Thanks to everyone who responded.
My orginal post: I was curious as to the policy in other media centers regarding
the use of reference books. Our students cannot take reference books out of the
library into classrooms for use and definitely cannot check them out to take home.
There are students who do not have access to computers at home let alone
encyclopedias or dictionaries. Some of these students do not have transportation
to public libraries to use these resources outside of school. I would like to know
what other libraries' policies are regarding this issue.
Beth Buttner
Student Librarian
Matoaka Elementary
Williamsburg, VA
buttnerb@wjcc.k12.va.us
Here are the responses that I received:
I was glad to see this post - I had something come up recently where I was
> doing an Almanac lesson and the kids were really interested in taking out
> the kids almanacs. I have 30 copies. Once my lesson is done, those
> almanacs don't see a lot of use. I don't have a problem letting some of
> them circulate, but my aides were shocked at the idea. They said they don't
> ever go out. I thought it was great that the kids wanted to take them out
> (versus the Guiness Book of World Records). I think I will make a few of
> them circulating since there was an interest.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
I think the prohibition on checking out reference books and magazines goes back to
public library policies that do not apply to school libraries. A public library
cannot allow reference books and magazines to go out the door because they never
know when or if they will ever see those folks again. However, in a school, we
know where we can find our patrons anyday and everyday. I've been checking out
reference books and magazines for a decade now. Reference books are still
technically a one-day check out, but I usually ask the patron (student) how long he
or she needs it, and then I adjust the date for him.
Please give it a try. You can always go back to restrictions if you need to, but I
can't imagine that you will.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
At my elem facility, we've purchased class sets (25 copies) each of atlases,
dictionaries, and thesauri and we let them all go out like a regular books. We did
this b/c we also have a digital divide problem in our region and also because
teachers do like to borrow them in bunches when they do class projects (ie our
grade 3 map skills unit). Incidentally, our students really love to take atlases
out. We use the National Geographic for Young Explorers and for Beginners atlases,
which are on the inexpensive side in case one gets lost. At both my elem and high
school facilities, we let regular reference books (such as volumes of the
encyclopedia or single title works like the Cold War Encyclopedia) go out
overnight/for the weekend/over holiday breaks for projects, with the understanding
that the student can't check it out until the end of the day and that they will
return the book during homeroom or as soon as they arrive back at school. We warn
students about the purchase price of the reference book and tell them that they'll
get a bill if it's not back. We have not had any problems thus far with getting
these items back later than an hour after school starts for the day. Within the
building, teachers can borrow reference books on a day-by-day basis, and students
can come borrow reference materials for one class period/study hall at a time. We
move old reference (last year's almanac, older version of atlas, etc) into normal
circulation once we purchase the newest version.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
I allow checkout by teachers and students for use in the classrooms. I also
will photocopy sections of a reference book for students. I do ask the
students not to bring expensive reference books home for fear something
could happen to the book at home and the student(and library) will be unable
to pay to replace it.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
We have overnight checkout for reference books. We will allow them to go out to
students to use in their classroom during the day also.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
I allow my children to check out reference books. In 30+ years, I think
one volume of an ency has been lost. I'll admit my reference section gets
very little use so I hate to see all that money just sitting on the
shelves.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
This is something I have been thinking about for several years. With the Internet
resources we have available at school I just don't see the need for my schools to
have all these expensive and rarely used resources collecting dust on the
shelves.We luckily have World Book online and other great reference resources on
the Internet and I will print articles for children who do not have Internet at
home. So this year, I am turning most of my reference books into regular
circulating items. My students are having great fun reading our animal
encyclopedias and especially the big foreign language dictionaries. I'm using the
shelf space for other items now.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
I check them out. I also ILL them if they're not in use at the moment for a
project.
I can't stand to look at expensive useful books sit on shelves when someone needs
them,
remembering all the years I needed them and couldn't take them out! Make your own
loan policy, but yes, get them into needy hands.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________
I have merged my non-fiction and the vast majority of reference to make
it easier to find all the books we own on a topic in one place. The
automation system knows which ones are reference books and we have them
clearly marked. We DO loan the book overnight. We let the kids know
that they are for overnight only and that they are quite expensive -
averaging about $75. They are good about bringing the books back in.
Sometimes not the next day - but often withing a few days. We have a
very small section with a set of World book and some atlases that we
refer to as quick reference. We don't sign those out - but offer to
copy the articles they need.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
After carefully observing the lack of use of our reference section (we have
wonderful databases available to teachers and students) I started letting kids
check out reference books the middle of last year. The kids love the books!!! Plus,
we haven't lost one yet and the books, encyclopedias, and dictionaries are actually
being used instead of just sitting there collecting dust.
I'm all for it. We have the same problems as you mentioned with access to the
public library and other informational sources as many of our families are not
native English speakers.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
We do not allow reference to be checked out but have severely limited the books in
reference to those that cant go elsewhere, such as encyclopedia sets, multi-volume
sets, or local history books which are one of a kind.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
EVERYTHING in my library can be checked out! I discovered early on that kids will
find a way to get what they need and if yo say they CAN'T. they will do things that
are not acceptable (steal, take a razor blade to the page they need, etc...) My
reference books can be taken out overnight only. IF they are checked out, at least
I know who has it -- the other way it's anyone's guess. I also have a coin-op copy
machine in the library so that kids can make copies of pages if they cannot for
other reasons check things out.
Since instituting this change I thinks I've only lost 3-5 reference books. That
was 15 years ago.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
We do not have a Reference Section. Reference books are in the regular
collection and are checked out for two weeks. It works for us.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
I check out reference materials over night. The kids are pretty darn good about
bringing things back the next day.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The way you describe your students is a mirror to mine. I allow my students to
check them out the same as any other book. But they aren't checked out because they
are necessarily doing research - they just have an interest. If I didn't allow them
to be checked out the Ref section would go untouched. It's difficult to tell a
child 'no' when you don't have a good reason. I have one teacher who checks out a
complete set of Encyclopedias every year and her students love them. I can see why.
As a child I can remember having the World Book and Childcraft at home and pouring
over them constantly. In fact, I still have my Childcraft set. At school nobody
misses the set or evens realizes they are gone.
Ultimately, you will do what is best for your kiddos. I think you already know the
answer.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
All of my reference books, including encyclopedias and dictionaries are available
to check out overnight.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
We allow students to check out any and all reference books. I started allowing this
about 20 years ago and have lost one almanac and three encyclopedias. None of them
were paid for, as sometimes happens. I continue with the policy because the benefit
for the patrons is well worth the cost.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
I used to protect the very expensive reference books, and students could only make
copies of pages to take home. At this point, if anyone actually wanted to take a
book out, I would allow them to because I would not even care if they lost it. Our
reference section is becoming obsolete, and I am not ordering new.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
I circulate everything. The reference stuff is a little more restricted
than regular books. I will check with the teacher to make sure the
student is reliable (we have a very big problem with kids not bringing
back books). Depending on the book/student I will also impose a time
limit..usually 3-5 days instead of 2 weeks.
I also don't circulate any reference books that are really big or really
heavy (such as atlases and "big" dictionaries). Too many problems.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
As a public library, we have relaxed our entire reference area. What's the point
of having public access if it's all limited? We are making most books available
for everyone to check out...
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