From peer tutors to Dungeons and dragons Club, Student Council meetings to filming interviews, finding a book for English essays to creating house plans for DCT. You name it - you'll probably find it in the Library.

On the first day of the 2019 school year, a new student poked her head through the Library door and asked whether students were ever allowed to 'just come into the Library by themselves'! We were shocked to contemplate that maybe somewhere there were libraries where students can’t just ‘go in’. Hopefully our students all know they are welcome to come into the Library whenever they don’t have to be somewhere else for a class.

And throughout the year the students came! Over 200,000 times in fact. During the relentless heat of February and the long cold spells in Terms 2 and 3 we were often at full capacity during lunchtimes. This is such a vibrant, bustling, energetic space when it’s filled with young people. Books are important, but our library are about people first and foremost.

Some students even studied and had books issued! At some schools through the country there are Librarians who bemoan the situation where students no longer seem to borrow books. That is not a problem here at Burnside. Combined book and e-book issues have been rising over both the last two years!  Well done BHS readers.

Notable special events through the year have been Book Week in Term 2 and author visits in Terms 3 and 4. During Book Week there were a lot of book-related activities happening throughout the school. Students turned into detectives following clues to bring back our Kidnapped books during form times or working out Lit Quiz answers for the fierce competition. Lunchtimes brought plenty of activities to choose from and the week ended with a Book Character dress-up day with some great costumes. Lots of fun.

The smooth running of the Library is assisted by many. Notably, our wonderful group of Parent volunteers is rostered to shelve books each day. Over the course of a year this means thousands of books are returned to shelves by these willing helpers. This help from the community is invaluable to the Library staff and enables us to work with students and complete other tasks.

Our helpers from the student body are also a very important part of library life. Student Librarians and Year 13 volunteers help make our spaces and resources available to everyone. The 40 Student Librarians are divided into five teams each rostered for one day weekly. These reliable students run the circulation desk and other duties during intervals and lunchtimes, ably led by their Team Leaders and Deputies. During each year, they also complete Library training modules. The drop-in tutoring services are organised and run by Y13s during lunchtimes each week and are available to help students with study questions. This is well-used by students from all levels. We also have Year 13 students to help supervise in the computer Learning Lab and keep the Bagstore safe during lunchtimes. A large number of senior students give their time and energy in service to the Library and are fabulous role models for all of us.

Library staff love seeing so many people using and enjoying the Library resources and spaces each week. Many thanks to BHS students and staff from the Library Team.

Ms Boden, Mrs Boardman, Mrs Grinter and Mrs Wilson.