Librarian Talk – Sally Baker – High School Librarian
I’m a high school librarian on the south coast of England. I love reading, music, movies, walking my dog on the beach and video games! I have a passion for music and drama and I’m one of the coordinators for The Amazing Book Awards, which is in its 10th year with 30+ participating high schools involved and 600+ readers engaged!
Sally Baker – LRA Manager – Durrington High School – UK
If you were a superhero, who would you be?
Batgirl (or maybe Black Canary…) as Batgirl is the patron saint of Librarians!
Tell us about your library! What makes it unique?
Our personalised service aims to ensure we help students find the right book for them to develop their love of reading. I champion graphic novels and have a HUGE manga collection that students help me keep up to date (and appropriate!) I don’t stop them from reading things that they want to. Year 7 are surprised that I “allow” them to read Diary of Wimpy Kid/Tom Gates etc. as they were taken from them at junior schools.
What is a challenge that you faced in your library recently?
We had TERRIBLE library management software, then I found Accessit! However, when I was new to Accessit, I was struggling with getting the SSO to work correctly.
How did Accessit Library help you solve this challenge?
After lodging a support request online via the helpdesk, Dom called to talk it through. He helped me work through it so that I was able to find the solution to ensure all was working securely and safely. We now have our students and staff accessing the web portal with no issues!
How has your attitude changed towards the challenge you solved with Accessit Library, now that you’ve worked through it?
I knew we’d get it sorted, but I had no idea that it would be that prompt, clear and well resolved. Dom made sure that I was happy with the results and encouraged me to come back to the team with any query/issue that they can help with. All the assistance/support team have been brilliant when I’ve needed their help so far.
What do you like the most about Accessit Library?
The Web App/portal for students, staff and parents’ access to the system. Hopefully this way we will be able to engage a wider audience and promote our resources in a more exciting way. It’s also clear and professional looking, and it actually DOES what you want to it to, not just look pretty!
What tips could you give to librarians to help improve their remote learning experience?
Use the ALeC distance learning modules to help learn and revise functions. It’s full of great info.
Here are stories from other school librarians in the United Kingdom making the most of their library management system that may be of interest to you:
Gabrielle Wales – Broadland High Ormiston Academy
Gemma Sosnowski – Queen Elizabeth School
Donna Harris – Great Baddow High School
Sasha Roth – Bishop’s Hatfield Girls’ School
