SCHOOL LIBRARY SUPPORT
Is your school library disused, outdated and in need of a good weed out of old stock? Do you need help setting up a dedicated library space in your school, with brand new, fully processed library stock? We can help you with our extremely popular library rejuvenation service!
We have a dedicated library team (trained by NCBC founder Marilyn Brocklehurst, a professional librarian herself) who are fully conversant with current educational standards and needs, with years of experience rejuvenating school libraries. Please scroll down to see some of our transformations in action, and read on for more details about how our library team work and how to initiate booking a library rejuvenation for your school.​
As part of your library rejuvenation, we will:​
Evaluate all your existing stock, removing worn, torn, damaged and out of date items - we strongly recommend schools use this opportunity to include all of the classroom collections in the library so that all books are assessed.
Select new information books which will take into account children’s interests and enthusiasms, as well as supporting curriculum subjects. These books will be Dewey classified and labelled.
We will provide an exciting picture book, fiction and poetry collection which will include important classics as well as wonderful new titles. All the books that we supply are 'hand-picked’ from our carefully curated stock.
If you use Junior Librarian or Libresoft we can barcode and add new titles to your database remotely thereby shortening the installation time and minimising disruption.
We work on the basis that if you buy new book stock from NCBC in line with what we recommend in our action plan, we will not charge you for our time. (The School Library Service charge around £250 per day per person) The school will be given the usual schools’ discount on books supplied. It will take three - four days to complete your library transformation.
If you need a library top-up or you only have a small budget for new books or you need to ’top-up’ your library, you may like to consider requesting an approval collection. Let us know your budget and we will send you a collection of books for you to select from. As with all school orders we offer free delivery/collection and a 10% discount.
If you would like us to pre-select for you just let us know your budget and subject/age requirements. If you subsequently find that you have duplicate titles we will accept any returns (as long as they have not been stamped with the school name!).​
Click below to see our Library Team in Action!
SHELVING CHOICES
Sometimes the biggest and most expensive decision is with regard to library furniture - we always caution schools to be wary of gaudy and flimsy furniture incorporating gimmicks like shelf-chairs, ladders, towers and tunnels, as well as curved shelving and impossibly high book trees that can look untidy. These innovations are expensive and often cause behaviour problems and divert attention from the wonderful books.
Shelf height and distances apart should comply with health and safety regulations for libraries i.e. you need to ensure that shelving is at the right height and has the right amount of space around and between the shelves, and that it is properly secured to the wall.
Shelves should be fully adjustable. IKEA shelving with a fixed middle shelf is not suitable, nor is deep shelving that allows book-stock to drift to the back. Fiction shelves should offer books at the lip of the shelf, and information book shelving needs to be deep, and tall enough for all but the very tallest books.​
It’s preferable to choose shelving where the shelves adapt from bookshelf to display shelf very simply, allowing for fluctuations in stock. Face out display is important.