Re: GEN: librarian's objective

[Betty Dawn Hamilton <bhamilt@TENET.EDU>]

> problems.  And often they spend a lot of independent time in public
> libraries (Betty's situation is unusual), where learning how to behave
> socially in a relatively unstructured environment is also important.
>
> There can be excellent synergy between school and public libraries--as long
> as both honor each other's roles in public service.

Well said, Karen. Yes, we in school libraries also struggle with the
surprise assignment and are caught unaware. I think I mentioned a
dinosaur assignment a couple of weeks ago. Students did that in 2/3
grade, in 4/5 grade, in 6/8 grade, so I have only about 4 or 5 CURRENT
dinosaur books because I have figured in the past that students were
saturated with that subject.  Surprise, surprise .... one of our 9th grade
environmental science teachers assigned dinosaurs! (Thank goodness our
Middle School has a generous supply of donosaur books because of Earth
science/geology/paleontology.) I *will* purchase a few more dinosaur
books by next year.

His approach was different though ... because his is *environmental*
science, he examined the subject from the approach of what caused
extinction.  To complete that assignment, students also had to know under
what conditions the dinosaur could thrive.

I have a form that I *request* teachers fill out that asks the assignment
topic/topics, length, number of sources, date assigned, date due, number
of students expected to complete the assignment. When we receive one of
those, I photocopy it and mail it to the public library here. The problem
is, research assignments are sometimes spur of the moment or "teachable
moment" types of assignments. Also, teachers do not like to fill out the
forms in advance. They don't realize how important that information is to
both school and public librarians.

Hang in there -- we're all in this together!  Every time I talk to
students about using the school library, I tell them that they must learn
how to use the school one so they can effectively use the public one,
where their education will continue FOREVER -- it won't just
stop with graduation or leaving school.

Betty
bhamilt@tenet.edu
Brownfield, Texas