Library

Librarian - Mrs E Rea BA MCLIP

Mrs Rea has an honours degree in English from Manchester University, and the post-graduate diploma in librarianship from Manchester Polytechnic. She completed the ECDL (European Computer Driving Licence), and the Open University level 3 course Children's Literature. She has worked in Manchester Polytechnic Library, Rochdale Library, De La Salle College Library in Manchester, Bootle High School, Christ the King Catholic High School, before coming to Merchant Taylors' in September 2000.

She is a member of CILIP, Sefton School Librarians' Group, the Merseyside School Library Association, and the NW Independent Schools Librarians' Group.

The library is situated in what was originally the school hall on the ground floor of the main building. It was modernised in summer 2001 with library fittings by Point Eight. This work was made possible by a generous donation from a former pupil, Dr D N Dickinson. On the walls hang three notable pictures- the June Mendoza portrait of Robert Runcie, a former pupil, a portrait of Samuel Armour, headmaster of the school from 1863 to 1903, and a framed cartoon drawn in the library by Chris Riddell, the Observer cartoonist, in November 2010. The war memorial on the north wall of the library was designed by Lionel Budden, and unveiled in 1923 by the retired Samuel Armour. It consists of a brass tablet mounted on black Belgian marble on green Westmorland stone. It records the names of 155 old boys who died in the First World War.

The library is open during term time from 8.30am to 5.15pm from Monday to Thursday, and until 4.45pm on Fridays.
Boys can borrow four books for two weeks. Some textbooks are issued from the library, and these can be kept for the school year.
No fines are charged. Please return your books on time, so other pupils can read them

Lower school Reading Group- Sefton Super Reads

The lower school reading group are reading the Sefton Super Reads shortlist.

This is an award made by school in the Sefton area for a work of children's fiction. Unlike the Carnegie Medal the winner is decided by children. The award afternoon took place on Tuesday June 21st 2011 at Crosby Civic Hall.

The shortlist for 2011 was:

Fallen Grace by Mary Hooper
Sparks by Ally Kennen
Mortlock by Jon Mayhew
Trash by Andy Mulligan
Castle of Shadows by Ellen Renner
Johnny Swanson by Eleanor Updale

Carnegie shadowing

The Carnegie Medal is a national award for an outstanding work of children's fiction, presented in July each year. We take part in the shadowing scheme, reading the books on the shortlist and putting reviews on the Carnegie website. The week before the end of the summer term our Carnegie team meets up with other local schools for lunch and a vote for our favourite title.

If you are interested in taking part in Carnegie shadowing look out for the posters in the library after the shortlist comes out in April. If you love reading, and can manage to read six novels in six weeks, this is for you! Your reviews will be seen nationwide by anyone interested in children's novels, and even by the authors themselves.

Sixth Form Reading Group

All boys in the sixth form are welcome to take part, but boys planning to apply for English ate university will be able to include membership of a reading group on their personal statement.

The latest book is The Rescue Man by Anthony Quinn, who is a film critic, and was born in Liverpool. Many members of staff have read it, and love it. This description is from the back cover of the novel-

A love letter to Liverpool...ambitiously conceived...He has perfect pitch when it comes to the prose of each period, so much so that when I started the novel, I had the uncanny sense that what I was reading must have been salvaged from the 1940s. Equally remarkable is the Victorian prose of Eames's journal. Its every line convinces' Observer 'An excellent debut...a moving and powerfully told story of late coming-of-age and redemptive love' Literary Review 'The story has the resonant simplicity of a poem...The Rescue Man turns the ongoing frenzy of construction and destruction [of Liverpool] into a quietly powerful metaphor of how we grow up' Guardian 'Thematically rich and masterfully constructed' TLS 'Brilliant...an involving meditation on passion, history and architecture' Daily Mail ‘Quinn has a cinematic eye for narrative scope... Like all good debut novels this book tells us something new' Spectator Liverpool, 1939. Lonely historian Tom Baines is at work on a study of the city's architectural past but ominous news from Europe, together with his burgeoning friendship with Richard, a young photographer and his beautiful wife, Bella, are proving a distraction. When the bombings begin Tom joins up as a ‘rescue man', saving the dead and dying from the ruins of buildings, but the love affair he embarks on soon leads him into a very different kind of danger

Local History

The local history section is kept in the locked glass cabinet. It contains books about the local area and the surrounding districts. Please ask if you would like to look at any of these.

Magazines

The following magazines are available in the library-

Authentik French and German
BBC History
Biological Sciences Review
Ceramic Review
Chemistry Review
Coastlines
Computer Shopper
CS4FN
Economist
E & T Magazine
E Magazine
English Review
Eureka
Express
Flipside
Focus
FX
Geography Review
Greece and Rome
Hindsight
Iris
Lancet
Management Today
Mary Glasgow modern language magazines
National Geographic
New Scientist
New Statesman
Oxford Medical School Gazette
Private Eye
Reader Magazine
Scientific American
Spectator
Top Gear
Twentieth Century History Review
When Saturday Comes
Wide World

Newspapers

The library takes the following daily newspapers-

Daily Mirror (www.mirror.co.uk)
Daily Telegaph (www.telegraph.co.uk)
Guardian (www.guardian.co.uk)
Independent (www.independent.co.uk)
Times (www.thetimes.co.uk)

For local news, click through to the web site of the Liverpool Echo