Staff News
There were no major staff changes this year. At the beginning of the Lent Term Mrs Hudspith, having gained a distinction in her MA in Library and Information Studies, took over the position of Assistant Librarian in the Wodehouse Library. At the end of the Summer Term Mrs Lucy leaves the Wodehouse Library to take over as Keeper of the Archives, succeeding Dr Jan Piggott in his retirement. Mrs Bradnock moves across to become Head of Information Services, and we will welcome back Mr Paul Fletcher as Wodehouse Librarian at the start of the next academic year.
In the Lent Term the College hosted the annual meeting of the Eton Group of Librarians, and in the Summer Term a meeting of the Southwark Education Librarians Group. Mrs Bradnock attended meetings of the Independent Schools Librarians Group and the Trinity Group of Librarians; Mrs Hudspith attended meetings of LISSEE, the group of independent school librarians in the south-east of England; Mrs York represented the College at meetings of SELF, the Southwark Education Librarians. In the Summer Term Mrs Lucy attended the annual meeting of school archivists at ??? and a meeting of independent school librarians and archivists at University College London.
In February Mrs Bottomley and Mrs Dawson attended the annual conference of the Federation of Children's Book Groups in Birmingham. Mrs Hudspith and Mrs York attended the annual conference of the CILIP School Libraries Group. Mrs Bottomley attended a course on advanced internet searching. Mrs Bradnock attended the Internet Librarian International Conference in the Michaelmas Term; as part of her new information management role she also attended a number of seminars and training days on e-learning.
Charity
£2771.81 was collected for charity be the libraries in 2005-2006. [DETAILS]
WODEHOUSE LIBRARY
STATISTICAL SUMMARY
Loans increased by 2.3% this year, a return to 2003-2004 levels, the highest ever recorded. Borrowing increased significantly in Year 9 (28%), Year 10 (23%) and the Sixth Form (14%), while none of the other year groups was a particular cause for concern. Interestingly, the greatest overall increase was in the borrowing of fiction (up by 22.65%), while non-fiction issues fell by 4% - undoubtedly a reflection of the increasingly widespread use of the internet as the first and only source of information for boys. In Year 9 fiction accounts for 80% of issues, though this declines as boys move up the school; in the Remove it accounts for only 10% of borrowing.
Countering the decline in the use of the book stock for information needs, the online resources to which the library subscribes are increasingly well used. Training in their use given to staff and boys is shown to have a very positive impact on usage levels; efforts must be made to ensure that a systematic training programme is maintained so that boys are aware of these more reliable and authoritative online resources. The College is, for example, one of the country's heaviest users of the online Proquest History database. We currently subscribe to 20 online services, at a total cost of over £6,000.
1550 items were added to the library stock during the year, and 600 withdrawn from circulation. This brings the total stock to 23,565, with the equivalent of 20.6 books per pupil. Once again a considerable number of items were purchased as a result of boys' own recommendations, and 25 books were borrowed on inter-library loan from the British Library.
OTHER NEWS
User Surveys
Focus group meetings were held with 4 Year 10 forms at the end of the Summer Term. In wide ranging discussions on how boys use the library, a number of key themes emerged. Summary of findings.
Promotions and events
World Book Day on March 2nd was once again celebrated with the popular ‘Guess who's coming to dinner' competition. There were entries from all year groups, with a number of correct entries. Much animated discussion about books and literary characters took place around the table. On Founder's Day a similar competition tested contestants' knowledge of the founders of the day houses at the College, complementing an exhibition in the Archives.
Exhibitions in the library window in the Michaelmas Term included features on visiting OA poets, the academic novel, fiction and non-fiction about London, the films of Michael Powell (OA), time travel, P G Wodehouse in translation, and books by authors known by their initials.
Promotional displays during the Lent Term included Fuseli and the Gothic, to coincide with an exhibition at the Tate, the centenary of Samuel Beckett, Jazz, and Dulwich College in the 50s and 60s, featuring archival research by year 9.
Displays during the Summer Term included books which were once banned, the Carnegie Medal longlist, Modernism in design and 100 books to read before you die.
Reader development
The Summer Term saw the launch of a new edition of the ‘Teachers' recommendations' list of books, films and music. A wide-ranging display accompanied this. The library currently publishes 7 different reading lists for Middle and Upper School boys; these are distributed in English classes, are freely available in the library, and are often taken by parents who come into the library on parents' evenings.
Information Skills & Training
As usual a short course for Year 9 was delivered through PSHE in the Michaelmas term. These are increasingly a revision exercise for boys who have come up from the Lower School, but provide a useful introduction to use of the library and its catalogue for new boys. A small number of Remove classes came to the library for subject-specific inductions, but not as many as we would have liked. This is an ideal opportunity to introduce the more advanced research techniques required for A Level study, especially in the humanities.
Information skills for Years 10 and 11 were reinforced through research for their citizenship essays as part of PSHE. Most classes came to the library, where emphasis was placed on improving their internet search techniques. The issue of plagiarism was discussed, and the need for full referencing of information sources stressed.
In the second half of the Summer term the Head of Libraries was involved the UCAS day when all Remove boys were instructed on the application process.
Opening Hours
Following complaints by boys about the 15-minute closure at the end of the lunch break it was decided to discontinue this. A bell is still rung 5 minutes before the start of afternoon lessons.
Staff Reading Group
The group continued to meet throughout the year. Attendance varied between 6 and 14.
The Lower School Library has had another successful year. The total number of issues was 5251, down slightly from the total of 5563 in 2004-2005. Eighty per cent of the total issues were fiction books, so it is fantastic to see boys of this age who are still enthusiastic about reading in their spare time. Many of the staff in the English department brought their classes in on a regular basis to change library books, review books and to discuss authors and borrowing levels in these forms rose as a result.
This year the Year 8 information skills programme was moved to the Michaelmas Term and the whole course rewritten. Delivered through PSHE, it focussed on the themes of smoking and alcohol, with the emphasis on learning and demonstrating effective research skills. There was evidence of boys transferring these skills to other subjects throughout the year, and it is hoped that the course will help promote independent learning across the curriculum.
The library organised four wonderful author visits this academic year: Robert Muchamore, David Almond, Darren Shan and Marcus Sedgwick. The Lower School boys were very enthusiastic and motivated by the talks and workshops they attended. [reports & photos]
World Book Day in March was once again celebrated in the library with a “Guess Who's Coming To Dinner” competition, as it had been so successful last year. Library staff turned out their attics to provide props for clues as to the identity of the dinner guests. Photographs can be currently seen on the intranet.
The Lower School Newspaper, the Dulwich Despatch, is now in its 5th year of publication. A hardworking team of boys produced two issues during the year.
The reading group continue to meet on a weekly basis as the “Book and Breakfast Club”. The highlight of the Summer Term was shadowing the books shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal. Five books were shortlisted and the club members made a great attempt to read all of them, at a very busy time of year. Mrs York created a Carnegie Medal shadowing page on the Library website. All of the boys wrote profiles about themselves and their interests. In addition they ranked the books as they read them, with the result that the most popular book was Tamar by Mal Peet. This book went on to win the Carnegie Medal. Following on from this, five boys took part in an exciting balloon debate on Founder's Day in the Lower School Library.
In the Summer Term the booklet ‘Prequels, Sequels, Trilogies & Sagas' was updated. This is widely used by boys in the Lower School and has an attractive cover designed by Luke Gbedemah in 7S.
JUNIOR SCHOOL [2004-2005 report]
LOANS
Michaelmas 2004: There was a very slight decrease in the number of books borrowed this term, down from 4518 to 4135, some 8.4%.
Lent 2005: The total number of items issued this term was 3284, only 32 less than last year! The library was closed for 9 mornings during the testing procedure and also the term was much shorter than Lent 2004, so the use of the library measured by issues is very encouraging.
Summer 2005:
Issues for this term have increased slightly on last year, from 2299 to 2410.
The annual issues showed a light drop of 2.7% overall.
STOCK
Total stock at the end of the year was 7969 items, 3408 fiction and 4561 non-fiction. During the summer holiday a stock check of the non-fiction was being carried out, revealing very few losses during the year. 272 items were withdrawn from stock at the same time.
The information skills programme followed the format of previous years with one exception. It was not possible to fit into the timetable the year 6 introductory lessons. Members of staff have noted that pupils are not as prepared for individual research work as in previous years, so in future these lessons will be given priority when planning lessons in the library.
PROMOTIONS
World Book Day in March was, as usual, a busy day in the Junior School. All the boys received free book vouchers. There was a second-hand book sale in the hall during break which raised £68 for charity, divided between Emmaus and Multiple Sclerosis charities. At lunchtime boys divided into Houses and Year 6 boys introduced others to their favourite books. There was also a “Guess the author” competition running in the foyer, which prompted much discussion.
Year 5 and 6 also participated in the visit from Anthony Horowitz; this was very popular and led to an increase in the borrowing of already very popular stories.
Visits
In the Michaelmas Term Mrs Dawson visited the Victorian and Albert Museum with Year 5 and Hampton Court with Year 4. She accompanied the end of term Year 4 visit to The Lion King. In the Lent Term Mrs Dawson accompanied Year 5 to the Ragged School and Year 3 to the Museum of London; both visits supported class teaching and library-based research. In the Summer Term she accompanied Year 3 to Nower Wood and Year 6 to the Imperial War Museum. Further afield, she went to the Field Centre with 5K and to France with Year 6.
The Storytelling Club: following its popularity last year an extra meeting was introduced. Year groups are now divided into a club for Year 3 and another for Years 4 and 5.
Baker Books
It was another successful year of purchasing through Baker Books. At least 40 boys buy from each issue and the library benefited from over £150 worth of free books.
August 2006