I have had a chance to reflect on my previous post, to think about what is going on and how I can take it in the right direction. Though teachers know that they can bring students to the library for a research lesson, they don't. They also know that I will put together a pathfinder for students on the topic they are researching, but they don't ask for it. So, the obvious question is 'why', which leads to 'what can I do about it'?
First, for a explanation of who has been using the library, for what purpose and who is not using its services as often as before. The majority of classes, which come through the library are from English, science, humanities and music.
The English classes come mainly for book talks. I am hoping that one of the grades, which does a research project on the 50s with their study of The Outsiders, will be persuaded to book a research class but that is for the future.
Humanities use the library a lot, especially in grades 9 and 10, but also in the other grades. They are in the habit of bringing their classes in whenever there is a research element in a unit.
Some science classes started to come in last year and I did give lessons for them on using online databases, on how to find books and on bibliographic referencing. Interestingly, this year the teachers seem to have 'forgotten' to book classes when they are doing projects. Instead, I have students wandering in and asking for help to find material in books. Their teachers require that they have at least one book source but fail to let me know and fail to ensure that their students even know how to find books in the library.
I became quite frustrated and went to talk to one of the teachers involved. I shouldn't have been surprised to discover that the teacher thought that his students would know how to find books because they were in grade 9. He also thought that they would know how to do a search on the Internet or in the school online databases because of course, they're teenagers and they know how to do that. Oh dear! If only that were true!
Well, this talk brought me a little closer to understanding my problem. Many teachers believe that students know their way around the Internet, in which case there is nothing to teach them about doing a search. This is my first hurdle. Bring the message to my colleagues that their students don't know as much as they think they do.
(More to follow!)
Friday 26 November 2010
Tuesday 16 November 2010
How do I encourage teachers to bring their classes in to the library?
I am frustrated! Today students trickled into the library during period 1 from a science class looking for books on pesticides and chemical fertilizers. Did I know that a research project in that class was ongoing? Had the teacher checked to see if the library had any books on the topic? Did the teacher know whether the students knew how to find books in the library database? Did the teacher even check to see if the library was available during the time that the students were sent there? Obviously the answer to all these questions was 'no'.
So where do I go from here?
So where do I go from here?
Sunday 14 November 2010
434% Increase in Fiction Circulation
On Friday I decided to find out how many fiction books had been checked out of the library since school started a little less than 3 months ago. I knew that the numbers would be good. You can tell. And I was right! I'm not sure of our population but I think it is between 250 to 300. I will have to check on that Monday. Whatever the number, we have circulated 622 fiction books. If we have 300 students, that would be just over 2 books per student.
Next I decided to check on the same time period in 2008 and 2009. I started in the August of 2009 but hadn't had the opportunity to sort through the fiction collection and start buying new paperbacks. In that year, 166 books were checked out for the same time period. Now I was really curious. How many had gone out in those months in the year before I started: 196.
I sent the statistics to my head of school and he asked the obvious question. Why had there such a dramatic increase? The answer has been partially answered in the previous paragraph. I was new to the library and so, I had just begun to understand the needs of the students and to weed the collection. However, there is more to it than that.
The collection I inherited was for the large part hardcover and all the books were stored on shelves which went around the walls of the fiction section. Because of the type of shelving and some overcrowding, there was no way of displaying the front covers of the books, other than by removing the covers and putting them on a bulletin board. Unfortunately, there were no bulletin boards in the fiction area so that was not in fact a possibility.
I started by buying paperback spinners and pulling out books from the collection, which would fit on them. There were a number of permabound books so I manage to sparsely fill the spinners. Next, I weeded those hardbacks left on the shelves to gain some room to pull books with exciting covers out and display them on the shelves. Yes, we know that one shouldn't judge a book by its cover but students do (and to an extent, so do I if I'm honest). I've done three more weedings since then and we are now down to a very compact hardcover collection.
Once I started to understand what kind of books my students were interested in, I started to buy new paperback fiction. Some I bought on the recommendation of the students, others from lists of suggested titles and finally, last Easter I spent the day at Blackwell's in Oxford and bought a £1000 worth of new titles. We were off! And we've never looked back!
I have spent a lot of time pouring over catalogues and looking at how bookstores display their stock. I've bought Plexiglas display units for some of the hardcover shelves and also to go on the top of lower shelving. These allow me to display hardcover books with their covers revealed to the patrons.
I move my stock continually so that students always see new books on display. I also move the books around on the spinners so that books which have been at the back are moved to the front. Finally, though not really since I am always looking for new ideas, I have made room for 3 bulletin boards which I use to advertise new books, genres, authors, or just books I think might be of interest.
One of my favorite displays last year was of a group of hardcover books, which had never been taken out of the library. They were my 'lonely hearts' books, looking for someone who shared the same interests. Each one had a stick coming out of the top with a note attached (pictures to follow!). For example: Lonely book seeks lover of adventure, danger and mystery. Guarantees a good time!
I have just started on this journey to help my students discover that books can be exciting. In the process, they have introduced me to so many authors and genres I had never encountered before. The journey continues and I shall continue to chronicle it.
Next I decided to check on the same time period in 2008 and 2009. I started in the August of 2009 but hadn't had the opportunity to sort through the fiction collection and start buying new paperbacks. In that year, 166 books were checked out for the same time period. Now I was really curious. How many had gone out in those months in the year before I started: 196.
I sent the statistics to my head of school and he asked the obvious question. Why had there such a dramatic increase? The answer has been partially answered in the previous paragraph. I was new to the library and so, I had just begun to understand the needs of the students and to weed the collection. However, there is more to it than that.
The collection I inherited was for the large part hardcover and all the books were stored on shelves which went around the walls of the fiction section. Because of the type of shelving and some overcrowding, there was no way of displaying the front covers of the books, other than by removing the covers and putting them on a bulletin board. Unfortunately, there were no bulletin boards in the fiction area so that was not in fact a possibility.
I started by buying paperback spinners and pulling out books from the collection, which would fit on them. There were a number of permabound books so I manage to sparsely fill the spinners. Next, I weeded those hardbacks left on the shelves to gain some room to pull books with exciting covers out and display them on the shelves. Yes, we know that one shouldn't judge a book by its cover but students do (and to an extent, so do I if I'm honest). I've done three more weedings since then and we are now down to a very compact hardcover collection.
Once I started to understand what kind of books my students were interested in, I started to buy new paperback fiction. Some I bought on the recommendation of the students, others from lists of suggested titles and finally, last Easter I spent the day at Blackwell's in Oxford and bought a £1000 worth of new titles. We were off! And we've never looked back!
I have spent a lot of time pouring over catalogues and looking at how bookstores display their stock. I've bought Plexiglas display units for some of the hardcover shelves and also to go on the top of lower shelving. These allow me to display hardcover books with their covers revealed to the patrons.
I move my stock continually so that students always see new books on display. I also move the books around on the spinners so that books which have been at the back are moved to the front. Finally, though not really since I am always looking for new ideas, I have made room for 3 bulletin boards which I use to advertise new books, genres, authors, or just books I think might be of interest.
One of my favorite displays last year was of a group of hardcover books, which had never been taken out of the library. They were my 'lonely hearts' books, looking for someone who shared the same interests. Each one had a stick coming out of the top with a note attached (pictures to follow!). For example: Lonely book seeks lover of adventure, danger and mystery. Guarantees a good time!
I have just started on this journey to help my students discover that books can be exciting. In the process, they have introduced me to so many authors and genres I had never encountered before. The journey continues and I shall continue to chronicle it.
Thursday 28 October 2010
Teen Read Week
We have just had our final activity - an assembly to show case student work - of our first Teen Read Week. Wow! What a success! Last year was my first year back in a library for a very long time and it took me a while to realize that though the grade 6 through 8 students read for pleasure, the students higher up in the school rarely came in the library to select a book. Casting around for a way to encourage 'teen' reading, I cam across the ALA's Teen Read Week and the 26 books nominated as the best of 2010.
Working with the English and Arts departments, I ordered multiple copies of the books while the teachers created activities within their subject areas relating to the selection. In music, students composed original music for the score of a movie, or put together a playlist of songs which would best reflect the themes of the book as a film. In drama, students hot seated characters from the books and worked on a series of tableaux which would tell something of the plot or theme of the book. In art, they designed book covers and posters.
At the moment I am mounting the book covers for a display in the library and around the school, after which I will have to make a decision on the winner of a book prize for the best poster!
Pictures to follow!
Working with the English and Arts departments, I ordered multiple copies of the books while the teachers created activities within their subject areas relating to the selection. In music, students composed original music for the score of a movie, or put together a playlist of songs which would best reflect the themes of the book as a film. In drama, students hot seated characters from the books and worked on a series of tableaux which would tell something of the plot or theme of the book. In art, they designed book covers and posters.
At the moment I am mounting the book covers for a display in the library and around the school, after which I will have to make a decision on the winner of a book prize for the best poster!
Pictures to follow!
Tuesday 26 October 2010
Alright, I admit it! I am a coward!
Alright, I admit it! I am a coward! Or perhaps I just want the easy life at the moment. When confronted by an administrator today about a certain book, I decided that I would re-classify it into non-fiction with books on the Holocaust. It's not the same as banning the book but I do feel that I have cheated! It is still in the library but probably only the grade 10s who are studying that time period will ever see it. Does anyone have any better ideas? I know that if I had put my foot down about the book, and made an issue of it, it would have been removed by force. (An interesting image appears in my mind!)
Sunday 24 October 2010
Helping Teachers with Web 2.0 and beyond
I hadn't realized when I returned to librarianship that the most difficult part of my job would be helping teachers use Web 2.0 tools and teach research skills. I have spent the last 12 years in the classroom so I have a good understanding of what is involved in being a classroom teacher. I know how busy teachers are, I was one! I know that sometimes it is easier to continue the way you always have, even though it might not be the most effective way to do something. There never seems to be enough time to look to see if there is a more effective tool, or to learn something new, and introduce it to your classroom. I see part of that as my job. I have the time (well usually!) to look for new tools and experiment with them. I had hoped that I would then be able to pass them on to my colleagues and thus, make their teaching more effective and their lives a little easier.
How naive! But I am learning! I have discovered that I am unlikely to get the information to them through my useful emails. Why wouldn't I have realized that? I was very good at deleting emails when I was in the classroom too. I have tried offering brief workshops after school. 15 minutes, no longer, I promise them. I even dangle cake as an inducement. I now recognize that unless I can find a way to coral a teacher (more then one if possible) they won't come of their own accord. Not that they don't want to find out about what I have to share with them, but that I am on the bottom of their priority list. And I do understand this.
I thought that I would try all school meetings. This doesn't work either. The room is too large and there are too many distractions. I would like to present at divisional meetings but in the past they have put me at the end of a packed agenda and time usually runs out. Now I am going to approach department heads and see if they will put me on the agenda. I think I can sell it to them if I ask for 10 minutes only and choose only one thing to present. One very useful thing that will have them begging me to come back.
Sometime last year I put together a wallwisher page with some of the Web 2.0 applications I had found to be useful. You may find them useful as well:
http://www.wallwisher.com/wall/webtoolsforteachers
How naive! But I am learning! I have discovered that I am unlikely to get the information to them through my useful emails. Why wouldn't I have realized that? I was very good at deleting emails when I was in the classroom too. I have tried offering brief workshops after school. 15 minutes, no longer, I promise them. I even dangle cake as an inducement. I now recognize that unless I can find a way to coral a teacher (more then one if possible) they won't come of their own accord. Not that they don't want to find out about what I have to share with them, but that I am on the bottom of their priority list. And I do understand this.
I thought that I would try all school meetings. This doesn't work either. The room is too large and there are too many distractions. I would like to present at divisional meetings but in the past they have put me at the end of a packed agenda and time usually runs out. Now I am going to approach department heads and see if they will put me on the agenda. I think I can sell it to them if I ask for 10 minutes only and choose only one thing to present. One very useful thing that will have them begging me to come back.
Sometime last year I put together a wallwisher page with some of the Web 2.0 applications I had found to be useful. You may find them useful as well:
http://www.wallwisher.com/wall/webtoolsforteachers
Saturday 23 October 2010
Banned Books Week leads on to a book banning!
What irony!
For the week of and the week following Banned Books Week my library was bedecked with bulletin boards and displays to raise student and faculty awareness of the implications for freedom of thought through the banning books. Various groups from grade 6 to grade 12 came in to discuss the reasons why certain books have been banned in the past and why people still try to prevent books from being published, or placed in public and school libraries, and classrooms.
Students were fascinated by one of our displays, where a number of books covered in brown paper had the reason why the book had been banned written on the front of the paper cover. They were particularly interested in the book which was banned because it had 173 swear words in it. Who would have bothered to count them, one student asked. A rather enthusiastic grade 6 student, on hearing about Salman Rushdie and the threats against his life, decided that she would read his book out loud from cover to cover. She had just started when the bell rang!
Our English department joined in with a simulated banning of their own. They gathered all the grade 9s together and told them that they would have to hand in their copies of To Kill A Mockingbird, as it had been banned by the management committee of the school. They even penned a supposed letter from the committee and read it to the students. Though some caught on to what was going on since they had seen the displays in the library, there was a very lively discussion about book banning and why some might think that To Kill a Mockingbird might not be appropriate for them.
At the end of 10 days, I really felt that we had had our most successful event ever in the library. Then I received an email. One of our administrators wanted a graphic novel, Auschwitz, removed from the library because it was thought to be inappropriate for grade 6s and 7s. Because the library is for students in grades 6 to 12 and I do not have a restricted section, it would have to go. I wonder if the irony of the situation was ever recognized!
What will be the final outcome? I will keep you posted. However, I often wear Unshelved's Intellectual Freedom Fighter T-shirt to work so...
For the week of and the week following Banned Books Week my library was bedecked with bulletin boards and displays to raise student and faculty awareness of the implications for freedom of thought through the banning books. Various groups from grade 6 to grade 12 came in to discuss the reasons why certain books have been banned in the past and why people still try to prevent books from being published, or placed in public and school libraries, and classrooms.
Students were fascinated by one of our displays, where a number of books covered in brown paper had the reason why the book had been banned written on the front of the paper cover. They were particularly interested in the book which was banned because it had 173 swear words in it. Who would have bothered to count them, one student asked. A rather enthusiastic grade 6 student, on hearing about Salman Rushdie and the threats against his life, decided that she would read his book out loud from cover to cover. She had just started when the bell rang!
Our English department joined in with a simulated banning of their own. They gathered all the grade 9s together and told them that they would have to hand in their copies of To Kill A Mockingbird, as it had been banned by the management committee of the school. They even penned a supposed letter from the committee and read it to the students. Though some caught on to what was going on since they had seen the displays in the library, there was a very lively discussion about book banning and why some might think that To Kill a Mockingbird might not be appropriate for them.
At the end of 10 days, I really felt that we had had our most successful event ever in the library. Then I received an email. One of our administrators wanted a graphic novel, Auschwitz, removed from the library because it was thought to be inappropriate for grade 6s and 7s. Because the library is for students in grades 6 to 12 and I do not have a restricted section, it would have to go. I wonder if the irony of the situation was ever recognized!
What will be the final outcome? I will keep you posted. However, I often wear Unshelved's Intellectual Freedom Fighter T-shirt to work so...
Friday 22 October 2010
A Beginning
I started my teaching career as a secondary school teacher-librarian in 1978. Since then I have taught English, grade 3, French, drama, and film studies. After two years as the head of modern languages at an international school I have finally made it back to my first love - the library. I've been away for 11 years and my, how the world of libraries has changed in that time!
I have been writing two blogs for a number of years now. One was started after I was diagnosed with cancer, in part to keep friends and family up to date with what was happening with me; the other is a food/cooking blog, which also explores living life more simply . A year after my return to libraries I think that I am now ready to start blogging about that experience.
I have been writing two blogs for a number of years now. One was started after I was diagnosed with cancer, in part to keep friends and family up to date with what was happening with me; the other is a food/cooking blog, which also explores living life more simply . A year after my return to libraries I think that I am now ready to start blogging about that experience.
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