Re: PARENTS IN THE LIBRARY SIGNING OUT BOOKS

[Guusje Zimmerman Moore <guusje@TENET.EDU>]

I let parents check out books all the time, as well as videos and
books/cassettes.  We have had very litle loss and they and the teachers
appreciate it.  We are a largely Hispanic school and many of our kids
have NO books in their homes.  Many of the mother's do not drive and
can't really get to the public library....plus they charge fines and I don't!
So often the teachers recomend that the parent read at home with their
child to help them out...and that's hard to do if you haven't any books
in your house and are barely literate yourself. I've got a pretty good
size Spanish collection.  Some of them take out easy English books so
that they can learn a little English.

So, far it hasn't caused any problems with parents having materials out
when teachers need them, in fact the teachers are re the ones who send
the Moms to me to check out books. Go for it!

                           Guusje Moore
                 Librarian, Housman Elementary School
                           Houston, Texas
                          guusje@tenet.edu