This Is My Fight Song

In the LRC we love to celebrate and explore the worlds that different YA authors create; with the release of Mockingjay Part 2 in cinemas, the team decided that a theme night centred on District 12 would be fun, so on Monday 7th December 2015, the LRC hosted the first ‘Hunger Games Tribute’ to celebrate the world of Panem created by author, Suzanne Collins.

Based on her trilogy of novels The Hunger Games, Catching Fire and Mockingjay, students chose their District from a glass bowl (the same as how tributes where selected in the books). There was a scavenger hunt to find each district’s hidden symbol in the LRC.

Students as ‘tributes’ from different districts then teamed up for the Hunger Games quiz. There was a healthy sense of competition, some tricky questions and a lot of laughter had by all.

After a fierce battle for points, the overall winners were Jack Lyon of District 3 and Adele Lennon of District 1 who were presented with their winner’s Mockingjay badges (see photo below).

Who Are You? Who? Who?

Ever wondered what it is like to work on the LRC Team? Former LRC Student Librarian, Sarah Shearer, tells you all about it;

"The LRC Team is made up of volunteer Student Librarians. We work on a rota basis during breaks, lunchtimes and study periods. Student Librarians are clearly identified on the LRC ‘Meet the Team’ board located at the LRC Helpdesk and when on duty, the volunteers are easily recognisable by wearing purple lanyards.

The team carry out various duties around the LRC, including shelving books, cataloguing resources, issuing and returning books and solving printer problems. We can also provide help if you want to find a particular resource within the LRC or if you need help with how to photocopy, print and scan.

Being on the team can teach you many valuable skills that will be useful in the future; gaining work experience in the LRC is a great way to add skills to your personal statement or CV. Working in the LRC can also improve your ICT skills, librarianship skills and most importantly communication skills.

For me, working as a volunteer Student Librarian in the LRC is an opportunity to talk to new people and being part of the LRC Team has been an amazing experience as every member of the team has their own ideas and styles which makes the LRC a great place to work and learn."

 

Read Some Byron, Shelley and Keats

National Poetry Day was founded in 1994 by William Sieghart, and has engaged millions of people across the country reading, writing and listening to poetry. The annual mass celebration of poetry and all things poetical, marked its 21st birthday on Thursday 8th October 2015.

‘Light’ was the 2015 theme for  National Poetry Day. To mark this on Thursday 8th October 2015, the LRC Team put up posters around the college centred on the theme of ‘Light’ to brighten everyone’s day.

For more information about National Poetry Day, please see the Forward Arts Foundation website; http://www.forwardartsfoundation.org/national-poetry-day/what-is-national-poetry-day/

Read All About It

In the LRC, there is an After College Programme filled with different events. The clubs start at 15.20, are open to all and free to attend.

Get pages turning this October...

Throughout October every year the world celebrates International School Library Month (ISLM). The month is a celebration of the work of school libraries and here in the UK and coincides with other events for all bookworms - such as the Man Booker Prize announcement, the National Tell a Story Day celebrations as well as National Poetry Day, to name but a few.

The LRC is involved in celebrations for International School Library Month including;

• Welcoming new members of the LRC Team! A huge congratulations to Liam Gowing, Chloe Medway, Sophie Bennett, Adele Lennon, Lizzie Foster, Kara Hourihane, Anna Royle and Molly Howard. They will join the current team members (Jack Lyon, Beckie Lees, Rebecca Murray, Elicia Richards, Mollie Royle and Rebecca Morris) in helping to create a warm and welcoming atmosphere for all students and staff using the LRC. For more information, visit the LRC Team page here.
• The LRC reading group meets every Monday after college to talk about Young Adult Literature; this term, the theme we are looking at is Dystopia. Rock the Boat Publishers have kindly donated some copies of a brand new YA dystopian novel called Mindwalker by A.J. Steiger.
• The first ten people at our book club on Monday will be able to pick up a BOOK for FREE! So come along and join the conversation. In line with National Tell a Story Day and National Poetry Day, the LRC is also looking for writers to contribute to a new LRC magazine. If you have a story to tell, a book to review or a poem to share, then please pop into the LRC to get involved.

Keep checking back for more bookishness fun throughout the month!

Roald Dahl Day

Hello to all you mischief makers! September was Roald Dahl's birth month and this year Roald Dahl Day was held on Sunday 13th September 2015. It marks a month long celebration of all things Roald Dahl.

To join in with all the phizzwizardry, the LRC took some inspiration from some Roald Dahl favourites - The BFG and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Throughout the week, 'Golden Tickets' where hidden around the college for unsuspecting students to uncover and the lucky finders of the tickets won some fantabulous prizes. Check out a few of our winners in the photos below.

Then in our Cre8ivity Session on Thursday after college, we made The BFG's 'Dream Jars' (and there wasn't a trogglehumper to be seen!).

Don't forget that you can always follow in the marvellous Matilda's footsteps and take books out of the LRC when you need them. Wishing you all a peachy weekend!

An evening with Patrick Ness

On Wednesday 9th September 2015, Waterstone's Liverpool One held 'An evening with Patrick Ness'.


For those of you that don't know, Patrick Ness is an American born English author of nine books: 2 novels for adults (The Crash of Hennington and The Crane Wife), 1 short story collection for adults (Topics About Which I Know Nothing) and 6 novels for young adults (The Knife of Never Letting Go, The Ask and the Answer, Monsters of Men, A Monster Calls, More Than This and The Rest of Us Just Live Here).

For these books, he has won the Carnegie Medal twice, the Costa Children’s Book Award, the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize, the Red House Book Award, the Jugendliteratur Preis, the UKLA Award and the Booktrust Teenage Prize.

For the evening with... we were treated to an extract from The Rest of Us Just Live Here followed by an in conversation session and a lively Q&A with the audience. Afterwards, there was a chance to get books signed and Patrick Ness has kindly signed the library copies of his novels which are currently on display in the LRC, alongside a signed limited edition poster. If you would like to keep up to date, then visit the Patrick Ness website.

You have probably heard about Patrick Ness most recently in the news for the amazing online campaign, fundraising for the Syrian Refugee Crisis. In his own words, the reason he chose to set up his page and what motivated him to start this fundraising campaign:

“I’d been feeling upset about the refugee crisis for a while, especially at the UK government’s response, which I consider morally feeble. With the picture of Aylan Kurdi, I just didn’t feel like Tweeting my anger was ever going to be near enough.

On the spur of the moment, I set up the Virgin Money Giving page with simplest parameters and offered to my Twitter followers to match up to £10,000. In just over two days, we’ve crossed £500,000.

It’s INCREDIBLE. Other authors joined in to match funds, people from everywhere have been donating £1 to £20,000. It’s astonishing, and I think testament to how many people want to help, how many people feel moved but helpless and want to be able to do something. I just happened to get angry at the luckiest moment possible.”

To see this amazing fundraising effort you can visit the website here.

New Term, New Start, New Team

A big hello to our new Year 12 students and welcome back to our Year 13 students!

With the start of the new term, there are a few changes in the Learning Resource Centre.

• There is now a designated Silent Study Room located next to the LRC for students to use.
• To find out about services, support and assistance available in the LRC, please check your college emails for the LRC Induction Guide.
• Some of the books have had a shuffle on the shelves so please check your college emails for LRC Quick Start Guide which will help you to find what you need in the LRC.

As always, if you have any questions, please just come and ask at the LRC Helpdesk, where one of the team will be happy to help.

To coincide with International Literacy Day on the 8th September 2015, the LRC will be recruiting for new members to join the team. For Job Descriptions and Application Forms, please visit the LRC Helpdesk for more information. The deadline for applications is Wednesday 16th September 2015.