Library

Date started: 2010.09.08
Place: South Island School, 1/F, Library

Time: Wednesday 10:00~10:30, Tuesday (2:10~3:10)

CAS Type: Creative, Service

2010. 09
During the first few sessions, we learned how to loan, return books, as well as how to use the octopus system to collect money for overdue books. We also learned how to use the online library sessions, as well as how the books were arranged in the library. The first few sessions were about getting to the “backstage” of the library and understanding where things were, and getting some knowledge in the workplace in which we were working in. We also understood that the library was not a place where we only returned and borrowed books in the counter, but also helping out with small events such as Christmas, Readathon, and more. In addition to this, the librarian (Ms. Ow) helped us expand our knowledge in how to get in hand with various types of resources, as she wanted us to use this experience as a librarian as a very helpful one.


2010. 11
As well as helping out the counter, we also helped in organizing the Readathon; an event which the school held every year, to encourage students to read a lot of books (year 7). In contributing to this, we helped cut out the coupons for the event, and also designed a poster outside the library, to allow the students to be motivated and aware of the event. I was proud of the final poster which we created, as I thought it was attractive and informative at the same time (: . It was also quite interesting to have the boards displayed by us, as from year 7, I remember seeing various posters and commenting on them, and now, I (and a few other students (: ) was the one displaying this board.

Final Readathon Poster!!

  
2010. 12
Christmas was finally here, and it was time for us to decorate the library with a Christmas atmosphere. Me and some other friends (librarians) decorated a Christmas tree with the STAR (:. It was my first time to ever decorate a Christmas tree and it was a exciting experience. We had many decorating items, and therefore, we had to choose wisely on what styles would fit with the Christmas tree. After decorating it, we took a photo to celebrate the final Christmas tree (:.

2011.01
This month (and December), we focused on online databases, which were online resources which we could use to help aid our study throughout the IB course. The librarian told us how we could navigate to various types of databases, and we got a chance to go home and explore the websites. Soon, our Extended Essays were coming up, and this was one of the main reasons on why we got to know the databases. As we (mini-librarians) understood how to navigate the web pages, and as we were assigned our EE topics, we were to make a short presentation based on how to use different databases for different subjects. This allowed us to help others, as well as being able to familiarize the resources.

2011.02
For the few sessions, we planned to create an evaluation session based on the online databases, in order to choose which database to carry on using (as the school needed to pay), and which to stop, or even introduce. Therefore, a student created a template questionnaire, which we all edited to make sure the questionnaire was more specific and helpful.

2011.03
During this time, we had a meeting to discuss upon the data bases. This was to reflect upon the results from the questionnaire. We sat around a large table at lunch time and discussed the negative and positive points of various databases. We also voted for our favourite ones in order to get an idea of which databases to put forward, and which to remove. This meeting helped develop our school resources for researching various materials for students.

2011.04
As it was an exam period for our year group, there was not a lot of things done during this month. However, we started on a project which was going to be handled by a group of students including me. This small project was a poster which was going to raise awareness to students on the several databases which we chose beforehand.

2011.05
We continued on the small project on the database. In our meetings during our free time, we discussed what things were going to be put on it, and the specialised task for each person. Me and two other friends were in charge of the design, and the other people had the responsibility to write a brief description about the database. Then, we would use these information on the poster.
After gathering all the information, we cut out various different coloured papers and arranged them around the poster. We had 3 different databases which were gale, questia and discovery channel. When we agreed with the arrangements, we used a stapler to keep the parts up. We ended this month with a reflection on our posters from different librarians. We also made changes to the poster from the comments from other people.

2011.06
 This was the last month of being a librarian. The main aim for this month was to do a reflection and an evaluation with the school librarian, on our performance throughout the year. When doing the evaluation session, I also needed to make a small poster based on one database - The Economist.

Individual poster on 'The Economist'

When carrying out the evaluation session, we discussed various things from my attendance to how the small project turned out in the end. My attendance for this year started off well, but as the term went, my attendance fell. This was because I kept on forgetting the session. I could have improved this by writing down the date in a diary or the computer. I also could have asked my friend to remind me as I was forgetful. When discussing the small project, we talked about how well we collaborated with other people and how well we were organized. There were some things which we could have improved such as starting the design earlier while the other teams were working on their research on the database.

Organizing books

Working at the counter

Reflection

L2: I took various new challenges such as loaning and returning books, being aware of where different books were and laminating book covers. 

L3: Our small project involved planning and initiating activities as we had to plan different deadlines for researching and designing. In addition, we initiated the activities for putting the poster together as we were a part of the design team.

L4: While being a part of a school librarian, I worked collaboratively with other people. When doing my duty of loaning and returning books, I had to work with a partner. In addition, when doing the small group project, I had to work with a group of librarians who were doing the same job as me. Moreover, when doing my duty, I had to communicate with the school librarian to update on the various tasks which were carried out.
L8: I developed various skills from being a librarian. One of the most important skills which I developed was on using various different resources. As I had to take part in making posters on many databases, this allowed me to get insight on how to use these resources. I was also able to apply this skill when doing my extended essay as I needed reliable resources.

Overall, I think working as a librarian allowed me to learn new skills and also help develop various new skills which I could apply for my work. In addition, I was able learn how to use the library more effectively as well as the school library website.