College Libraries/RICRAC

2008 has been a year of consolidation. Mrs Carmel Eyre acted as College Librarian in Term 2 with great skill, while Ms Susan Jost was on long-service leave, and Ms Silvana Fares worked in the Kinnoull Library for that term. Our collections and services continue to evolve and improve, with our fiction collections in particular remaining extraordinarily well-used, with steady increases in loans in 2008. Our non-fiction print collections remain popular with students and staff, with excellent usage. The number of PCs in each Library remains at 12, ensuring that the Library provides excellent access to all kinds of resources. We continue to strive to provide the best quality, most relevant print and electronic resources for our students and staff, in order to maintain a solid, rigorous collection of depth and breadth. Our online resources, World Book Online, Electric Library, Mediascan and ANZRC continue to be available from all networked PCs in the Library and the College, but unfortunately no longer from home. A new electronic acquisition is the newspaper index Echo. This replaces a rather outdated print resource which we relied on for access to newspaper content, and is a vast improvement. Our electronic resources make good quality, relevant, in-depth information available to all staff and students during the College day, without having to visit the Library. New acquisitions this year included around 150 fiction and 650 non-fiction titles for the Kinnoull Library. Subject areas for particular focus in 2008 included philosophy, legal studies, sustainable living, carpentry, graphic design and street art. Tiverton gained around 500 fiction titles and 700 non-fiction titles. Particular focus was on social issues, renewable energy, planets, oceans and rivers, climate change, Australian animals, transport, sport, and North and South America. A major new acquisition for the Tiverton Library was a new print edition of World Book to replace our ageing one, supplementing our online access to World Book. This edition acts as both a back-up to the online version, and a more accessible format for some of our students. A television has been installed outside the Tiverton Library, and this has proved to be a useful tool for visually engaging students in current and recent events that have taken place around the College. The photos from the Reading Programme’s “Characters Come Alive” assignment, a dress-up event, were displayed there and attracted a great deal of interest. The Primary Library classes run by Mrs Clare Kennedy-Curtis continue, with many enthusiastic readers emerging. Mrs Betty Rudin’s book club RIC RAC (Reading Is Cool, Readers Are Clever) was well-patronised in 2008 with around 70 members. Membership cards were distributed to the students by our new Head of Tiverton Campus, Mr John McAlroy, at the final RIC RAC meeting of Term 1. The Victorian Premier’s Reading Challenge created much interest amongst the students, with 25 completing the challenge in August. Library staff improved the records of the books used in the Challenge, to make them easier for the boys to find. A new initiative for 2008 has been the establishment of a Staff Holiday Reading event at the end of each term. This has been positively received, with many staff expressing their delight in the range of new titles the Library offers. Book Week 2008: “Fuel Your Mind”. Our visiting author this year was Sue Lawson. She spoke to the Primary and Year 7 students about her popular novel Ferret Boy, and Years 8 and 9 students about Finding Darcy. This was Sue’s first visit to the College and she was a most engaging and downto-earth speaker. The Seventh Annual Book Week Literary Quiz was held in the PAC and attracted over

130 students and staff. The Daily Bulletin quiz drew much interest, and the major Book Week prize, a boxed set of Philip Pullman novels, was won by Sam Sabatucci of 9S. The Staff Book Week Raffle raised over $200 for Daffodil Day. A literary quiz was also held at the Founder’s Day celebrations, organised by Mrs Rudin. This attracted much interest, and was a welcome addition to the annual festivities. And finally, we sadly farewell Mrs Betty Rudin who retires at the end of 2008. Betty has been employed at De La Salle College for 7 years as Literature Librarian. She has built up the Reading Programme substantially to hold a well-respected and integral position in the curriculum, and will be missed by the many readers she has encouraged at the College. Such traditions as the Literary Quiz held in Book Week, the establishment of the College book club RIC RAC, the “Characters Come Alive” dress-up assignment and the promotion of the Victorian Premier’s Reading Challenge will always bring to mind the immeasurable hard work of Mrs Rudin. Farewell Betty, and thank you for your generous, sincere and enthusiastic efforts with the students of De La Salle College.

Ms Susan Jost College Librarian

R.I.C. R.A.C.

Ric Rac is a fun and enjoyable experience, held every Tuesday lunchtime in the Gym. It consists of a trivia quiz and then a raffle for a book at the end of each session. The quiz has many questions to test your general knowledge and especially your reading.Points are earned for each correct answer and a book is awarded to the person who has tallied the most points. If you are not so good with the questions, another way to win a book is if you win the raffle. At the beginning of the meeting you are given a lollypop and you are also given a raffle ticket as well. If you are the lucky winner, you receive a great novel. So if you are bored on Tuesday afternoons, come along to Ric Rac. It is a wonderful way to get involved with your peers and most importantly, to have fun! Reading Is Cool. Readers Are Clever. John Glover 7 Hegarty