Christchurch Girls' High School has arguably one of the largest and most active groups of student librarians in the country.

This year we have had a team of 97 student librarians which is our biggest group so far! They not only carry out general duties such as the issuing and returning of books and streams (laptops) etc, but they also enthusiastically helped us to make preparations for our annual book week - our major event of the year.

For Book Week 2020 our theme was Sci-fi and Space. Our goal was to create a new and vibrant library space that would truly showcase the creativity and talent of many of our librarians. Through many tireless work hours, a display of the solar system was created from scratch and was hung up around the library. Each of the planets were individually crafted and painted using materials from around the school. Other displays, such as a rocket ship, robots, and science-fiction posters, were also created and incorporated the talents of many of the students. This annual Book Week event is a showcase of our pride as a school library for being able to facilitate the passions of many students. It is also an event that enables the student librarians to work together and become invested in the more outwardly creative pursuits that literature and imagination can bring.

We were able to hold many events to interact with the student librarian group and award them for their service to our school. This year we were able to hold a library pizza lunch and a shared lunch despite the interference of covid-19.

Our library committee, which consists of seven members, was of much assistance and together we brainstormed display, competition, and book week ideas. Everyone worked so hard to make sure this year in the library was a good one and so much could not have been done without the support of the library committee! Finally, we would like to thank Mr Eldridge and Miss Rattray, who gave us this opportunity to lead the library team in 2020. This has been an excellent experience and we both hope to take the skills we have learnt and apply them further on in our lives.

• Heli Patel (deputy head librarian) and Mary O’Leary (head librarian)

A note from Mr. Eldridge –

I guess for many reasons 2020 shouldn’t have been a great year to come in and manage the CGHS library in Linley Earnshaw’s stead while she was away up north, but even with all the disruptions and challenges that we have had to navigate I have absolutely loved my time at the school.

The student culture around the library here is second to none and is a real credit to the girls themselves.

Over the course of any given week the library is well patronised by voracious readers, gamers, studiers and of course class visits for research and reading.

The student library committee for 2020 were simply amazing and I cannot give them enough credit. They did all the hard work around our very successful book week whilst I simply came up with the ideas.

The school should be very proud to have such a well-used, well-resourced, and vibrant library space. With a new library space being part of the rebuild plans, things can only go from strength to strength for the library here at CGHS.

• Ben Eldridge (library manager)