Race For Life

This post has absolutely nothing to do with work or libraries or books or literature or school or reading, but...

On Thursday 17th June I will attempt a 5k run for Cancer Research UK. Not an easy task for me but I feel it's something I have to do. If anybody out there would like to sponsor me (I'll be forever grateful!) please click on the following link:

Fishy Wishes to You All!

It’s Easter half term which means I have two weeks off work. I really appreciate the generous holidays of working in a school, but… I keep thinking about fish.

Just after Christmas, we bought a tropical aquarium for the library. I was a little apprehensive when the idea was originally pitched to me, but I’ve surprised myself by how attached I’ve become.

A group of pupils formed an Aquarium Team (AKA ‘The Fish Club’) and the idea is that they maintain the tank. Of course, I supervise, but never having kept an aquarium before it has been quite the learning curve! Last month the chemical analysis of the water was tested and I was told it was ‘practically perfect’; this is no mean feet for a beginner and I was so proud!

We have mostly Mollies, but other species include Platy, Danio, Gourami and (my favourite) Siamese Fighting Fish. There are 15 ‘adult’ fish in the tank, which has a Sponge Bob Squarepants theme. There are also several snails (urgh) which reproduce at an alarming rate!

We had babies in February, which was quite a shock as we didn’t realise we had a pregnant fish – such was our lack of knowledge. I have since come to the conclusion that a Dalmatian Molly must have been pregnant before she came to our tank. Having now learnt about live bearing fish, I started to suspect that our Leopard Molly was pregnant, and we became proud parents once again in March. We currently have approximately 50 Molly fry living in two nursery nets inside the main tank. Due to various fishy deaths, we now have one male Molly to four female Mollies and my fingers are crossed as I hope against hope that we have no more Molly babies; the tank has become a den of sin and I don’t know how we’ll cope with any more additions to the family.

April Fool's Day

Yesterday was 7 years to the day that I first started work in a library.

Happy anniversary me!

UK Library Blogs

A while ago I discovered a wiki called UK Library Blogs. It’s run by several prominent library-bloggers and aims to compile lists of all library-related blogs within the UK. What a great idea! I’ve found several interesting ones by accessing the wiki. I love reading library blogs and enjoy ones that have a personal feel to them. Some focus on professional issues whilst others have a more informal tone, but I soak them all up.

This month saw the unlocking of the wiki, meaning anybody is now free to add a blog to it. I added mine earlier this week and since then it has - for the first time - had hits from other countries.

This simple idea really is a great way to share knowledge, communicate with others and raise awareness. I can’t praise it enough! If you author a library blog, what are you waiting for? Get it on the wiki!

Campaign for the Book

In the current issue of Library and Information Gazette (11 March 2010), the front page story summarises the ongoing battle between school libraries and Downing Street. As I work in a school library this is something I feel very strongly about.

The Campaign for the Book, under the leadership of Alan Gibbons, submitted an e-petition to Downing Street asking for school libraries to be statutory, which was unfortunately rejected. The Government’s reply stated that a school library is a ‘key resource’ and left it for schools themselves to make the decision of whether they have libraries. Talk about sitting on the fence! This, I feel, is hugely hypocritical of the Government. Legally, schools have to provide careers information but do not necessarily have to provide any other sources of information. This makes me wonder, how on earth can a place of learning not possess a library? There is a startling trend which sees schools disbanding libraries because they are costly to source and the emphasis is now placed on Google as an all-knowing research tool. Indeed, in the borough in which I work, this has happened to several schools.

Grrrrr! I feel so passionately about this issue and it makes my blood boil that the Government does not feel it important. School libraries are statutory in Scotland and public libraries are statutory throughout the whole of the UK – how dare Downing Street say that school libraries in England, Wales and Northern Ireland are less important. If I ever bump into Ed Balls or Gordon Brown I’d give them a piece of my mind!

I didn’t want this blog post to become an outlet for my frustration and anger regarding the Government’s narrow vision; I’m really having to curb what I type, otherwise it would be. In fact, I fear it is already too late! I just can’t help myself! My original intention was to simply state how nice it is to see so many different organisations lending their support to the campaign by lobbying the Prime Minister. However, these bodies are mostly institutions that are connected to school libraries, for example the School Library Association. Whilst there are non-school bodies that have verbalised support, for example several authors, it would be nice for support from other sectors to be more forthcoming. I can’t help but wonder, would this campaign have received more support had the government been as flippant towards libraries in other types of educational establishments, such as colleges or universities. A library is just as crucial in compulsory education as it is in further or higher education. School libraries are where the profession grabs library users of the future – that alone should give them importance.