Reading
The average number of books read per student in the ES up to Grade 4 has steadily been increasing.
From Grade 5 however a decline is observed which drops significantly from Grade 9 onwards. Some of the decline is offset by more digital reading (see Sora data), however in common with communities world-wide less time is being allocated by students to pleasure reading.
For the third year in a row, the library conducted a survey on high school students' reading habits and correlated their answers with their success on external exams. The data consistently shows that students who read more are more successful on exams, that students believe they should be reading more than the do, and that the main reason they don't read as much as they want to is lack of time.
This year the students in Ms. Haddad's statistics classes took a closer look at various parts of the data and created posters to inspire their fellow students to read more.
I read quite often but don't get to as much as I would like because I have lots and lots of homework and, while I love reading, I need to prioritise my sleep and it's better in the long term for me to only read for an hour and sleep longer than to read longer and sleep less.
Grade 11 student
Our second year of having 25 core library books per grade has seen a large increase in the popularity of the books. Increased visibility and marketing of the books along with a campaign of Middle School Teachers reading and promoting the books, and ensuring the quality of books on the list has led to a 45% increase in circulation of these 75 titles.
In the last 2 years checkouts have increased exponentially as users discover the benefits of access to eBooks, audiobooks and magazines online and "on the go". We've managed to contain costs at the same time through our participation in a regional purchasing consortium and by purchasing as many books as possible on a "cost per circulation" basis which means we are only charged if books are actually used.
Our users appreciate the speed of getting desired books in their hands rapidly, and students with reading difficulties are able to access audiobooks to listen to in conjunction with reading.
While all digital circulations have increase steadily, we're seeing the highest growth in audiobook borrowing which has gone from 221 checkouts in 22/23 to 737 in 24/25. The increase is a combination of greater availability of audiobooks in our collection (145 titles vs 469 titles) and more marketing and education around the benefits of audiobooks.
"This is the strongest library I've ever worked with and that helps support my students!! THANK YOU!"
From the HS Teacher Survey
Fiction Books have increased from 8,826 in 2023 to 12,030 in 2025 and the average age of the books have decreased from 2013 to 2015 through judicious ordering and weeding. In response to student interest, the graphic novel format and the genres of fantasy and mystery have increased the most.
In the Elementary school fiction books have increased from 14,709 to 16,372, with the largest growth areas being in rejuvenating the picture book collection while increasing graphic novels to meet student demand. The average age of the collection has been reduced substantially from 2009 in 2023 to 2014 in 2025.
Students participated in our annual ASD book awards.
After reading all the stories, students vote for their favorite!
Look is a wonderful book that helps us to notice the patterns, colors, & shapes that are all around us.
Students enjoyed the surprise ending at the end of Mister Kitty is Lost.
Our dinosaur lovers enjoyed reading "Dig, Dig, Dinosaur!"
"Bear's Lost Glasses" was the most popular book with K1.
"Come Out, Come Out, Chameleon!" was the overall winner! 🎊
The communications team designed a great award logo for us to use. We love that Fadi is a part of our updated award!
Come Out, Come Out, Chameleon is well-loved by ELC readers. Students enjoyed spotting the chameleon in different hiding spots on each page.
Students were amazed to discover that this book "read their minds." It sparked a lot of discussions & ideas about how this book works.
Stop by the library to read the 2025 winning titles!
Ms. Lina & Ms. Kathy hosted a dual-language read aloud event for the ASD community.
The event started with student performers reciting "Humpty Dumpty" in Arabic and English.
It was a great success & we hope to have more dual-languge & Arabic events in the future!
Research
The librarian team is completed work on a PK-12 Library Curriculum. The standards and benchmarks are organized around four strands - Information Literacy, Textual Literacy, Digital Literacy, and Library Literacy - and are intended to provide a guaranteed and viable curriculum that can be utilized across grades and subjects. These literacy standards are life-long skills that are increasingly important in the fast-changing information landscape.
The library curriculum will be added to the Atlas curriculum mapping tool that will allow the librarians to track its implementation in the coming year. That will give us valuable information about where the standards are being met and where there are opportunities to make more connections. In addition to tracking where the standards are being utilized, the library team will look for additional ways to embed the standards, align them with subject standards, and create task-neutral rubrics.
NoodleTools citation and note taking tool is a cornerstone of research in the Middle and High School. It allows for guided research that can be monitored by teachers and librarians including in group and cross-disciplinary contexts. It also helps foster good research skills in our students that can carry forward to university and other tertiary study.
We continue to improve and include more topics in our Libguides which remain a good starting point for research by our students. Guides are created in collaboration between the librarian and subject teachers and updated regularly to keep pace with changes in the curriculum and current information.
"This was such a help, thank you so much. I used these sources and they helped me a lot with making my speech."
Ghalia - Grade 8
At ASD we continue encouraging students to use Databases for their research. We subscribe to a number of high quality, reliable databases and these get used for research under the guidance of teachers and the librarian.
Britannica remains the most popular database, followed by PebbleGo. Last year we added CredoSource to our databases and this year we have added JStor.
The library continues to support research and learning through collaboration, co-teaching, curation of print and digital resources and fostering inquiry.
Our subject and topic based posters have been popular with teachers who encourage students to read beyond the curriculum.
"I appreciate all the resources the library has for research - both the in-person selection of books and the online Libguides and databases that the library has access to."
Ava J, grade 9
This year the library collaborated with teachers from every department in the high school to provide a variety of inquiry opportunities for the students. The library is also a space where students have the opportunity to put their learning on display.
Students shared their learning with parents and faculty at the conclusion of the AP Human Geography Commemoration Project.
AP Human Geography students read their picture books to grade 5 students.
AP Research students shared their learning from a year-long research project.
The SHINE Club shared important information about learning disabilities.
"Something I like about the MS/HS Library is the selection/amount of books there are. There are so many genres, authors, and selections of books that anyone will definitely find a book that is good-fit for them. Another part I like about the library is how helpful the librarians are. If I need a book recommendation, or help finding a book, I know I can always ask them about it."
Aniyah Grade 6
Supercharge Your Child’s Learning
Want to know more about library resources that can help your child achieve greater success in school? Watch the librarians' Talk Tuesday session!
Community
Chris Hays joined the elementary library team this year. He joins us from the country of Croatia where he was living with his wife and son. Chris has over a decade of experience in school libraries and over a decade of experience teaching. He became a librarian to help students find great material to read. Chris aims to help ASD students become informed literacy consumers. He is excited to be at ASD where it is always sunny.
ES students were buzzing with excitement to welcome Dan Santat as our 2025 visiting author/illustrator! We were so lucky to have a week of learning and FUN with him at our school.
Students participated in different reading challenges to learn about his books. We ran three reading challenges:
Our week started with a dynamic and fun whole-school assembly to welcome Dan Santat to ASD. Many students & teachers came dressed as a character from one of his books!
Mr. Dan worked with all grade levels in the Elementary School.
In the upper grades, Dan hosted workshops in which he discussed his process as an author and illustrator. Dan showed the students a behind-the-scenes view of what it takes to make a graphic novel. Students then joined him in practicing creating characters using just alphabet letters. If the time allowed, students turned those characters into 3 panel comics.
Mr. Dan visited K2 students in the ELC! He planned to read one book to K2 learners and treated them to 3 books!
Our week was filled with learning, smiles, & laughs.
Ms. Kathy collaborated with Ms. Carden to host "Books and Cooks" events leading up to Dan Santat's visit. During library classes, students learned about Dan Santat's books, inspiration, and his Thai-American Heritage. Students in Grade 1 made Mango Sticky Rice & students in Grade 2 made Pad Thai.
The ES Library continued the community First Friday: Live Music in the Library featuring talented performers from ASD! This year we had our first student performances.
The cast of The Drowsy Chaperone came in full-costume to perform a sample of songs from their musical!
We loved the father-daughter duet by this ASD family.
The ES Falcon Singers performed in the library this year too!
The ASD teacher, faculty, & staff band closed out the year for us with a great final performance.
There are so many smiles from the audience during these events!
The Early Starters Book Fair comes just in time for the holiday season each year. ASD families enjoyed purchasing from a wide selection of books.
The Used Book Sale continues to be a very popular initiative, with approximately 5000 books exchanging hands this year. At the end of the sale, the MS Room to Read club selected books for Crescent English High School, and the remaining books were donated to Old Books for New Eyes. Thanks to the HS Library Advisory Council and students in Ms. Hickey's Global Issues in Action classes for their volunteer help!
"I like how the library has a wide range of books and tons of options to explore, and the staff are extremely nice and are very helpful"
Luke - Grade 6
For the first time ever, the TLC's annual holiday cafe was held in the MSHS library. Faculty and staff enjoyed having more space to mingle and celebrate the holiday season, and several borrowed library books for the holidays! Each day featured music by various faculty and staff musicians.
In our final year of supplemental funding from the One for the Books campaign we have further reduced the age of our collection and better aligned the number of books per student with the targets set in 2022.
Both libraries have invested in the areas of diversity and wellbeing. Our students come from over 70 countries and it's important that they see themselves and their lives in the literature they read. Reading diverse books has been shown to expand perspectives, foster empathy, and promote a deeper understanding of different cultures and identities. It also helps individuals develop a more inclusive mindset and feel a stronger sense of belonging. In addition our wellbeing titles promote the ASD core values as well as supporting our advisory curriculum.
