OPENING HOURS
- 8.15am – 5.30pm Monday to Friday in term time
- 10.00am to 2.00pm during School holidays (please telephone first to confirm)
The Mason Library is a spacious, light and user-friendly area which was opened in October 2006 by author N.M. Browne. It comprises of a quiet reading room with bean bags and comfortable seating, an IT area with specially-designed workstations and printing facilities, and a quiet study area.
The Library resources include a collection of over 19,000 fiction, non-fiction and reference books, a wide range of journals and periodicals, five daily newspapers and a collection of videos and DVDs. The Library also subscribes to a range of online information resources.
All boys may borrow up to four items from the Library at one time, with extra loans for the Sixth Form at the Librarian’s discretion. Boys are welcome to suggest books which they would like the Library to acquire or which they feel others would enjoy.
New boys joining the School in the First and Third Years are introduced to the Library at the earliest opportunity. A Library induction session is also held at the start of the Lower Sixth, when the pupils are introduced to a wider range of information sources. Also in the Lower Sixth, Library staff provide instruction on avoiding plagiarism, referencing, and constructing a bibliography, skills which are required by the Hampton Extended Learning Project, and which will be essential when the boys leave School for university.
The service and enquiry desk is manned throughout the day by experienced Library staff. The library catalogue (OPAC) can be searched from any networked computer within School, or from home. A photocopying service is also available.
Shadowing the Carnegie Medal
The Carnegie Medal is a prestigious award made annually to the author of an outstanding book for young people.
Hampton’s shadowing group of Lower School readers is run by the Library in conjunction with the English Department and the Lady Eleanor Holles School and Hampton High.
It is always a lively affair, encouraging children to read for pleasure, to extend their reading to genres they may not otherwise explore, and to form and communicate opinions about the books they read.
