OUR LIBRARY
Welcome to our Library Learning Commons
Murdoch MacKay's Library Learning Commons is striving to provide students with a welcoming and vibrant learning space to engage in learning, reading for pleasure, collaborative work, research, and academic study. Our program includes providing students with teaching on information literacy, digital literacy and digital citizenship, media literacy, and critical literacy in order to provide them with the skills needed to be successful across various academic and extra-curricular disciplines. We believe that every student should have the skills necessary to navigate in today's information-rich society. Determining information needs, recognizing and selecting appropriate print or online resources, evaluating sources, recognizing false or misleading information and managing information are fundamental skills needed for successful academic research and life-long learning.
Staff
Ms. Julia Barton (Teacher Librarian)
Ms. Joanne Pemkowski (Library Technician)
Library Hours
8:00 am – 3:45 pm Monday to Friday
Our Goals
• Inclusive collections that acknowledge and celebrate diverse experiences and provide instructional opportunities to empower learners as effective users and creators of information and ideas.
• Access to digital resources and tools to support transformational learning and develop the digital curation skills of students.
• Initiatives that integrate elements of deeper learning, critical thinking, information literacy, digital citizenship, creativity, innovation, and the active use of technology.
• Initiatives that encourage and facilitate students to become increasingly self-directed as they create digital products of their learning that engage them in critical thinking, collaboration, and authentic real-world problem solving.
• Provide equitable access to collection tools using digital resources, programming, and services.
• Provide flexible spaces that promote inquiry, creativity, collaboration, and community.
Our Resources
Technology
- Laptops are available at lunch, they may also be available during class periods subject to teaching class bookings
- Ipads, CueBots, Microbits, Spheros, and a Merge Cube are available for students to try, explore, and utilize for personal or class projects
- Two desktop computers are always available for student use
- Printer
- Access to a WiDi or Apple TV projection
- Digital Cameras, Video Cameras, and a Tripod
- Charging Stations and cords
Print Resources
- Over 8,000 materials
- A large fiction and non-fiction collection that is continually updated
- Graphic novels
- Reference materials
- Magazines
- Newspapers
Digital Resources
- Audiobooks and Ebooks are available for students to check out using Sora on their own devices. This app can be downloaded on for free on any app store.
- Digital magazines are available on Flipster. Students can download the app for free or access them using this link: https://web.a.ebscohost.com/eon/search/basic?vid=0&sid=5de8fbbf-8cb7-4498-9422-aaad87e21d21%40sdc-v-sessmgr01
- Access to Ebscohost, Winnipeg Free Press, World Book Online, and CBC archives
Other
- We have two conference rooms available for use throughout the school day for individual quiet space or for group projects
- Whiteboard tables are located in our collaboration space to provide students with an interactive workstation
- A variety of games (Chess, Checkers, Uno, Periodic, Pandemic etc.) are available for use throughout the school day
Lending Policies
- Books are checked out to students for a period of 3 weeks.
- Students are able to renew their books in the library.
- Students may sign out up to 3 books at a time.
- Please ensure books are returned or renewed on time so that others may enjoy them as well!
- If a book is lost a fee will be negotiated to cover the cost of replacing the lost book.
Recommendations or Questions
If you have questions about our library learning commons, the programs offered, or if you have recommendations for additions to our learning space, please feel free to contact Julia Barton at jbarton@retsd.mb.ca for more information.