Online and High Street Bargains

I really am of the Internet age (having first used it in 1997 with great excitement (even though each page took around 5 minutes to download and that didn't include images as these were all blocked to "speed things up"!) and those who know me can say that I like an online bargain and often get one and for others too. However, today I had chance to pop into Ipswich and went into Waterstones just to see if I could spot any special offers and try and save a bit more money than the 20% I tend to get from the usual book suppliers, Peters or Amazon, which I thought would have been unlikely as let's face it the high street stores can't beat online prices. Can they? I ended up saving between 33% and 50% on a dozen or so fiction titles for the library. One particular classic, that I needed to promote the all-time Carnegie Anniversary Top 10, and didn't have in stock was "The Family from One End Street" by Eve Garnett which was on a 4-6wk waiting list from Amazon when I looked yesterday, and there in Waterstones there it was with a 50% reduction and a good pile of them too...

Some purists would be critical that I would choose to buy from non-library suppliers, but let's face it in ever hard times with budgets, I can't afford to turn down these discounts, and making the money stretch a bit further is doing my bit to give that extra support to the students.

Finished "Beast" by Ally Kennen last night. Real page turner that one and my favourite so far. Think I'll relax with a book from this morning's trip with another non-internet bargain today, as my local Threshers were selling 4 packs of J20s for 65p - so I cleared their shelves... Anyone for a drink?

Books v Resources

I'm aiming to have 1000 items ready directly after the refurbishment. I've already expanded what I started with; these were simply - paperback books, hardback books and audio cassettes. We now additionally have picture books, CDs for the Listening Post, Articles, Posters and an excellent weblinks package which I'm going to plug from Carelpress. £70 for 8000 weblinks that are updated monthly and integrates with the library automation system... A small step towards my aim of a "one-stop-shop" for resources.

I've processed 496 new items to date, so almost halfway to my target. Talking of books, it is such a generic term in libraries, people mean resources when they actually say books - or do they? I'm still amazed at the number of people who think that Libraries only stock books. The classic line always is "How many books have you got in the library?". Its only a Librarian who would ask how many resources there are, and probably only an experienced one to ask how many are less than 10 years old too...

So far, I've placed another couple of orders and seeing a book rep next week, only after negotiating a better discount. One of the real highlights of the job is when the brand new resources arrive, ready covered and labelled just waiting to be added to the catalogue, which I'm slowly improving. At least when I now type in "koala", "diabetes" or "wind power" something is actually found.

Oh well, had better go and continue reading through the Carnegie Shortlist ready for the shadowing group. Some good ones this year and pretty accessible - but I've yet to find anything particularly uplifting and cheery.

Year 2k + 7

Today we witnessed the very sad (!) event where the Millennium Collection found a new home in school with the English Department.

Since this collection was put into stock 7 years ago the books haven't exactly been flying off the shelves (unless in a moment of sheer frustration or when an over-zealous child has knocked them with their back-pack onto the floor) so they may well be better deployed elsewhere - and probably in a safer place too.

The library will have some of these classic titles, for after the refurbishment, but these will be in paperback and will hopefully have an attractive cover... Regardless of the proverb: pupils do judge a book ... etc

Things are starting to happen (outside)

Thought I'd better show you what the Courtyard is like before the groundsmen (is that PC? Perhaps I should say: Grounds Personnel) clear most of it next week. Not very exciting at the moment... and is that a crisp packet I spot too?

We're going for a science-related theme, so that means some scented plants, water feature etc. It'll all look very grand once it is finished and ready for the summer. They'll be a table and chairs for a reading area too - wood or metal - the jury is still out there. We're still debating wherever to have fish in a barrel too.

A colour dilemma....

This project at times has been stressful. However, the most difficult decision to make hasn't been the new library layout, as you would expect, but it has been the colour of a wall.

Yes, "a colour of a wall?" I hear you cry.

I opened my big mouth and said we needed some contrast. The rest of the library walls will be white, so thought it would be a good idea to paint the wall and door behind the counter area a different one. What a mistake.

I have driven everyone in the Art department mad. They now hide for cover when I mention the word "colour", or "what do you think of this colour?"

I have been back to the hardware shop three times to get tester paints. Its becoming embarrassing. They now know me by name.

I started with the green (or Citrus Green) - no one liked it. The kids have described it as a "big bogey", so scrapped that idea. Thought we'd try a blue - the response was lukewarm, but putting the red (or should I say Calypso chairs against it) it looked awful. After a moment of inspiration (thank you to the Art department for not deserting me in times of trouble) we've gone for yellow (or Sunny Savannah 5 according to the Dulux colour chart)... As you'll see below, I was almost running out of wall space....

As the Library was in September 2006

OK, I know this is being retrospective in many ways but you need to see how the library looked when I first started here. The previous Librarian had done a fantastic job with the resources that she had and it has been my remit to take it to the next step forward.

As you can see we're in a timewarp... Is it 1974? Can I hear the echoes of ABBA's "Waterloo" in the background? Unsurprisingly I've got Eurovision on the mind, as I've got a fancy dress party to go to at an undisclosed location and still trying to finalise my costume...

Bit of background info

The real point of this blog is create a log of the newly refurbished school library. When I was in charge of refurbishing the last library I neglected to take many photos, so I'm not going make that mistake again.

A bit of background history.... The school library is as old as the school, that's around 35 years old and it desperately needs updating and bringing into the 21st Century to actually be of decent purpose to our students and staff. The work on the refurbishment starts on 14th May and it should be finished sometime around 9th July... This blog will chart the progress....

So to give you a brief rundown about what will be changing...

- All the furniture and most fixtures and fixtures will be going
- Builders will demolish a wall, add a door so we have fantastic Library Courtyard
- Shelving will be replaced
- A listening post will be added
- Replace and increase the number of PCs (not too many - we're not an ICT Suite!)
- The Library will be painted and the carpets and lighting will be replaced