The Library
“It isn’t just a library. It is… a gateway, to a better and happier and more useful life.”
Isaac Asimov
The Library at Kings Langley School
The Library is a key resource for the whole school community staffed full-time by a professional librarian. Our aim is to provide a welcoming, positive environment where students can enjoy reading and learning independently.
We encourage our students to develop a love of reading for pleasure by following their individual interests; reading widely and making new discoveries; reading across a variety of genres and forms — and pursuing what they enjoy the most.
The driving principle of our work is to lay the foundation for a lifetime of reading. We offer a diverse collection of books and guidance with making selections for individual reading, and to support learning across the curriculum. Throughout the year, the library provides a variety of activities and initiatives to encourage keen and reluctant readers.
Staff:
Ms J Hill
Location and opening hours:
The library is at the heart of the school, next to the staff room.
We are open from 9.00am to 4.30pm every school day, except for Fridays, when we close at the earlier time of 4pm.
Resources and facilities:
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The library has a diverse collection of around 8000 fiction and non-fiction books for students and staff to browse and borrow. The librarian constantly updates and maintains the collection, and students are always welcome to make suggestions or requests
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A variety of displays, activities and events throughout the year to promote reading for pleasure, tie in to whole school priorities, and enrich the curriculum
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Essential stationery items available to buy at cost prices in our Stationery Shop
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An enthusiastic team of student library leaders who assist with the day-to-day running of the library
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Subscriptions to several online resources, including academic journals via JSTOR, and a collection of ebooks
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Subscriptions to a variety of quality magazines, both educational and for pleasure
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Forty laptops for students to use for homework and for pursuing individual interests
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A small collection of DVDs and audiobooks on CD
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Teaching space, with seating for a class of thirty, or up to one hundred for a visiting speaker, whiteboard, and two interactive smartboards
Find us online:
AccessIt – this is our library catalogue, and the central hub for all information about the resources we have available. Students can quickly browse as a guest, or collect their account details from the library to make reservations and write reviews.
Our full collection of ebooks is also indexed here, OneSearch is an excellent place to start any research project, and Visual Search offers a fantastic way to digitally browse the shelves, including our many reading lists.
VLEBooks - All our eBooks are listed and linked in AccessIt, but if you are only looking for digital books, searching here will be faster. Students use their school email address to log in, along with our organisation ID (KINGSLANG) and a generic password available from the librarian, which students can then change to something more personal and secure.
Twitter and Instagram – regular social media updates from the library.
Email the librarian – please feel free to get in touch with us if you have any queries about the library or your child’s reading.
Lending agreement:
Students who borrow from the library accept full responsibility for taking care of these resources and returning them on time. Charges will be made for the replacement of lost or damaged items, but we do not levy fines for overdues.
Students in Years 7 to 11 can borrow up to four books at any one time, while Sixth Form students may borrow up to eight. All resources are issued for one month, after which they must be returned or renewed.
Further information:
Stationery Shop Price ListResources for Learning and Reading OnlineLibrary PolicyAnnual ReportHertfordshire Public Libraries
Reading Suggestions:
Year 7
Year 8
Year 9
Year 10
…and finally:
“A library is many things. It’s a place to go, to get in out of the rain. It’s a place to go if you want to sit and think. But particularly it is a place where books live, and where you can get in touch with other people, and other thoughts, through books. If you want to find out about something, the information is in the reference books. If you like to be told a story, the library is the place to go. Books hold most of the secrets of the world, most of the thoughts that men and women have had. And when you are reading a book, you and the author are alone together—just the two of you. A library is a good place to go when you feel unhappy, for there, in a book, you may find encouragement and comfort. A library is a good place to go when you feel bewildered or undecided, for there, in a book, you may have your question answered.” — EB White.
