There is a lot to be said for having experienced, long-serving staff. At Carey, we are fortunate to have a number of library staff who are highly trained, have a wealth of experience and, most importantly, a passion for libraries and helping people find good books to read and solve their information needs, to name just two roles library staff play every day.
Last year there was a changing of the guard at both the junior libraries with Rachel Islip taking over the reins at Donvale’s D R Brown Library and Aimee Murphy becoming the Head of Library at Kew’s L H Evans Library. Both have enormous experience in teaching children and have recently trained in teacher librarianship, so they bring a freshness of perspective and understanding to their Head of Library roles. It has been enormously rewarding to work with them in 2023 and we have made a great start to our collaborative approach in 2024. I asked them to share their reflections on 2023 and what to look forward to in 2024.
Aimee Murphy – Head of the L H Evans Library, Junior School Kew (pictured above)
The JSK library in 2023 focussed on developing collections to meet all our students’ reading needs with dyslexia-friendly font options, creating a Quick Reads and Verse Novel section and increasing our much-loved Big Books collection. Students have been excited to see even more of their Student Requests hitting the shelves in 2024 and our favourite authors and illustrators have been busy creating new books we will explore, and we may even meet a few during the year. There will also be a new (yet to be named) library club happening during Friday lunchtimes and all bookworms are welcome!
Rachel Islip – Head of the D R Brown Library, Junior School Donvale
The Don Brown Library plays an important part in our successful learning program at Junior School Donvale. During 2023, the Literature Festival, Book Week celebrations and regular Book Chat sessions contributed to this. It’s not just the calendar events that are a highlight for our community, however, but also the wellbeing aspects. Students can come to the library before school and during lunch to play games, draw, do a puzzle or read a book!
This week we are welcoming students back into the library with a delightful Lunar New Year display and lots of great resources to borrow. Please drop in and say hello, you are always welcome in the library!
We also have two wonderfully enthusiastic new library technicians in the CLI Library both with excellent training and customer service skills. They bring experiences outside of a school setting to our library and we have already benefitted from their curious questions about our procedures as we seek to provide the best service possible to the Middle and Senior School community of students and staff. I asked both Tilly Sheridan and Kate James to introduce themselves:
Introducing Tilly
With a background in public libraries and working in the library last year casually, I’m so excited to join the team as the E-Resources Technician! I’m a huge reader and writer and love fantasy and romance, with a touch of mystery thrown in for good measure. I also love musical theatre and spend my afternoons either at my piano singing showtunes and Taylor Swift or working on my latest crochet project.
Introducing Kate
After a career touring with theatre companies in Scotland, working for art schools in Sydney and raising children, I’m excited to be joining the Carey library team in 2024. At the moment, I’m devouring memoirs, love anything written by Michael Ondaatje and wish I could play the violin like Warren Ellis.
There is much enthusiasm for 2024 in the Carey libraries. We are excited to see more students becoming regular and happy readers and confident researchers. If there is anything the libraries can do to support your child in this endeavour, please reach out to the relevant library.
Marg Moran
Head of the Carey Libraries
