Michael Clark- Greetings From the Kagugu School Children’s Library and Teacher Resource Center

My time here at the Kagugu School was spent in developing the library spaces to support the recreational and informational reading needs of the students, faculty and visitors coming to the school’s wonderful new Reading Hall building. I also worked directly with Emmanuel, the school librarian at Kagugu, to support his work with students and books, organizing the space and instituting good librarianship practices in supervising the library.

While the shelves of “Library 1” and “Library 2” were brimming with materials, a system for distinguishing between types and uses of books were needed for a school blessed with such an abundance of resources where prior they had little or none. The two spaces lent themselves perfectly to creating two collections, one as a “Children’s Library” and another as a “Teacher Resource Center” of textbooks, teaching guides and other support materials. Now the two main groups at the school each have their own personalized, dedicated, friendly spaces and collections to meet their unique needs.

The “Children’s Library” collection has three divisions for each of the languages represented in the library- Kinyearwanda, English and French. A Fiction section for each was developed with color-coded spine labels for support in identifying literary formats and reading level. The Non-Fiction sections were arranged in broad themes and subject areas and a system of using baskets to group similar books helps identify them on the shelves. All books were inventoried, classified and labeled for organization and to facilitate check-out. In addition, an accompanying database was created with the information, which will enable Emmanuel to search on titles, authors or types of books. Signage and posters enliven the space and help users find what they are looking for, or they are free to browse for book selections.

The “Teacher Resource Center” has materials consolidated by grade or P-Levels and subject, so that teachers can easily locate classroom textbooks and materials for signing out. One bookcase was dedicated to the collection of curriculum and teaching guides loosely grouped by subject and includes other workbooks, and teaching materials. Each room has a book drop to clearly designate where books are to be returned and sign-out sheets for checking materials out. Emmanuel, Savannah and I spent two weeks transforming the rooms into dynamic spaces of exciting book lined shelves just in time for the return of the students and teachers for the final semester of the school year. I hope they all enjoy the newly designed spaces and find just the right book they are looking to read. Enjoy!