PROCUCT OF THE YEAR Junior Librarian
Like every other school in Ireland, we have a vast range of resources, including books, CD ROMs, Videos, DVDs and other Reference Material. I set out in May of last year to find the best system of managing all these reources. What I found was an excellent system that not only I and my fellow teachers can use, but that the children can use to inspire them to read more. Junior Librarian is extremely child friendly; has good graphics and the children become accustomed to using it very quickly. The system is quickly and easily installed. The system almost magically recognizes any book we have scanned in, immediately displaying the cover, author, publisher, category etc. This saves hours inputting information.. As schools here are networked, we are able to have Junior Librarian in every classroom and hence teachers and pupils can search the library database for resources. Our school does not have a centralized library but is spread out across the classes. This system allows you to search the whole school’s resources from any pc in the school. Before installing Junior Librarian, teachers were manually recording book loans and returns, books were going missing constantly and time was being wasted on the library in general. Junior overcomes all of these problems. The pupils love scanning in and out their books and also typing up their reviews for the other pupil’s to read. The pupils act as librarians and really enjoy the responsibility of managing the system in our classes. They wear their little badges supplied with the system with great pride. I can say with certainty that for promoting the reading of books and inspiring reluctant readers to borrow books, Junior Librarian is the most impressive educational tool I have seen and is a must have for every Primary School. Junior Librarian is a superb administrative system also and offers the teachers accountability in terms of their literacy work. Over 9000 schools in the UK use this system and I can easily see why. Over seventy schools In Ireland have signed up since September ’08 and feedback is excellent. For more information contact Schoolzone.ie Reviewed by Irish Primary School Principal |
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