Polo:  Call out a subject or type of resource and the students have to run to that place. Peta Wilson from Lyneham High School
  • Where in the Dewey?: The aim of this game is to get students thinking about the context of what they are searching for, and where it may be located in the Dewey system. In groups the students need to find books that have information about specific topics, such as: wood – how trees grow; a guide to Australian timber for furniture making; how trees are used as habitats, or; the environmental impact of deforestation. Peta Wilson from Lyneham High School

Remember, you don’t have to reinvent the wheel. Ask your colleagues for suggestions. Your State Library (such as State Library of Victoria) may offer library orientation tours and that will provide students with knowledge transferable to the school library. Thank you to all those who contributed ideas via OZTL_NET and Twitter.

Image credit: Enokson on Flickr