To deliver a quality library experience for the students, your school library must be well maintained with a well thought out plan.
Library experience is evolving every day with new technology and the internet; thus, if you too want your students to get the best out of their library, having a large collection of books with some tables and chairs with a librarian is not enough. In this article, we discuss top things to look at for a school library in order to deliver a better library experience for your students.
Resourcefulness
A sound school library should be able to provide value to the students in their academic progress. Thus, it should be abundant with necessary resources.
The administration should fulfil the requirements of the library in order to give the student an effective service. Meaning, it should comprise of books, and other materials students require for their studies along with the necessary technologies to use and consume the materials. This also includes assigning experienced and skilful staff to the library.
Efficiency
The bigger your library gets, there is a chance for operations and processes to slow down. Therefore, the administration should look into ways to adapt to improve the efficiency of the library operations. This will enable the library to deliver a better service to the students. Effective operational strategies must be adopted in organizing resources, borrowing, returning to fine calculations; thus, the students won’t have to spend much time finding resources or standing in lines to borrow or return books.
A cutting-edge school management system comes in handy here as it enables the library staff to deliver an efficient service with the help of modern-day tools and applications. A sound library management system will automate many processes, including library item management, student account management and issuing books…etc. saving time and hassle for the staff as well as for the students.
Development
Standards of a good library are changing and evolving every day; thus, the administration should have systems in place to keep up with the trends and deliver an up-to-date library experience for the students. Here, the library staff must have effective strategies to identify student requirements while the administration must offer sufficient collaboration opportunities for the library staff with other necessary departments of the school to fulfil those requirements effectively. This includes adding new resources to adopting new technologies to support the new course curriculums of students for an improved teaching and learning environment. Thus, you can be sure that your educational institute’s library is not outdated.
Research
Research is another vital aspect of a sound school library that allows the school management to deliver the students a better library experience. Here from identifying best practices, what’s working and what can be improved in the library for better user experience must take into account.
From collecting feedback from students to having observation and evaluation systems in place is essential to enrich the students reading experience. Here criteria such as resources, leadership, information access, student access to the library…etc must take into account. With proper research, the administration can evaluate their progress while identifying the necessary steps needed to take, in order to offer the students a quality library experience.
Funding
Everything costs money and so is managing a library. School administration must determine and allocate necessary budgetary provisions for the school library on a regular basis for activities such as maintaining facilities, updating or expanding the resource collection, adopting new technologies to deliver students a more effective library experience, and more.
It’s also essential that the library management has sufficient collaboration opportunities to inform shortages, requirements, and needs of the students to the finances and other necessary departments to fulfil the requirements. Whether it’s redesigning the library, ordering new study tables or book racks, updating resources to fit the new curriculums or adopting a sound school management system to improve efficiency in operations, having effective methods in place to obtain funds is an essential aspect of delivering an up to date library experience.
Service
All your student is expecting to receive a fast, effective, and quality service from your library. Therefore, the administration has to make sure to have protocols, resources, and systems in place to fulfil their expectations.
Having a committed staff who take their responsibilities seriously is imperative to ensure a smooth service at a library. They must be well qualified, skilled, and have experience in managing a library. When assisting staff members who have no prior experience working in a library, responsibilities, and scope of the job must be well defined and should put under proper supervision to ensure the library is running well.
Access
Having easy library access for the students is essential, so more and more students will get interested in using the library. Thus, the location of the library must be easily reachable from anywhere. Library open hours should be clearly assigned so the students can plan their studies in the library. It’s also essential to manage a timetable in the library especially when entire classrooms are participating for learning sessions. So special study areas can be quickly reserved without confusions.
Facilities
From tables, books, lights, rest areas, water taps to toilets providing students with necessary facilities to ensure a comfortable experience in the library can improve their reading and learning experience. The administration must make sure the design, interior, and layout of the library are pleasing and suited to stay in for long hours without any discomfort.
