It Has Been an Exciting Year for the Library

It has been an exciting year for the Library; we have moved to new premises in the Hobhouse Building, we have had a huge clear out of old stock and we have energised our shelves with new books.

To get to this point, we have slimmed down our stock - mainly the non-fiction, which had become dated – from 11,500 books, to our current stock of nearly 5,000 books. Once the sort had been done, staff and pupils helped fill five massive bins full of books, and we had to borrow the huge forklift truck from the music school builders to load the lorry that took the books away. The Bookbarn at Hallawtrow was the main beneficiary of nearly 6,000 ex-King’s books. There was one hiccup, when we had to re-examine all of the soon-to-be-donated books, looking for a rumoured Darwin first edition – which was eventually found in a shoe box in the Library office! Sadly, it wasn’t the assumed and hoped for 'Origin of the Species', worth £103,000, but 'Travels in the Coral Seas', which is worth about £200, and which is now in the Headmaster’s safe keeping!  

It has been an enjoyable project getting straight; re-shelving, putting the books in order and setting up a bijou, but beautifully formed, library space. 

Michael Keogh - English Teacher & Librarian