It’s been another busy year in the library with 30 fabulously vibrant student librarians led by Head Librarian Sophie O’Neill and Deputy Heads Galina Mandich and Saffron Lai.

Their volunteer work to shelve hundreds if not thousands of books over the year and to monitor the library during intervals is gratefully appreciated.

2019 has seen a steady flow of new fiction including award winning books from New Zealand, Australia, UK and America added to the collection. The Parents Association have donated a new collection of Teen Wellness books about mindfulness and techniques for overcoming stress. New fiction and non-fiction books have also been added to support our LGBT students and can be found on the ‘Rainbow Youth’ reading list.

Library users are becoming more familiar with the library catalogue found on the school website. This is the page that connects students to the library and showcases the books and resources that are available for reading, homework and research while at school or at home. Students can access their accounts on this page and create their own personal profiles, manage loans and reserve books. The page also features carousel displays of new and popular books and recently returned books, and book lists for all NCEA levels. There is also direct access to the EPIC data bases and various on-line magazines such as NZ Geographic.

The library has exhibited Year 9 Technology upcycled book art works throughout the year and the photos of the Columba College photography competition winners. Various authors have visited and provided writing workshops for junior and senior students in the senior fiction area. The refurbishing of all the library seating has been completed and the new wall mounted TV has been used to good effect making this a very pleasant space to teach in.

In August there was an explosion of youth expression at the lunch time Poetry Slam in the library to celebrate National Poetry Day. Congratulations to our seriously talented poets who shared their stories. This event will be back again next year.

Book Week was celebrated with popular competitions such as Guess the Shredded Book in a Jar, and guessing which teacher was reading which book. The Book Quiz was enjoyed by enthusiastic teams of Year 6-10 students with, yet again, a vast array of challenging but fun questions and prizes to be won. There was a lunch time Harry Potter Quiz too, and Clifford the Red Dog was a special surprise visitor who hung out with the juniors during their library visits. The Scholastic Book Fair shop, organised and run by the Parents Association and parent volunteers, was open during the afternoons all week for the wider school community. The library received donated books from the Columba College Old Girls’ Association and parents purchasing books at the Book Fair. Many new books were also purchased due to the generosity of money raised by students in each Junior class and Senior form class. Book Week wrapped up on the Friday with a lunch time performance in the library by Columba’s clarinet quartet ‘Windforce Four’. This was a great end to Book Week and reminded us of the wonderfully diverse ways in which stories are expressed and shared.

Ms L. Wootton

Librarian