Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

Original poster

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

54 replies

TunipTheUnconquerable · 02/12/2013 11:26

The comprehensive my dcs will go to in a few years recently got rid of its library. It didn't just rename the room (which is what I assumed when I first heard it), it actually got rid of the books.

How normal is this? Are school libraries basically a thing of the past apart from in private schools and grammars?

OP posts:
Original poster
TunipTheUnconquerable · 02/12/2013 18:21

We don't have a choice unless we move. My oldest dc is 8 so there's still time.

It's a country town (we're in a village) which would be within a viable bus ride of some excellent schools in the city 10 miles away but you wouldn't have a hope of getting a place, living so far outside catchment.

I love our village and our house but.... Sad

OP posts:
friday16 · 02/12/2013 18:23

I love our village and our house but...

Rural schools often have low aspirations and can get away with it because there's limited choice.

Ironically, of course, in a city there are big lending and reference libraries, even in these straitened times, while in rural areas there aren't

AugustRose · 02/12/2013 18:28

Our 3 local secondaries (one is a grammar) all have libraries and the one at my DC's school is quite old and lovely. The librarian is a really nice lady and the library is a haven for many of the children as well as being using as a homework club room as it's next to the IT room. My DD1 is in year 7 and is a library assistant and it's her favourite place in the whole school.

It's very sad that a school would close a library and actually get rid of the books, even if they are old someone will enjoy reading them.

LynetteScavo · 02/12/2013 18:28

DS1's school has a lovely library.

When I looked around for DS2 I was releved to see it had a lot of books to interest a boy reluctant to read. The staff who were incharge of showing people around the library had my non-reader running around reading clues to find where certain books were. --Wells up and prays he DS2 is offered a place""

I wouldn't want my DC at a school with no library.

Swanhilda · 02/12/2013 21:40

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 Sad

bcb567 · 02/12/2013 22:19

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.

friday16 · 02/12/2013 22:27

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?

steeking · 02/12/2013 22:34

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.

Minime85 · 02/12/2013 22:35

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

pigsinmud · 03/12/2013 08:47

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.

Shanghaidiva · 03/12/2013 08:55

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!

DeWe · 03/12/2013 09:56

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.

friday16 · 03/12/2013 10:06

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.

Original poster
TunipTheUnconquerable · 03/12/2013 10:25

There is a sixth form, they offer French and Spanish (it was only Spanish for a while so that's an improvement) - does that count as minimal?

Just found the latest OFSTED - May 2013. 'Requires improvement'. It's so vague though. The only thing it says about literacy is that there's a variety of attitudes to it Confused

Behaviour is 'good' but nothing else is.

Thing is, it used to have an absolutely terrible reputation - people whose kids were there 15-20 years ago say sending their children there was the worst thing they ever did. But parents with kids there now mostly say it's better than it used to be.
But then I suppose they would say that, wouldn't they?

OP posts:
SirChenjin · 03/12/2013 10:30

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.

friday16 · 03/12/2013 10:45

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.

Mattissy · 03/12/2013 10:49

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.

Bubbles1066 · 03/12/2013 10:51

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

anniesw · 03/12/2013 10:54

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

miffybun73 · 03/12/2013 10:59

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

miffybun73 · 03/12/2013 11:01

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 :(

Parliamo · 03/12/2013 11:16

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.

coppertop · 03/12/2013 11:32

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.

mummytime · 03/12/2013 11:53

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.

ebsln · 03/12/2013 15:22

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.

Swipe left for the next trending thread