All in a Three Hour Day's Work!

February 24 (School Library)

Although I only put in three hours of work today, those three hours felt like a microcosm of everything a school librarian has to experience on a typical day - student demands, teacher demands, computer issues, textbook issues, audiovisual demands, and circulation desk processing!  I simultaneously processed textbooks for a new student while juggling the requests of multiple students who were researching science careers for a class assignment.  I see the teachers relying more and more on the donated HP notebooks, probably due to the fact that the new common core standards have kicked in.  I'm encouraged to see that students are still using the reference material in conjunction with Internet resources.  I think this speaks to the faculty's dedication towards teaching students appropriate research skills and I commend them!!!

I learned a new feature in Follett Destiny system that I was oblivious too before now. Thankfully the teacher librarian and myself were able to chat for a few minutes so I could get up to speed.  Items can be checked out not only by patron but by class list as well.  This is helpful when a teacher requests 52 copies of a novel like the Diary of Ann Frank pronto and the principal requires that every book be checked out individually to each student. 

I was also encouraged to hear that the teacher librarian likes the way in which I'm relabeling the books with new call numbers and genre labels.  It's apparently helping both students and teachers find the material they need more quickly.

The only issue that came up today which caught me off guard was discussion of the acquisition of new reading material for the library.  Up until this point I had not been put in a position to evaluate the content of books for their appropriateness in a middle school library collection - that decision had been made by the principal/vice principal and previous librarians.  Today it was brought to my attention that a book called "The Things a Brother Knows" by Dana Reinhardt was purchased by the PTSO and donated to the library.  http://www.amazon.com/Things-Brother-Knows-Dana-Reinhardt/dp/0375844562 The book was sent to the district's library/textbook services department for processing but the head tech services librarian there took a second look.  The call was made that this book is not appropriate for a middle school library collection. Amazon.com quotes the School Library Journal as saying this book is suitable for Grade 8 and up.  However, I understand that the middle school must weigh concerns over parental challenges to library material and self-censorship.  I've found these websites regarding the issue informative  http://www.ala.org/Template.cfm?Section=Dealing_with_Challenges&Template=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=11111.  and http://www.librarystudentjournal.org/index.php/lsj/article/view/150/279.