What’s happening in the library?

The new year begins with a few changes in the library.

As you’ll soon notice by strolling around, the library now has four general areas: the Picture Book area, the Fiction section, the Non-Fiction section, and the Computer/Study area.

The new Fiction and Non-Fiction sections are the result of the merging of the old EL (Elementary) and LS (Lower School) fiction and non-fiction collections. The distinction only remains on the spine labels of books, where they indicate a rough division between lower primary and upper primary texts (I’ll write more about labeling standards anon). So we are truly now a shared resource.

Note that the Fiction section has only soft seating (as befits pleasure reading), while group table seating for 22+ students is available in two different areas — the Non-Fiction section as well as the Computer/Study area.

The Computer/Study area, just inside the entrance, can now accommodate a whole class. You can still find the magazine/newspaper rack and a couple of sofas to sit on there, but we have added tables and chairs, as well as 25 stackable stools, which should make sharing computers a bit easier. Not that we need to share anymore. Within the next month we will be receiving a cart of 15 laptops to supplement the 10 desk-based computers, as well as a portable projector and wall screen. And we’ll be wireless, of course. I’ll let you know when everything is in place — and a booking system has been set-up.

The Picture Book section has been expanded to include the “Over Sized Fiction” collection (i.e., all those picture books with the big green dots that were located between the old EL and LS sections, including Asterix, Tintin, etc.) on the shelves where the Infant Non-Fiction collection used to be . I’m going to review and rename this collection — as “Over Sized” isn’t really an accurate description — perhaps it will be called “Older Picture Books”. New free-standing book display units are being built for the Infant Non-Fiction collection which is temporarily being stored opposite the Teacher Resource collection. Again, give us a few weeks to get it all perfect!