One of the activities supported by SLG is the annual Pupil Librarian Training Day, organised and hosted by Michael Margerison, librarian at Elmgreen School in London. Although it takes place in the school hall, numbers are limited and – being a London event – it mainly attracts local schools. Even so, around 120 – 150 students attend each year, accompanied by their school librarians.
The is designed to provide training through a series of structured questions but it also offers a valuable opportunity for team building, especially as many students will only recently have taken on their library roles. I’m always delighted to participate on behalf of SLG and speak to the students about the Pupil Library Assistant of the Year Award
(https://libpupilaward.wixsite.com/home).
I explain why I founded the award, highlighting not only the transferable skills they develop through their work in school libraries but also the significant impact they have on their wider communities.
The workshop element follows, during which school teams discuss a set of rhetorical
questions. Selected groups share their answers, with librarians adding context and noting
that each school may have its own policies and procedures. For example, one question asks how to respond when a student wants to know what their brother has borrowed – an
excellent prompt to discuss Data Protection and GDPR. Others explore how to help a
student find a book they might enjoy, or how to handle damaged or lost books.
The day includes a range of fun, book-related activities. Each table receives a wrapped book and creates a promotional poster for it, with prizes for the winning design. Students can also give short pre-prepared presentations on their favourite books (entirely optional!) and everyone takes part in a book-themed quiz and there’s also a book-related quiz. I have to admit, their book knowledge is impressive. Breaks are built in – we certainly don’t keep the students inside for hours – and we’re usually lucky with the weather so they can get outside. This year, we were especially grateful to Heaths Books (https://www.heathbooks.co.uk/) for providing snacks and drinks.
The event concludes with an author visit and this year, we were delighted to welcome
Sufiya Ahmed. She talked about her latest book, Under Fire, and her forthcoming title,
Escape from the Child Snatchers (publishing January 2026), before answering questions
from the floor. Students and staff were also able to buy her books and have them signed
before heading home.
It’s a wonderful event – do look out for next year’s announcement and sign up if you can.
And if you’re interested in hosting something similar for local school librarians, get in touch with the SLG committee, we’d be very happy to support you: chair.slg@cilip.org.uk
Blog Written by Barbara Band
