Monday, October 31, 2016

Library Staff Job-Alike Workshop (JAW) @ UWCSEA East, October

Friday, October 21, the library staff at UWCSEA East hosted the first annual Job-Alike Workshop (JAW) held here in Singapore, based on one held last year at Alice Smith School in KL.

Forty-seven people from a total of sixteen schools attended (including one from KL).  The feedback has been tremendous and our staff learned so much by organizing it.  Special thanks to Ernie, Shirin, Rozi, Judy, Lisa, and Kavi.

It is hoped this will be an annual event, hosted by different schools.



PHOTOS from the event:

Sunday, October 16, 2016

Setting up a village school library in Myanmar

If you were asked to help set up a new school library in a new primary school building in a farming village outside Mandalay, and you wouldn't be able to visit the site until the day before the new school's grand opening, how would you tackle it?  That was the challenge proposed to me last June by a parent service/charity group at our school.

PACE, which stands for Parents' Action for Community and Service, has built several schools in Cambodia together with the Tabitha Foundation over the past decade.  This year they teamed up with John Stevens and the 100Schools organization in Myanmar to build their first school there, in Shar Pin village.  And it is the first school built by 100Schools to have a library included.

Before:

After (the library is the far-most left room):

Luckily here at the East campus there is a Burmese parent, with whom I've done a couple of middle-school service trips to Myanmar.  Thet is not only bilingual, but highly organized, efficient, and creative.  She liaised with the Myanmar Library Association (MLA) to get us lists of recommended books to buy as well as book donations for the school.  She also got in touch with the Third Story Children's Books project, which publishes stories in ethnic languages for children in Myanmar.

Thanks to Thet's language and organization skills, over 400 children's books in Burmese were purchased or donated -- which we picked up once we arrived in Myanmar.  Thet and Thida, another Burmese speaker in our group, were able to sort the various books into 11 basic categories -- and the rest of us labeled them.

Previously in Singapore, Thet and I had brainstormed what orientation the students and teachers would need, in order to ensure proper use and maintenance of the library.  We came up with a series of posters, illustrated by my talented library staff, that would serve to both decorate the library and establish the library culture for students and teachers.



We also created about 80 laminated shelf-markers -- using simple animal logos and different colored paper.  The children were told that when they came to the library each time, they should pick an animal and a color to keep track of where they found books.  To help them remember where in the "village of books" (i.e., the library) each book "lived" -- so they could help it get back to its right place.

With Thet's help, I also did a talk about book care on opening day where I asked the children to consider how books are like people.  (They can be old or young, tall or small, speak different languages, have a front, a back, a spine, etc.  And they need to be treated with care and respect, especially when it comes to turning pages.)

Through Thet's connections, we also met up with a wonderful young Burmese teacher and storyteller, Tess (aka Tin Ma Ma Htet), who works as a professional development coordinator for the Phaung Daw Oo School and the Monastic Education Development Group in Mandalay --and with the Third Story Children's Books Project.

Small world connection:  Tess has also been involved with the teacher training project our Dover colleagues have done in Burma.  (See a video interview with her in 2015 here.)

Tess entertained the Shar Pin students with storytelling on Sunday, while the rest of us were setting up the library, and we trust that she will continue to visit Shar Pin to see that the books in the library are being fully utilized.

The school's official opening was Monday, October 3 -- and here are some basic shots of what the library finally looked like. 
 

The PACE team was amazing -- and it was such an honor to work with them.  The cost of the whole 5-classroom school?  US$72k.  The library room itself?  US$7k.  US$3k went to the library design and materials.  I can't wait to do another.

Extra:  Thet took me a local civic library in Mandalay -- the Brahmaso Library.  It's a lending library with a reading room attached.  Closed stacks.  Card catalog.  But also with a digital terminal to content provided by UK universities and the British Council.  See photos here.

Tuesday, October 4, 2016

Visit to Book Reach in Nepal

Siobhan Roulston recently left the Garden International School in Kuala Lumpur. She is taking a gap year to do some travelling. For the last two weeks she has been in Nepal with Doreen Johnstone assisting to set up school libraries. ISLN members would remember that Doreen spoke to us at a meeting last year and that Book Reach has been the beneficiary of ISLN funds allocated by the Charity Committee. Siobhan wrote this entry for the blog.
________________________

For eight weeks during August, September and October, Doreen Johnstone, the dynamic founder of the charity, Book Reach, has been working tirelessly to place books into the hands of Nepali school children. Doreen identifies schools in Hetauda, Nepal, which do not have libraries and uses pre-loved books to create libraries in them. Some schools are within the city of Hetauda, whilst others are up to two hours away by foot, motorbike and bus (yes, Doreen at the ripe old age of 75 makes the effort to reach these schools - she even sleeps on the floor of teachers' homes in these regional villages).

By being able to help Doreen here in Nepal, I have experienced first-hand the children’s excitement as they have helped to unpack, label and organise books for their new libraries. Doreen arranges shelving, tables and carpets for the libraries if necessary. Students are involved in categorising the books into levels and then arranging them on the shelves. The smiles on their faces when they see their finished libraries is really touching.

For the past few years, schools in Malaysia and Singapore have donated thousands of books to Book Reach. It's important for the donating schools to know that these books have really made a difference in the lives of these needy children. Before Book Reach began bringing books to Nepal, many schools here had no English books for their students to read. As children in Nepal learn English in their schools, it was difficult for them to improve their reading skills. These libraries have enabled thousands of children to develop their English skills and a love for reading.

Please encourage your schools to continue supporting Book Reach, either by donating books or by contributing funds to pay for freight costs, furniture, carpets, labels, shelves, etc. Every dollar donated will find its way straight into a Nepalese school library.


A room that is about to become a library


Delivering the books


The end result

ADDED Oct 6 by Katie Day:

In the photo above, you can just see the bottom of two posters on the wall of this library.  The posters were created by one of our library assistants, Kavikumar S/O Sugumaran, on the instruction of Doreen. 

Have a look:   https://goo.gl/photos/RUweF2crDaMhEwT18

And if you have any connection to any school libraries in Nepal, please feel free to re-use any of these posters!