Library Skills

a
a
a
a

Site

Online Services

Store

Library Skills

See also Posters for Libraries

offtheshelf

Off the Shelf

By Lucy Bakewell, SLA School Librarian of the Year

How to run a successful primary school library and promote reading.
(Secondary librarians will also find help and inspiration in Off the Shelf)

A brilliantly practical resource

• Choosing books
• Organising the library
• Successful reading activities
• Involving children in the library
• Working with reluctant readers
• Involving parents
• Creating great displays to attract pupils
• The annual calendar of events
• Author visits
• Supporting the curriculum
• Key websites

"Useful ideas for secondary school libraries too"
Ann Montgomery, Bury Grammar Boys

"Really useful - lots of inspirational & practical ideas from an enthusiastic and dynamic practitioner"
Geoff Dubber, Chair, School Library Association

"A great book. I love the copiable and downloadable resources"
Nikki Heath, School Librarian of the Year 2008

"Really good, very well written and gives so many hints and tips on bringing the WOW factor to the library without spending a fortune... just what is needed at this time when budgets are under threat and making the most of what you’ve got will be the order of the day!"Sally Duncan, Assistant Director, SLA

JUST PUBLISHED!

From: £19.95 + vat

Off the Shelf - 10% discount for SLA members

Off the Shelf - 10% discount for SLA members

libraryfinditindex

Library Find it Index

The flexible, user-friendly guide to subjects and their classification numbers

Easy to adapt to suit your library

• Print as many copies as you like and have them handy in several places in your library
• Excel document - editable and printable - in alphabetical order
• A listing in numeric order too
• A stylish personalised cover

Every library uses slightly different versions of the classification numbers - the beauty of this Index is that you can adapt it for your library.
The impact on students is positive and immediate. They find it quick and easy to use.

"Fantastic. Love the cover, so interesting and vibrant. The beauty is you can print off multiple copies. Saves kids the long windedness of logging on, going to the intranet, waiting for the keyword search to feed back." Nikki Heath, School Librarian of the Year 2008, Werneth School

"What an excellent idea! This will save me so much work and the fact I’ll be able to adapt it is brilliant. Thank heavens for Carel Press!" Mrs Alison Lainchbury, The Leys School, Cambridge

"I’m impressed. This is a great, adaptable resource." John Iona, Oasis Academy Enfield

"Proved really useful" Eileen Armstrong, Cramlington Learning Village

The index will be emailed to you. Firm order only.
33.3% discount for subscribers to both Essential Articles & Fact File

From: £37.50 + vat

Library Find it Index for subscribers to Fact File & Essential Articles

Library Find it Index for subscribers to Fact File & Essential Articles

greatlibraryideas

Great Library Ideas

By librarians for librarians

Tried & tested tips & techniques guaranteed to work

Nikki Heath, winner of the 2008 SLA School Librarian of the Year award, is a major contributor to Great Library Ideas

This essential copiable resource is jam packed with lively and successful ideas to make the most of the library/LRC and put it right at the heart of the school. Most of the ideas can be easily adapted to different abilities and ages from 8-16. They range from one-off lessons to extended projects. Each idea is fully described and most include a copiable worksheet.

Video requires QuickTime to view

Ideas include: Murder in the Library, Blind Date Reads, Library Treasure Hunt Bingo and many more!

Best Borrowers	Mystery Gift
Networking without wires	Book Menus
Desert Island Books	Book Walls
Send a Text Message	Book Ends
Non Fiction Detective	Guess the Genre
Find a Fact	Shakespeare Reading Game
The Dewey Game	Mission Possible
Which Genre	Library Treasure Hunt Bingo
Murder in the Library	Guess Who's Coming to Dinner
What Do We Read?	Web Versus Books
Take a Book by its Cover	The Lateral Thinking Game
Read a Rainbow	Speed Dating
Blind Date Reads

and more!

So if you want a dynamic and successful library ask for an approval copy! £29.95 including a cd for ease of printing. Save £5 if you subscribe to both Essential Articles & Fact File: only £24.95.

Watch the Teachers' TV review of Great Library Ideas here.

"I love Great Library Ideas - a treasure chest of good ideas"
Geoff Dubber, Chair, School Library Association

"Absolutely wonderful"
Barbara Cronk, Bishop Bell School, Eastbourne

"Fantastic"
Jennifer Toerien, Mount St Mary's College, Spinkhill

"Inspirational"
Ann Hannam, Sherburn High, Leeds

"Great Library Ideas provides a large part of the reason why reading still flourishes in the pressured lives of so many children ... a huge range of well tried and tested activities."
Speaking English magazine, Autumn 2008 (Read the full review here)

Review in Speaking English magazine

The library was a place to be avoided when I was at school: unnatural silence was heavily enforced by legalised bullies called prefects, and the room, a lovely one as it happened, was just plain dull. Nothing happened there and that was the point: the library contained, reverentially, all the books. Access to the printed word needed silence for undisturbed communion.

Later as an English teacher, amazingly possessing a lifelong love of literature, I found too many libraries to be lifeless places, peripheral, outside the ebb and flow of the communities they served. They were unmanned and their most precious resource was, so often, the space they offered to sharp-eyed teachers.

You would think that present day youngsters, with a mobile telephone welded to the side of their heads and the permanent lure of internet friendships and experiences, would have little interest in plain old books and the substantial reading they require. Yet it’s not only Master Potter who causes a youthful literary storm but authors like Michael Morpurgo and Jacqueline Wilson sell hugely to those very same youngsters.

Great Library Ideas provides a large part of the reason why reading still flourishes in the pressured lives of so many children. Within these pages, librarians and teachers are served a huge range of well tried and tested activities in and around the library. Gone is that reverential silence, driven out by murders, quizzes and competitions, treasure hunts and blind dates! Many have contributed their favourite activities and the editor, Claire Larson, has ensured that each idea is clearly described and resourced. The book is clear and brief, and fun and enthusiasm easily brighten its monochrome pages.

The regular format ensures that each idea is speedily accessed and assessed, by librarians certainly, but also by teachers of older primary children and of all secondary students. This book is realistic enough to suggest providing personal stereos to enhance the learning climate and modern enough to encourage some lively word games like Sending a Text Message to a Book Character!

And the murder? I couldn’t possibly tell you…

Peter Gibley

Speaking English journal, Autumn 2008

From: £29.95 + vat

Great Library Ideas offer for Essential Articles & Fact File subscribers

Great Library Ideas offer for Essential Articles & Fact File subscribers

successfullibrarydisplays

Successful library displays

Inspiring and practical

Quick and easy library displays to promote reading

• Brilliant eye-catching ideas
• Raises the profile of your library
• Extensive booklists to create the displays
• Supporting activities
• Related websites
• Fabulous suggestions for events throughout the year
• Great general display ideas

The booklists and recommended websites are also online (Word and Excel formats) for easy editing and use - for example you can make bookmarks and posters

Covers 58 key events such as Valentine’s Day, International Women’s Day, Christmas, Refugee week.
"An excellent resource. Extremely useful."
The School Librarian, Winter 2009

"Brilliant display ideas – an excellent publication."
Geoff Dubber, Chair, School Library Association

"An excellent publication that takes all the hard work out of creating inspiring and topical school library displays. The accompanying website allows you to access weblinks directly and download the booklists which can then be edited to suit your purpose and library stock."
Linda M Dawes, The King’s School, Grantham

NEW July 09: £24.95 (or only £17.50 for subscribers to ReadPlus)

Share photos of library displays here.

From: £24.95 + vat

Successful library displays offer for ReadPlus subscribers

Successful library displays offer for ReadPlus subscribers

thereadinggame

The Reading Game

'Gone down a storm! Very popular, flexible and easy to run. An absolute hit!' Liz Smith, Pembroke School

• A sure-fire way to get young people reading
• Gripping and highly motivating
• For any age from 8 to 16
• Any number can play
• Introduces fiction genres
• Instantly adapted to any library / LRC
• Encourages wide reading

Some children and young people restrict their reading to one genre, or worse, hardly read at all. The Reading Game solves this problem because it introduces books in a fun and imaginative way. It is totally flexible - you choose the books.

At the end of a session children are queuing up to borrow books that they would never have dreamt of reading!

"I’ve just had two determined ‘non-readers’ tell me that they’ve finished books which they were inspired to read by your Reading Game - what a result!"
Alice Fyson, English teacher, Kirkham Grammar School, June 2010

"Fast, noisy and fun"
TES

"Fantastic"
Margaret Drinkwater, School Library Service Manager, Leeds

Read more comments and reviews here

Download a PowerPoint presentation of the Reading Game
Reading Game certificate: free pdf

From: £37.50 + vat

The Reading Game 2 copies offer

The Reading Game 2 copies offer

bookhere

BOOK HERE!

Brilliant library projects: for poetry, maths and science

• An exciting copiable resource

• Differentiated, curriculum linked library lessons

Are your shelves full of the most fantastic fiction and non-fiction that students would love if only you could get them to sample some of the delights they contain? A school librarian tackles this problem in an innovative, practical and fun way. Covers 3 particularly challenging key areas - poetry, maths, and science

All the projects are quick and easy to prepare. They will grab students' interest immediately and can be delivered as a one-off lesson or as part of an extended scheme of work. They develop essential library and research skills and encourage students to work both independently and as part of a team.

Guaranteed to work with your students!

Requires QuickTime to view

"Excellent. It touches those parts that other publications don't often reach!"
Geoff Dubber, Chair, School Library Association

"Just what we need"
Lesley Lee, Librarian, Harrow International School, Bangkok

"Generates high levels of motivation and enthusiasm, leading to sustained and worthy projects."
Special Needs Information Press

48 pages plus 5 full colour A2 charts

From: £24.95 + vat

quirkyquizzesforlivelylibraries

Quirky quizzes for lively libraries

Hundreds of questions to challenge 11-13 year olds

• Instant, copiable, no preparation needed!

Two books with quizzes and puzzles from many learning areas to develop and practise research skills. Students will use a range of reference sources including encyclopaedias, dictionaries, atlases and search engines to find answers.

Plus:
• warm-up brain teasers

• extension activities including challenging crosswords and word searches

"The purpose is to provoke research and discussion, not just stir the memory. Some queries will send pupils to dictionaries, encyclopedias and the internet. Others will make fruitful argument flow."
TES

"Fabulous"
Sarah Weeks, Kingdown School

"Brilliant"
Wendy Mann, The Stanway School, Colchester

Each book: 52 pages, £17.50 or both vols for £29.95 – save £5.05.

Select which volume you would like:

From: £17.50 + vat

Both Quirky quizzes volumes offer - save £10.05

Both Quirky quizzes volumes offer - save £10.05

BookedIn

Booked In!

A guide to running a successful school library

NEW May 2009 for secondary & primary schools

A comprehensive guide for school librarians. Full of inspiring ideas to increase the popularity and raise the profile of your library.

Tells you how to create a positive relationship between the library and the school, build cross-curricular links, and offer exciting facilities with the aim of providing an outstanding school library service.

• Pinpoints key guidelines and requirements for school libraries
• Ideas for quizzes, activities & events
• How to make reading cool, encourage interest in books, and increase library use
• How to get the support of the SMT, extra funding and inclusion of the library in the whole school policy
• Ways to involve the library across all departments
• Library-specific advice on behavioural management, training and staffing
• Interviews with Nikki Heath (SLA School Librarian of the Year), heads and librarians
• £1 discount for subscribers to both Essential Articles & Fact File

Louise Heyden, the author, is a former school library manager from Essex, where she successfully ran two secondary school libraries. With a background in media and advertising, she is passionate about creatively promoting the importance of reading and believes every child deserves access to an outstanding school library.

From: £18.50 + vat

Booked In! offer for Essential Articles & Fact File subscribers

Booked In! offer for Essential Articles & Fact File subscribers

searchanddiscover

Search and Discover

Active library skills for 11-13 year olds

• Integrated schemes of work that link with key curriculum areas
• Demonstrates best practice
• Allows full differentiation

As recommended in the DfES booklet Improve your Library

"Invaluable ... Buy two copies"
The School Librarian

"Excellent publication. More please"
Anne Roberts, Learning Resources Manager, North Leamington Community School & Arts College

"Excellent"
Dr Chris Drewery, Head of Resources, Oathall Community College

Copiable

From: £19.95 + vat

Sample pages

SDShakespeare

SDShakespeare

Review of Search and Discover in The School Librarian

"Every school librarian probably has an ideal vision of how library and information skills could be taught if only there was enough time allowed and staff were able to co-operate to ensure that library skills were an integrated part of the curriculum. Claire Drury's book has effectively done the departmental liaison for the reader and has also done the planning, designing and artwork.

Subjects covered in the book include the Romans, English, science, geography, food technology and citizenship. The worksheets (all photocopiable) are lively and interesting and cover a variety of approaches/outcomes so that most librarians should be able to adapt them to suit their own particular circumstances. One extremely useful feature is the scheme of work which shows a summary of the projects and includes working methods, age or National Curriculum targets, and the outcomes for each worksheet.

The introduction too is full of useful advice... an invaluable addition to the school librarian's bookshelf. This book is one of the best of its kind in its curriculum focus and attractive presentation. Buy two copies - someone is sure to borrow yours."

thelibrarybook

The Library Book

Getting to know your library's secrets

• introduces 11 - 13 year olds to the school library
• lesson plans in the style of the National Literacy Strategy
• many & varied activities - often cross-curricular
• copiable

"Excellent. Very useful."
Heather Handley, Brittons School

Each school has to decide how best to plan and deliver pupils' introduction to the library. This book covers key areas: finding your way round the library; finding fiction; the classification system; the subject index; alphabetical order skills; dictionaries, atlases, encyclopedias; library test; different styles of writing and reading; refining your search; resources other than books; role of the librarian; libraries nationwide.

From: £17.50 + vat

The Library Book, The Lively Library Book & Exploring the Library

The Library Book, The Lively Library Book & Exploring the Library

exploringthelibrary

Exploring the Library

Learn how a library works!

You can use this collection of copiable worksheet puzzles to reinforce understanding of how libraries work and how the library's resources can be useful in and out of school.

Topics: Interpreting non-literary texts; using reference books to gather information and different reading techniques such as scanning.

Includes answers.

(For an offer on all 3 titles in this series see The Library Book above)

From: £17.50 + vat

livelylibrarybook

Lively Library Book

Library Skills Offer

Library Skills Offer