Greta Centre

MS LIBBY HOBSON, CO-ORDINATOR GRETA SENIOR LIBRARY

2020 the year that nearly was… well it was a year when the library faced the very real possibility, like everyone else in education, of going completely online after Easter. The abrupt end of Term 1 saw a rush on physical borrowing when we faced the possibility of not returning to the classroom for some time. The reality of online and distance learning saw the digital services of the library coming to the fore and assisting in keeping the College learning services relevant and diverse. When students returned to the campus in Term 2, it was to a library environment of quarantining books and strict cleaning regimes.

Many of the single study carrels in the Library were off limits for Terms 2 and 3; they were then reintroduced in Term 4. So, while the eBook borrowing saw an unprecedented increase in loans for 2020, the Library as a place to study, browse and meet in, was back in force. The introduction of Book Club in Term 4 revealed the passion and excitement the girls experienced while connecting, reflecting upon and discussing their reading. Book Club was such a social success that the girls complained it did not meet often enough, and they are enjoying their meetings in 2021. The Greta Senior Library could be viewed as the personification of the educational lessons learned in 2020 – while the Digital Age provides us with endless possibilities in experiences and information, the reality of quality education is about meaningful relationships and connecting with others, which the Greta Senior Library provides.

POPULAR READS

Our most popular books this year in Fiction was Fault in Our Stars by John Green, which was the second most read book in 2019. This year the second most borrowed book was Wonder by RJ Palacio, followed by The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. The most popular author from the Senior Fiction shelves was Sarah J Maas, with four of her novels making the top ten and occupying the top two positions. In 2019 the most popular Biography was Unmasked by Turia Pitt and in 2020 it was the second most popular, being toppled from the top spot by Bethany Hamilton’s Soul Surfer.

There was a 160% increase in borrowings for eBooks from Wheelers in 2020, compared to 2019, and a 110% increase in eAudiobook borrowing. Whether COVID-19 and Learning from Holme was the reason for this huge increase, or whether it was because we has a cohort of Grade 8s who were voracious readers, perhaps only 2021 statistics will tell. Of the Top 10 Borrowers for 2020, 6 out of the 10 were from Grade 8, and the Grade 8 cohort was the Year level with the most books borrowed. The most borrowed eAudiobook was Five Feet Apart by Rachel Lippincott and the most borrowed eBook was Divergent by Virgina Roth.

PASTORAL CARE READING

In 2020, Cameron House girls borrowed the most books, and Middle Cameron 5 was the Holme Group who borrowed the most books.

PREMIER’S READING CHALLENGE

The Middle School participated in the 2020 Queensland Premier’s Reading Challenge, which requires students to read 15 books in a period of three months. This year we had more than three times the numbers of girls complete it compared to 2019, by reading a minimum of 15 books; however, special mention must be made of Year 9 students Gabby Pellow who managed to read over 120 books in this time frame. At Year-Level meetings, girls who completed the challenge were awarded a certificate signed by the Premier.

USE OF OUR SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES: RESEARCH DATABASES

Our students are able to access academic research directly via database subscriptions such as EBSCO and Jstor; or they may indirectly search through these databases using the Onesearch function within our Library Catalogue AccessIT. There were more than 1000 requests for full-text documents to be downloaded in 2020, using Onesearch through the Library catalogue. The most searched journals were: New Scientist, Science News and History Today.

CLICKVIEW

In 2019 almost 3,000 videos were viewed and in 2020 this number rose to a staggering 7,342 – again, Learning From Holme may have made a difference to the way girls had to interact with learning and resources in 2020. The most watched videos were What is Judaism (Year 10 Humanities), followed by Skill Acquisition for Sports Performance ( Year 10 Health & PE ) and then Life in Ancient Egypt (Year 7 Humanities).

I must conclude by thanking Ms Joanne Andrews, who left us in Term 2 after her many years of work in the Senior Greta Centre. The smooth running of the library in the Greta Senior Library can be attributed to the experience of our continuing staff: Mrs Antoinette Porter, and Mrs Ann Peacock who joined us in Term 4.