For the National Year of Reading, we are sharing a series of short conversations with people who are involved in promoting reading with young people. This could be a programme, resources or a literary event, and we’re giving them the opportunity to share what they do and how people can get involved.
In this episode we discuss the Pupil Library Assistant of the Year Award and are joined by Barbara Band, library consultant and Chair of Judges for the award and also by Olipher Grey who is a sixth form pupil who won the award last year.
The Pupil Library Assistant of the Year Award was first set up in 2014. Entries open in September each year with a closing date in November, shortlisting at the end of the autumn term and the ceremony in the spring term (this year’s deadline is 6th November – so get your entries in!). First have a listen and find out all about how they work and what it is like to be nominated for the award and win it.
Barbara Band discusses the inception of the award, the criteria for nominations, and the vital role of student librarians in school libraries. She emphasises the importance of recognising student contributions and the challenges faced in the nomination process. We also cover the judging process and how they make sure that the celebratory award ceremony really acknowledges the efforts of young library assistants.
With Olipher we talk about he first got involved as a library assistant and what he has learnt and gained from doing it for the last five years. We cover how they recruit assistants in his school and the wider effect it has on the school community. We also talk about the how it felt winning the award and the experience of going to the ceremony.
Katy
0:11
Hi, I'm Katy.
Ali
0:12
And I'm Ali and welcome to Mostly Book Talk.
Katy
0:15
We're back with our series of episodes for the National Year of Reading, where we are talking to charities and other organisations who are doing interesting things around literacy to let you know about what they do and how you can get involved. So we have Barbara Band who set up the Pupil Library Assistant of the Year Award, and we also have Oliver Grey, who is a pupil who won the Pupil Library Assistant of the Year Award last year. So enjoy. So we're very pleased to have with us Barbara Band, who is a school library consultant, has a long history in school libraries. She is the CILIP School Library Group Vice Chair and Treasurer. And she was also involved in setting up and is currently the chair of judges for the Pupil Library Assistant of the Year Award. And that's what we're going to ask her to tell us about today. So welcome, Barbara. Tell us a bit about what the award is, how you set it up, and give us a bit of background.
Barbara
1:18
Thank you very much for inviting me. The Pupil Library Assistant of the Year Award, or we tend to call it PLA because that's less of a mouth. Pla PLA, P-L-A-A. It was set up back in 2014. I was Cilip president. And at the time I'd been involved in a lot of campaigning for school libraries. I'd organised a mass lobby and various things, and we'd had a huge amount of support from students. And somebody said, look, it'd be really good if we could recognize their support for school libraries. There wasn't really anything like this award out there. So I had a chat with the CEO of at the time and came up with the idea of this pupil library assistant of the year award and put it into action. To start with, we only had it for secondary school librarians. And I think the last three years we've had a primary award as well as a secondary award. So it's been going a long time. So I'm very pleased about it, and it's very successful.
Ali
2:21
And how do you decide what the criteria are for that?
Barbara
2:25
Oh, goodness me, that's really difficult. We have a nomination form, and there's a dedicated website, and it's got lots of information about the past winners and some lovely photos and things on it. Through the website, there's a nomination form, and all nominees answer the same questions. Basically, the students are asked to write a bit at the beginning, and the rest of the form is written by their librarian, and then a supporting statement from the head teacher. So it's a bit like an interview, in a way. We never see them though, obviously, but it's a bit like an interview where everybody is asked the same question. But I have to say, I've been doing this for a long time, and it is very hard when we read those nominations to come up with the short list really hard because at the back of my mind all the time is the fact that these are young people. And I would want them all to be finalists and all to be winners, but like it doesn't work like that, is it?
Katy
3:24
No. So what sort of things do they write about? So what's the questions that they get asked?
Barbara
3:29
Oh, I should know these off by heart, shouldn't I? Although I have to say we do tweak them every couple of years, which is in my defect, which is my reason for not knowing them exactly. We ask what they're like as reading role models. We ask how they support other students in the library, we ask what sort of projects they've initiated, and the range of things that these students do is absolutely amazing. I don't think people realise quite how marvelous they are. And I say to people, you've got these students, almost every single school that has a library will have a team of students working in their libraries. And they are supporting their school librarians, and the majority of school librarians are solo librarians, and I can say hand on heart, because I've been in this position, that there is no way those librarians could provide the services that they do to the school community without the team of student librarians helping them. And it's not just admin tasks, they do take on a lot of admin tasks. It's creating displays, producing newsletters, running book groups, running Warhammer groups, craft groups, all sorts of things. If I was to start listening, it we'd be here for the next three hours. Right.
Ali
4:51
But it's it's nice that they've got an opportunity to shape what that looks like as well. So it could be different at every school that you work in, right?
Barbara
4:59
It is different. And that is what makes it quite difficult sometimes. But it's also important that the student voice is heard in the library. Whether you want to enter your student or not for this award, having student voice in the library is so important in creating that place where they feel they belong and the place that they feel is theirs. So, yeah, student voice and then the input. But as I say, it's very difficult. What we do do actually is when we get the nomination, I say we, I actually get the nominations, they're submitted via the online form and they land in my inbox. Right. And then the first thing I do is check that they're all completed, that all the boxes are filled in, the head teachers authorise this, and they haven't left off something like the address of the school or something silly. Yeah. Because it occasionally happens. I then anonymise them. So I take out all the school, the librarian, the students' names from the whole document, and they just go in as number one, number two, number three. When the nominations have closed, by that point, I have no idea who number one was because it's because I haven't really read them. I don't read them in advance, I just check them. And then I send all these anonymised non nominations off to the judging panel to read, and then we meet. So when we meet to judge them, they're just numbers. We don't know where the school is or who the librarian is or anything.
Katy
6:40
Nice. And so who initiates entering? Is it the students or is it the librarians, or does it vary?
Barbara
6:48
It's the librarian that nominates them. They have to be nominated by their librarian. I've no idea how many students say, Hey, Miss or hey, sir, nominate me. I suspect not many, because I think a lot of students don't have that confidence in what they're doing. They think, oh, I'm not good enough to be nominated. And I do sometimes get people can email me questions while the whole process is open. And I do occasionally get questions saying, Oh, I don't know who to decide. I've got two amazing students. And I say to the librarian, ask your team of students who they want to nominate because they will know, they always know there's all which one they want to put forward.
Katy
7:29
So that's interesting.
Ali
7:30
It's really interesting.
Katy
7:32
And so if there's librarians listening who haven't done it before, where should they go to find the information about doing it?
Barbara
7:41
We have a website. There's also a link on the School Libraries Group website.
Katy
7:45
If they just go and look for people librarian assistants.
Barbara
7:47
Yeah, yeah, they look for the award online, it will come up, or they can go onto the School Libraries Group website and the link will be on there. And then the nominations open about middle of September. We don't do it right at the beginning of term because the beginning of the school year is one of the busiest times for not just school librarians but all school staff. For everyone, so yeah. So we do it about mid-September and they close around the beginning of November. So they've got quite a few weeks to think about it and to chiv their students into writing their statement and to get the statement from the head teacher. And then once they close, we then have a judging panel meeting. It's all done online, a judging panel meeting. They finish for Christmas because what we do is we come up with a finalist, a short list of finalists, and we ask them to provide additional information. So they're basically given a task, it varies year to year. The last award, we ask them to write a letter to their MP asking them to support the National Year of Reading. Okay. And very often it is write a letter to your MP but with a slightly different focus. And then we ask them to put together a project that's budgeted for £500 that they would that's targeted at a specific group in their school that maybe don't use their library or that they want to increase reading amongst a particular demographic. And we ask them to put together this project. I should say the primary school librarians get a slightly different task. I am mindful that a lot of these students are in years 11, 6 form, they'll have exams after Christmas. So we give them a period of time to put together that. And I like, as I say, I like to do it before Christmas so they can think about it over the holidays. And then after we've had the extra information in the additional tasks, we have another meeting where we choose our winner. And then nobody knows that until the day. You have an award ceremony. We have a wonderful award ceremony. We are sponsored by Pearson, who have the most incredible offices in the strand. And so they provide us with this huge space and refreshments and they print our programs. Yeah, we could not run this without Pearson, I have to say. And we're also sponsored by Authors Aloud UK, who provide the prizes for the winners and the finalists. They get little glass book paperweights, but they're like little books. They get all get certificates, and they also provide the £500 for the winning score to put the project into action. Sounds brilliant. Thank you. It's good fun. Yeah. Excellent.
Katy
10:32
Thank you very much. We've got this year's secondary winner coming on to talk to us next. So thank you. So we are delighted to welcome Pupil Library Assistant of the Year, Olipher Grey, who's a year 13 pupil at Ullswater Community College. Welcome, Oliver. Hiya. So our first question is what did it feel like winning the award?
Olipher
10:57
It felt really amazing, and it was it was a really great experience on the day. And it was amazing hearing about other pupil library assistants that were there as well, and hearing what they do for their libraries and hearing how important it is for them. It was a really amazing day, and it was such an amazing award to win.
Katy
11:15
So, what happened on the day? We heard that there were quite a lot of authors there on the day. Did you get to meet anyone interesting?
Olipher
11:21
We were down in London on the strand in Pearson's offices, and there were about 10 authors were there, and really amazing authors. One that stood out was Matt Goodfellow. He really stood out. He was the one who was leading it all, and he was so entertaining. And he was getting his book that he had as well, and that he was telling us all about while we had the free time to walk around. He was a really entertaining person to listen to.
Katy
11:46
Yeah, he's great. I'm waving one of his books at you because it's literally sitting next to me on the top of my reading pile at the moment. So take us through what you do as a library assistant.
Olipher
11:57
In this role as a library assistant, I help out at the desk. I'm helping to promote reading through helping students find what books they love through the genres that they want to read through. I also help support training for the student librarians to do the same as me. I also help conduct the interview processes as well, where we help to try and bring in new pupil library assistants into the library space and help them do similar and the same as what I do.
Ali
12:21
And how did you first get involved? When did you start the role?
Olipher
12:26
Nearly five years ago is when I started. And originally I was one of the first two people who became pupil library assistants. So I originally was a regular library user. I'd always be up there, I'd always be looking at books, looking at where things went in the library, seeing how I could interact with everyone. And then eventually I went, I turned around and I asked, Can I help? Can I do things for you in the library? And Amy said, Yeah, absolutely. But we'll have you on. So I was there, and then I originally got trained up on the desk for issuing books and helping other students out. And then it shortly after that is when Amy said to me, We want to bring more student librarian, pupil library assistants on. She said, Would you like to help conduct interviews? And I said, Absolutely, I'd love to do that. So yeah, and then I was able to meet loads of other amazing students, and it was just it was amazing, yeah.
Ali
13:18
So how many are there now? How many assistants are there?
Olipher
13:22
There's about 42 in total.
Katy
13:25
Oh gosh. And is that from every year in the school?
Olipher
13:28
Yeah, it's a mix between your groups.
Katy
13:30
Do you turn people down when you interview them? Do you have so many volunteers that you can turn people down, or do most people get to do it?
Olipher
13:37
We try and involve as many people as possible, but sometimes we have that many people come through. It can be a really difficult choice. So occasionally there may be one, two, or maybe even three people that we say we're a bit full at the moment. You can try again the next round of interviews because we tend to do two or three interviews a year. Interview processes a year. So we try and involve as many people as possible and as many people who are passionate as possible.
Katy
14:02
Sounds amazing to have that many involved. It's brilliant. You've been doing it now for five years. What have you learned from doing it?
Olipher
14:08
I've learned so many transferable skills. I've learned one of the most important skills possible is communication with other people. And I am really glad that I've learned that skill because I feel now that I'm gaining more confidence in myself. I'm able to be myself and communicate with other people around me and other students, as well as that. I've also learned a small little bit of leadership skills through the interview process or training other people. But then on top of that, I've also learned teamwork as well and how to interact with people in a team, how to be there for each other.
Ali
14:44
That's really good. So would you recommend other pupils to get involved at their schools?
Olipher
14:49
Absolutely, I would, because the skills I've learned and how enjoyable it is and the sense of achievement and accomplishment you get from it, I think is something that a lot of more pupils need to experience and it will be a really enjoyable thing for them.
Katy
15:03
And has the fact that you've got so many pupil librarians involved in your library, your school library, do you think it means that more people use the library now?
Olipher
15:12
I would absolutely say more people use the library now because of how much we involve as many people as possible. Because, as well as that, they tell they then tell their friends, and then their friends tell their friends, and it's just a constant chain of all the good things that happen. And as well, we've got multiple friendships that form across year groups. So we have some people in year nine who are friends with people in year 11 that they may not necessarily have met unless they did it through the library and they did it through our space. So yeah.
Ali
15:42
So it sounds brilliant. So it sort of builds the whole school community then because you're mixing with different year groups as well, which you don't get a chance to do really often, do you? No, yeah. Cool.
Katy
15:51
So, just something else do you have to be a really keen and really good reader to do it? Or do you just need to have an interest in at least some books or just how the library works?
Olipher
16:01
You don't need to be a keen reader, you don't need to be experienced with our library at all. It's nice if you enjoy it, but you may not necessarily need to enjoy reading to begin with, or at all. We just bring in as many people as possible, no matter what reading age, reading level, no matter what, we try and incorporate and bring as many people in as possible. They might have started in year seven, didn't like the library at all, might have hated it. But it doesn't matter because in a few years' time, if they turn around and say that they now really enjoy the library, really appreciate the space, then that's still something that we can take on board.
Ali
16:35
It's worth noting that Amy, who is the librarian, is with you, and she was shocked that you might think some year sevens wouldn't like the library. How very dare they? They'll soon land. Exactly. What are you up to next? What's next after school?
Olipher
16:51
Next year I'm continuing on here, part-time with the sixth form, just to develop more skills in my courses, and then after that, I'll be going off to uni to study history.
Katy
17:02
And do you think you'll take what you've learned with in your doing your assistant role with you? It'll help you in that.
Olipher
17:08
Absolutely. I think again the skills that I learned with communication and learning to be myself and having that confidence with everyone else around me, I feel really helped me when it comes to going into that new environment of uni and experience all sorts of new things. And I'll also know my way around the uni library as well. So I think that'd be really helpful.
Katy
17:26
I was gonna say you will, you would definitely, because they're always enormous and they're they always feel a bit daunting when you first go into them. So yeah, you will be very well placed. That's brilliant. Thank you very much. Good luck next year, and congratulations again.