Teacher/ Librarian Cooperation?

[hoopsone <hoopsone@FRONTIERNET.NET>]

   Our third grade classes are being moved to the middle school since there
is a space crunch and this is the only place that we could add extra rooms.
 Right after Easter break I sent a memo to the third grade teachers asking
them to specify materials they felt would be necessary to transfer to the
other building.  I got such replies as-anything about animals, all things
specifically ordered for the 3rd grade, etc.
   Since our faculty meeting was scheduled for today, I spent the past 2
weeks going through my AV shelves, keeping those items which have been
recently used, discarding old or damaged materials, and sorting the rest of
the items into boxes by category.  I asked the teachers to go through these
items and let me know what they felt should be kept, because I suspected
many did not even realize what was there.  I told them I would keep the
sorted items for 2 weeks and then start discarding.
   First of all, some only wanted to look at the video collection (which
was not even included because all the videos are heavily used).  Then one
teacher raised her hand and asked "Isn't this really YOUR job?" I responded
that I had ordered the materials based on what I understood to be their
curriculum needs, or at their request, and that now I felt I needed their
feedback on those items which appeared not to be used.  I understand that
there is a lot of testing at this time of year and we are all pressed for
time, but the general reaction seemed to be that this was a waste of their
time. Some did stay and look through and were making comments about things
they weren't aware of (exactly my point).
   Do other people find that the faculty does not seem to see your role as
facilitator, but more as dumping ground for the prep time?  I'm only in the
building 1/2 time, which makes me feel out of the loop many times, but it
seems cooperation should be a 2 way street.

Kathy

Kathy Hooper, Librarian
Greenwood Lake UFSD
Greenwood Lake, NY  10925
hoopsone@frontiernet.net

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