Librarians Day 2013

Booked in for Training

Libraries open books to potential staff

Kathryn and Shakira attended Librarians Day, read the article that follows and find out what an exciting day they had.

Budding young librarians were treated to top tips during a student librarian training day yesterday.

Invercargill City Libraries manager of customer experience Cynthia Smith said 60 pupils, some from as far away as Balfour, attended the training day held at Invercargill Library.

Organised by the Southland Literacy Association, the day was an opportunity for pupils who volunteered as librarians in their schools to learn more about their craft, she said.

During the day, children spent time comparing Tisbury School library, which was small, with James Hargest junior campus library, which was very large, to learn how to work with different spaces.

The training also covered techniques for reading books to children, how to make displays to attract readers and information about the Dewey decimal system, Ms Smith said.

Tokanui School pupil Emma Smith, 10, attended the course yesterday and said she learned a lot, especially about making cool book displays.

She had really enjoyed her day, she said. "I liked going to other schools and looking at their libraries."

The librarian training day was likely to be held every two years, Ms Smith said.