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Introduction
The library survey was run in Spring Term 2016 and asked Year 7's a variety of questions about the library, their reading preferences and the design of the new website.
We wanted honesty in the answers, because it helps us understand where we may be failing the pupils and where we are getting it right. The only personal details pupils were asked for was name and all data is kept on a secure school database.
As an example of how this data is used, one of the pupils who said they would only read if it was the right genre was very keen on Fantasy stories. We often find Fantasy readers like Sci-fi because both genres have similar elements, so we suggested the pupil try a Sci-fi novel instead and she recently confided to us that she has started reading Sci-fi more often. The survey thus helped us widen her book choice.
As an example of how even negative responses can be useful to the library staff, let's pick a pupil who has said they find books boring. Although we do not release the pupil's name to anyone, this means we can now approach that pupil (usually by just catching them during a library lesson) and try to ascertain the reason for this. Do we not have enough books of a certain type? Are the books too hard or too easy to read? Has the pupil tried a graphic novel before? What about the subjects we have, are we missing a certain subject that the pupil would read if we had it? What does the pupil like to do outside school and can we get a book, aimed at that pupils ability and that interest, that might get them reading.
All these responses tell us something and help us improve our library service, right down to the individual pupil. It takes time, but every pupil we get reading is one more pupil who will pick up the skills to read more effectively and as most pupils learn their subjects by reading; the better you read, the faster you understand the subject and the faster you learn.
These are the responses asking whether the pupils liked or didn't like reading. The larger the circle, the more pupils answered with that response, so 20 pupils said they liked reading and 20 said they found it boring, whilst 15 would only read if it was the right genre of book. In this example, red is a negative response to reading and green a more positive response.
These are the responses asking what the pupils wanted from the library. The only thing we are finding hard to achieve here is to find YouTuber books that at least provide some reading skills, though we have found a few and will be getting them this term. Interestingly, only 4 pupils in Year 7 wanted a quieter library.
These are the responses asking what pupils wanted on the library website, we hope we have done it justice! There are some things missing, but they are in development, so keep a lookout on this site.
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