Student Librarian Musawar Ahmad reports on the year in the Library.

The Baigent Library is an excellent place that provides HBHS students and staff with a quiet and peaceful environment. The Library has a wide selection of resources ranging from fiction and non-fiction texts to magazines, newspapers, graphic novels, and DVDs. The Library also offers computers and printing services to aid in their studies.

A highlight of the Library this year was Library Week which kept the librarians busy for four weeks. The Student Head Librarian fell ill with COVID-19 and couldn’t lead the librarians in the preparation. Despite this, a few librarians took charge to make Library Week a success. The librarians worked hard to ensure the events were enjoyable for the students. Library Week ran for four days. The different events that took place were a Scavenger Hunt, Book Shelving Competition, Quiz, Memory Challenge as well as a Raffle. The first event was the Scavenger Hunt, which attracted quite a few students and boosted Library Week. There were a few students who consistently returned for each event. The number of participants increased each day. The top participants in each event won voucher prizes for bookstores and the School Canteen. The feedback was mostly positive and the students enjoyed participating. The younger librarians learned from their mistakes and their experience will help them make the Library Week of 2023 an even greater success.

Another highlight of the year was the visit from a New Zealand author, Brian Falkner. The award-winning author loves to use real-life incidents as the basis for his books, like a face-to-face encounter with a deadly cobra. He has published twenty-one books internationally, some of which are “Brainjack”, “Katipo Joe”, and “Rampage at Waterloo.” He talked to Year 9 English classes about how he writes his books and also held a Q&A session.

Overall, 2022 was a massive success for the Baigent Library which was all thanks to Mr Vincent, Mrs Skerman, Mrs Schmidt, Mr Hassall and the student librarians. Due to their hard work, commitment and enthusiasm, the Library continues to be a highly valuable part of HBHS.

By Musawar Ahmad