In my school, we use Koha library software for cataloguing and circulation. 

Types of resources available in the library:

• Fiction books;
• Non-fiction books;
• Textbooks;
• Children’s picture books of different formats (big books, board books, pop-up books, hardcover and paperback books)
• Graphic novels;
• Activity books with mazes and searches;
• Graded readers,
• Dictionaries;
• Encyclopedias; 
• Biographies;
• Newspapers, magazines and journals;
• Governmental resources;
• DIY books; 
• Board games; 
• Science manipulatives for primary school teachers;
• Math manipulatives and games;
• Classroom posters and Displays;
• IB posters,
• online subscriptions to “The Economist” and JSTOR,
• DVDs

Koha is good software with free access for schools, however, in our school, there is a technical issue that does not allow the use of Koha as a URL, so everybody in the community would access it. It used to be possible before some changes in the IT systems. Right now we can only use Koha locally in the school library, so it is not of any use to other teachers. All teachers have Koha OPAC accounts and we want them to be able to search for books that are available in the library and to see their checkout histories as well as place some order requirements. Right now the IT department is working on moving Koha to a different server to make it publicly available. Before it happens we need to make sure that our online system reflects the real picture of what we have in the library. I have noticed that sometimes when you search the catalogue in Koha for particular titles, it shows that the book is available, but in fact, we don’t have it on the shelf. Over time when books were lost not everything was reflected in Koha and now it needs a thorough inventory. Another issue with Koha’s catalogue is that we only catalogued books, but other resources such as board games and manipulatives are not visible in Koha and we have a physical book where teachers sign them off. We need to think about how to add other resources to Koha to have everything in one place.

   Our library collection does not have enough digital resources. We don’t have any e-books catalogued in Koha which was again related to Koha’s unavailability for the wider community due to the IT issue. Hopefully, we will start adding e-books to our collection as soon as the problem is solved.

   Censorship is another challenge that exists in our library. We are very careful with the content of the books regarding LGBT topics, especially for younger students. That’s because of the cultural background of the school community. The school community is 50% composed of local Kazakhstani families who have very traditional beliefs and values. As a school, we are trying to avoid conflicts with parents so we don’t place any LGBT books in the children’s area.

    Speaking about the content of books that kids check out, another challenge derives from that. As we don’t have a separate library dedicated to young students only, it is sometimes difficult to track where students take books from, especially when a class of 20 students comes to the library lesson and they all check out books at the end. Thus the TL should be vigilant when checking out books to young readers to make sure they take literature appropriate for their age.