Beyond the Basics: How Are Accessit’s New Language Tools Transforming Library Discovery?

Language That Works Everywhere

Every school library serves a multi-cultural community, whether it’s 5% or 50% of the collection in non-English languages. Until now, language information in MARC records was mostly invisible in everyday library workflows. It didn’t help students find a Spanish book for language class or support staff during cultural celebrations.

Now it does.

With this release, language data becomes fully searchable, sortable, and visible across Accessit Library. Whether you’re a teacher building a reading list, a librarian preparing for language week or a cultural event, or a student looking for books in your home language, you’ll find what you’re looking for, fast.

So whats new?

Automatic Language Population

Accessit now pulls language data directly from MARC records into a new, dedicated Language field – no setup required. If your records contain this data, it’s already working for you.

Advanced Discovery Tools

Language information is now fully integrated into Fast Find, Advanced Search, Custom Search, and Visual Search.

At-a-Glance Visibility

Language fields now display in hover overviews, search results, list views, and even barcodes and spine labels.

Visual Search by Language

Curate collections and build themed displays in just a few clicks – no coding, no setup, no extra cost.

Support for All

Whether you’re managing a bilingual collection or just starting to build a multi-cultural corner of your library, these tools support your goals from day one.

How This Update Differs

This release shows the power of working with our customers, and even non-customers, to understand what libraries need as our world becomes more multi-cultural, and reflects the needs of multi-lingual and transient student populations in international schools.

Librarians said:

“We want to make finding resources in any language easier. How can I help students discover resources in any language, not just English?”

We agreed, and asked: “Where does language really show up in the library workflow?” Then we built a solution that works in every one of those steps in the workflow – 25 coordinated improvements, all working together, automatically.

You don’t need to turn anything on. You don’t need to migrate records. You don’t need to retrain staff. It just works.
And it works everywhere.

Why? Because building software for schools should make school life easier. And this is our way of showing we’re listening.

Note: Locally hosted customers will need to ensure they have updated to Accessit Library v9.3.6. Cloud-hosted customers will be automatically be updated. Find out more in our Customer Portal article here.

Learn more about Accessit Library

Whether you’re starting a reading program from scratch or scaling an existing one across your school, Accessit Library is your trusted partner in bringing the power of reading to every student.

👉 Discover Accessit Library by Follett Software.

The Ultimate Guide to Running a Successful Reading Program in an International School

Why a Reading Program Matters in International Schools

Reading programs aren’t just about hitting book quotas – they’re about fostering a culture of curiosity, connection, and confidence. In international schools, where student populations represent a broad mix of languages, backgrounds, and learning styles, a well-designed reading program is essential.

A successful reading program can help you:

• Strengthen language acquisition for multilingual learners
• Encourage independent learning
• Support cross-curricular literacy
• Celebrate diverse voices and global perspectives
• Build a strong sense of community through shared stories

And with the right library management system – like Accessit Library by Follett Software – running a reading program doesn’t have to be complicated.

Step 1: Define the purpose of your reading program.

Every school has different goals. Your first step is to get crystal clear on what you’re trying to achieve.

Is your program about:

• Boosting overall reading engagement?
• Improving specific literacy benchmarks?
• Encouraging multilingual reading?
• Building connections across your international school community?

Tip: Start with your curriculum goals and consider how reading can support them. Tie reading lists into current units of inquiry, IB themes, or language development milestones.

Step 2: Make it inclusive and culturally responsive.

In international settings, no two students have the same reading journey, and your program should reflect that.

Ideas to Increase Inclusion:

• Create genre and interest-based reading lists instead of age-based ones.
• Offer materials in multiple languages (print and digital).
• Highlight authors from a variety of backgrounds.
• Rotate reading themes to spotlight different cultures and global events.

With Accessit, you can easily build and share custom dashboards for each list – from “Books in Translation” to “Women in STEM” to “Year 7 Reads for Reluctant Readers”.

Resources such as videos, podcasts, and mini articles are also available to capture their attention and excite them to read further – this is especially useful for reluctant readers who may need some extra encouragement.

Step 3: Use technology to track and encourage participation.

Gone are the days of paper reading logs and sticker charts.

With Accessit Library, you can:

• Allow students to log their reading digitally
• Set up student profiles to track borrowing patterns and interests, and set up alerts for new books they might like
• Enable self-checkout and renewals through the online portal
• Let students write reviews and recommend books to peers
• Push automated reading reminders and program updates

This kind of digital engagement meets students where they already are – and gives them ownership of their reading progress. When students realise the freedom that comes with Accessit Library, they will be more excited than ever to engage with their library.

“Students love seeing their own dashboards. It makes them feel like their reading habits matter – because they do.” – Accessit Librarian, Australia

Step 4: Empower teachers to champion the program.

Your reading program will only scale if it’s embraced beyond the library. Get teachers on board by making it easy for them to participate.

Support teachers by:

• Curating ready-to-go reading lists tied to subjects
• Offering PD on integrating reading into nonlanguage classes
• Highlighting how reading supports IB skills like research, reflection, and communication
• Encouraging teacher book clubs or class-wide reads

Teachers using Accessit can access curated collections and easily embed links into lesson plans or class portals. They don’t need to be library experts – just engaged facilitators.

Step 5: Celebrate progress (not just completion).

Traditional reading programs reward finishing books. But in international schools, where reading levels vary widely, success looks different for every student.

Celebrate:

• Number of pages or amount of time read
• Reading in a new language
• Trying a new genre
• Reading aloud to a sibling or parent
• Writing a review or creating a book trailer

Use Accessit to track these milestones and spotlight them on a shared school dashboard, in assemblies, or through school-wide newsletters. Make each student feel important as you celebrate each milestone with them!

Step 6: Use data to refine and advocate.

The most effective reading programs are living programs – they grow, shift, and respond to your community’s needs.

Data You Can Track with Accessit:

• Which books are most (or least) borrowed
• Which genres are trending
• Which students are engaged – and which need more support
• Reading activity by age, class, or language group

This insight doesn’t just help you refine your program. It gives you hard numbers to bring to leadership when requesting budget for new materials, resources, or events. It’s always important to know which of your students may need a little extra support.

“With Accessit, I can show our administrators exactly what’s working – and what we need to better support students.” – Secondary Librarian, Hong Kong

Bring your reading program to life.

Need inspiration? Here are tried-and-true ideas from international librarians around the world:

• Reading Around the World: Passport-style challenge where students earn stamps for books from different countries
• Book Talks via Video: Students record short reviews and post to a school-wide reading board.
• Teacher Takeover: Each month, a teacher curates a display of their favorite books.
• Read-Aloud Relay: Different classes each read a chapter of the same book, then pass it on.
• Virtual Author Visits: Use your reading program as a platform to invite international voices.

The Secret to a Great Reading Program?

Consistency. Visibility. Flexibility.

Accessit Library was designed to help schools build meaningful reading programs without increasing staff workload. With automation, data insights, and an intuitive dashboard experience for both students and staff, it becomes the backbone of your library-led reading initiative.

Learn more about Accessit Library

Whether you’re starting a reading program from scratch or scaling an existing one across your school, Accessit Library is your trusted partner in bringing the power of reading to every student.

👉 Discover Accessit Library by Follett Software.

How to Prove Your Library’s Impact and Win Support: A Guide for International Schools

Why Librarians Need to Show Their Impact

In international schools, librarians wear many hats – from reading advocates to curriculum collaborators. But despite their essential role, libraries often face funding cuts, staffing challenges, or limited visibility in leadership discussions.

The challenge isn’t that school leaders don’t care – it’s that library impact is often invisible without the right tools and language.

Fortunately, tools like Accessit Library by Follett Software are designed to help you track, showcase, and advocate for your library’s contributions in ways that resonate with decision-makers. Learn how Accessit Library can start improving your library immediately.

Start with the data – but make it tell a story.

Library management systems like Accessit make it easy to pull usage statistics, borrowing trends, and reading engagement data. But data alone isn’t enough – you need to frame it in a way that speaks to school-wide goals.

What school leaders care about:

• Student achievement and involvement
• Equity and access
• Operational efficiency
• Return on investment (ROI)
• Curriculum alignment

Sample storytelling tactics:

• “Our checkout rates for multilingual books have increased 40% this year, supporting our goal of inclusive education.”
• “Students using Accessit to track reading progress showed stronger independent learning skills, aligning with our IB learner profile goals.”
• “We used usage reports to reallocate budget toward high-demand nonfiction, ensuring every dollar supports engagement.”

Use Accessit reporting tools to your advantage.

Here’s how international schools are using Accessit to build their advocacy tool kit:

✔ Borrowing Trends

Show what’s being read and by whom – broken down by class or year group, age, language, subject, or genre. Demonstrate engagement growth over time.

✔ Curriculum Alignment

Track resources used in direct support of curriculum units, inquiry projects, or literacy benchmarks.

✔ Program Participation

Pull data on reading program engagement, top-performing themes, and student-led book reviews or dashboards.

✔ Collection Development

Illustrate how collection updates reflect student demographics, interests, and curriculum needs.

“Accessit’s real-time dashboards made it possible to walk into a meeting with evidence in hand. I could show how every decision was tied to impact.”
– Librarian, International School in Singapore

Don’t just show numbers – tell stories.

Data proves value, but stories make it stick.

Collect and share quotes from student book reviews and conversations like:

• “This book helped me feel seen.”
• “I didn’t know I loved history until I read this.”
• “The dashboard made it easy for me to find books that matched my topic.”

Pairing stats with stories paints a powerful picture of the human side of library impact.

Build stronger visibility with your admin team.

Make it easy for your leadership team to understand – and support – your work:

• Share quarterly impact reports using Accessit visuals.
• Invite administrators to student book talks or reading challenges.
• Offer short presentations showing how the library supports school goals.
• Share dashboards or access usage data via staff portals.

If you work across multiple campuses, Accessits site-level reporting makes it easy to compare and advocate for specific needs – whether it’s additional funding, more staff hours, or a new digital collection.

Advocate without burnout.

The best part? With automation from Accessit, reporting isn’t another job – it’s built in.

You can:

• Automate overdue reports and circulation summaries
• Use pre-built templates to export data in seconds
• Run comparisons over time to measure program success
• Quickly identify underused parts of the collection

You don’t need to be a data analyst to advocate for your library – you just need the right tools.

Learn more about Accessit Library.

Accessit Library by Follett Software gives international school librarians the insights and tools to prove value, win support, and grow impact. Learn more about Accessit Library here:

👉 Explore Accessit Library and discover its reporting tools.