Schedule Changes, Class Novels, Library Fines!

February 3rd and 4th (School Library)

The last two days at work have been particularly challenging.  Yesterday, February 3rd, I began a new work schedule due to changes in personal family arrangements.   I arrive at the library at 9:15am and work until 12:15pm, so I only work a total of three hours on Mondays.  This was confusing to both the teachers and the students yesterday (Feb. 3rd).   It's a disadvantage to first period teachers who would like to have a librarian available in the morning for their students to check out class texts, etc..  Yet it's an advantage to the students because it now means that the library is open during the lunch hour on Mondays in addition to other weekdays.  However because my work hours cannot overlap with those of the certified librarian's on Mondays, it also means I need to close up the library just before the end of the lunch hour.  I can see it will be difficult to monitor/police activity of the students in the library on Mondays because of this disconnect.

Today (Feb. 4th), every class period hour from 9:16 am through 1:15pm was booked straight by teachers seeking to get their students class text novels.   I juggled these checkouts with the usual student and teacher requests for individual library items.  The checkout of class novels comes in waves - right now the popular titles are Animal Farm, The Crucible, and The Outsiders.  The school's policy is that every student check out their own individual class novel as part of their textbooks. 

With the absence of a full-time librarian at the school, the faculty are challenged with timing the beginning of their reading assignments with the availability of the class novel sets and availability of the part-time library tech (myself) or the certified teacher librarian on Thursdays and Fridays.  Class novel sets are stored in the backroom stacks separate from the library's fiction and nonfiction collection.  It's tempting for the teachers to browse the backroom stacks (while a librarian is not around) to pull the books they need that day to start their assignments.  However, they have been honoring the checkout policy by bringing the students in during a scheduled class period checkout time.  It's the only way to hold the students accountable for the school's property.

In the process of checking out class novels to the students I am discovering that many copies of certain titles are in extremely poor/unusable condition.   For example, paperback copies of To Kill a Mockingbird and The Crucible are worn thin to the point they are falling apart and pages are missing.  As a library technician, I do not have the authority/rights in the Destiny system to "weed" out poor quality copies.  However I am setting aside these books in hopes that the certified librarian and principal will get an idea of just how many copies should be replaced with hardback/Everbind copies should funds become available.  Follett and Everbind publishers make hardback copies of popular classic novels specifically for school readers.  They last so much longer and are much more appealing to read because of their durability and larger text fonts.  The drawback is that they do require more storage space because of their extra thickness.




Another challenge with the class period checkouts is the issue of library fines.  If students have any outstanding textbooks or library fines, then technically I cannot check out new material to them until these outstanding issues/fines are resolved.  The teachers who bring in their classes to check out class novels are not aware of every individual student who might have outstanding fines - so this presents a problem in their curriculum if a particular student cannot check out a textbook because a fine was not resolved.  One 8th grade student currently has a fine of $230 on their record due to textbooks that were not returned during their 7th grade school year - the student reported that the parent would be writing a check for the amount at the end of the 2013/2014 year .

Again as a library tech, I cannot override a fine to allow a student to check out a new item.   In order to minimize disruption to the class assignment, my solution has been conditional checkouts of new items to students with a grace period for returning textbooks or paying fines.   I feel I need to be flexible with the system because the education of the students is priority.  If I had been inflexible today then at least 10 students from the teacher's class would not have received their assigned reading novels due to outstanding fines.  This situation was not acceptable to the teacher. 

Still library fines become a serious issue towards the end of the year - particularly for graduating 8th graders.  I'd rather be reminding the students now to return books or pay a fine than waiting until the end of the year when I will need to call the parents. It's a fine line between being firm with the students for lost material/fines and being flexible for the sake of school curriculum.