This month marks a year since the launch of ‘Live at the Library’ - an innovative program connecting students in regional and remote Queensland schools with State Library collections, online resources and expert staff.
Thanks to the generous support of Gina Fairfax AC and Tim Fairfax AC through the Queensland Library Foundation, State Library has now hosted 180 workshops with over 4,500 students from more than 70 Queensland schools.
As we celebrate the first year of 'Live at the Library', we want to say thank you to all of the teachers and students who have engaged with us this year. It's been wonderful to join you in your classrooms and share State Library's collections with you.
Reaching students in Regional schools
72 Queensland schools participated in our first year of ‘Live at the Library’ workshops.
So what is ‘Live at the Library’?
‘Live at the Library’ is a series of interactive, 50-minute, live-streamed workshops created for primary and secondary students. Students who live too far away to utilise the library’s services in person, can view and analyse physical items from the heritage collections using world class camera technology, and learn research strategies for using State Library’s digital resources to complete their assessments.
Clay tablet with cuneiform characters originally held in clay envelope which has been broken open (and reassembled). Dating from 2028 B.C.
How does it work?
‘Live at the Library’ is unique in that it offers customised 50-minute workshops that are interactive and one-on-one between State Library and each class. Teachers can book workshops twice a day every school day, at the time of their choice. Schools in Queensland work to different timetables, so this makes it easy for a teacher in any school to book a workshop during their lesson time.
‘Live at the Library’ gives teachers the opportunity to book a workshop on the topic their students are studying in their class that Term. This has proved hugely valuable to students as they come to the workshop with background knowledge on the topic, which helps them engage with the collection items, and they can ask questions and get specific help for their research assessment that Term.
Over this first year, classes ranging from 4 students all the way up to 150 students have enjoyed “Live at the Library’ workshops on over 60 different topics from the Australian Curriculum and QCAA Senior Curriculums.
Sharing State Library's heritage collections with schools
To create these workshops on so many diverse topics, we’ve had to dive deep into State Library’s repository, and we’ve now shared over 350 different physical items from the heritage collections and introduced students to an enormous range of State Library’s digitised resources.
What are teachers saying about “Live at the Library’?
A massive thank you for today’s research session. It’s so valuable. They Year 12's were very happy and only upset that I didn't find out about it sooner. Thank you greatly for the time and effort you have put into preparing these sessions and providing the students with subject specific guides with all the links – just wonderful!
Thank you so much for a hugely positive educational experience for my Year 7, 8 and 9 students. The students have benefited greatly from this learning great History skills along with a fab resource for all future studies. Thank you for your time, professionalism and entertaining manner - just loved this and I hope it is a programme that continues so we may bring you back into our classroom for more.
I am a teacher at Runcorn State School and our Year One class participated in the "Live at the Library” program today.
I just wanted to congratulate State Library on a wonderful program. The presenter, Troy Bullock, was so engaging and organised; with interesting items to share and great thought provoking questions for the students. The students were particularly blown away when he pulled out a book about our school! The “Oohs and Aahs!” from the kids said it all. It was absolutely perfect for our current History unit. It was a really fun afternoon and I’m so impressed that this service is provided for free. We have already put it in for our plan next year.
What’s the future for ‘Live at the Library’?
We’re excited to continue delivering ‘Live at the Library’ and bookings are now open for 2024.
We’ve also just published 40 student research guides, on popular topics in the Year 7-10 Australian Curriculum: History and QCAA Modern History and Ancient History syllabus on the State Library site for teachers to download. These research guides are a fantastic way for students to get started with using State Library for their research assessments and contain clickable links to the best resources available for students to find sources on the topics they’re studying in their History classes.
In 2024, we’ll be building on this with a suite of ‘on-demand’ resources that make it easy for students to use State Library to complete their research assessments. We’ll also be looking at how we can reach more classrooms by introducing new workshops and resources for English, Geography and Arts teachers. And we’ll be creating some great new digital resources to help State Library share Queensland stories with teachers and students so they can learn Australian history from a local perspective.
We’d love to share State Library with all Queensland students so if you know a primary or secondary teacher in Queensland, please share this post with them so they can invite State Library into their classroom too.
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