HIT: Handling Heavy Lunchtime Traffic in the Library Part 5

[Peter & Joanne Shawhan <shawhanj@crisny.org>]

No Recreational Use:
Ah,Joanne.... Is it not the pits???  You work hard to get kids into the
media center... and then  Have to worry about getting kids into the
media center... because they mis-use rather than use... Been there, done
that.  Finally, we have a rule... must have a pass from a subject
teacher to use the media center at lunch... Students must be working on
a project or assignment, and teacher must write them a pass... this is
especially important at our place, because we have more than one
lunch... what may be your lunch is another student's class time...
hence, the passes.  When there are no classes scheduled into the media
center we don't enforce the rule all that closely... but when 2 or 3
classes are working, students coming in at lunch to "do whatever" can be
a problem.
Jonny Trotti
Media Coordinator
Anson High School
Wadesboro, NC

We have three 26 min. lunch periods.  Students may only come to the
library during those three periods if they have a pass from the
librarians.   We do this because I usually eat during the first period
and then my assistant eats during the second period.  I also go to
another school to teach starting the third period.  So we don't want
many students during this time.
Kathy Simonsen
Media Specialist
Cherokee Community Schools
ksimonsen@cherokee.k12.ia.us

Our school does not allow students to go anywhere but the cafeteria at
lunch.  All students are told they must go to lunch - we do have to be
on  our toes at the beginning of the year but they do get the message
after the  first few weeks.

At our high school we have lunch 4th and 5th periods.  Students assigned
4th period lunch have a divided period whereby 4a is lunch for 30
minutes and 4b is superstudy for 30 minutes.  Students may come to the
media center during superstudy with a pass from the teacher who makes
the assignment. Student may come from lunch if they have some time left
or if they choose to not eat.  When they come from lunch, they must have
a reason that is consistent with being in a media center.  We tell them
that if they want to visit with their friends, just stay in the lunch
room. They may use the media center as a quiet place (???) to study or
use any material or  Service.  The main thing at lunch is to not present
ourselves as a "commons" area for meeting friends.  Certainly teenagers
need this and our school recognizes this, but the building won't
accommodate the idea of a common meeting place at the moment. To some
students the media center looks like a friendly place to meet and talk,
but we try to discourage it. While some students are in 4th lunch and
superstudy, other students are in a 4th period class and we will have a
class in the media center along with the 4th superstudy students and
lunch students.  It works for us to keep them focused on expecting to
use the media center to study, complete some sort of research, read,
etc.
Virginia Meier, Media Specialist
Castle High School
vmeier@evansville.net
--
Joanne Shawhan
Library Media Specialist
Cobleskill-Richmondville High School
Washington Heights
Cobleskill NY 12043
(518)234-3565 x1151 or x1149
shawhanj@crisny.org
shawhanj@crcs.k12.ny.us

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