UGDSB’s Resource Centre hosts Arbour Vista PS staff for PA Day

March 10, 2023

GUELPH,ON – Staff from Arbour Vista Public School checked out all the services the Terry James Resource Centre (TJRC) has to offer last week Friday during a Professional Activity Day.

One of the goals of the TJRC is to provide relevant and responsive services to UGDSB staff and schools, which was reflected in the workstations present that day. Staff were split into five groups to rotate through each workstation: Media Centre services; eReading with Sora; fair dealing & online resources; strategic searching; and maker-based learning.

Staff at Arbour Vista PS described the experience as “the best PA day” they’ve had in years.

“I think it was nice to have the staff away from the school and it was nice to co-learn with everyone. Many of the staff, especially the younger staff, had never been to [the] TJRC and had no idea what there was at their disposal,” said Kate Languedoc, vice-principal at Arbour Vista PS.

On its best day, the TJRC is used to its greatest capacity by educators and board staff for each of its stations:

The Media Centre is used in person as well as sending in requests for printing, laminating, and other projects via a Google Form.
The Resource and Kit Library staff will talk with educators about their resource needs, spending time learning more about their students and curriculum goals in order to provide recommendations (books, streaming videos, online databases) tailored to the needs of each classroom.
The Cataloguing Team will work with teacher librarians and library technicians to process new Learning Commons items and troubleshoot processes in our library software system.

Lastly, since the TJRC is for all staff, not just classroom educators. Their department also participates in meetings and collaborates on projects with different board departments, from the Equity and Indigenous Education teams to Student Mental Health.

“Although we don’t often get to interact with students directly, we know that every service we provide is ultimately for our students – while we may not see them, they are always front of mind,” said Lauren Bull, Librarian Supervisor.

Last week’s PA Day goes hand-in-hand with the UG’s Multi-Year Plan (MYP). The 4 pillars of this plan are: