Extended hours for media center (fwd)

[Marg Stimson <mstimson@MINET.GOV.MB.CA>]

Hello everyone,

I offered to forward Penny's concern to this group knowing that some of
you will have faced this issue.

Cheers,
Marg S
mstimson@minet.gov.mb.ca

---------- Forwarded message ----------

Date: Thu, 24 Feb 1994 08:38:07 -0500 (EST)
From: Penn Harris Madison Internet Project <pennint@ideanet.doe.state.in.US>
Subject: Extended hours for media center

My school is looking at what it would take to extend our hours and
services to the entire community beyond the regular teaching day. If your
school is currently doing this, please e-mail me at the above address.
I'd like to know when you are open and how did you staff these extra
hours. Did you make any unusual provisions for security? What should we
look out for?

Thanking you in advance,
Penny Youngman

-*-*-*-*

Greetings from Winnipeg,

I read your concerns about extended hours on KIDSPHERE. I belong to
another listserv called LM_NET that deals with such issues and would
probably generate more responses for you. Do you belong to that group or
may I forward your message to them for you?

Last weekend I spent a half day with all levels of educators, trustees,
community members, etc. in a think tank that had been organized by the
education critic of the province's opposition party. The idea of extended
hours for school libraries came up. I would like to see a compilation of
the responses that you receive.

It would seem to me in these days of declining use of texts and increasing
use of all other resources that you would want to preserve the access of
staff and students to the materials that your staff have accumulated on
your library shelves and at the side of your computers. Presently in our
division, parents are not discouraged from borrowing materials. In fact
most of our elementary schools have areas specifically intended for parent
use. The issue of security, the cost of staffing, the cost of increased
wear and tear and loss, the shift to digital forms of information, the
reduced access for staff and students might be good reasons to avoid
extending hours.

I'd be interested in hearing from you.

Thanks,
Margaret Stimson
Coordinator Media/Gifted Ed
mstimson@minet.gov.mb.ca