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Details
Subject area: School Libraries
Type: Seminar
Length: 7 Hours
Level: School Library Assistants, Library Technician, Librarians, Managers, Teacher Librarians
Organisers: School Library Association of Victoria (SLAV)
Presenters: Di Ruffles, SLAV President; Tye Cattanach; Dr Kasey Garrison; Tracey Ferguson; Dr Lili Wilkinson
Format: Conference
Reflection
The purpose of this conference was to show findings from research about teens reading habits, educate on social justice issues in literature, inform on a government initiative in encouraging middle school students into the STEM arena and listen to different Information Professionals from different schools in how they promote reading for secondary students.
The reason I requested to attend this conference is because it was aimed at secondary school students and strategies in how to get more students reading and in the library. I work in a secondary school library and was interested in hearing what other schools had implemented to gain more interest in the library and gain more readership. We have a good student base who actively use the library and are regular borrowers however, I am always looking for ways to engage the reluctant readers who are in the library for scheduled reading sessions.
It was interesting to hear the results on research about teen reading habits. The students in my school still read and request the Harry Potter series at a great rate. I was pleased to hear it was still the most popular title for teens across Australia and that it was not just our cohort that could not seem to move on to newer titles. The most popular genres for printed fiction materials were fantasy, mystery/crime, and dystopian. Graphic novels and manga were also very popular. These genres also ring true for our borrowed collection and requested titles, although we do get a lot of requests for romance, too. Another interesting aspect for me to consider in our library are the barriers students face in borrowing. Many are scared to have the responsibility of borrowed books in case they are lost or damaged and if a student has had a bad experience in another library, it will deter them from trying the school library as a resource. I made an effort this year to visit all new year 7’s in their English classes to chat about the library resources and promote the whole space as well as trying to be friendly, engaging and not scary to try and break down any preconceived notions. I found this to be successful as many of the year 7’s came into the library to browse and borrow and to spend time with friends after I had spoken to their class.
The other ideas I took away was from listening to information professionals from other schools. Mount Eliza Secondary College had selected some regular borrowers and asked them to browse the box of offered new books from suppliers. The student was allowed to select one title to include in the school’s collection. They school bought them their own copy and they were required to write a book review for other students to read. I really liked this idea and am still tossing around ideas how I can implement something similar in our library that our manager would also approve of. Viewbank College created a bookclub where they sourced preview copies of upcoming books for club members to read and discuss if they should be added to the collection. It was suggested that if you ‘bring snacks, they will come’ which is true across the board for teenagers!
Being able to bring some of these ideas to life in my library is a challenge at this stage as they are usually declined by the library manager, but I can see some small changes that I have made are working well and I am not discouraged.