Using the Xavier online catalogue

Year 5 students have been learning to use the online catalogue this week. The catalogue can be accessed via the Xavier Portal.  Xavier Portal  Click on the Library link and then onto the World Cat link. Students can use the catalogue to search all of the Xavier libraries or just the Kostka Hall library. It can be used at school or home.  In future lessons we will learn how to create an account so students can reserve books and check the status of their account.

Speed Dating

Speed dating with books

The year threes and fours have been speed dating with books in the library. During class time they sat around the table and had two minutes to consider a book for borrowing. Each student had a book in front of them and they were given one minute to look at the cover, read the blurb and explore the text. They then passed the book onto the next person to review. If the book was of interest, they could hold onto it for borrowing.

The aim of this exercise was to encourage students to consider books that they may not normally choose. Many new series, genre and titles were discovered for reading.

By Ms Langford.

Visiting Authors in Melbourne

James Paterson and David Walliams in Melbourne

We have been lucky to have some high profile authors visit Melbourne. Recently we have been to see both James Paterson and David Walliams.

James Paterson

James Paterson is an extremely successful adult writer who has turned his hand to writing children's books. In the Bellarmine library his Middle School series have been very popular. He is a passionate advocate for children reading and in his talk mentioned that he had, had difficulty persuading his son to read. His advice was to insist that children read, provide them with loads of interesting books and limit screen time until they have read. In his words "Books are Love" and as parents, to send a child into the world without being able to read well is to seriously disadvantage them.  We can all agree on that.

David Walliams

David Walliams ( the tall one in Little Britain) is extremely entertaining and kids love him and his books. For over an hour he had a theatre full of 10 year olds ( and their (mostly) mothers) rapt. He was quite a charmer! As one of the boys we were with put it. "he kept us quiet!" To hear the thunderous applause at the end and the queue for book signings snaking down Collins St was a librarian's dream! We have all of David's books in the library and they are always in demand.









Both of these author events were organised by the Wheeler's Centre. Also the program for the Melbourne Writers Festival held in August will be released soon and author events can be pre-booked.

The Dewey Decimal System

                                                                            Year 5's learn about the Dewey Decimal System

Melvil Dewey

In recent classes Year 5 students have been studying  the basics of  the Dewey Decimal system (DDC) which is used by libraries worldwide to organise non-fiction resources.  This brilliant system was invented by American Melvil Dewy in 1876. In short, the DDC assigns a number between 000-999 to subjects and books are given a number appropriate to their subject. This means books are shelved so that similar subjects are located together, making it easy to search and browse. Despite being invented so long ago the DDC is still widely used around the world.  The point of teaching students about the DDC is, that it makes it easier for them to use the library not just here at Kostka but also at the senior school, the local library and university. Our aim is to make students independent users of the library and develop their information literacy competencies. For some fun practising with Dewey there is a great online game students can use to practice their library skills. 
Order in the Library
N.B: Does not work on an iPad.
For a quick and easy guide to Dewey click here