Madam Librarian

It appears that a connection with libraries is in the blood- both mum and dad work or have worked in libraries  and when I arrived at school I was given the position of librarian without consultation...

The students at the school are issued government  authorised textbooks with the information they need to memorize for the exams. Any further research or resources are not provided or particularly advocated by the Kenyan system. Hence I have been super keen to provide other resources in order to broaden the horizons of the students a little!

The computer room/library contained a pile of mac computers donated by mac africa which lay mostly unused in a tangle of power plugs as not many students or teachers know how to operate them. The one bookshelf with lending books had been placed behind the door meaning students cannot browse or even really see what books are available.

When Jemima was visiting we spent a lot of time reorganising and setting up the library to be more user friendly. 10 computer stations with clear rules displayed, the books moved to a more accessible location, a simple index card system for borrowing records, purchase of a number of new books, cleaning the whole room and setting up mats and areas students can sit.

Our 'library' of borrowing books

From when I open the library at 7 until I send out the last students at 5 or 6 it is a hive of activity. Students borrow and return books in all their breaks, come for a chat or to ask a question and after school absolutely love coming to use the computers.
It's amazing how the room can fill up with over 30 students in a matter of minutes (3 per computer max for space sake).

Some days the power will go out which relieves me of the duty of kicking everyone out when I need to leave, but the majority of the time when I turn the lights off and say 'time to shut down everybody' the students are very good about it and are all out within a couple of minutes.

I would love to be able to expand the library's selection of books- a number of 'set books' are required for English and Kiswahili, which the students are supposed to purchase themselves, however at approximately 500 shillings (about $6)  per book this is well outside most students capacity. If they are fortunate enough to have parents and their parents are fortunate enough to have a job this is over 2 days pay, hence the majority go without and struggle to keep up when studying the book in class.

They also love novels, revision guides and story books- once again these range from 500- 2000 shillings ($5-$20), they would also love some Swahili bibles and resource books. If this is something you would like to help out with then shoot me an email tabithaverity@gmail.com.

Our lovely inspiration wall- posters donated by Meningie Community Library

Computer time after school