Head Librarian
Wycliffe College
When you have a librarian making good choices about what a school should get into stock, that can make all the difference in the world to a child’s education.
“We have a huge online presence – everything you want to know is online. So students can just Google what they’re looking for. But the results they get might not be at the right level to meet their needs or might not be entirely accurate. That’s where someone like me comes in and where our knowledge and skill can be invaluable.
“I regularly get asked whether I have read every book in the library, to which the answer is obviously ‘no’. But we pay for collections and track them so that we can see which are being used the most and which are proving the most useful. Not only does that mean that we can help the students, but we can also support teachers with the curriculum and what they need to be teaching.
“Part of my role is also around literacy development. We make sure we have really diverse reading material and that includes world reading – books in translation – which can help with empathy. It’s been shown that the more people read, the more empathetic they become, and that is even more true if they are experiencing different cultures and backgrounds through their reading.
“Reading for pleasure is a problem, and has been even before mobile phones became a big thing. Children start off as good readers but then they drop off, so what we do at Wycliffe is ensure we have a link with the prep school library to keep the skills going throughout their school life. One way we do this is to have topical displays of books which are connected with something that is in the public consciousness at the time. So for instance, when everyone was talking about the TV show Adolescence, we had a display around that.
The ‘traditional’ library is still a favourite refuge for many children, and they still want to be reading physical books. When young people are picking a novel or something else to read for themselves, the vast majority – probably about 95% – chose a paperback.
“Pupils live their lives online, whether that’s academically or communicating with friends, so when they’re relaxing on their own they want to come offline. There is also proof that looking at a page means that your brain processes the information it receives better.”
“The library can be a lot of different things to different people. For pupils with anxiety or other social issues, they know that this is a safe and inclusive place where they can come for some quiet time. We have a reading well section which deals with mental health issues and a dedicated reading room where pupils can access the books.
For me, being a librarian means facilitating solutions. It’s about how to help the student, or teacher, with what they need in the moment, and also guide them to find the answers for themselves.
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