HIT: Commiseration (LOOOONG)

[Robert Hiebert <rohisd18@ROCKIES.NET>]

Here is the posting that started it all:

Reply-To: Robert Hiebert <rohisd18@ROCKIES.NET>
Hello all,
Just wondering who else is in this position and what sort of things you
manage to get done.  The position is: you are a full-time librarian (my
school is gr 8-12, 550 students), you have no clerical assistance, you have
a few students (I have about 10) taking a library course (ours is called
Library Skills).
This is what happens here:
The students do clerical-type jobs (preparing articles for the vertical
file, reshelving and organizing, preparing new acquisitions for shelving, a
little checking in and out, etc.).  A majority of these students have no
particular interest in the library - they needed a course in a block and
this one fit - so the quality of their work and the responsibilities can I
assign them varies tremendously (i.e. some cannot reshelve correctly).
This leaves me to look after acquisitions and cataloguing, deal with
students' questions, troubleshoot computers (there are about 20 in here),
look after the a/v equipment, handle correspondence and bookkeeping, do
general supervision, etc.  What is missing from my life is any planned and
coordinated activity to help non-readers get into reading and to encourage
(the few) readers to broaden their horizons.  The words "planned and
coordinated" are important since I manage to do these things, as the
occasion arises, with individual students, but I'm not reaching the student
body.
My questions to those of you who are in a similar position are: What are you
doing?  Are you reaching (or attempting to reach) the student body?  Feel
free to be critical of what I am doing; I am asking this to get ideas to
improve upon what I do here.
I doubt if there will be much interest in this, so if you want to know what
people say, mention it in your posting and I will forward a hit to you
personally.
Thanks for listening to all this,
Robert.
Robert Hiebert
Librarian
Golden Secondary School
voice: (604) 344 2201  fax: (604) 344 7116


AND HERE ARE THE RESPONSES (unedited of course, who's got time?)


From: Cynthia Carr <cleve24@www.edumaster.net>
Dear Robert,
        Heartfelt commiserations!!  My situation is similar:  465 students,
grades 9-12, one or two library aides per hour, no paid help or adult
volunteers.  Aides spend a third of their time photocopying tests,
worksheets, etc. for teachers.  Some are excellent help, some incredibly
careless.  I'm 'way behind on processing donated items, weeding, putting
things in the vertical file, etc.  I fear I'm too slow, maybe too picky on
details.  If our enrollment grows above 500, I would have a half-time paid
aide.  I just finished sponsoring the prom, so maybe I can spend more time
on the library now.  If anyone sends you "the answer" on how to keep up,
please do let me hear it.
Cindy Carr, Librarian                   voice: (918) 358-2529
Cleveland High School
Cleveland OK 74020

From: Ginna Lynn Guszak <ginna@tenet.edu>
This is the first time I've responded to a posting on lmnet, so I hope
this gets to you. I'm a first year librarian in a small school - about
500 students. I'm all by myself too. My aides are just glorified office
aides, they don't get credit for being in here. Some of them are great,
some are not.
I'm in the midst of planning for a new library that is supposed to open
December of 1997. I'm also in charge of distance learning in our
district, internet access for our campus, reading improvement with an
incentive program, etc. etc.
I'm not pulling my hair out yet, but I can offer a solution. Does your
state have school library standards? If so, take a close look. Texas is
in the middle of creating new standards and high on everyone's list is
the requirement of professional clerical assistance (no matter how small
your student body is). Your administrators might offer some assistance in
this area too. Be willing to compromise and you might get a part time
paraprofessional...anything helps.
Good luck!

From: emily_h@TRECA.OHIO.GOV
Robert,
     At my present school I have one 3/4 time paid aide and
and only 3 student aides (one cannot do much).  There are no
study halls so I don't have students coming to the media
center every period.  They come to do independent study or
with their class to work on a project. The last school I was
employeed there was no paid aide and the students were
volunteers (I had around a hundred students working for
me, some 1 period a week, some 1 period a day everyday).
     Over the years, 22, I've adapated the way I've
done things.  When I started here at the JVS I had to
find a way to get the equipment to the teachers in the morning.
Because we don't have student help the teachers are required
to pick up their equipment or send a student to the media
center to pick it up.  We have a sign, laminated and with
a magnet, with the teacher's name on the equipment they
are to use.  They are to return the equipment to the
media center at the end of the day.  Because the name is
on the equipment we can see from the sign in book who
has returned and who hasn't.  The sign up book is set
up for the entire year, so a teacher can sign up as far
in advance as they need to.  It has saved a lot of time.
It takes my assistant about 10 minutes to do the equipment
before she leaves in the evening.
     I've set up my magazine inventory into a data base
on the computer which saves time.  Instead of trying to
stamp the front of the magazine with the stamp, the ink
never sticks, I now have a student stamp file folder labels
and I use these on the front cover.  I color code my file
folders and I separate the files.  I have one drawer for
records, one drawer for committees that I serve on and what
I call my working folders, one drawer for forms, one drawer
for personal folders and folders for the association.
By color coding and separating the folders I'm not going
through all my folders trying to find something.
     I use my phone rolodex for words that I can never
remember how to spell, how to fix the copier when it
goes down, sizes for sheet cakes (I do a lot of the
cakes for special events here in the building and I do
demonstrations on cake decorating in the culinary arts
department), etc.
     I color code my Sears list, one color check for
books, one for pamphlets, one for prof., etc.  When a
student asks me if we have information on a subject (many
of our stuents are non readers and the card catalog scares
them - we'll get computerized when we get the money) and
I'm at my desk, I can look in the Sears and tell them that
we have pamphlets as well as books.  Saves me time.
It's frustrating when there is so much we want to do and
only so many hours in the day.     Emily Jean
Emily Jean Honaker, Media Specialist            EMILY_H@TRECA.OHIO.GOV
Delaware JVS The Area Career Center
1610 St. Rt. 521, Delaware, Ohio 43015-9001

From: Lennie Dahl <jjhslib@TMINET.COM>
I am in somewhat the same situation; we are 7/8 grade school with about
760 students.  I really don't have the time to go into projects with the
student body.  My Library aides are normal Junior High students, whose
hormones rule their lives, and even though they request this class, they
are still not the best at taking care of business.  Every once in awhile
a super L.A. comes along, who is the greatest help, but it is so rare.
I do have a parent volunteer who comes in once a week to take care of
whatever I ask for.  I do some Library promotions throughout the year,
but other than that I work on a one on one basis with students who show
some interest.  I have tried to do reading promotions throughout the
years and they have been wholly unsuccessful.  Hope this helps a bit!

From: Deborah Marie Collier <collie@tenet.edu>
This is what I do for my 4th & 5th graders & I don't see why it wouldn't
work with middle school.
Give booktalks. Use books on a particular theme, all on one author, all
new books, all one genre, etc. Pick out 5 to 7 that you like (this is
important because if you aren't thrilled with the book, you'll not be
able to convince a student to read it!). Read a particularly gross-
funny- humorous- passage, read the book flap, do a short summary,
whatever. Then move on to the next one. Sometimes kids just need to know
"what's inside" before they'll check out a book, & they're not as good as
adults are at judging that. In my school, when a teacher reads a book for
after lunch--suddenly I'll have a jillion requests for that book.
Have teachers sign up for these 20-30 min. sessions & offer them once
every 2 weeks or so.
Hope you find this useful.
******************************************************
*   Debbie Collier          Orange Grove Elementary  *
*   Librarian &             Houston, Texas           *
*   "Resourceress"          COLLIE@TENET.EDU         *
******************************************************

From: STEWMANJ@dqhs.dmsc.k12.ar.us
Dear Robert,
     Your situation sounds familiar - my school (9-12) has about 460
students - next year about 550. We don't have block scheduling, so I
use student helpers from study hall (after the offices from 3
buildings on campus choose their helpers.) Since most of our
achieving students don't have a study hall, many of my workers (2 or
3 a period) are not very good students and find it difficult to
follow instructions.
     I'm not giving  advice, needless to say, just commiserating with
you. My past year has been spent manually automating the library -
our shelf list was in chaos,so sending it off was not an option.
Therefore, if you get any good ideas -HIT ME! Thanks, Judy
Judy Stewman,Librarian
De Queen High School
De Queen, Arkansas 71832

From: kgeronzin@po-1.northeast.k12.ia.us (Kathy Gerinzon)
I have 400 students in grades 7-12 and no clerical assistance.  I also have
study hall for 25 minutes and I am teaching a class about careers a period
everyday.  What saves me is that I have a computer circulation system.  It
saves time when checking-in and out books, preparing overdue lists, etc.  I
compain
about how slow it is, but it is so much faster than using cards.
When I need to have something done I do it myself, ask students from study
hall to do
it, or occasionally I ask for volunteers from the P.T.O.  I put things in
priority, like
this checking-out materials and classes come
first, reshelving returned books and magazines second, requests from the
administration (always meet or be before the deadline), orgainze things in
the handiest way possible from the beginning.  Those are some of my tips
for getting things done.
Kathy Geronzin
Northeast MS-HS Librarian
Goose Lake, IA 52060
319-577-2249
FAX 319-577-2248

From: ths_libr@PrairieWeb.COM (Lee Milner)
Robert:
I know how you feel.  We have taken on more and more responsiblity and we
don't get the help we need or the salary commensurate with what you are
required to do.  At our school we even took care of making copies for the
entire staff for over a year.  When they gave us a copy machine that was
twice as slow as the first one I finally said enough is enough.  We do
however maintain the school network and attempt to help teachers all over
the building with their computer problems.  At times it gets overwhelming.
Student aides seldom work out especially when you don't have any choice.
You'll end up spending more time correcting their mistakes.  Most aren't
worth having.
Good luck with your problems,
Lee Milner
Torrington High school

From: randomrk@llwisc.wecb.org (Ron Klitzkie)
Bob,
     I hear you--how many administrators do you have? I have 5 (1 library
media specialist for 1200 students).  Clipping articles for vertical file is
no longer needed--there are newer and better materials out there.  Other
than that just keep plugging.
--
               Ron Klitzkie, District Library Media Specialist
               School District of Random Lake, WI
               randomrk@llwisc.wecb.org
               414-994-9193  414-994-4820 (fax)

From: "Ruth Brown" <RBROWN@sjhs.sanjuan.k12.ut.us>
I think it is going to have to be the English or reading teacher(s)
who encourages the students to read and you be the resource to guide
them to the books.
I have been teaching for over 20 years, but this is my first year in
the LMC.  I was a peer coach for two years before this and helped
with automation and retrospective conversion during my "spare time"
since I knew I would have this position starting this year.  We also
started the Accelerated Reading program this year.  While our school
is fully networked, I manage the program to eliminate cheating by the
students as much as possible.  I also do the AR store. Teachers are
using the library for their students to do research more than ever.
When the students are doing research nearly every minute is used to
show students how to use a library, the Internet, etc.(eventhough
they were shown as a class group)  I have a paraprofessional to help
me 4 hours a day, which is a real lifesaver for me, but the bottom
line is one or even two people can only do so much.  This year I have
literally spent days of my own time catalogueing and processes new
books because I don't have time during working hours. Sometimes the
students can help with these tasks, but one or two wrong barcodes on
books and the problems it cases is enough to let me just decide to do
everything but putting label protectors on the books.  The extra time
is not recognized nor appreciated by the others in the building.  I
am taking a long time getting to my point.  When you can't do
everything, I have come to the conclusion that you should make a list
of what you have been trying to do and ask the faculty in a faculty
meeting, or whatever, to prioritize and you will get the first items
done and the others won't be done.  Also, tasks like keeping up a
virtical file (which is what my aid spends 90% of her time doing)
will have to be given up.  We have Deseret News (Salt Lake City
newspaper) archive on Internet now, so I'm not sure how much we still
need the daily newspaper (except for local weekly paper) cut up and
filed.
Ruth Brown
San Juan High School
311 North 100 East
Blanding, UT 84511

From: jhalbei@k12.oit.umass.edu (Johanna Halbeisen (Rebecca Johnson School))
     I am in a somewhat different situation in that I have a preK-8
school, but its 1,100 kids and no aide.  What I'd do if at *all* possible is
make working in the library a privilege.  Make the ones who do work the
Corps Elite.  Talk with your principal about who to do it.  Then if they
don't do the work well, you can fire them.  There are all sorts of ideas on
LM_NET about how to court your library aides (check archives).  I have 6th
and 7th graders that shelve all my books, do very good jobs.
Johanna Halbeisen                  "We are confronted by
Rebecca M. Johnson School(K-8)                insurmountable opportunties."
Springfield, Mass
jhalbei@k12.oit.umass.edu                    Pogo

From: "Joan Peterson" <Joan.Peterson@m.k12.ut.us>
Dear Robert -
I sympathize with your position, but with no help in your library
there is only so much that is it possible to do.  I am in a high
school with 2200 students, no clerical help, no aides.  I have
students, as you do, who need to fill in an hour, but this term, at
least they are all quite helpful.  Anyway, when I started this job 20
years ago I was given some good advice by the librarian I replaced,
which was to find out what you can do and do that and let the other
stuff go.  I make an effort with some teachers, who are agreeable, to
book talk, and work with their students.  There is no way I can reach
all the students, or even very many, but I can reach some.  I find
also, that it is easy to get bogged down with all the other things
you listed, until it is impossible to do anything else.  Probably we
need to prioritize, put the students first, and other things in their
place.
Well, this isn't any help for you, but I was glad to hear from someone who
has similar concerns.  If you get any good ideas, consider posting a
HIT to LM_NET; I would be glad to learn anything that would help.
Joan Peterson
Box Elder High School
Brigham City, Utah

From: Ti66ets@aol.com
Robert,
I have a few questions.  How much ownership (say so) do these students have
as to
their jobs?  This could make a difference.  If they were offered duties on a
rotating
basis so that you still had clerical workers, but they were given more
responsibility
while still.  This could give them a sense of being more than " the help".
What about
having a committee made up of the students in this class with a voice in book
selection, library displays, etc.  Are any of these students strong readers?
Is there a
possibility that you could give them a brief tutorial in helping students locate
materials, encourage their classmates to read, etc. Often what a peer says
makes more
sense to a teenager than what any adult can say.  I wish I had lots of
answers, but
hope that in my questions, there might come some solutions that will work
for you.
 Good Luck!
=:)Beth Thompson

From: Nancy Jordan <njordan@tenet.edu>
Robert, I could have written your letter--it is so much like my situation
here. I have also wondered about the same thing.  It has been suggested
that we implement the Accelerated Reading program with an hour (or entire
class period) set aside *just* for reading. This is what the Reading
Renaissance people recommend for the high school level, stressing that it
*must* have the support of the staff and entire faculty. Rationale for it
is a comparison of how much time athletes practice football. No coach in
his right mind would just tell a student how to perform without insisting
that he practice over and over.  Same goes with reading...practice,
practice,practice is the key...*supervised* practice, that is.
I would love it if you would forward any suggestions you receive to me. I
need help.
Nancy Jordan, Palacios High School, TX

From: LBERTLAND@delphi.com
Hi,
Frustrating, isn't it? I am in a middle school with 1000 students. I
have no aide (position was cut a couple of years ago to save money). I
have no student aides because we have no library course or  and no study
halls. I
am always behind what few things I plan to do. I go
constantly from the time I walk into the library in the morning until
I leave in the afternoon.
I also consider all the things that I would like to do. A better
curriculum, sharing literature, helping teachers to be more computer
literate, getting the Internet used more. But somehow get stuck in
the details of the student with the lost book, the printer that
won't print, the TV that wans't returned to the library and that
someone needs right now.
I have no answer. If somebody writes you with an excellent
answer to this dilemma I would certainly like to hear it.
Linda Bertland
Librarian
Stetson Middle School
Philadelphia, PA

From: Nancy Jordan <njordan@tenet.edu>
By the way, how do you grade those drafted students.  I do not like my
system: 100 points for the week, 20 points per day. If they are not here
or don't work very well, (and some are really just taking up space) I take
off points.  I get flak from the kids
comparing their points to others. I just wonder what everyone else is
doing and how it works.
Nancy Jordan, Palacios High School, TX (450 students in grades 8-12)

From: sdtayl@dmci.net (Stanley D. Taylor)
Robert,
When you get some answers PLEASE let me know. Even though I am in
Elementary, we too have our situations :two schools, two libraries half
time in each buiding, 23 classes on a scheduled basis, NO help, computer
trouble shooting and all the other desk work double. Just sometimes feels
better to get this off our minds! TIA :=) Helen

From: marthap@CCIT.ARIZONA.EDU
Yes, I have aides of questionable enthusiasm but I do get a few good
ones--but I must admit my best usually are 6th graders.  Actually about
feeling the need to run a direct program--after twenty years I have come
to feel the influence I can have on teachers has more impact and more
lasting influence.  I think that Krashen has shown the it is the
classroom teacher who can have even more direct impact on more students.
I feel more of a facilitator and informal influence.

From: ghodur@redshift.com (Gayle Hodur)
Dear Robert,
I will tell you my situation, and I hope you understand that I am not
trying to "one-up" your problems, because mine are similar, they're just
larger in scope.
This is my first job as a librarian. As a recent graduate of library
school, I planned to get a school library job, and thought I had one in the
bag. It didn't work out, due to budget cuts, and I took the only job that
was offered to me. It has many advantages and lots of disadvantages, but I
love my work.  I am the district librarian for a small school district 45
minutes from my home. I have two elementary schools (one K-3 and one 3-5)
and one middle school. I have no paid adult aides. We have a high rate of
Spanish speakers in our district, and most of my middle school aides are
from the sheltered English class, which means they don't always understand
all of my instructions (I'm just learning Spanish). Many of them cannot
alphabetize, even at that age, and have trouble shelving, filing cards or
even making a new book card to replace a lost one (they sometimes can't
determine which is the title, if it's a series book, or which is the
author, if it's a biography). Fortunately most of them are enthusiastic and
enjoy helping me. Over time, I have acquired two very excellent parent
volunteers who come in one day each week, so I have some help at two of my
schools. The libraries had not had librarians in ten years, so we are
cleaning up ten years of mistakes, ordering tons of materials (therefore
dealing with tons of backorders), and adding automation using a computer
system with which I was totally unfamiliar (I'm a Mac person and all of
ours are IBM). I have five computers in my side of the library, and the
other half of the library is the computer lab, which has 21. I have a total
of over 1600 students that I'm supposed to be reaching with reading
reinforcement and library skills. At my elementary schools, I do what I can
with those teachers whose classes have a library time on the one day I'm
there. I do stories and author talks mostly. I offer book talks by
appointment to the teachers who don't get to bring their classes in on that
day--I schedule them in advance and go to the classroom with books and
activities. At the middle school, I run an A-Week, B-Week schedule that
allows language arts teachers to bring their class for a regular
lesson/checkout time and I book in other types of teachers in by
appointment for projects. Most of my students have not had ANY library
training, so I tend to prepare one lesson and teach it to everyone with
slight variations, if necessary. Teachers of the all-Spanish speaking
classes will translate my lesson to their students, but it has been really
difficult, since most of the books and lessons that I was already familiar
with will not work for these students because of the language barrier.
Right now I'm just concentrating on making a start with these students,
getting them interested in reading for pleasure and making it a little
easier for them to find information. I'm not running any big activities or
programs, although I have ordered Accelerated Reader and will implement
that probably next year. I also order all the RIF books for our district,
which involves ordering 3 books per student at an average of $1.50 per
book, many of them in Spanish.
I don't know what is expected of you in your position, but you will
probably not be able to reach every student equally. I know I can't. I work
mostly with the teachers and students who really want my services, and I
try to listen to what others say and do and provide a little piece of
information here and there to get them interested. I feel that if I can
show real enthusiasm for books and learning and influence even a few
students it will be many more than they have reached in the past ten years
of having no librarian at all.
*********
Gayle Hodur

From: kathyc@alpha.kestrok.com
Yes Robert... I'd like to know the responses you get... I am the
librarian in a middle school of 1100... I have a "half-time" aide but her
half time  with me includes her lunch (she's half-time in the office
too); and she types the daily school bulletin on "my" time.  If anyone is
out sick, etc in the office or there is some crisis down there, I dont
see her.  The only thing I can count on is for her to cover my half-hour
lunch.
I also have student aides, whose interest, skills, motivation and
attitude vary as you have described.
This is my first yr at this school.  I am still cleaning up the mess from
my predecessor... and in the process of automating the circ system, which
meant re-weeding and re-barcoding the collection (to use the word "mess"
here is an understatement.)
But I love the kids... and it means so much when a teacher comments on
how "much better the library looks this year..."   And there's a long
road ahead yet... I know I've only touched the surface...
Hope you get some good ideas!
...aloha... Kathy Cannallo Honolulu Hawaii
From: Diane Durbin <dianed@tenet.edu>
I don't know how you do what you do!  I have a similar situation as far
as numbers of students in the school, but I have an adut aide.  We have
seen over 20,000 students so far this year.  We are so busy we don't even
get the books shelved sometimes.  We also have student aides, and you
accurately describe them.  Perhaps you can get some help in reaching more
students, but I don't see how you can take that on alone.  I just hope
you can keep up the good work you are doing.

Diane Durbin
Robert Hiebert
Librarian
Golden Secondary School
voice: (604) 344 2201  fax: (604) 344 7116