Tuesday, 31 May 2016

Library Posters

PaperZip is a website with lots of colourful free downloads suitable for classrooms and libraries.
It's well worth a look if you are trying to brighten up the library.

We particularly like their Comic Banners

Mathematician twitter advice

and these rather nice Keep the Library Tidy posters

Tuesday, 17 May 2016

StoryCon 2016

Sat 11 June & Sun 12 June 2016 | Glasgow

StoryCon 2016, is the Scottish Book Trust's exciting new creative writing conference designed by teenagers, for teenagers living in Scotland.

Young people aged 13 to 19 with an interest in writing, illustrating, digital media and more are invited to attend this free event to attend workshops on comics-making, writing, YouTube, podcasting, screenwriting, Gaelic writing, spoken word, and much more.

Please encourage your students to apply and don't hesitate to email us at nicole.brandon@scottishbooktrust.com with your questions.

Monday, 16 May 2016

Science of Stories Conference

The Science of Stories Conference is a free conference run by Strathclyde University and Scottish Book Trust on Friday 3rd June. Sign up here

Looking at does it matter if young people enjoy stories by films and videos rather than by books? Can visual, screen-based narrative help to build enthusiasm for books?

This one day conference includes talks from neuroscientists, specialists in literature, film and education and representatives of The Scottish Book Trust and the Glasgow Women’s Library.

 For more details and to book a place head to their Eventbrite page

Tuesday, 10 May 2016

Running a Staff Book Group

Last August I decided it was time to include staff in our whole school literacy programme by setting up a Staff Book Group. Health and wellbeing would also be covered as reading has been shown to significantly reduce stress levels.

All staff were invited and from that initial meeting – 23 attendees and more notes of interest – we settled on a day and time for the first Book Group. We would meet once a month on a Monday after school in the Library for about 45 minutes. To keep it simple I had picked a book in advance which I was pretty certain that no-one would have read and which covered a variety of themes which would either appeal (or not) to most - ‘Station eleven’ by Emily St John Mandel. I e-mailed the choice to all staff and set the date for the first Monday of the following month. Staff were free to decide whether they borrowed the book from a Library, or bought a copy (paperback or e-book). Choosing the short-list is the most difficult task as I try to cover different genres and themes.

Fourteen staff attended the first Book Group proper. After a very lively discussion about ‘Station eleven’ over tea/coffee and cakes provided by myself we settled down to decide the way the Group would run in more detail. In the end it was decided that I would provide a short-list of 3-4 books from which we would vote for the next read. This book would be paperback and preferably one that was on offer either on Amazon or at a local supermarket. If staff wanted the paperback I would use my Amazon Prime membership to purchase the required number of copies and staff would then pay me for the copy or they could buy/borrow their own copy from another source. Thus books have been costing an average of £3.30 per person per month, and any change has been put in to the cake/biscuit/tea/coffee kitty!

The Group has been really popular and has members from English, Maths, CDT, Science, ALN, Social Subjects and Home Economics. It is great fun and we have read a wide variety of books over the last 9 months. Not all of the books have had great reviews from us – but it makes for an interesting discussion, however everyone agrees that they enjoy reading something different and it makes them take time to relax and read something that isn’t work related. With everyone clearly still so enthusiastic the Book Group will continue over the summer and next session.

 Yvonne Aitken - School Librarian, Inveralmond CHS, Livingston, West Lothian.

Thursday, 5 May 2016

Siobhan Dowd Trust Grants

The Siobhan Dowd Trust is offering an opportunity for schools and groups across the UK who work with disadvantaged young people to apply for a series of small grants to be spent in local independent bookshops.

The amount awarded in each UK region will total £1000. This may go entirely to one school/group, or we may choose to break this amount down into several smaller grants of £750 / £500 / £250.

All you need to do is send a short email - full details of what you need to send  can be found on their site  – http://www.siobhandowdtrust.com/teachers-and-librarians/

Deadline for Scottish applicants is June 30th (other regions may vary see their website for details).