During the week 8th - 12th October we marked National Libraries Week with some activities which focused on Well being (the theme had been chosen nationally due to World Mental Health Day being in the same week).
Libraries Week Wellbeing display Photo: Peterborough Regional College
At the beginning of the week, beauty students offered hand massages to students studying in the LRC. In the middle of the week, we hosted a cake and green ribbon badge sale with the proceeds going to the Mental Health Foundation. We also promoted our mental health resource leaflet. Thank you to everyone who supported the event - including the Student Union and College Counsellor who had stands at the event.
Libraries Week event cake stand Photo: Peterborough Regional College
This is week is the first ever Libraries Week and so this We hope you will forgive us this slightly self-indulgent blog post. We are using it to promote what we do for students at PRC and UCP and the difference we can make (not that we can be complacent - we always aim to improve!). During the week we have been tweeting (@lrc_prc) a number of facts about the LRC throughout the week. Here are some statistics for you.
At PRC we had 14,000 visits to the Learning Resource Centre in September this year.
Last academic year
we had 118,342 visits between September 2016 and April 2017. March 2017 was the busiest month with 21,966 visits.
we had over 8000 visits to our Moodle pages.
there were over 10,000 search sessions on our electronic databases. (Apart from e-books, Childlink is our most-used database).
of these, over 3600 were for access to e-books.
we loaned out laptops over 6500 times
So what does the Learning Resource Centre at PRC do? (This is not an exhaustive list)
We help students (and staff) learn by
providing an environment and equipment for independent learning
help students find resources for their assignments/ courses.
purchasing print resources to help students research and learn including books and a number of magazine subscriptions.
delivering training sessions and activities to give students the skills to research and find information
providing blended learning activities or training on Harvard Referencing
helping students navigate the internet and promote e-safety.
purchasing and set up access to quality electronic resources (including authentification in and outside college)
providing and administering a computer system which manages the loan of books, fines, overdue letters and notifications and includes providing a catalogue of everything available so it is searchable.
promoting literacy and reading to help improve language and vocabulary as well as for pleasure/ wellbeing and as a way to relax and unwind (e.g. our Loyalty scheme)
Stephen Fry has said "Libraries are where minds flourish and grow. They are like a kind of water supply".
See #librariesweek on Twitter for more quotes, events and a general celebration of libraries. You may be surprised what goes on in a library and what librarians do! See the video below to see what one group of American librarians did to promote their library catalogue (and no we won't be doing anything similar!)
