I have been meaning to write a post about my amazing experience at Waverley Library. All of the staff there were incredibly kind and looked after me very well. There were many highlights over the two weeks. I especially loved the Children's Library experience, working with pre-school children again was a great experience. The highlights and just some of what I learnt is as as follows:
- Book Babies: great fun and a big drawcard to encourage children into the library.
- Self Checking Stations: just before coming to Australia I submitted my library budget. In that budget I requested money for a security system and Self Loan Stations in my library. Now, having worked in a library for the first time with security and Self Loan Stations I am more than ever determined to pursue the installation of this technology in my library. Library Officers in my Junior Library are overwhelmed with 32 classes arriving throughout each week with children returning on average 75 books each session and then borrowing a similar number at the end of the lesson. At Waverley I saw these stations in operation in both the Children's and Adults' Library and it was rare that members of the public required assistance to borrow their books. The staff instead devote their time to providing services such as reservations or story sessions for the children. It is expensive to set up and at $1 a tag it is not cheap to maintain, but the benefits to the library in preventing books being stolen and also the huge savings to staff time, the benefits far outweigh the costs. I also learnt how to tag books and check that the security tags were working.
- Shelf Reading: Every staff member is required to do a minimum of 30 mins shelf reading per day to ensure the shelves were tidy and the books were correctly placed. This library has several co-existing systems for organising their books. The new system is ensuring fiction books have a spine label with 4 letters of the author’s surname, but many books still exist on the shelves that have no spine labels and sometimes it is not easy to find the author’s name to shelves the books. Picture Books have a single letter for the author’s surname on the top right of the book. Non-fiction are classified by Dewey. Reflection What Have I I have learnt that not all libraries label their books in the same way. At Tanglin for non-fiction books the Dewey system is applied to two usually but sometimes three decimal places. At Waverley not only do they classify to four decimal places on occasions but they also add the first three letters of the author’s surname. They were amazed that we didn’t do the same and said it really helps children to find the book faster. Also they are just starting to put spine labels on their fiction books. They put the first 4 letters of the author’s surname on the spine label.
- Kings Cross Library Storytelling Workshop: I was invited by the Head of the Children’s Library (Jody) to attend a storytelling workshop with other members of the Children’s Library staff at a nearby library. Anna Conomos was an outstanding storyteller and although the workshop was too short, she taught us many good skills to use when telling stories such as starting with a strong statement to engage the audience, keep the audience close to you, rehearse the storytelling many times before actually performing and chose at least one part of the story which involves audience participation.
- Book Repairs: I was shown how to make simple repairs to the bindings of books, using bulldog clips or rubber bands both vertically and horizontally to hold the book in place while the glue is drying. What I was absolutely astonished to realise though was that there are machines which repair DVD discs which are not too badly scratched. Waverley library has a machine called Disc Devil which I saw repairs DVD discs (with superficial scratches) so they are scratch free.
- Crafternoon: I helped with the Crafternoon (craft) activity for 8-12 year olds. (Modelling plasticine pictures).The kids loved it - they are so lucky to have Waverley Library staff organising so many great activities.
- Pre-School Lesson:I was asked if I would like to taech a pre-school group and volunteered to ruin all three groups that were on that morning. The lesson included a mixture of action stories, songs, dance a a film related to the theme of 'eggs'to tie in with Easter.
- Home Library Service and hospital services for those who are housebound or in hospital. They have a couple of hundred members in this programme and they do not just consist of Seniors who are immobile as there are many young people who are disabled. A profile is created of each person’s preferences e.g.large print/DVD’s/ serials/genre. The library has a wonderful guy called Matt who delivers the library resources to those members of the community in need. HLS: Fiction/Non fiction/Large Print. Can search onlineif able or have access to technology. People email requests and the number is increasing. People write notes whenthe books are returned. Aged Care Homes request support from the library – e.g ESL Music
Overall Reflection: the work placement made me realise that librarians in
the public libraries see themselves as custodians of the books – as well as
having books which meet their users’ needs they will keep books on the shelves
because they are looking at the book as having
value for its place in literature. In schools we value books which meet our
users’ needs regarding learning and recreation.
If no one uses that book, we will weed it. One patron came in and found
the same book she had read as a child in Waverley Library – and as the book had
been published before she was born, it was probably the same book!
We support our students, but Waverley
Library supports a wider range of students from Primary through to Life Long
Learners. (Book Baby sessions to study rooms to Home Library Service)
Must say the work
placement was AMAZING! I can't believe I really didn't want to do it. (Partly
because I was so anxious I would
not be of much use to them as a TL). The people were wonderful - very generous
in sharing their knowledge and expertise.
A BIG Thank You to everyone at Waverley Library!
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