How unusual is it for a school to have a library now?

My school has an amazing library, built two years ago, with half being the quiet section and containing about 60 computers plus desks, non fiction and reference books. The other half has lots of seating in arcs in front of a huge screen for film presentations or speakers and loads of fiction books and study areas. Little booths have seats for three of four and a flat screen tv for watching videos with headphones.

It stays open until 7pm and is open on Saturdays. The sixth form must work in there in their free periods, it is also used loads at break, lunch and after school. It lends DVDs as well as books and has board games for students to borrow to use in the library. Parents are allowed to borrow from the library and there is even a big section of parenting books.

It has a sixth form/staff/parents cafe attached, which is a bit like Starbucks. I spend far too much money there.

Ours doesn't have a library.

But no one was actually going there beforehand, it certainly wasn't cool to go there and people hung out around the ict room if they needed to do some work.

Just to add, you say it is a few years before your children will be going there. Maybe now is the time to start campaigning/hassling them to get a library back. The recent Ofsted reports are putting far more emphasis on reading for pleasure now, so it would be in their interest. See the Moving English Forward report here:

I think most schools do have libraries (whatever they call them) and some which got rid of them have reinstated or are reinstating them. (Not all, yet, and we are still hearing of redundancies.) However many of these do not have a qualified school librarian, in spite of a growing recognition that information skills are just as important in the digital world as they are in the print one. A useful document for parents looking at schools is published by the School Libraries Group of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professional (CILIP). It can be found here:

As you will guess, I am a school librarian. The school I am in currently decided to rebuild its school library as part of a partial rebuild and has also decided to employ a school librarian to run it. They are determined to get best value for this investment and so the library is fully involved in both the development of students as readers and in their development as independent learners. Obviously, I think all schools shpould follow this example and get the best for their students.

All of the secondary schools I know have a library. This includes my DS's brand new, modern as anything Computing and Engineering specialist one; admittedly I'm not sure how many books they have... its mainly journals.Every other one (5+ State Secondaries, plus several private) has at least one library (my DD's school has two) complete with lots of fiction as well as textbooks and non-fiction.

Our local secondary school has a library with at least one FT librarian. This was the reason ds became interested in books again after years of seeing reading as a chore.

Is it an academy? I bet the business manager has decided the school lending service run by the LA is too expensive. It would also be too expensive to update and restock the school library out of school funds so has done away with it all together. Wikipedia is so much cheaper.

Maybe write a letter to the governors.

Where do you live Tunip? Do you think that other schools in the area have done the same. I hope that it's not the start of an overall trend :(

Very unusual I hope. I've never heard of a school without a library before.

My DD's school have a very active library and use accelerated reader to encourage a wide range of reading and, importantly, comprehension. The librarian sets targets for the number of books (and words!) read. Funny but the kids love the word targets - and get their name on the millionaires board when they have read a million words. It keeps them focused on reading but the accelerated reader ensures that they have chosen books which are reasonably challenging and that they have understood the book too rather than just skimming through it

A school I used to work in was built with no library and had no books. All the kids used laptops instead. It sucked.

My Ds's comp has a library and he borrows books from there.
I'd be furious if they even suggested getting rid of it, never mind actually going through with it.

it was only Spanish for a while

School with low expectations and low standards choosing what is usually regarded as the easiest language to scrape a C in.

I'd move.

Our DC's High School has a library and a real live librarian who is very active across the school. The library is open at lunchtime for reading and gaming, the pupils have to apply to be library monitors, and it's a real hive of activity.

I can't imagine a school without a library tbh - not one I'd want to send them too anyway.

DeWe, as I say, closing the library simply means the school has low standards and low aspiration. MN readers won't see such schools, because they avoid them for other reasons.

Let me guess, OP: 11-16 with sixth form provision elsewhere, a high rate of "equivalent" qualifications rather than GCSEs, poor value add for arrivals with 5 at KS2, extensive use of early entry but a very low rate of A and A* in those subjects, infinitesimal rate of EBacc, minimal MFL provision and a recent letter home to the parents explaining why it's switching to iGCSE English Language taken in Y10 and some vague statement about some kids doing GCSE English Literature in Y11? Ofsted have been whacking such places into special measures this year, with hardly a backward glance, and quite right too.

That's interesting news. Because I've got 3dc at 3 different schools: infant, Junior, Secondary (comprehensive) all state. They've all, in the last two years revamped their libraries. So they can't be planning on doing away with them. Both the junior and the seondary have paid librarians-secondary has at least 2.

DS went to a small school in Austria without a library. There was a small library in the village which was open for a few hours each week and the class teacher took them there every week to choose books.

A school getting rid of its library books - bonkers!

I don't know if they're less common now. My boys comp has a library - called study centre. Lots of fiction books too. Displays on the wall. Librarian present.

never heard of that before or worked in school without one either. really bad decision.

Secondary school for ds1 has a great community library. Books are regularly updated/changed /rotated with other libraries in the region. It's bright and airy.
One of the local primary schools upgraded and improved their library recently. Parents are encouraged to donate to the primary school when children outgrow books.

Some Heads are of the opinion that books are not needed because "everything can be found online"

Which means that either (a) they don't have books themselves, which makes one deeply sceptical of their worth as a teacher because they're Philistines, or (b) they do have books, but patronisingly assume that their students aren't up to reading them, which is if anything worse as it makes them enemies of promise or (c) they think that books aren't part of the future Maggie Philbin showed them on Tomorrow's World, so they're being all forward looking, which makes them tossers.

Eton aren't closing their library. Some third-rate comp in the middle of nowhere is. I wonder which one will have more pupils at Oxford in five years' time?

The reason there is such a discrepancy in libraries within schools is that there is no statutory requirement to have one; thus it is entirely up to the Head to decide whether they think it is worth it which often means, sadly, getting rid of the library and librarian is a quick and easy option when it comes to saving money.

Some Heads are of the opinion that books are not needed because "everything can be found online" which isn't actually true. They also do not see the need for students to have wide range of fiction books to choose from; some schools have gone down the ebook route and, whilst I have nothing against ebooks, they do not suit every reader and a school cannot provide the same choice via ebooks that is available in hard copy. Besides, what about browsing and serendipity, that wonderful chance find that leads to a new passion or hobby or even a career choice.

Even when Heads do agree that "libraries are a good thing" they still close them. They ignore all the research that shows reading for pleasure improves attainment in every subject; that it improves vocabulary, spelling and grammar; that it improves creativity and imagination; that reading builds self-esteem, improves concentration and develops reasoning skills.

If you are looking at schools then I would seriously consider whether you want to send your child to a school that does not value reading enough to support a school library with a professional librarian. The Chartered Institute of Library & Information Professionals has a School Library Group that has produced an excellent leaflet for people to use when looking and assessing school libraries, it is available here: www.cilip.org.uk/sites/default/files/documents/Professional%20Librarian%20-%20Lo-res.pdf and you are welcome to use it.

Both my dcs' comprehensive schools have big, airy well stocked libraries, with librarians and lovely displays. Reading tables full of latest books, lunchtime bookclubs. Periodicals Computers too though