DAY 1

DAY 1

The first day we arrived at the Eleftheriades Library, where Nikos was waiting for us with some lunch and coffee. We introduced ourselves and shared the educational structures of the two countries. Afterwards they gave us a tour around the school library and showed us and explained the different sections; fiction, history books, books in Greek, English, mystery, fantasy, study techniques, magazines, literature, politics, comics, manga, dictionaries, etc. They have a section with computers, a large room with tables and chairs. At the top there is also a room to study, all very well-lighted and with a lot of space. 

Then Mr. Apostolos took us to the Kindergarden building, where the 4 year olds were borrowing books, all of them had a cloth bag where they put the book they were going to read. There were 2 teachers to do the lending and two to organize and manage 18 children. I liked to observe the relaxed faces of both the teachers and the children, the calm, and the order that existed. 

It is a school of 4 lines of about 100 students per level, 25 per classroom. However, what we have observed is that they work with small groups. They tell us that 99% of the students go to university. In the past it used to be all-girls, but by 1986 it had become coeducational.

There are teachers and students (52) who live at the school. The teachers have a house next to the campus and the students have a building where they have their rooms, a dining room and a large polyvalent room; for meetings, celebrations, etc.

They showed us the small gymnasium, what? Small? It was huge! Sometimes the teachers went there to do gymnastics; very good to take care of themselves! 

Throughout the campus you get a feeling that there is not much movement, you breathe calmness... a feeling of relief.

After lunch we met Evi, the director and coordinator of the libraries. 

Then Ankine, who is one of the teachers who was lending the library with the children, showed us the facilities. Incredible, it is a long way from our reality. 

We returned to the building in the morning and Nikos explained the system they use for the libraries; the Koha application (similar to Epergam). They can borrow it for two weeks.. All books are catalogued and can be searched by book title, author, subject, isbn, etc.  Teachers have access to this program.

When they scan the barcode of the book, all the information of the book is displayed. One difference between this program and Epèrgam is that they can make a linked list with suppliers and buy the books they need. It also has many ways to create/contrast (more developed), they can follow the magazines they are subscribed to, they can make statistics of what they consult the most, etc. 

Students can also make suggestions, it is another way to encourage reading. Teachers filter these suggestions.

There is a section of the program called Reports, this is important because there you can see what is more liked, what is less liked, and how to promote it. They have more than 31,000 titles.

Curiosity: on the computer keyboard they have a key to switch to writing in Greek alphabet. 

Nico spends all his working day at the library, he is a librarian. He helps the teachers with their projects; they ask him for advice and he tells them which books they can take, consult, etc. He also guides them if they want to look for a book. Again we see many different aspects of our reality.

After lunch we go to the other library, Bissell Library, to do a tour with Evi. She explains that the name is the name of the founder of the library, who donated money for the construction and creation of this one. They have 30,000 books and 222,000 digital books. They have very well equipped and spacious facilities.

Curiosity in the same library they have a small part of the school's history museum; the founder's granddaughter gave it to the school to display it.