Librarian: Frank Small

Member of department:

• Teaching Assistant: Kim Cunningham

The library is located on the first floor of the South Wing and is linked to an ICT room. Both the library and the interconnecting ICT room function as a Study Centre in the morning prior to the beginning of the school day and in the afternoon, after school classes finish at 3.30 pm (Monday, Wednesday and Thursday). There are 8 networked computers available for pupils and staff use. The library is staffed by one full-time qualified librarian and a part-time term time only library assistant. The library accommodates classes of 30 and the layout is conducive to individual learning and collaborative work in small groups.

We have 10,500 books in stock which are protected by a security system. 3,000 of these books are fiction (mostly paperbacks) and the remainder of the books are non-fiction. The collection includes 500 bi-lingual books relevant to the local community served by Morpeth, plus a wide range of English, foreign and heritage language dictionaries.

Relevant resources

The school library supports pupils and staff by providing relevant resources to meet the needs of the school community. There are collections of books on topics relevant to all subjects in the curriculum.

Each year a group of Morpeth students and staff visit the former Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland. The library has a modest, but nevertheless significant, special collection of books pertaining to the Holocaust. This collection assists pupils’ active involvement in studying the Nazis’ persecution of political prisoners, homosexuals, Jehovah Witnesses, Gypsies and Jews.

The library contributes to Black History Month by putting on an annual book exhibition. Additional stock is purchased each year from the New Beacon Bookshop which specialises in Black history and culture. A particular effort is being made to collect stock which documents the 1960s civil rights movement in the USA. Photography books which record Afro-American history are purchased as is similar material which records the history and culture of the Black community in Britain.

The library has a range of books about slavery.

Art books

The library has a growing collection of art books focussed primarily on 20th century artists but includes some Renaissance material etc. Included in the art stock are books showing patterns from different cultures in Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia which are useful for pupils involved in preparing general art work and designs for printing on textiles. The library has small collection of art books relating to the rock art of early man, Afro-American, Afro-Caribbean, Australian aboriginal and pre-Columbian South American cultures. There is a significant demand from pupils for books on Islamic designs and artwork which is met by purchasing well illustrated books on Islamic designs and art – some pupils gain inspiration from these books to develop their own art incorporating Islamic themes for their GCSE examinations and coursework.

Special Needs

The librarian is keen to assist pupils with special needs and listed below are some of the ways in which the library is able to help this group:

• buy or borrow books in Braille and large print format from the Royal National Society for the Blind.
• The library has ClearView+ equipment manufactured by the Optelect Company. This device magnifies ordinary sized text and illustrations in books to jumbo proportions enabling readers with poor sight to read books and view coloured illustrations on a large screen. The library is also able to provide pupils with access to a small, hand held, Compact and pocket size electronic video magnifier designed by Optelec which performs a similar function to the ClearView+ resource.
• purchase, when available, age appropriate books for pupils with reading difficulties. The librarian is willing to seek out ‘reader friendly’ fiction and non-fiction books for dyslexic pupils printed on paper of a suitable tone with the text in the correct point size and with unjustified type on the right hand side of each page etc.
• obtain suitable bilingual dictionaries, picture dictionaries and dual language resources for newly arrived pupils whose mother tongue is not English.
• The librarian very much hopes that parents, students with particular needs, teachers, teaching assistants and specialist advisory staff offer suggestions for the purchase of additional equipment and books to meet the requirements of special needs pupils.

Library staff welcome suggestions from pupils and staff for developing the library’s stock where it is inadequate to meet the needs of the school.