Authors announced for Spring Read 2010!

East Ayrshire school librarians and East Ayrshire Libraries' Pat Standen have been busy organising the next schools book festival, Spring Read 2010. We are delighted to announce 4 great authors who will be appearing at schools in the area during March next year.

Keith Gray - award winning author of Ostrich Boys, The Runner, Malarky, etc.

Catherine Forde - fantastic author of gritty and uncompromising stories such as Sugarcoated, Skarrs, and of course, Fat Boy Swim.

Catherine MacPhail - Spring Read regular and author of the popular Nemesis series, as well as Run Zan Run, Roxy's Baby, and many more.

Theresa Breslin - much loved author of Whispers in the Graveyard, Remembrance, Divided City, and many more.

J. A. Henderson - award-winning author of Crash, Bunker 10, and Colony.

New resources

As well as all of the new books arriving in the Library in the new term there are some other new resources I'd like to highlight.

• Issues Box Files - these have been updated and continue to be updated, with articles / newspaper cuttings on contemporary issues. An index of the files can be found in the Library folder in the I:Drive or here at the wiki - http://www.jhalibrary.wikispaces.com/. These complement the Library's subscriptions to Essential Articles and Issues (online and print editions).

• Careers Library - this is constantly updated with new material on university and college courses, choosing courses, jobs and careers, job applications and cvs, financial support, and so on. This material comprises prospectuses, leaflets, books and DVDs (which can be borrowed). There is a wealth of information for pupils ranging from S2s choosing subjects to S56 preparing to leave school.

• Electronic databases - we have access to a range of databases via East Ayrshire Council's Library Services, which can be accessed here - http://www.east-ayrshire.gov.uk/comser/libraries/referenceandinformation-it.asp. There is also a link to these resources in the Library folder in the I:Drive. These resources include:

News UK - a searchable database of newspaper articles from most UK dailies

Britannica Online - a vast online encyclopedia, differentiated for age groups

Readers' Cup 2009

The 2009 Readers' Cup event took place at Auchinleck Academy on Friday 12 June. The hosts won the competition in the end but for most of the time it was very close. The JHA team did brilliantly. Here are some pics of the team -

Our wonderful team is:

(above, l to r) Cassie Wright, Molly Gladman, Graeme Jardine and Scott Robertson

Above is the team with their goody bags accompanied by their proud librarian.

Thanks also to our great team of supporters (above), who won their fair share of chocolate in the audience questions. And also to Mrs Everson for accompanying us!

And finally, thanks to Mrs McGill at Auchinleck Academy for organising the event, and the other school librarians and East Ayrshire Library service for supporting it.

Spring Read 2009

Spring Read 2009 was a great success. JHA took pupils to 3 schools (Kilmarnock, St Joseph's and Grange Academies) to see 3 excellent authors (Catherine MacPhail, K. M. Grant and Catherine Forde). The authors were all very entertaining and inspirational. There has been a great surge in demand for their books from the Library!

Thank you to the school librarians for organising these events so efficiently - Mr King at Kilmarnock, Miss Kirkwood at St Joseph's and Miss Reid at Grange.

Special mention must go to all of the S1 and S2 pupils from JHA who attended these events. Their behaviour was superb throughout. Well done!

Spring Read 2009 authors announced!

Spring Read 2009 - the East Ayrshire Schools Book Festival - will kick off in February with author visits to most of the schools in the area.

We have 3 great authors appearing this year -

Catherine MacPhail (who appeared at JHA in 2008, and everyone loved her!) - author of Tribes, Fighting Back, Roxy's Baby and Worse Than Girls ...

K. M. Grant - author of How The Hangman Lost His Heart, Blood Red Horse, Blue Flame and Blaze of Silver ...

Catherine Forde - author of Sugarcoated, Firestarter, Skarrs, Fat Boy Swim and I See You Baby ...

If you are interested in meeting these authors in person you can sign up for the author visits (just give me your name). Visits will take place between February and March in schools throughout East Ayrshire. Details to be confirmed soon!