So many books, so little time... Look at some of the new books --
I am so excited going into Year 2 in the library! I feel more like the library is actually mine now and have so many new implementations planned. I purposefully gave myself a year to beome familiar with the job and the space before making any changes. The changes I have made this summer and the new plans I have developed come from a sense of seeing what worked and didn't work for me during the last year and from a desire to inspire a deeper love of books and reading in the kids I serve.
Physical Changes:
At the end of the school year, with my remaining library funds, I purchased several new book bins. I chose to go with a little more color than the white ones I inherited. I also chose some made of a heavier plastic. I noticed that the ones I had cracked easily when moved, and the cracked plastic actually hurt if it poked into skin. (Yes, I experienced it more than once!) In addition to the new bins, this summer I created labels to better identify what was in each bin. Last year was often a guessing game for me to remember which books went where.
I have created a shelf of "Popular Books" in a more accessible place in the library. On this shelf I have placed Who Would Win, If I Had Animal ___________, yearbooks, record books, almanacs, Weird But True, Bibles, Nat. Geo. Kids, and various Lego/animal books. I know going into this, that this may cause some congestion and am prepared for that. I have some other plans in place to, I hope, counterbalance the congestion issue. We'll see...
At our school, we have "Classics Lists" for 3rd-5th grade. These lists are used for required summer reading and for book reports during the year. They are also a good reference point in answering the parent question, "What should my child be reading this year?" I have now created three shelf areas for those three grades. The books have been labeled with colored dots for easier shelving. Having them all in one place should make it easier for the kids to locate books on their list. I've also posted the list on each shelf.
In order to create these four shelves, I did do some shifting of other books but was able to accomplish what I wanted with only a small amount of book movement. I think the kids will like the changes. I also created one more shelf area which I am really excited about. I am calling it the Spotlight Shelf. This shelf is part of my plan to alleviate some of that previously mentioned congestion. I bought some lights which affix to the top of each shelf space, added book-holders, and will place books which are new or go with a certain unit on these shelves. I think the kids will enjoy the novelty of this area.
After much searching online, I found a way to add a magnet board to the libary. I don't have a whiteboard, so I had to figure out something else. There are so many great STEM activities which need a magnetic surface. I finally found magnetic contact paper on Amazon. It's amazing! It did take three of us to get it on the wall this summer, but it's up now and looks great. The first thing I want it for is a marble maze which can be moved and experimented with. I am really excited about this new STEM area in the libary.
Non-Physical Changes:
While completing inventory in the spring, I experimented with Destiny and discovered how to read the checkout history of each book. (Don't laugh; I am still a novice librarian, learning as I go.) I found it interesting that several really good books had eather never been checked out or had not been checked out in many years, while some books were being checked out on a weekly basis. I know that is not surprising or unusual. It just bothered me that some of the books really need to be circulating because they are really good. I came up with an idea to call these books "Lonely Books." I have identified about 10-12 fiction books and 10-12 picture books that fit the low/never checkout criteria. I am going to place the books in a special box labeled "Lonely Books" and keep them in a designated place in the library. When I introduce the concept to each class, I am going to first pass out tissues and then talk about how sad and lonely these books are and how we need to help them. (I am well aware of 5th graders' tendency to be above this, but thought I'd really ham-it-up with them to make them laugh - and then still try some of the books.) I'll let you know how this plays out. I plan to keep a close watch on the number of check-outs of these books. One of my goals this year is to increase circulation of a greater variety of books.
Last year I kind of ended up forcing check-out of books. The kids had the opportunity to check books out each time they came to the library. In my naivete, I assumed (I know I should never do that.) they would want to get books most times if not all times. WRONG! There were some 5th graders who might have checked out two books all year, when I actually forced them to, and then the choices were ridiculous! So, that being said, I will no longer force kids to select and check out books. They will also not be forced to walk around talking to the kids who want to check out books; I would just hate to make them do that. They will be given the opportunity to sit at a special "non-check-out" table which will have magazines and a small book collection which they may peruse at their leisure while their class members select books to take home. I know this is all very tongue-in-cheek, but I have to do something about this situation. I HATE feeling like choosing a book to read is punishment when it's such a gift. I'm hoping the "choice not to" will actually have the opposite effect.
My final idea for this year is the one I am most excited about. How many times are we asked the question, "What should I read?" or heard the statement, "I don't know what to read next." I decided to market my books like Netflix does. You know how they always have headings like, "Because you liked _________________________..." So I've done it with books. I have created two notebooks called Bookflix and Bookflix Jr. for 3-5 and 1-2 respectively. Now when the kids say those words, I can send them to the notebooks. I can add pages as the year moves on to make sure they don't get bored with the recommendations. In addition, they were SO much fun to make!
You are a genius!!
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