Tonight, we will hold our new library blessing and opening. This is an exciting and much-anticipated addition to our College. The overwhelming majority of community members through surveys and focus groups have been calling for the College to institute a library for a number of years. Like all things, however, I have received some feedback from people who have queried the rationale for a library in the twenty-first century.

Occasionally, the argument is prosecuted that the world wide web can cater to all of the needs and functions that a library provides. Respectfully, I do not subscribe to this notion. The web cannot discern like a librarian can. The web does not filter anything. The web takes us down alleyways and rabbit holes that are not always healthy nor helpful. We also know from emerging research that comprehension is actually enhanced from using a real book, as opposed to reading from a screen. While the web might provide us with an unlimited amount of research material, unless we are sifting this carefully, we will be bombarded by a degree of extraneous information that is sometimes confusing for young people and adolescents. Of course, we engage with technology and the internet, and we would be doing our students a disservice if we did not use technology as part of the learning process, yet we do so with caution and discernment.  

A library is more than a physical space, although the space itself is especially important. For some students it is a safe haven, a place of quietude and respite. It is a retreat into one’s imagination, of other worldliness, adventure, fantasy, reflection, and importantly, learning. Our library hosts an array of fiction and non-fiction and our collection, and although in its early stages, is steadily growing. 

Our library is more than a drop-in centre. It is a place of active teaching and learning. Students in Years 7 and 8 are engaging in an explicit reading program to improve fluency, comprehension, vocabulary and confidence. We are explicitly teaching information literacy, which includes how to accurately reference, and why we need to acknowledge sources. Libraries teach us to read with a critical lens: do we believe everything we read? What is true? Whose opinion is being expressed? What is fact? All of these questions are key to understanding what we read, and how we as the responder, might be positioned by the composer.

Senior students have a study centre in the library for quiet, silent, and solo study. It is a respectful place that our seniors have reported that they love using. Our library is a hive of activity as well, with board games, puzzles and the like. At lunch times it is buzzing! After school we have staffed the library on four days of the week until 4.45pm thanks to the generosity of staff who give up their time voluntarily to provide additional support. We could not do this without their volunteering.

Among our invited guests this evening, we will welcome two very special people: author, Mr Peter Papapthanasiou and artist Mr Peter O’Callaghan. The former has been published by The New York Times, Guardian, Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, The Canberra Times, The ABC, SBS, and Huffington Post. His first book is a memoir, entitled Son of Mine. Peter will provide an occasional address, and I am very much looking forward to hearing him. The latter, is a local Aboriginal artist, Mr Peter O’Callaghan, who has produced an artwork for our library that speaks to the local area, as well as recognising our six Houses at St John Paul II College. He is a teacher at Marist College, and we are grateful for his beautiful addition to our new space.  

I am deeply indebted to these gentlemen for their generous contributions to our new library. May it be a place of deep respect, and great learning. Our library is one of the central spaces in our building fabric. Einstein allegedly said: “The only thing that you absolutely have to know is the location of the library.” I will make it my mission at JPC!

I wish our students a relaxing holiday break. Stay safe and we look forward to welcoming everyone back on Tuesday 29 April in full winter uniform, with correct jumper and black leather lace-up school shoes.

Dr Craig Wattam
Principal