A few years back two of our teachers happened to visit a school in another
county that had a book room. They came back very enthusiastic about it and
talked the administration into letting them make one out of our one and only
teacher's lounge. Bookcases were purchased and teachers were asked to turn in all
their loose books they had in their libraries to contribute and make multiple
copy sets out of. Once this was done, one of the enthusiastic teachers sorted
the books, leveled them, put the old book pockets and cards on them in
plastic bags and then sorted in the book room by grade level. Keep in mind that at
no point was I asked an opinion though I did give it at times (HA) and none of
the staff (except for the two enthusiastic ones) liked the idea of losing the
one and only lounge. They had so much that I wouldn't have anywhere to put
this much materials in the library...even though I did have various multiple
sets of books (several to 10) that teachers could already check out and we could
easily locate on our library database. The system they developed for
circulation involved a posterboard with pockets on it. Each teacher had a pocket
with his/her name on it and when they "checked out" a set of books they took the
circulation card out of the kit pocket and then put it in the pocket with
their name. I did give my opinion that whoever was over this was going to be in
for a rude awakening. We check out book kits when they come back and make sure
all copies are inside....and I know how ofen materials are returned missing
one or more items. This book room's policy was on a self-check system and I
know they had to lose a lot of items.
To make a long story short, after a few years the teachers who had given up
their books to make the new sets actually regretted it. Everyone regretted
losing the one space we had for the lounge and finally one teacher who was just
wanting a lot of books in his room volunteered to put them all (including the
bookcases) in his trailer and people could just come out there to borrow books.
Of course that lasted about several months and many people just didn't want
to go out there to get the books anyway.
Of course I'm biased, but the best way to have these materials was through
the library. And just because you have 5 copies or 10 copies of a book does not
mean it is quality and that it will circulate...just as I'd bet 50% or more
of the books in that book room didn't circulate. I was asked constanly which
ones were Reading Counts, what titles were available in the room, etc....and
I'd just respond that I had no idea. I guess someone somewhere should
realize...schools already have book rooms...and they are called LIBRARIES (or Media
Center if that offends someone...ha...).
Tony Pope
Library Media Specialist
McHenry Primary School
100 McHenry Dr.
Rome, GA 30161
pope1966@aol.com
************************************** See what's free at http://www.aol.com.
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