Snapshot of a School Library During COVID-19 #14

This teacher librarian at a NSW public school shares what they have been doing in their school library during COVID-19.

What has been the focus for your school library/role during the COVID-19 Crisis?

To maintain a connection between our school community and the library during a time when the vast majority of our students are staying at home and library classes have stopped.

What major tasks have you achieved?

I started a YouTube channel featuring me reading stories for our students.

What has been the result for staff and/or students?

Students have been able to engage with quality literature everyday from home. Staff have been able to assign supplied activities related to the stories that I have read. Hopefully, this has eased some of their workload as they prepared work for students to do online.

What reactions did you get from what the library staff were doing?

I have gotten a great response from the whole school community! Parents walking past the school when I've been on playground duty have stopped to tell me how much they appreciate the stories and how much their children look forward to the stories each day. Parents have come in to the library to say thank you. There was also great feedback from a P&C meeting when I first started. Students have enjoyed the stories, from kindergarten to year 6. I have received messages and video letters saying thank you. One class had to record themselves reading a story based on the way I read in my videos. Teachers have been posting links to my videos for their class to see and they have been using my activities in their online programs. School leaders have been very encouraging and supportive, giving me time to record further videos.

I think that part of the role of the library is to provide a stable and safe place for all of our students. Part of what I have been doing is an effort to continue to provide that sense of normalcy, sense of stability and sense of familiarity for our students and families throughout these stressful times.

If you would like to let us know what your school library is doing during COVID-19, you can let us know here.