Saturday, September 7, 2013

A work in progress...

Serife working on her new Welcome display
This week we welcomed our students back to school. It was not the smoothest start to the year for our library team. We were unable to lend books as our data upload to our LMS (Library Management System) was delayed due to technical difficulties with the Internet and SMS (Student Management System) access problems. Students still came to the library, read the books here, studied here and had classes here. The good news is next week we will be able to resume normal service. 

The great thing about life in a school is that each year there is an opportunity to start afresh. A magical time of reinvention. My colleague Serife creates a major welcome display just outside the library doors each year. You can see the beginnings of it on the right here. It is a major work of art and cannot be rushed. It stays with us for the entire year. At the moment it is still a work in progress. 

Our library team is a work in progress as well. We welcomed a new team ember this week. Ozlem was still smiling at the end of the week - always a good sign - despite the difficulties with issuing and Internet. 

Our Inquiry library is continuing to evolve. We have a new question for the wonderwall next week - "What is cool about school?" Also our wonderwall has evolved from black to green. 

With R. David Lankes' books "Expect more" and "The Atlas of New Librarianship" will also be helping us to work toward our school vision of being forward thinking and exceptional in every respect. As I said we are indeed a work in progress.

Serife, Amanda and Ozlem - Marmara Library Team