GAFE Summit and a New Chapter

Currently, I'm sitting in a session at the Google Apps for Education Summit on improving communication with your staff/site.

How did I get here?  I got a job!  This fall, I'll be working as a Teacher Librarian part-time, sharing the job with my mentor from my secondary experience last fall.  I'm super excited to chronicle my adventures and growth here and to take this blog in a new direction.

It is finished!

Today was my last day at my secondary fieldwork school.  The time really flew by!  The days were not as structured as my time at the elementary site, but I feel like I was able to significantly impact the library, particularly the collection, in my time there.  The fiction section is now near the nonfiction "stacks," and students are already paying more attention to the nonfiction collection since they have to go to that area to find fiction titles. 

The reference section--wow.  There were over 2,576 titles in Lynbrook's reference collection, and the average age was 24.  I weeded over 350 titles and brought the average age up to 22--not huge, but better than it was.  Additional titles are being moved from reference to a "reserve" collection, because the library specialists had been putting anything they didn't want to circulate in the reference collection whether it was a reference book or not.  Some titles will also move to the circulating collection.

I am really surprised by how much my supervisor allowed me to do with weeding.  The library specialists (there are 2 who share the job) only objected to two titles I chose to weed, and when I showed them the more current titles that remained in the collection they backed down.  One of the LS's asked about a book that was written in 1992.  I said, "It's 20 years old, and things have changed since then.  We have a better, more current title."  She hadn't really thought about the fact that 1992 was 20 years ago because to her, it didn't seem that long ago.  I guess people just need a reminder now and again.

I really started to get annoyed today, because people treat libraries like dumping grounds for any book they don't want/need, and then get upset when the library can't use their old outdated books.  I'm also starting to notice that no one cares about the books in the library until you start to get rid of them.  I noticed a teacher looking over some of the discards today.  I can guarantee you that neither that teacher nor her students have ever used the titles she might come back to get for her classroom (where they will gather dust and never be used), but once you move them off the (very) dusty shelves and discard them suddenly they are precious gems.  Libraries are not storehouses or archives.  Yes, those old books look "neat."  But they don't belong in a vibrant school library that is here to serve the students.

Well, that was a little side rant.  Now back to my point--I made a dent in the reference section and hope that my supervisor can continue to weed the collection so that students might actually utilize the good resources that are hiding in amongst the 60-year-old books.  (I wish I was kidding about that.)

I also realized that libraries must be the dustiest places in the world, and that you shouldn't work in them if you have asthma or shoulder issues.  I got quite a work out moving all those books today!  I also got to learn how to delete batches of books from the catalog, which was cool.  I appreciate how much I got to know the catalog system and how to run various reports.  Data is our friend!

And now for some of the pictures I didn't get to include last time:

Short shelves were reference, tall shelves are nonfiction, and blue shelves around the perimeter now hold fiction.

 The center section of the library consists of these tables for student work.  There is a projector in the ceiling and a screen you can kind of see in this picture.  Teachers can bring students to the library for class time using the tables (with laptops, if desired) or the desktop computers around this area, and they can use the projector and screen.  The other side is identical.

The "reading" room, that used to house half the fiction collection (shown in this photo). 

The "study" room, that used to house the other half of the fiction collection.  This is where we moved the reference collection.

A weird "help desk" area that goes largely unused.  My supervisor and I were trying to figure out the best use of this space.  We moved the professional development titles to the shelves here, but don't really have a use for this space yet.

The circulation desk.

The library has two "sun rooms" that students can reserve for group projects/meetings.  Sometimes they are used for testing, or teachers use them as offices when they share classrooms.

The stacks, they are a-changin'

Because of an upcoming construction project, a lot of the books in my secondary fieldwork library are going to have to move.  One room, that currently houses half the fiction collection, will be used as office space during construction.  My supervisor is trying to anticipate this and rearrange things as she can ahead of time.

It is interesting to see how she navigates the political world that is a school.  This is a real strength of hers and something I will need to work on.  She's good at anticipating how people will react and planning her actions so that negative reactions are minimized.  One thing I know from this experience is how valuable it is to run things past another person before you do them.  Often, she will think of things about my suggestions that I would not have considered, and I'm sure the reverse is true.  In my career, it will be important to find another person, whether it is another TL or another teacher, etc., to be my sounding board.

In the best circumstances, she would be able to wait a year before making any major changes (or at least that's what I was told in 202).  However, the construction has kind of forced her hand.  The entire fiction section will be moved to space currently occupied by biographies and "supplemental" novels.  The good news is that the supplemental novels didn't belong there anyhow, so this is a good excuse to move them with minimal pushback from others.  In addition, the need to create more space makes it easier for some people to accept the serious weeding we have been doing.  Some people truly do hate to see any book discarded, even if it is outdated and has been sitting uncirculated for 20+ years.  I am probably a little too eager to get rid of outdated materials, so it's nice to have another perspective to temper my enthusiasm. 

On Wednesday during school we had student aids removing items from one area to prepare for the move that evening.  One student found an entire section of books that were infested with termites (blech), so 30 books (the same title, these were supplemental novels) got discarded immediately and the shelves then got emptied and cleaned.  While of course bugs in books is never good, it did give us an "excuse" to take everything off those shelves.  And of course I'm glad we caught it before more books were infested.

I spent Wednesday after school helping student volunteers rearrange items in the library.  We moved the entire fiction collection and a big section of the reference section.  While moving the reference section, we realized that a lot of the books in that section actually belong in the nonfiction collection.  I will likely spend my day Tuesday and Wednesday weeding reference, with some titles getting discarded and others being moved to nonfiction.  Then I'm going to need to spend some time weeding the 800s to make space for all the literary criticism that was, for reasons I do not understand, shelved with reference.  I'm 99% sure they were there because of lack of space on the shelves, which is hysterical since so much of the nonfiction collection is seriously 40-50 years old and could be discarded.  It will be difficult to get everything finished, but I'm going to try to leave the collection in as good of shape as possible before my fieldwork ends.  I'll probably end up a bit "over," but I don't mind.  I really feel like I've contributed something at this school that will result in a better (and better organized) collection.

I am NOT looking forward to the reaction of one of the paraprofessionals who likely will not be happy with all the changes.  Kind of glad I won't be there when she arrives Tuesday. . .

I was planning to include some "before" shots here, but apparently my iPhone didn't upload them during my last photo import, so I'll have to do that another time.

Five days left???

I will be at my secondary site through the week before Thanksgiving, but because I only go twice a week that means that after today I only have five days left on site.  I asked my supervisor what she'd like me to focus on first.

She's been sending carts of (ancient) books to the science department to have them evaluate whether we should keep them, discard them, or look for more current books on those topics.  They have, thus far, decided we should discard every title we've sent over.  In terms of print resources, what they want are books where a scientist (or journalist covering a scientist) reports on the process they go through to discover something rather than books on specific topics like genetics or disease.  When they have students research, they primarily use databases or other online sources.  So my next project will be to put together a buy list of those types of books.  It should be a little tricky (or just involve reading LOTS of reviews).

I'm finding that, because of the high academic standards at this school, many of the "YA" resources are just too basic to meet students needs.  The adult nonfiction often fits better (though I try to find both), but I have to be pretty careful about reading the reviews to be sure the titles are appropriate.

The reaction of the library support staff to our weeding progress makes me smile.  In my collection development course we discussed how people didn't like to weed, but this is my first experience with someone who really just likes to keep books.  I think, though, that keeping all these ancient, outdated, SERIOUSLY dusty books on the shelves does the students and disservice, though, because it creates the illusion of a complete library collection when the reality is that the usable collection is about 1/3 to 1/2 the size of the entire collection.  Is it really better to have a 60 year old book on dna on the shelves than no book at all?  I'm inclined to think it is not, and the circulation data agrees with me.  So far, none of the titles I've pulled from the shelves have circulated since the library adopted the Destiny system in 2001. 

I've been thinking about different school library environments and where I'd like to end up.  While I enjoyed the students in the elementary library and the days, while busy, had a nice structure to them, I really prefer the energy of the high school library.  Because that's where I have teaching experience, I find it easier to relate to the other teachers and feel like I have more to offer them as a collaborative partner.  Of course, the reality is I may not find any openings in any school libraries anywhere near my home, and since I'd prefer to be part-time it's very likely I won't end up employed as a "real" librarian any time soon.  Still, you never know.

I wanted also to mention the "Virtual Vikings."  This is a group of students with computer skills that my supervisor is training to help teachers and students with technology.  Dr. L would LOVE this group--it's exactly what he advocated as his "geek squad."  When they aren't in classrooms or computer labs assisting with technology, the students are working on their website and a "promotional video" describing what they do.  It's going to be cool; I'll have to put the video here if they finish before I'm done with my fieldwork.

Every Day is a Whirlwind

Apparently this is just how things go in a high school library, and I think that's great.  Every day is busy but really feels impactful.  The elementary school was busy, but less frantic, if that makes sense, because the schedule was so regular.  The high school library is different in that it's less regular (and louder), but I love the variety of things that happen in any given day.

Classes come in, mainly to use computers and tables (the library has an advantage over computer labs in that students can both access computers and have tables for working with others or on projects).  Circulation is really low in the nonfiction collection, which is something my supervisor and I have been examining in our efforts to update the sadly out-of-date collection.  After my cdp was complete (or as complete as I could make it and ready for her tweaks), I put together an evaluation of her collection based on age and circulation.  It looks both at the collection as a whole and at each Dewey 100, broken into 10s.  The age of the collection is a huge concern, and browsing the shelves confirms the real need for updating.

She has been working to identify additional funding sources, and as part of gathering evidence I created a staff survey to get an idea of what types of resources they would like to see on the shelves.  A good number of staff members have responded, from a variety of departments, and I am ready to begin building "buy" lists based on their feedback and identified needs.  Today a tech-savvy student (member of what Dr. L would call the "geek" squad) is busy pulling outdated technical books from the shelves.  After checking circulation data on them (I doubt there has been any), I'll look for updated titles to use as replacements.  My supervisor has an idea that we can "sell" titles we purchase based on teacher-identified  curriculum needs as "supplemental" materials, and there is funding for supplemental materials currently available we may be able to access.

As a whole, I feel like I am able to make more of an impact at my secondary site, perhaps because my teaching background is at this level, perhaps because teachers rely on the TL so heavily for help with technology, or perhaps because my supervisor is less experienced and more open to my opinion on how things should be approached, particularly in regard to revamping the print nonfiction collection.

The collaborative lesson I was able to teach focused on a student debate on Napoleon (was he a hero or tyrant?).  While I was involved in the planning of the lesson, it was not what Dr. L. would call a true collaboration in that the role of the TL was more adviser or sounding board than true co-collaborator.  In the flex lab, I was definitely in more of a support role than co-teaching role, although based on the lesson that day I suggested changes and created some documents that will change how the lesson is delivered today.  I am interested to see how many of my suggestions get incorporated and how today's lesson differs from yesterday's.

Whirlwind

Today was a whirlwind day.  My alarm did not go off, so I began by rushing to get out of my house and then sitting in traffic for nearly an hour to go the six miles to my fieldwork school.  I ended up being there late for the tech menu day, but fortunately I had communicated with my supervisor and they were able to move things around so that I presented toward the end of the session rather than toward the beginning.

My session was focused on using blogs in the classroom, both as a prompt for student discussion (responding to blogs written by others or by the teacher) and as a forum for student writing.  I addressed how to get started by having students respond to another blog and how to move into using teacher blogs as discussion prompts.  We discussed teaching students how to comment appropriately, how to assess student blog posts, logistics, and how participating in a blog comment discussion benefits students.  I thought it went pretty well.  I look forward to seeing some of the comments from teachers.

After that I worked on the collection development policy for a bit before meeting with another teacher to brainstorm possible lessons for a world history course.  She is using the flex lab next week, and fortunately I will be on campus and can join her and her students in the lab.  The flex lab is a computer lab with a class set of laptops, smart board, lcd projector, etc.  Teachers must meet with the LMT to use the flex lab ahead of time, just to be sure things are set up and ready for use.  The LMT, depending on her schedule and the requests of the teacher, may stay and co-teach or facilitate the lesson or may just pop in and out.  Since this teacher is having students debate and I used to coach debate, I'm going to stay to help.  I am really looking forward to being in a classroom with students and seeing what they can do.

Next, there was a district technology meeting to attend at the district office.  While it was interesting, the agenda had changed from when the LMTs were invited, and much of it (as it turns out) was not relevant to what LMTs do in this district.  There was a discussion of when to "age out" computers, what to do with them, how to set up an inventory control using the network, etc.  I had a panic moment while I was thinking that I had no idea how to write a script to keep tabs on computers on campus (as one of the men at the meeting indicated he had done).  It turned out that was someone else's job, much of what was said had nothing to do with the LMT (although it was an interesting discussion to be aware of), and the district LMT coordinator was a little annoyed he'd made everyone come to the meeting.  I was relieved I wouldn't have to add network administrator to my list of job duties.

Following that I got to sit in a "debriefing" session with a student who had served on a "digital natives" panel discussion during the tech menu morning.  It was really interesting to get her perspective on how the session went and to hear the questions teachers raised and her concerns as a student. 

Finally, I made some real progress on the CDP.  I have some editing and polishing to do, and then I think it will be ready for my supervisor to look at while I begin working on evaluating the print collection. 

It's difficult not to wonder how Dr. Loertscher would view the role of the LMT at this school and what he would think should be done differently.

First, I think he would love that the LMT is so involved in planning professional development and is such a strong technology leader at the school.  He would love how often she collaborates with teachers to create lessons for the flex lab. 

I am sure he would say there could be more collaborative planning and lesson delivery, and that he'd like to see the LMT involved in lesson assessment and leading students in meta-cognative exercises (the big think). 

The state of the print collection might be a concern, although honestly we rarely discussed the print collection in his classes.  I do think, though, that this is an area where I can make a real contribution to this school. 

It is also impossible to be on this campus and not wonder how the LMT can possibly fit everything in.  One thing I'd like to have in place before I finish my fieldwork is an idea of how to allocate my time as a teacher librarian.  How much time (per week, on average) should be spent on collection development?  Collaboration?  Co-teaching?  Other administrative duties?  Time was much more structured in the elementary school.

Finally, I notice that there is a shocking lack of hand sanitizer on the high school campus.  There was hand sanitizer every 2 feet at the elementary school, lol!  I think I may bring some, just because I have already had 3 colds this fall and I do not have time for them.

Seriously, though, my plan (other than to watch and learn and to work with as many classroom teachers as possible) is to draft a cdp, complete a collection evaluation, and get at least one "buy" list going after evaluating the collection and beginning weeding.  I'd also like to reorganize some of the things in the library so that items like supplemental novels currently on shelves out in the main library are somewhere less "public," and there is a space for the fiction collection to go during construction (or at least create a plan so that can happen).

Elementary Wrap-Up take 2

I wanted to post some pictures of my elementary fieldwork site and reflect a bit on the experience before getting too caught up in the secondary expeirence.

The shelf on the left is part of Spanish fiction. The taller shelf on the right is the "blue star" collection (series fiction).

Part of the "enjoyables" collection (picture books).

English nonfiction is against the wall.  The "island" houses English biographies.

I included this picture because of the great architectural detail that gives the library so much wonderful natural light.

The back row of Mac computers for student use.

This section, in the center of the library, serves as a gathering space.  Younger students sit on the carpet squares for library lessons.  In the red bins, there are "honor" books (books not in the library's catalog that can be borrowed by students who have checked out their limit of books or who have overdue books).

The graphic novel collection, after my "reorg" but before I straightened it (again).  This is probably the most popular part of the library's collection.

Author Lauren Oliver speaks to students.  This was a real highlight and a great way to end my fieldwork.  The students were so excited to have the opportunity to hear her speak!  They had outstanding questions, too.   I look forward to picking up my signed copies of her books!

It is amazing how very different working on a high school campus is from working on an elementary campus.  In an elementary school, the TL spent much more time doing readers' advisory.  On the secondary campus, my supervisor is so busy with meetings, helping in the "flex lab," etc. that helping students select books is really up to the classified staff.  The TL at the secondary level seems to be much more administrator and slightly less teacher (though she is still a teacher, of course).  It is a really exciting time to work in a school library, whatever level.