Let’s Talk Libraries: Christian College Geelong - Gerradine Barry

Christian College Geelong believes transformative learning happens when you go ‘beyond the curriculum’. Embracing 21st century learning in every way, Christian College Geelong is constantly challenging how they teach their students – making education less about the teacher at the front of the classroom, and more about their teachers being facilitators for their learners.

Library technician, Gerradine Barry, inherited Accessit Library from her predecessor in 2014 and had no prior experience with the system.

“My journey with learning Accessit has been really good. I started at quite a basic level, cataloguing and adjusting records, and I’ve consistently learnt more ever since. It’s a great tool that works well for our school.”

At Christian College Geelong, the students regularly engage with the Web App.

“The students love using the Web App to search for books, by author, title or next in the series. Our Web Apps are very intuitive and user friendly. They also use Britannica, Wheelers and other services which are easily accessible by widgets embedded on the Web App homepage.”

Gerradine appreciates the visibility that Accessit gives her over the usage of the library collection and data showing user trends.

“I love how easy it is to get into the back end and find out the answers to what’s going on. Specifically, I can easily find further information about resources, or who had which book and how long for. The ease of the cataloguing is brilliant. It is intuitive, simple, and user friendly.”

With 5 campuses, Christian College Geelong needed a system that supported multiple ages and stages.

“Accessit supports the size of our school, being 5 campuses, with the ability to create multiple dashboards so each of our campuses can have its own homepage.”

In Gerradine’s view, holistic adoption of physical and digital resources helps students engage with the library.

“Providing choice and access to a diverse range of reading materials in a variety of formats allows students to make selections which fit them best. Engagement of the reader starts at the selection choice, and must be considered when looking at the provision of texts for students. Digital platforms ensure convenience and flexibility, furthermore the enhanced accessibility to text that is brought through being able to change font, background of text and other features ensures the readers of all capabilities are provided with options to assist them with their reader experience.”

By adopting technology, it’s possible for the library team at Christian College Geelong to easily display authoritative information from multiple sources.

“Providing a range of electronic resources allows our students to access authoritative information when they are on site, and importantly when they are off site. This applies to recreational reading, ensuring options are available when students are not able to make it into the library.

Our adoption of technology is imperative in keeping our students in touch with resources. We need to adopt technology to assist them and help them in other ways than just using Google. Our Web App allows them to check what books we have in our library as well as our eCollection whether they are at school or not. On the weekend they can check the book availability without having to wait to come in again and can also always access our ePlatform from the Web App too. In a moment where they have an idea about something they are able to tap in immediately, which I believe increases engagement and therefore literacy levels that go with it. The students are happy to explore online without hesitation and they are able to navigate the Web App in a way that enables them access to many different facets of learning.”

Gerradine regularly uses Accessit’s customer support.

“I often reach out to the Accessit support team and I value their assistance very much. They work very hard to find a resolution to any issue I raise and are always happy to provide their support. If a team member is not available to solve the query on the spot, they always refer to someone in the development team to ensure nothing is missed and look for other ways to solve the issue. I cannot speak highly enough of the Accessit Support Team.”