Re: GEN: librarian's objective

["Roberta J. Ponis" <rponis@JEFFCO.K12.CO.US>]

We also struggle with students assuming the school library and the public
library have the same mission and the same resources.  As a result of a
lot of frustration from school and public librarians, we wrote and
received an LSCA grant with our public library friends and developed a
touch-screen interactive multimedia program for grades 3-8 which helps
students determine the similarities and the differences between school
and public libraries.  The program leads them through a decision-making
path to identify the best library for their particular needs. (It's also
a useful tool for staff).  For more info on the program, contact
bwolter@jeffco.k12.co.us.  It's called "Touch Success".

rponis@jeffco.k12.co.us.

On Wed, 1 Nov 1995, Betty Dawn Hamilton wrote:

> > 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
>