I've always been a big fan of suggestion boxes and feedback options in libraries, so when I started here at St. Leo and there wasn't one, I figured, let's get that started! I pulled one together about a week ago and installed it up next to the circulation deck: just a small open wooden box, a stack of paper and pencils, and a sign asking for suggestions for books that students would like to see added to the collection, or library activities they (or faculty!) might enjoy.
It's been slow going at first. I had to explain to a LOT of students what the box was for, even after they read the sign, and furthermore they really weren't sure what the point of it was even then. Explaining that the library would try to purchase some of the books they liked helped some of them get the idea and enthusiastically add their requests, but others - usually the older kids, who were aware that the school didn't frequently get new materials in - still seemed skeptical that there was any point.
It's actually been a pretty fun time to help the younger grade students add suggestions; often, they know what they want, but aren't sure what it's called or how to write it down. I've been getting a good number of suggestions in the neighborhood of "more cooking books" or "pictures of horses" as well as specific titles or authors, but that's a nice barometer of what the kids like to read, especially at different grade levels.
Since purchasing is pretty infrequent, I've just been collecting the suggestions for now, which has also led to some conversations with students about why the item they asked for in it last week hasn't yet magically appeared, but we're slowly getting the whole process figured out as a school and set of patrons. In the meantime, at least I definitely know about some very in-demand series that, if I ever get that purchasing budget, would go over spectacularly!
Showing posts with label acquisitions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label acquisitions. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 2, 2016
Wednesday, February 17, 2016
New Books on the Move!
A quick update on the new donated books! Here's the New Books display I ended up setting up in the front of the library:
These two shelves are almost always empty for displays anyway, so new books was a perfect opportunity to use them, and they're easily visible as you enter the library. The upper left shelf has the new chapter books for middle-grade kids, the upper right has the childrens' books, and the lower four are dedicated to the big Time-Life series we received. (I ended up not keeping most of the National Geographic photography books due to age and duplication of subject matter.)
After discussion with the faculty, in spite of the fanciness of these editions, I made the decision to have all of them except for the American Indians series be added to the regularly circulating collection. Because the kids only have time in the library for about ten to fifteen minutes per week, it seems unlikely that they'd actually read any of these historical series books during that time, so allowing them to circulate gives them a much higher chance of actually being used. (They'll get scuffed and bumped and scratched and bent... but not being read makes it basically pointless to have them in the first place, so those are risks that I'm willing to take, in spite of the brief sadness I keep experiencing at the idea of all that lovely worked leather being destroyed.)
So far, they've been a hit! The chapter and picture books have been moving pretty briskly, and there's been quite a bit of interest in the Mysteries of the Unknown series from the middle grades. The other series haven't seen as much interest, but I did see at least one kid who was looking for books on planes get very excited about the Epic of Flight series today.
The American Indians series is staying on reference status, because several faculty members expressed that they'd like to be able to use it for their units on Native American cultures, and either pull them as references for themselves or bring their classes to the library for designated study time using them.
Baby steps on adding to the collection, but it's something!
These two shelves are almost always empty for displays anyway, so new books was a perfect opportunity to use them, and they're easily visible as you enter the library. The upper left shelf has the new chapter books for middle-grade kids, the upper right has the childrens' books, and the lower four are dedicated to the big Time-Life series we received. (I ended up not keeping most of the National Geographic photography books due to age and duplication of subject matter.)
After discussion with the faculty, in spite of the fanciness of these editions, I made the decision to have all of them except for the American Indians series be added to the regularly circulating collection. Because the kids only have time in the library for about ten to fifteen minutes per week, it seems unlikely that they'd actually read any of these historical series books during that time, so allowing them to circulate gives them a much higher chance of actually being used. (They'll get scuffed and bumped and scratched and bent... but not being read makes it basically pointless to have them in the first place, so those are risks that I'm willing to take, in spite of the brief sadness I keep experiencing at the idea of all that lovely worked leather being destroyed.)
So far, they've been a hit! The chapter and picture books have been moving pretty briskly, and there's been quite a bit of interest in the Mysteries of the Unknown series from the middle grades. The other series haven't seen as much interest, but I did see at least one kid who was looking for books on planes get very excited about the Epic of Flight series today.
The American Indians series is staying on reference status, because several faculty members expressed that they'd like to be able to use it for their units on Native American cultures, and either pull them as references for themselves or bring their classes to the library for designated study time using them.
Baby steps on adding to the collection, but it's something!
Friday, January 29, 2016
Donations Ahoy: Managing Unexpected Additions to the Library
As a very (very) small library, St. Leo School isn't usually getting much in the way of a collection expansion. Since I've been here, I've pursued questions about budgeting and new acquisitions, and met with the general blank stares or uncomfortable silences that mean "we'd like to help you, bright-eyed new librarian, but we don't spend money on that." Which is understandable in a small parochial school, but still frustrating, especially since I've stepped into a sort of expectation that I come up with new material somewhere, yet not have any way to pay for it.
(For example, I learned last week that the previous librarian did do purchasing runs at Scholastic warehouse events, which sounded great to me! Not so great was the revelation that she just did these on her own, and then submitted expenses to the diocese to be reimbursed. Being a student, I don't have that kind of capital, plus I'm pretty sure the diocese doesn't move very quickly and I don't have three months to wait around on rent money!)
So, after some discussion of how else I'm supposed to get new material in here in response to student demand - Goodwill runs? Osmosis? I will provide, saith the LORD? - I reached the place where most small school and religious librarians probably live: the Donation Drumming-Up Doldrums. This is a joyless and uncomfortable place in which you try to harass people from the parish and school alumni to give you things for free, but also seem like this is a fun community event and they should be excited about it.
Probably later I'll write a whole blog post about the anti-excitement of the Give Me Stuff Please portion of this job, but in the meantime, here's a success story: today, someone responded, and boy in a big way!
All right, I'll admit, it feels good to have all THAT suddenly show up on my doorstep. This donation comes from a retired doctor who, while he never had children who attended this school, is still a member of the parish that runs it and decided that since he no longer uses some of the stodgier portions of his library, he'd be all right donating them. And also some of what he referred to as "kid junk", which turned out to be a small collection of actually rather nice Scholastic reference books and picture books for younger kids (which we are desperately in need of - the average date of publication of our childrens' picture-book materials is around 1970).
The nonfiction offerings are pretty fantastic, although they're also pretty dated (but then again, what in here isn't? I should take pictures of some of our geographical/historical collection for reference later). The biggest triumph is the Time-Life Mysteries of the Unknown collection, which is mostly focused on unexplained phenomena, psychic theories, and so forth; an odd choice for a religious school library, but I've recently had kids in the middle grades looking for books on those kinds of subjects, so it's a well-timed addition, and the series holds up very well in spite of its age.
The other selections are a little more hit-or-miss; there's definitely some interest in historical military business going on in this school, but I'm not sure we needed the full Time-Life Epic of Flight and The Seafarers lines. They're both gorgeous leather-bound sets in very nice condition, though, so if I can find room in ye olde tiny reference section, they'd probably be nice additions in spite of their age.
The historical volumes on the Old West and American History are the most likely to have to be examined for possibly not being processed and added to the collection; they're pretty old (1973 for the Time-Life Old West series) and, while in great condition and very prettily bound, look like they may have some historical inaccuracies or issues with terminology and historical descriptions that are no longer socially acceptable (particularly in regards to Native American peoples). This is one of those weird places where the library definitely needs new reference material, yet still might have to say, "No, I didn't mean that," when provided some. I may also want to go talk to the middle grade teachers to see if they'd be more useful as a classroom set, where an instructor can highlight the useful parts?
Finally, there are quite a few National Geographic volumes of natural landscapes and American vistas, which are also nice but getting less relevant as time distances them (for example, Back Roads America: A Portrait of Her People, published in 1980, is an interesting cultural artifact, but may not be super accurate in terms of current cultural trends).
After a quick run through Amazon average pricing, it looks like this donation is probably about $750-$850, which isn't bad for my first rodeo.
Once I'm done pre-weeding, space is going to be an issue, too. You can see a peek of an empty shelf behind that first picture, but that's the only one in the place, and I don't foresee a lot better luck with getting budgeting for new furniture than new materials. It might be worth it to go through the current reference section's antiquated geographic offerings to see if some of the new donations should be replacements rather than additions, but that's going to take a while with just me to do it!
Now to go learn about tax write-off language and letters of receipt, because I sense one coming in my future...
(For example, I learned last week that the previous librarian did do purchasing runs at Scholastic warehouse events, which sounded great to me! Not so great was the revelation that she just did these on her own, and then submitted expenses to the diocese to be reimbursed. Being a student, I don't have that kind of capital, plus I'm pretty sure the diocese doesn't move very quickly and I don't have three months to wait around on rent money!)
So, after some discussion of how else I'm supposed to get new material in here in response to student demand - Goodwill runs? Osmosis? I will provide, saith the LORD? - I reached the place where most small school and religious librarians probably live: the Donation Drumming-Up Doldrums. This is a joyless and uncomfortable place in which you try to harass people from the parish and school alumni to give you things for free, but also seem like this is a fun community event and they should be excited about it.
Probably later I'll write a whole blog post about the anti-excitement of the Give Me Stuff Please portion of this job, but in the meantime, here's a success story: today, someone responded, and boy in a big way!
All right, I'll admit, it feels good to have all THAT suddenly show up on my doorstep. This donation comes from a retired doctor who, while he never had children who attended this school, is still a member of the parish that runs it and decided that since he no longer uses some of the stodgier portions of his library, he'd be all right donating them. And also some of what he referred to as "kid junk", which turned out to be a small collection of actually rather nice Scholastic reference books and picture books for younger kids (which we are desperately in need of - the average date of publication of our childrens' picture-book materials is around 1970).
The nonfiction offerings are pretty fantastic, although they're also pretty dated (but then again, what in here isn't? I should take pictures of some of our geographical/historical collection for reference later). The biggest triumph is the Time-Life Mysteries of the Unknown collection, which is mostly focused on unexplained phenomena, psychic theories, and so forth; an odd choice for a religious school library, but I've recently had kids in the middle grades looking for books on those kinds of subjects, so it's a well-timed addition, and the series holds up very well in spite of its age.
The other selections are a little more hit-or-miss; there's definitely some interest in historical military business going on in this school, but I'm not sure we needed the full Time-Life Epic of Flight and The Seafarers lines. They're both gorgeous leather-bound sets in very nice condition, though, so if I can find room in ye olde tiny reference section, they'd probably be nice additions in spite of their age.
The historical volumes on the Old West and American History are the most likely to have to be examined for possibly not being processed and added to the collection; they're pretty old (1973 for the Time-Life Old West series) and, while in great condition and very prettily bound, look like they may have some historical inaccuracies or issues with terminology and historical descriptions that are no longer socially acceptable (particularly in regards to Native American peoples). This is one of those weird places where the library definitely needs new reference material, yet still might have to say, "No, I didn't mean that," when provided some. I may also want to go talk to the middle grade teachers to see if they'd be more useful as a classroom set, where an instructor can highlight the useful parts?
Finally, there are quite a few National Geographic volumes of natural landscapes and American vistas, which are also nice but getting less relevant as time distances them (for example, Back Roads America: A Portrait of Her People, published in 1980, is an interesting cultural artifact, but may not be super accurate in terms of current cultural trends).
After a quick run through Amazon average pricing, it looks like this donation is probably about $750-$850, which isn't bad for my first rodeo.
Once I'm done pre-weeding, space is going to be an issue, too. You can see a peek of an empty shelf behind that first picture, but that's the only one in the place, and I don't foresee a lot better luck with getting budgeting for new furniture than new materials. It might be worth it to go through the current reference section's antiquated geographic offerings to see if some of the new donations should be replacements rather than additions, but that's going to take a while with just me to do it!
Now to go learn about tax write-off language and letters of receipt, because I sense one coming in my future...
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