Starting with a...

 although the proper way to finish that title would be "Bang!", I don't feel that quite fits the excitement of the new school year in a positive way. Our year began the very end of August, and it feels almost pre-Covid in all that is happening!

What do I mean?

• Yes, we still wear masks inside, but I can remove mine to teach a library lesson or to lead a meeting of the library team (from a distance). 
• Story time is back in person and live! (It is such a marvelous relief not to be filming myself doing story time!)
• Library Lessons are moving forward. Introductory lessons are finished, e-book lessons are underway for our Y3 students, and we have started our poetry books in conjunction with the Y1 poetry topic. 
• Parents have returned before and after school. I think this is one of the most exciting bits of "normality" that has returned. Remote circulation was okay, but not as good as seeing parents reading stories with their children and noticing all the new books.
• Puppets and the Lego Wall are available and very busy. We've seen some imaginative stories at the puppet theatre and amazing cityscapes on the Lego wall!
• We have a full complement of library monitors in Junior Library as well as a large number of International Award volunteers in Senior Library. (81 applications, 47 interviews, and a total of 30 Library Monitors!)

I could go on with some of the "outside of the library" changes that return to normal, but I'm going to stick with the ones that mean the absolute most to me. Of course, there are new changes to the library as well.

• We're building our home languages collection and have added a bilingual book section.
• We tripled our number of e-books for Junior School students.
• Loads of new books arrived over the summer. (Not really a change, but exciting nonetheless.)
• Y10 and Y11 English classes are using the library on a more regular basis. This has included 11 Speed Dating with a Book activities planned during the first 4 weeks of school...
• And we separated Junior and Senior catalogs to assist students, staff, and parents in finding books more easily.
• An in-person "Late Night at the Library" event is planned for October. (Although we will continue with the zoom format for the multi-campus Christmas Songs and Stories event.)
• I have applied to attend a conference in Singapore, rather than a virtual conference.

The first 3 weeks of school flew by. I am sure the next few weeks will move just as fast.