Busy Day

Today was a busy day!  First, I rearranged the graphic novel section and labeled it so that books now have a spot.  This section has been a pet peeve of mine for my entire fieldwork experience at this school.  Now, the nonfiction titles are in Dewey order (divided by Spanish or English).  The Spanish graphic novels are in order by author's last name, the English graphic novels are in order by author's last name, and popular series (Babymouse, Tin Tin, Asterix, etc.) are in order by number in series.  The shelves are all labeled so volunteers can put them back in the correct spots.  I feel much better, lol!

Then, I pulled books for Kinder checkout on Thursday.  My supervisor starts the Kinder students off by letting them select books from what she puts at their tables (instead of sending them to the shelves).  She says they get overwhelmed by the variety on the shelves and do better with fewer options. 

I did some circulation stuff, added books to the card catalog system, helped get "book sponsor" stuff done, monitored students on the library computers, helped with readers' advisory, and looked for poetry books on topics covered in 5th grade curriculum (there aren't many we don't already have).

My supervisor is meeting with some of the Spanish Immersion teachers tomorrow.  Apparently there is concern that the Spanish Language collection isn't adequate.  It is significantly smaller than the English language collection, and the school is 50/50 Spanish Immersion.  However, students in grades 3 and up can check books out both in Spanish and English.

The problem with growing a Spanish collection is that what is available through Follett (the preferred source for the district) is pretty slim, especially when my supervisor only purchases books that have been reviewed.  Nearly all of what is available is a translation, and often, even when there is a review of the English book, there is nothing to indicate whether the translation is good or not.  Also, for nonfiction, there are significant areas of the curriculum (the California gold rush, for example) that lack Spanish titles.  She also showed me several examples where the Spanish title is more expensive than the English title, even though it is in a less durable format (paperback vs. Follettbound or hardcover).  I know from doing my collection development projects for her that there really aren't lots of Spanish options for several areas of Dewey (400s, for example). 

She meets with them tomorrow.  Hopefully, the meeting will happen right after school so that I can attend.  Tomorrow, I am also doing a lesson with the first graders on fiction vs. nonfiction, focused on the topic of apples.  I'm looking forward to reading with them; they are fun!

My time at this school is nearly over.  I do feel I have learned a significant amount about how to structure and run a successful elementary school library program.  Being an elementary school librarian is a LOT of work, because so much of your day is spent instructing and not much is left for the business of caring for the collection.  Having a group of dedicated, well-trained volunteers is essential!  I also think I would have to spend significant time in the summer, especially for the first few years, getting things done that just didn't happen during the school year.  I think Dr. Loertscher said you want about 80% of your time to be directly impacting learning, and 20% to be spent on "administrative" tasks.  I do not see how you could manage everything if you only spent 20% of your time on admin.  20% of the school day, maybe, but not 20% of the time you work (unless you count collection development as impacting learning, which I think it does but I don't think it's what he meant).