Hit: Sec. Library Clubs (long)

[Eich <eichel@BUFFNET.NET>]

Thanks to all who responded to my request for tips on library clubs at the
high school level.  I had my first meeting last Thursday and was very
pleased with the turnout. Like last year, the group is primarily interested
in Internet or electronic activities. I'd still like to have a literary
discussion group but that may come later.
This club is separate from my group of LMC volunteers who regularly help
out in the LMC. These student volunteers handle daily routine jobs, help
with display cases and any special tasks I have for them. We have a nice
group of students and like to celebrate their birthdays and any other
special holidays. We don't need much of an excuse to celebrate in the LMC
although all the food must be eaten in the back storage rooms since there
is no food allowed in the media center.
The LMC / Internet club is a separate group although some of them also
volunteer in the LMC. At our first meeting, I had a list of suggested
activites for the group to explore and so far, the response was very
positive. They did add suggestions of their own. These were my suggestions:
a contest to design a library logo; creation of a library brochure showing
all the services offered in the LMC using desktop publishing and graphics;
creation of a PowerPoint slide show or a Hyperstudio presentation to
showcase the LMC; web searching services to help the faculty by locating
sites to support the curriculum; publishing a periodic technology
newsletter to point out new online projects, great web sites, etc.; and
planning a technology night for parents to showcase what the Internet is,
how to search for information online, use of search engines,etc. The
students indicated an interest in creating and maintaining a web site.
Three freshman already know html and one has his own web page so they know
more than I do - no surprise there! Teachers have already put in some
requests for web searches and the students started with that.
So far, I like the direction we're going in and will probably assign
different tasks to small groups of students since they cannot all work on
the same thing. Literary discussions may have to wait for now as I think
our plans are ambitious enough for the time being. Field trips to the lower
grades, to the local university and even to a bookstore are real
possibilites that I am considering. We even have a small budget so we can
plan to go somewhere.
The LMC volunteers and the club are in addition to a separate group that I
help monitor. This is the Adopt-a-Teacher group of student technology
wizards who will be trained later this month by our Technology Coordinator
to help the faculty with problems that might arise with the new technology
in our building. This is the first year that we will have computers in
classrooms. One third of the classrooms have been added to the network this
fall with another third to follow in spring 1998. It's an exciting time and
the feeling is that the students can be a great reservoir of help.
Sorry to go on so but I'm so enthusiastic about the students and their
interest in participating in all the activities mentioned. I just felt the
need to share the good news. I hope the students will continue to be so
supportive.

Now I will post the responses along with my original post. By now, you
probably don't remember the original question. Thanks to all who took the
time to share. I welcome any further suggestions.

Original post:
>It's time to begin the Library Club at our high school and I need some
>suggestions on activities or projects that other clubs are involved in.
>Most (in fact, virtually all) of the students who participated last year
>were interested in the Club as an Internet group thus we named the group
>the LMC / Internet Club.
>I want to encourage book lovers as well as web surfers so I'd like to hear
>about a variety of activities. Supervising the group is a pleasure, but we
>need to have concrete plans or goals for the direction the club will go in.
>Please, please help me out. This is my second year and I want to really do
>something worthwhile that puts the students' enthusiasm to good use.
>Leaving ideas up to them was unsuccessful last year.
>Please send your suggestions to me personally at eichel@buffnet.net. Thanks
>in advance for all the help and support.
>
>Sandy Eichelberger, LMS


Responses:

>I'm sorry, but I was so careful about copying your address that I forgot
>to get your name.  I would suggest centering on a theme.  This allows you
>to use all kinds of resources yet have a focus.  It's worked for Summer
>Reading Clubs for years.  It can also let students feel that they are each
>bringing a special skill to the club.


>I would hope that each club sponsored by a high school would
>include some type of community service project.  Your lib. club
>internet group could possibly agree to rotate the pleasure of reading
>to elem. students if scheduling, transportation, etc. could be worked
>out (our elem. is across the street, so there are very few
>complications for us that way).  Our FBLA recently held a roadblock
>and collected money for the Arkansas Children's Hospital in Little
>Rock which has served many families in our state in a wonderful way.
>Your club  might be able to come up with a
>com. service proj. related to computer use (perhaps an evening
>session on "how-to" for community members  interested in basics on
>internet use OR publish good, reliable sites for elem. parents to use
>with their children).
>

>My son recently has been completing college entrance info sheets and
>is being asked repeatedly about his com. serv.  We need to provide
>students with the opportunity to help others as well as help them
>reap the joys of serving others.


>our library club is going to try "Mystery Dinner Theatre" this year.  We
>encourage reading in the genre of mysteries by purchasing a game-kit of a
>mystery/play from the local book store, Copperfields.  We have a limited
>number of attendees, send them character outlines ahead of the event, then
>have them come and perform.  Someone is the "victim" (murder!), someone is
>the criminal, and everyone else is "on the case.
>Wish us luck!

>
>Nice to hear from someone else who has a library club.  We call ours a
>"media club" and they each help one hour a week at the circulation desk,
>help with the book fair and carnation sale and, in general, make the
>daily business of running a middle school media center MUCH easier and
>more fun.   I'll write more later if you're interested!  ^_^


>I would appreciate it if you would post a hit or forward to me the
>responses you get.  I posted a query similar to this last year and
>really did not get too many good ideas.  My library aides are
>responsible for shelving my books and reading the shelves.  They are
>also doing fundraisers for the library in the fall and in the spring.
>(We take orders for Halloween treat bags and candy-filled Easter Eggs.)
>I give them a pizza party at the end of each semester.  But I would
>really like to do more with these talented kids!


>Sandy -
>Hi.  I'm a Hamburg native and 1997 UB-SILS graduate.  I started a library
>club here at ER this
>year when I started, mainly as a way to cover some of the clerical work I
>have.  I only have a
>part-time aide, so I needed it.  It's not as cruel as it sounds!  The kids
>LIKE to be able to run
>circulation for me and shelve books.  I taught them how Dewey works and
>the basics of Mandarin
>(they had to pass tests in each to prove they could do it) and even
>encouraged them to take the
>skills and get a job as a page at the local library.  It beats flipping
>burgers!  I have also had
>them design and create displays in the hallway cases, I taught them how to
>cover paperbacks with
>Vistafoil laminate (they really like that one) and I asked them to provide
>me with lists of their
>favorite books (very helpful when shopping and when recommending books).
>

>Sometimes I ask them to look through book and AV catalogs and mark items
>that look interesting.
>I don't run out and buy everything they like, but it is helping me get
>inside their heads a
>little bit.  They also like to water the plants, close the blinds, take
>the newspapers off the
>sticks at the end of the day, that kind of thing.  It saves me TONS of
>time and they feel good
>about helping out.  At least some of these kids have pretty rotten home
>lives, and I think they
>appreciate a little praise and respectful banter with an adult.  What else
>do they get in
>return?  I made laminated ID cards that work like a permanent pass to come
>to the library
>whenever they have free time.  They're also getting a couple of pizza
>parties over the course of
>the year.
>

>Of course, this is a very small school (under 400) and there are only 8
>members - pretty easy to
>manage.  As I recall, West Seneca is quite a bit larger.  I would be very
>interested in any other
>responses you get.  Especially lately, they've been coming down after
>school and I've been
>running out of things for them to do.  Remember what it was like to have
>all that energy? (heavy
>sigh)...
>

>I have fond memories of being in the Library Club when I as in high school
>and the one "field trip" that sticks in my mind was visiting a couple of
>bookstores.  I don't know how big your city is but I was from a small town
>and that bookstore was a new experience.  Now with some of the "super
>stores" it would be even more of an adventure.  I also think you can't go
>wrong with visits to college and special libraries in your area.  Show them
>the diversity!


>Our library club, when it is up and running, will be in charge of the school
>web site, updating news and events, scoping out links etc.  We are an
>intermediate school, grades 5 and 6 but if you think your kids could somehow
>be mentors electronically to mine, I'd love to open dialog on this with you.
>Let me know what you think :)


>I'm not sure if our Book Club  will help because
>we are discussing titles recently released in Australia
> which may not be available in the US.
>
>However, please visit our book club page at
>
>http://www.eddept.wa.edu.au/centoff/cmis/bc.htm
>
>to see what we are doing.


> when we got our very first connection to Tenet (the old one) at
>middle school, I was the librarian. Because we had only about 4
>computers in the library with puzzle making games and word processing,
>plus one for a tenet connection (800 number), I had to figure out a way
>to use what we had.
>

>I organized a "Communications Club". I limited it to about 20 students
>on the first come first served basis, and in order to keep privileges,
>they had to come to the meetings and participate in the activities.
>Because we had a waiting list of students who wanted into the club
>(boys, mostly), I told the students if they missed or didn't follow
>through, they would have to give their place to one who was waiting to
>get in.
>

>I called the group a "Communications Club" and then figured out as many
>ways as I could for them to "communicate". I divided them into groups of
>two or three and assigned each a duty. They would stay on that "duty"
>for a week (or two -- can't remember for sure) and then they would move
>to the next "duty" AFTER training the next two who were replacing them.
>It was a sort of "round robin" where they moved from one medium to the
>next after training their own replacements.
>

>Some of the duty stations were the Ellison Cutters, Computers,
>Tenet/e-mail, Public Address Announcements, writing announcements for
>the local radio station (and sometimes making them), writing
>announcements for the local newspaper, Banner making, etc. Then I
>drummed up business for them. Any teacher who wanted letters or objects
>cut from the Ellison cutter dies wrote the number and size letters
>he/she wanted and the color. Whoever was doing the Ellison that week
>would do them for the teacher.
>

>The same thing occurred with the other media. I had a central place
>where I put up a poster board with pockets. Each was labeled with a
>"duty". Then when a job came in, I put the paper with instructions in
>that pocket. Club members had to come in before school, at noon, when
>they finished with their work from a class and check the "duty roster."
>If they had a job waiting, they did it and took it to the teacher. If
>there was no job waiting to be done, they could do other things,
>providing the equipment was free.
>

>Those kids *loved* that club. The only problem, there were some who
>really wanted in and I just didn't have time to supervise more than
>about 20. The nice thing, though, was that once I got each group trained
>at each duty site they trained the next couple or group. All I had to do
>was kind of check to make sure they were keeping up and doing what they
>were supposed to do.
>

>It really helped the teachers, too. They didn't have to use their
>precious planning/grading time cutting letters, making puzzles, or doing
>word processing (lists, etc.).


Thanks again to everyone. By the way, my address is Eich as my children
receive considerable electroic mail and want a generic name. My three boys
are all nicknamed Eich although my daughter and I have managed to escape
the moniker. It's part of life at our house.

Sandy Eichelberger, LMS
West Seneca East Senior High
West Seneca, NY 14224
eichel@buffnet.net

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