Browse by category

Getting the most from your school library

The facilities offered by a school will differ and will depend on many things, such as pupil numbers, location and even the type of building the school is housed in. That said, regardless of whether a school is an old Victorian schoolhouse like Southill Lower School, a modern building like Samuel Whitbread Community College or a combination of both like Langford Lower School which has new modern additions to the original building, one thing every school will offer, without exception, is a library. In some schools this may be a small facility, in others it can be massive.

The old perception of a school library, with rows of dusty text books, is now as far from the truth as it can be. Lower schools libraries stock a wide variety of books intended to encourage children to find reading fun with and many of the books will not only help a young child develop their reading and literacy abilities, they will also stretch their imagination.

Middle school libraries will help children develop their learning skills but also offer books which will help them broaden their interests and knowledge of society and other cultures.

The Samuel Whitbread Library

We visited the library at Samuel Whitbread Community College to see firsthand how a busy school library works and exactly what it can offer to its pupils.

The Head Librarian, Cheryl Cooper told us

"…reading is the key to academic success. That was the finding of the 2003 Pisa (Programme for International Student Assessment) study, which concluded that "...it was the number of books read by a child that was the most accurate predictor of future academic success." (Cengage Learning). Our aim at Samuel Whitbread’s Library is to serve students and staff with their information needs. We are a dedicated team of staff who are committed to sourcing much needed resources and helping students to locate information themselves with advanced internet search techniques. Currently we have over 10,000 stock items including books, audio books, magazines, journals, DVD’s and more. We encourage our patrons to make recommendations so that more can be added to our stock. Our interlibrary loan partnership with Bedfordshire Public Libraries enables us to borrow books from all Bedfordshire branches. For example if there is a book at the Luton branch a patron needs, our library can order the resource on your behalf and deliver it to Samuel Whitbread’s Library within 1-2 weeks. Our library system "Oliver" can be accessed from home and hosts a variety of web links which help students perform at higher standards academically."

The library holds books on all the academic courses and subjects students study at Samuel Whitbread, but much more besides. Modern novels, books on hobbies, careers, self help, health are all on the shelves and the library also offers a light and airy space for students to read and study. Computer terminals are available and the staff are always on hand to help if required.

All new students to the school receive an introductory tour of the library as well as an induction in how to get the most from the service it offers.

All withdrawals are computerised so any book a student wants is simply scanned before it is taken away. The library also acts as a focal point for school activities and just about anything going on is advertised on the library notice board or by a poster on the walls.

Cheryl explained:

"Like all libraries, we do have rules, although we don't expect people to talk in whispers. We don't allow food or drink in the library and mobile telephones are also prohibited. We try to dispel the old idea of libraries and so we are fairly informal as we want to encourage people to come in and use the facilities we offer."

Cheryl recommends a visit to the College library website. Follow the link and you will find lots of information in one easy location.

If you have any questions about the Samuel Whitbread library and what it offers or if you are a student at the College and want to order a book then please do not hesitate to contact the librarian, Miss Cheryl Cooper by phone 01462 628033 or email.