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“As I grew up in Limerick, I used to hear my Headmaster say, ‘Stock your mind. It is your house of treasure’. Well, there’s no better way to stock your mind than reading. Researchers have figured out which teaching techniques actually work. When they’re used, almost every child can achieve the ultimate goal of reading-grasping the meaning’’. ....Frank McCourt {Pulitzer Prize-Winning author of Angela’s Ashes}
The Learning Resources Centre {LRC} was inaugurated on the 27th of October, 1990 and almost immediately became a hub of activities in the school. The facilities provided include a fully equipped audiovisual room with projection facilities, a Reference Section and the Periodicals Section. The special attraction in the AV room is the Smart Board and the K Yan, which is a combination of a computer and LCD projector. The LRC also houses the Art Gallery and this has become the place for year round exhibitions and displays of the boys’ artwork. A new addition to the LRC is the Language Lab..  |
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In this age of digital information systems, teachers are trying to bridge the divide by emphasizing the relevance of real books and a library collection. The LRC constitutes the focal point of information and literary activities for every teacher and student with not only a collection of books but also “non-book” materials like educational CD-ROMs and Video Cassettes. It follows the ‘open access’ system where the students can walk in at any time and browse through the bookshelves. The LRC has a council with both staff and students on the board. Suggestions are given by the student body help upgrade the centre and its resources.
Today, tremendous developments in Information Technology are changing the way people communicate, locate, retrieve and use information. The new generation is far more ambitious, and keeping this in mind the collection of the Learning Resources Centre has been computerized.
The main features of the automated Learning Resources Centre are: - The catalogue of the entire collection and the detailed information on the status of a book is available on the Intranet.
- The software used for this purpose is incredibly fast and easy to use.
- The “Search” procedure has been simplified so that young children can also search and locate books/ information on their own.
- The library Program includes Cataloguing, Circulation and Inventory Control.
- Bar Codes have been used to simplify the management of “Circulation”.
In an effort to build an information-rich environment and revive the reading habit a multi publisher Book Fair is organized from time to time. Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, Orient Blackswan, Scholastic, Viva Books, Pearson Longman have been participating in the book fair for the last two years. The response from the readers has been very encouraging. Thus, the school library is growing from Strength to Strength i.e. from the Learning Resources Centre it is becoming the Electronic Learning Resources Centre.
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