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Original poster

Secondary school with no library

62 replies

difficultpickle · 06/10/2013 10:27

Visited a secondary school yesterday and asked to see the library. The lovely sixth former showing us round didn't know where it was. I wondered if it was a language issue (he was Russian) even though his English was perfect. I asked a teacher who said that they didn't have a library but were building a 'learning resource centre' that would have computers and ipads but no books. He justified it by saying that these days university libraries are moving away from having books as everything is available on line.

I was rather Hmm and Shock at this. It is the fourth senior school we've visited and the first without a library. All the other schools had at least one library and some also had small libraries in the boarding houses. I'm not sure what to make of a school without a library. I appreciate that technology is important and I love my Kindle for fiction but I still prefer to read proper non-fiction books, actual real books rather than on line. Am I just old or do others think it is a bit odd?

OP posts:
Takver · 06/10/2013 15:42

The other thing to consider is that the library can be a real refuge for dc - dd has just started yr 7 and often goes to the library at lunchtimes often I think because it is all a bit much and she just wants to be somewhere quiet. Her school is the opposite, they have a huge library, one part quiet with books for reading/homework, the other end they have librarians, also clubs most days (poetry club, boardgames club), and all pupils are meant to carry a novel with them at all times. (I'm always tickled by this rule - I assume you wouldn't actually be in trouble if you were carrying a slim volume of poetry Grin )

Camargue · 06/10/2013 15:40

Our state comp has an LRC, not a library, with seemingly few books in. Many universities also call them LRCs now, but I agree. I would hate to send my child somewhere with no library - our state primary doesn't have one, and the local one is pitiful- but we may well have no choice.

Original poster
difficultpickle · 06/10/2013 14:26

It was Shiplake. I thought it seemed like a lovely, caring school with lots to offer. The teacher I spoke to said they still had textbooks but really gave me the impression that I was incredibly old-fashioned to be expecting a real library.

OP posts:
GinAndIt · 06/10/2013 14:13

Name and shame, bisjo, name and shame, please Grin

GinAndIt · 06/10/2013 14:12

There's no way on Earth I would consider sending my child to a school without a library. 'Learning resource centre'? Fgs.

Original poster
difficultpickle · 06/10/2013 14:10

I have a kindle keyboard and ds has a kindle touch. Ds gets books out of the library both fiction and non-fiction whereas I will only get non-fiction books. I love my kindle as I commute to work by train and it is light to carry. I can also download books when I feel like it.

I was truly gobsmacked at the thought of a school with no library and this was a school that charges nearly £30,000 a year for full boarding.

Ds is in year 5 and spends lots of his break times helping in the school library and seems to spend as much time as he can in there. In the summer holidays he spent a couple of days helping out in our local library having gone in there and asked if there was anything he could do!

OP posts:
hardboiled · 06/10/2013 13:30

No library?! DS has just started Yr7 and spends hours in the library, he borrows books, he reads factual magazines, he does homework...
IMO A library is as necessary as a gym!

DameDeepRedBetty · 06/10/2013 11:36

E readers are rubbish for 'serious' reading. It's impossible to flick back to maps or graphs or illustrations. And flicking from one screen to another on a pc is almost as annoying. I NEED to be able to stick post-it notes on pages etc!

ZiaMaria · 06/10/2013 11:33

In the workplace, yes, most things are online (if you can afford the subscriptions). But a lack of a library with, you know, fiction and stuff would just make me think the school does not value literature and the general art pof being able to sit down and read something for fun as oppose to for a school project.

We had a proper library at school. With fiction that you could borrow. It was the best part of the school.

nkf · 06/10/2013 11:27

I couldn't do it. I couldn't sent a child to an educational establishment without a library. I know that makes me sound like some sort of weird Luddite, but I don't care. A library is a library. A thing of books. A quiet place. A place where you read. A learning resource centre is something else. Not everything is available online. It's not just a room full of books. They're Philistines.

Picturesinthefirelight · 06/10/2013 11:24

Dd loves borrowing books from the public library & the school library. She has done so since primary.

We considered a kindle but they don't support e book lending & we felt an e book reader was far more restricting & expensive than being able to borrow actual books

Saying that my own secondary school didn't have a library we could borrow from (though it didn't have a 6th form) the library was just where the English dept kept their textbooks.

ThreeTomatoes · 06/10/2013 11:20

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