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Library

LIBRARY & LEARNING SERVICES

Welcome to the Gold Creek School Libraries

At the heart of the school, the Gold Creek School Libraries are places that welcome all members of the school community. There are two libraries, one located on each site. The junior site library is run as a joint facility with Holy Spirit Catholic School which operates next to the junior site. Our libraries play a vital role in collaborative curriculum development and implementation across the school. They support whole-school planning, leading collaboration and literacy development, providing resources to support all staff, students and the parent community. Literature is celebrated in joint events such as Book Week and visits across the junior site for shared reading opportunities.

Figure 1 - Junior Site Library                                                     Figure 2 - Senior Site Library

Our Philosophy

Our philosophy is to inspire and encourage a lifelong love of reading and learning whilst supporting the school’s curricular and co-curricular activities. The Libraries are a safe place where the community engages positively in citizenship, embraces and respects individuality, and where people can be curious, creative, critical and reflective citizens. The community is encouraged to consider their learning positions from different global perspectives, and to communicate and collaborate in different ways as they engage actively in their learning.

Our Services

The libraries are staffed by a Teacher Librarian on each site and a Library Assistant shared across the two sites. Students and teachers are supported in developing information, media and digital fluency skills and have access to the library’s resource collections and flexible learning spaces.

Every day the libraries are a hive of activity and are open for students to research, complete homework, read, practise their oral and written communication skills or simply interact and play cards or board games during their breaks.

We encourage students to read for pleasure utilising an array of print and digital materials; fiction, popular magazines, picture books and graphic novels. Students also have access to the Sora App for eBooks and audio books. The non-fiction collection and our online encyclopedia called Britannica School, provides students and teachers with materials that have been carefully selected to support the curriculum and to encourage self- directed learning. As an inclusive community, we are investing in international literature to encourage students to consider global perspectives in their approaches to learning. Books are available in several languages to cater for our multicultural community, including the Britannica School’s translation tool. We ensure that students with disabilities have access to adjusted resources to support their learning. This an area that we are always investing in developing further.

The library catalogue is available via the Internet and can be accessed from any computer at school or home. Students and staff can log in to the Digital Backpack to access Oliverv5, LearnPath, Sora, our Referencing Generator and online Britannica Encyclopedia.

What do we deliver?

  • We guide students through our Fiction and Non-Fiction selection, referencing, correct citation, understanding the policies related to Academic Integrity (avoiding plagiarism), research skills and evaluating data
  • We collaborate and team teach with classroom teachers to support Units of Inquiry
  • We offer professional development workshops to staff and promote our extensive Teacher Reference collections (such as audio-visual materials, Breakout EDU kits and the hiring of virtual reality goggles)
  • Cameras are also available for use during school time

Key Resources for Students

  • Oliver, our central digital catalogue can be accessed through the Digital Backpack: https://backpack.ed.act.edu.au/
  • LearnPath is our additional resource and information platform embedded in Oliver containing curated information pathways to assist students with their units of inquiry and for assignment help.
  • https://soraapp.com – for borrowing up to 10 e-books and audiobooks at a time. This can be used on any device or accessed through Oliver (Password requires normal school credentials)
  • Britannica School Online Encyclopedia: https://school.eb.com.au (Password protected and embedded in Oliver).
  • ClickView contains educational videos, including films and documentaries, accessed through the Digital Backpack
  • SLASA – Our free online differentiated Referencing Generator (Password protected and embedded in Oliver-LearnPath - ‘Academic Integrity’)
  • National Library of Australia – Open the link: National Library eResources.
  • Libraries ACT Research sources - The ACT Library Service provides a wide range of online databases. Use your ACT Library membership to search via their website. Register for a free ACT Public Library membership to choose from 4,000 eBook titles: Open this link: eBooks from the ACT Library.

Usual Library Opening Hours

Junior Library

Monday to Friday between 8:30am - 3:00pm

Senior Library

Mondays and Tuesdays: 8:30am - 3:15pm Wednesdays: 8:30am – 4:45pm Thursdays and Fridays: 8:30am – 3:15pm

Contacts

Please contact our friendly Office Staff at Gold Creek School via email or by phone:

Junior Site Teacher Librarian

Tel: 02) 61421340

Senior Site Teacher Librarian 

Tel: 02) 61421300.

Library Assistant (both sites) – Julie Sherd

Email: julie.sherd@ed.act.edu.au

For more information about what we deliver click the LIBRARY SERVICES HANDBOOK