Building Communities and Budding Booklovers with Samford Men’s Shed
Samford Area Men's Shed build little book exchange for local school
A primary school Book Exchange is a valuable initiative that can significantly contribute to students’ personal, social, and academic development. Samford State School is now one of many progressive schools that boasts its own book exchange.
Samford Area Mens Shed (SAMS) was recently approached by Janette from the Samford State School P&C Committee to help design and build a book exchange for students and parents.
Janette had a concept in mind, which she shared with experienced SAMS woodworker John Dears and metalwork coordinator Ian MacPherson, who together developed detailed drawings for fabrication. Using the combined skills of the ‘Woodies’ and the ‘Steelies’ at the Shed, the team swung into action to bring the project home.
The result is a sturdy, weatherproof book enclosure (brightly painted in the school colours of green and gold) with an attached bench where students can sit and browse the books on offer.
SAMS Chairman Phil Walters noted, “A community-benefitting activity such as a book exchange is exactly the type of project the Mens Shed loves to get involved with”.
Samford Area Mens Shed members hope the new Book Exchange will promote a love of reading among students and support literacy development. Exposure to a wide range of books helps to improve vocabulary and comprehension, which are foundational to academic success.
Janette, on behalf of the P&C, thanked SAMS for a job well done, saying, "We wanted to create a school book exchange unit to promote reading by recycling and sharing books.
Janette continued "Our school book exchange unit is intended to store children's books. Students or families can freely access the book exchange unit to take, leave, or swap books. What we loved about this particular design is having a bench attached to the unit so that students can have somewhere to sit and browse or chat about books - the bench space provides an opportunity for connection and possibly new friendships."
In a nutshell, the school book exchange unit helps foster literacy, sustainability and engagement.
Students of all ages have been very curious about the new unit, and it is often inspected, whether during break times or before and after school. It's exciting to check in regularly as you never know what cool books you might find in there!"
An interesting observation is that the use of the Book Exchange and Mens Shed membership engender very similar values: encouraging sharing and generosity, fostering a sense of community, enhancing social interaction, developing responsibility and care of borrowed items, and reducing waste by recycling.
Samford Area Mens Shed thanks the Samford State School P&C for inviting us to participate in this project. We trust that the book exchange will allow many students to enjoy a wide variety of reading opportunities for years to come.
