Day 2
On this second day of mobility, we met Simona de Stefano who spent a good part of the morning presenting the school library to us.
The inhabitants of Avezzano have the regional library of Abruzzo, the city community library and families of the neighborhood where the ICS Collodi-Marini is located can be users. For this reason the library is called the "Biblioteca Scolastica di quartiere" (district school library).
The beginnings of the library were on the top floor as it was explained to us the day before, a corner of the corridor with direct access from the street but accessed by stairs. When primary and secondary classes were distributed, they decided to put the libraries on the ground floor of the buildings to have wider classrooms and access without architectural barriers. Italian-style libraries are libraries with old books and with so little use that we could find them enclosed within closets. In fact, there are no books in the classrooms, we can only find them in the library. The current headmaster included in his educational project the promotion of the school library of the center.
In 2015 they participated in a project of initiative to improve the focus of digital update. They received 10,000€ endowment with which they created custom cataloging software made by a Udine company.
In 2017 they joined their catalogue at the SBN (Servizio Bibliotecario Nazionale), the network of Italian libraries. As a helper, OPAC (Online Public Access Catalog) has a large number of documents accessible to the Internet. They have also joined the MLOL platform (media library online, the daily digital library), where they have access to digital volumes via a fee paid by the school annually. Families have an account provided by the school for use.
In 2019 they received an endowment from the library network of Abruzzo. This funding was 50,000€ to be distributed among the five participating libraries. ICS Collodi-Marini used it to dress the library of the new center. The network of libraries provided for activities to make a presentation but could not be carried out due to the health situation that began. Libraries continue to work in network sharing activities, but they are carried out each in the corresponding center.
To see the evolution in volume investment they initially numbered 4,500 units and now 10,000 are numbered, and still have about 2,000 more to catalogue from the #ioleggo program. In less than 10 years they have doubled their funds without counting the digital volume loan.
As I have said before, classrooms have no libraries, but their idea from the future is that ICS is a “differentiated library” where anyone can read freely in any school space in order to create the reading habit.
Simona explained to us the main projects that are being developed to link up with the families with the school, in short:
. Library open throughout the neighborhood. The number of days they open depends on the volunteers they can count on.
. Digital Library. Open to all families free of charge (school authorization).
. Italian language training courses for families.
. Safe Internet course and research.
. Tè litterario. Adult reading club.
. Cineforum. Tertúlia on adult films.
. Mother Tongue Day. Recognition of mother tongues through family activities. Mother languages are given importance. Since 10 years ago they had had no immigration. They have had to propose activities to incorporate their culture. Within the school they have Arabic teaching because it is not being taught in mosques.
. Il Librogame. It is a question-and-answer reading tournament, with only 5th elementary and 1st secondary classes participating. The idea was born in ICS Collodi Marini to promote the taste for reading through gameplay and co-operation. But it has been opened to the other Avezzano schools.
She also shared with us projects that are promoted from the "Centro per i libro e la lettura"also at a state level:
. Libriamoci scuola. Libriamoci is a national reading campaign aimed at all schools from childhood to secondary school that takes place during one week of November. Schools are invited to devise and organize read-out initiatives aimed at promoting the joy of reading.
The goal of the project was promoted by the Ministry of Culture through the center of the Centro del libro e la Lettura and by the Ministry of Education. Its aim is to disseminate and promote the taste for reading and the reading habit, through moments of school active participation in the reading habit, through moments of active listening and participation such as in challenges and literary marathons between classes, audiobook creation, dramatization, expressive reading contest, meetings with writers, discussion contest...
A large collective, widespread party that lasts for a week and involves both Italian and foreign schools.
. Il maggio dei libri, leggere crescere.
A national campaign inviting books and reading to be brought together in contexts other than traditional ones, it wants to allow those who do not normally read to be intercepted and try to integrate them if they are encouraged in the right way. Open-air readings, bookcrossing, literary gatherings, reading marathons, workshops, reading aloud... or participating in existing events, provided they take place in the proposed period of April 23 to May 31 (festivals, reviews, literary awards...).
Schools must register activities in a database to qualify for a 2,000€ award.
National Collection of books. Project promoted by the government in conjunction with the publishing houses. During one week of November, families and the community can buy books from participating bookstores to donate to the school. When the collection is finished, the Publishers contribute with an equal number of books of the donation by donating them to schools.
After this very detailed presentation we had a well-deserved break.
After the break we joined Simona in a session with 13-year-old students. They were doing an informational literacy session, in which emphasis was placed on intellectual property. Students learned to recognize when and why we need information, where and how to find it and identify whether we can use it or not.
To find out if we could use the information we searched for on the web, the teacher was doing creative commons license identification activities. Once all the licenses were understood, the pupils dedicated themselves to being the intellectual authors of a drawing, so they had to decide what kind of license they applied to it. To finish the session they searched for their licenses over several volumes of the library.
Simona finished the day by reading out loud a book. I was very surprised by the pupils listening very actively. Simona was making several stops to get their attention and make sure of comprehension, and it has to be said that everyone was actively listening.
Today I take the view of a very powerful library-driven team, eager to renew and involved in such an essential project.
After the break we joined Simona in a session with 13-year-old students. They were doing an informational literacy session, in which emphasis was placed on intellectual property. Students learned to recognize when and why we need information, where and how to find it and identify whether we can use it or not.
To find out if we could use the information we searched for on the web, the teacher was doing creative commons license identification activities. Once all the licenses were understood, the pupils dedicated themselves to being the intellectual authors of a drawing, so they had to decide what kind of license they applied to it. To finish the session they searched for their licenses over several volumes of the library.
Simona finished the day by reading out loud a book. I was very surprised by the pupils listening very actively. Simona was making several stops to get their attention and make sure of comprehension, and it has to be said that everyone was actively listening.
Today I take the view of a very powerful library-driven team, eager to renew and involved in such an essential project.