“Whoever can read has a clear advantage.” There is some truth to this flippant saying, and not only booksellers, librarians and teachers are convinced of that. Marie Lindener and Annette Strauch from the community library in Brunnthal and Ilse Werner from the community library in Unterföhring have worked hard to ensure that schoolchildren in particular can enjoy reading even more. Their houses received the “Library – Partner of Schools” seal of approval from the Bavarian Minister for Art and Culture.
“This seal of quality is the Tüv badge for secure participation in the modern information society,” emphasizes Minister of Art Markus Blume on the occasion of the award of the seal of quality, which was awarded to twelve scientific, 17 church-public and 37 municipal libraries. It has been awarded every two years since 2006. “The award-winning libraries support the schools in an outstanding way in promoting the next generation of future reading professionals. They show that our libraries can read books and screens! Their range inspires fans of classic books and at the same time takes advantage of the opportunities offered by digital formats.”
In the case of Unterföhring, it made sense to register the intensive cooperation with the new school campus with the jury. In the 145 square meter area of the school library, high school students will find a lot of reading material. But tablet campaigns were also started and “not only dealing with books, but also with the Internet and Co. was made tangible in a playful way,” says library manager Werner. Classes come to the library regularly, and there are readings by authors. In elementary school, two third graders were supported, who evaluated online games for the German children’s online prize. “Our branch office on the school campus is already a small institution,” says Werner.
“It’s great for us to have been honored for the third time alongside major scientific libraries,” says Marie Lindener, who runs the Brunnthal community library together with Annette Strauch. Their commitment during the Corona period was particularly appreciated: the library rooms were closed, but they organized an order, delivery and collection service for the school and also brought reading material home to many families in specially made jute bags. In addition, Lindener and Strauch were available on the phone during the lockdown and were able to help with questions and requests. The number of registrations increased significantly during the lockdown, says Lindener: “The word of mouth worked.”
She explains that they have received the award for the third time in a row by the fact that they have been working closely with the primary school for 15 years. Every Friday throughout the school year, classes visit the library and Lindener or Strauch read to them. Each class is there once a month. “These visits aren’t just an event for the school children,” she says with a smile, adding that the librarians naturally also put together boxes of books on request or on current topics for home and general studies. She is convinced that reading educates.