South Tyneside Libraries Pauline Martin

South Tyneside Libraries
Pauline Martin
Discover
South Tyneside Library is a busy
central library. The children
involved in this project were from a
local school, Marine Park Primary.
The community we serve at this
library has a high percentage of
Bangladeshi children.
I am the only Arts Award advisor
and plan and deliver the sessions
with help from Library Colleagues,
in this case Clare Craig,
Families and Intergenerational
Librarian, bringing in artists as
required.
This project lasted for a four week period and sessions were once a week.
The project was stimulated by World Book Day and we used that to engage the
group with storytelling books and authors. We explored literature as an art
form as well as examining the bigger picture of arts provision in South
Tyneside. We also signed the entire group up as library members and they
chose their own books to take home at the end of each session.
For Part A, discover, we looked at and discussed as a group all of the different
art forms we had taken part in and arts organisations that the children were
already aware of. This was recorded in their Trinity Discover arts logs.
The group looked round the library to see what examples of “art” existed
within the building, then we went on a walking tour of South Shields identifying
pieces of art and arts organisations around the town.
The children decided which areas of the arts they would like to engage with in
the future and recorded this in their logs.
On World Book Day the group came to the Library to see a traditional
storyteller from Animal Story, who illustrated his stories by using real animals!
He told a rainforest story and showed the children frogs, millipedes, snakes
and spiders.
The children took photos at the sessions and as a group, and put the
information into their Arts Award logs reflecting on what they enjoyed the most
about their experiences.
For Part B, find out, the children researched two authors. The first session was
using the library computers/ books, etc to research and find out about an
author of their choice. The information they found included a biography,
bibliography and interesting facts. They reflected on why they had chosen this
particular author.
The second session was to research a different author. This was done on the
library’s iPads and the group presented their findings on an app called Memory
Box.
At the end of each session the group showed their work,
described the authors they had researched and
presented their portfolios or memory boxes to the rest of
the group. This also completed Discover Part C, share.
This led to a general discussion on books/authors and
the role of the Library Service as an arts organisation.
Through the project the children learned about literature and its place as part
of “the arts”. They also became more aware of the arts being all around us.
They learned to present their work using different forms, a useful transferable
skill.
The project benefited the library in by leading to increased library membership.
`Arts Award is a good framework to build into what we do. Discover is a good
stepping stone for exploring the arts as a whole and then concentrating on
literature, an art form which ties into what we deliver on a daily basis.’
Pauline Martin, Arts Award adviser