SENIOR SCHOOL
The importance of
the Senior Library
webpage
At the beginning of 2007 library
staff came together to plan and
work on what we had been avidly
discussing for the previous 12
months – a library ‘page’ on the
school intranet. We recognised the
need to provide easy access to high
quality online resources in order
to support teaching and learning
across the curriculum and set about
creating such a spot on the portal.
Teaching staff across the Senior School were
consulted at length to ascertain their needs
and in order for our product to provide
relevant and comprehensive support to all
subjects. The library staff was very happy
to meet our own self-imposed deadline
and to be able to launch the library page
at the beginning of Term 1 in readiness for
the return of both staff and students. The
overwhelmingly positive response from both
students and staff following our website
unveiling was extremely heartening and we
have never looked back.
Fast forward to February 2018 and our
dedicated team of library professionals have
once again contributed to a fresh revamp
of our webpage. This refurbishment shows
the importance that we place on staying at
the cutting edge of information services at
Guildford Grammar School. Over the past
ten years, the site has grown and developed
with constant input from the school
community and continues to be a very well-
used and invaluable educational tool.
Encouraging our students to enjoy their
reading is an extremely important function
of our library – in fact I would go so far as
to say it is our core business – and I consider
it essential that we address the attitudes of
teenagers towards reading for pleasure, and
in particular reading fiction.
I like to think that our library page highlights
the absolute joy of reading and that it
encourages all of our students to become
life-long-learners and lovers of books, be
they hard backs or electronic. So me of the
ways in which we endeavour to achieve this
is by featuring constantly updated lists of
new books purchased for our shelves plus
reviews, book trailers (which are an excellent
Without a doubt,
sustained, free
voluntary reading
has far-reaching
implications.
way to communicate the excitement of
reading while promoting new or favourite
books), and also our Featured Reader, which
gives our students the opportunity to review
what they are currently reading.
Without a doubt, sustained, free voluntary
reading has far-reaching implications.
Not only can it provide students with a
foundation to achieve higher levels of
language proficiency and extend their
cultural knowledge but above all, it is a
pleasurable experience that can serve as an
act of self-discovery.
The Guildford Grammar School Library
webpage will therefore continue to play
a central role in facilitating the innovative
educational possibilities offered by our
collection of books and online databases.
We will continue to offer traditional and
virtual resources so that our students
can form knowledge to achieve true
21st century learning, and hopefully inspire
them to attain a love of books and reading
which will last them all of their days.
Michelle Pritchard
Director of Library Services
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