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Dear LM_NETTERS,

This is to report the result of our request that we made on the list a few
months ago for information on how to teach children how to handle
library books.

Our apology for being so late in posting this, and thank you all who so
kindly helped us by sharing wonderful ideas. We are really impressed by
your creativity!!!.

If you have any question about things posted here, please contact Kay
Nakajima at nakajima@alexia.lis.uiuc.edu.

Thank you very much,

Kay Nakajima
Graduate School of Library and Information Science,
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

The following is 10 responses we received for our request.
___________________________________________________________________________
I've just been showing the video "If Books Could Talk" to
grades k-3.  The kids really like it and seem to have no
problem grasping the message.
___________________________________________________________________________
Until recently I worked with K-4.  Every fall I had a lesson which I did
with both K & 1 on care of books.  Over the years I developed a "sad book
collection."  I would introduce my lesson with a great deal of sighing
and sad looks, and tell the kids I was about to show them something awful.
I'd work through my collection, showing them the damaged books:
1.  A book that had a lot of crayoning.  (keep your books in a safe place
away from very young children that don't know the difference between
coloring books and library books.)
2.  An alphabet book with 5 pages (and letters) missing. (babies tear
paper as a way to find out about the world.)
3.  A book with the spine and corners chewed. (A real life story:  a
little girl came to me with this book and said that she thought it was
safe on the coffee table.  But the new puppy was able to reach it and now
look!  Could she buy a new one for the school? )
4.  A Madeline book that is the shape of the new moon, wrinkled of cover
and a bit moldy and smelly inside.  (Bring me the wet books because I
know how to dry them out so this won't happen.)
5.  A Star wars book that got really wet on the floor of a car, and the
shiny paper came unglued to show the cardboard underneath. (I use this to
show the construction of a book and make the point that the cardboard
acts like a paper towel and soaks up water.)
6.  A torn page in a book taped with celophane tape which has turned
yellow, dried up, and fallen off, and the yellow adhesive is still
there.  At this point I show them my Magic tape and demonstrate on a
small rip how I make rips disappear "like magic!" (At the risk of
sounding like a commercial.)

I promise not to yell if something happens to their book and they are
bravve and tell me about it.  I will say "thank you for helping me save
this book!"
At the end of the lesson, I asked all the kids to raise their hands
if they'll be my helpers and help take care of our books.  Every hand
goes up.

Now I admit I ham it up, but it works.  I have a million rips shown to me
that day and their next few visits, even some rips that I suspect are a
bid for attention, but I Magic tape them, and say the thank you......
Hope this helps!
_____________________________________________________________________________
As with all good ideas, this one was "stolen" from another librarian who
"stole" it from an ALA or AASL workshop a number of years ago:

Treat Your Book Like A Baby

I had wanted to try for several years, but was busy, etc.  Just before
school started last fall, I found a clip art baby's head, complete with
bonnet.  Enlarged it, colored it, found a disposable diaper and a receiving
blanket - then dressed a library book like a baby (head was on a tab so
would stick up out of the book).  I started out by telling them ways books
and babies are the same -- need to be treated with special care, kept safe,
not dropped, not left outside, etc.-- discovered, however, that the students
loved thinking up things themselves so it became a sharing/brainstorming
session.  It was so silly - they loved the diaper - that they tend to
remember it better than just being told.  Also, during the year as I have
seen students doing things they shouldn't with books, I could remind them to
"baby their books".  That always brought a smile and the correct behavior.

Yes, books still come back with "problems" but when you are dealing with
children that happens.  The goal is to reduce the problems as much as
humanly possible.

I used with K through 6th grade.
___________________________________________________________________________
nJust one quick suggestion: I have found it very effective to save books
that were ruined by some of the more common mistakes: chewed by dogs,
scribbled on by baby siblings, or wet down by leaky lunches in bookbags.
When I hold these up the students are universally horrified. It makes a
big impression.

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> 1) Does your library have or has your library developed any program to
> teach children how to handle library materials? How do you teach them how
> to handle books and other materials?

When our kindergartners visit the LMC for the first time, I give them a
tour of the Easy/Everybody section and demonstrate the use of shelf
markers to locate a book. At this time, they are allowed to check out one
book at a time. We find a book they want to read and I again demonstrate
how to handle it. I have compiled a little coloring book that shows how
to care for a book which each student receives and takes home to color.
When they finish it, they return it to us and receive a sticker. This way
we are sure parents see what our expectations are. We also send home a
letter to parents stating thet their kindergartner has checked out their
first book from the LMC and further explain the procedures and policies
we go by.

> 2) What is most difficult in teaching children on this topic? >

Being there whenever the children visit the LMC to reinforce the
"correct" way to do things.

> 3) What kind of resources and instruments do you use to teach children
> this topic?

I try to review the procedures each time we get together which is on a
flexible basis but seems to work very well. The little guys are actually
more conscientious than the older ones.

 > 4) Do you know any source of information related to this topic? >
>
No, that's why I developed my own.
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    In response to your posting on teaching children to handle library
materials:
    When I was an elementary librarian, I kept some of the books that were
returned badly damaged.  When first-graders were ready to check out books, I
would devote one session to showing the ruined books to the children,
eliciting sympathy for the poor abused books, and demonstrating what not to
do.  I had books that were burned, moldy, muddy, chewed, colored in, etc.
     I think it's necessary to present this as gently as possible, stressing
that accidents can happen to anyone.  I wanted to encourage the children to
be responsible without scaring them away from borrowing books at all.
Perhaps letting children dictate a list of ways to care for books would be
useful.
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   For many years I have been using a very old filmstrip called Glad Book,
Sad Book.  It is from the 50s and has a kindergarten class taking books home
from their classroom library. Right off I tell our kindergartners this
filmstrip is older than their parents, but the message is still very
important.  The Glad Book (RED with a big smile) is taken care of properly
and the Sad Book (BLUE, in terrible condition, with a frown and tears) is
colored in, the pages are torn, it is eaten by a dog, dropped on gravel and
left out in the rain! "No one wants a torn and dirty book", says the narrator
as the book is left on the shelf while all the others are chosen. We spend
about three weeks talking to the kindergartners about proper care: always
take them home in a book bag, turn the pages from the top right outside
corner and not from the bottom, put them in a safe place away from younger
bothers and sisters and pets, tell us if the book has been marked in before
leaving the library (we write marked, the date, and our initials on the
pocket, then give the child a bookmark for caring about books), to tell us if
something was torn or hurt while it was checked out to them, so the book
could be repaired for others to continue to enjoy.  My clerk and I took large
poster boards in red and blue and made the glad and sad books to wear as
halloween costumes. It was such a hit that we wear them every year after
showing the filmstrip.  There is also a 16 mm film  that we used with first
grade on the care of books. It too, is old, but it has a young boy helping an
older gentleman repair books. When the boy borrows a special joke book he
leaves it on the bleachers after soccer and the sprinker system ruins it. At
the end of the film the books talk to him, because he cares about them so
much.  Sorry, I'm at home and cannot remember the correct title.  We are
constantly asking the students to evaluate their books and say whether they
have a glad or sad book.  We also point out that the books have human
characteristics;  they are all individuals with a spine, the body of the
book, a jacket, and a pocket, and they have a home and an address, just like
they do.   Hope this helps. I haven't found anything in recent years that
gets to the kids like the filmstrip does.
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I have created a booklet that I use with my kindergartens and their
parents.  This is used as a part of our Big Six Research Unit.  If you
are interested,let me know, and I will send you a copy.  Nothing
sensational, but it works!
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I believe that it is important to nurture a sense of ownership of the
library and an appreciation of it as a collection.  One way I do this is
by asking interested students to display a collection in one of our cases
(shells, rocks, baseball cards, dolls, folk toys, whatever) or organize a
group display (family menorrahs right before Hanukkah).  After the
community has enjoyed a few collections, I make the connection to the
library.  "How would you feel about lending part of your collection to
someone else?"  "How would you want them to care for it?"  "How would you
feel if an irreplaceable item was borrowed and not ever returned?"  We
then talk about the library as a special collection we all share and that
we must protect and treasure it for everyone.  Oh! and I augment the
display of the collection with related books from the library.
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There is a program called "Siblings Involved in Reading to Siblings" in
Dekalb County School System in Ga.  The media specialist
involved in this wonderful project is Anne Wallace.  Part of the
activities in this project is teaching children how to handle books.

The tel. no. of Anne Wallace (media specialist) in her school is
404-482-6112.  (I am not sure whether the area code has changed to 770).
The school's name, I think, is Redan Elem. in Stone Mountain, GA.
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