Book Sherpas brings the library to pupils’ homes

Pippa Jacobi

College Librarian

One silver lining that has emerged during the challenges of the recent months is that staying at home has given us all plenty of opportunities to read. But, what do we do when we need something new and exciting to read and can’t visit the library? Now you can email Book Sherpas! Book Sherpas is the Wellington library’s answer to the many messages I have received from pupils telling me how much they miss it and its selection of books. Now the library can come to you and continue to serve as an excellent source of reading material during the shutdown of Shanghai’s schools, especially for many of our younger pupils.

 Bringing Book Sherpas to life

Starting in mid-April, we extended an invitation to all pupils across the College’s year groups to make use of the library by writing an email to me letting me know what they wanted to read next. We encouraged them to put in as much detail as possible, to think about what genres they enjoyed, what style of writing, whether they wanted fast-paced, action-packed thrillers or more leisurely, chilled-out reads, or anything and everything in between. The more information the better, as it helped me come up with more accurate and relevant suggestions. With the ideal read in mind, I am able to pick out several books from the library that are then packed up into delivery bags by Miss Bobo and couriered to pupils’ doorstep in Shanghai – a Sherpas delivery of delicious brain food!

What do pupils enjoy reading?

Even though I’ve been stuck in the UK, it’s been heartwarming for me to receive pupils’ emails and see how invested they are in continually expanding their reading habits. Not only have pupils thought carefully about what they enjoy reading right now, they have also generally shown a willingness to dip their toe into new genres and experiment with authors they have never heard of before. While the requests have been extremely varied, it has been very interesting to see a few trends going on:

• Fiction was more popular than non-fiction – I suppose a bit of escapism is just what we all need at the moment!
• Mystery was definitely one of the most popular genres requested. Again it makes sense that many people wanted to wrap their imaginations around something strange and exciting.
• Lots of pupils are willing to try something completely new based solely on a recommendation or even none at all, as many requested a ‘lucky dip’.

To date, we have sent out 345 books, which is a remarkable response, given that they have only had a couple of weeks to make use of the Book Sherpas service. I’m hoping that we can keep this programme going, as the library is unlikely to be back to its usual number of visitors for a while yet.

Valuing a great read

This whole experiment has been valuable for both the library and the pupils who cannot use it at the moment. It has also encouraged us to talk about the genres we love while at the same time tempting us to try something new. Also, there is something indescribably lovely about getting a book parcel addressed to you – it feels like a mini-Christmas! I would like to thank everyone who has helped make Book Sherpas a reality and all the pupils for their emails, which have contained thanks and appreciation alongside the requests. You are a very polite group of young people who deserve access to the library because you know the value of it. I really appreciate that too. More relevant articles : Happy World Book Day and book lists from your absent Librarian 2019 Summer reading list Developing a love of reading | Tips from Wellington bookworms Priceless stories | World Book Day 2019 Marcus Dilly brings World of Wonder back to Wellington We are Wellington | Learning to love and respect books Although our campus is currently closed to external visitors – you can still take a look round via our new virtual tours. Our admissions team is readily available to answer any questions you might have and to guide you through the application process.  Please do get in touch. admissions.shanghai@wellingtoncollege.cn