HIT: ELEM inventory the last week of school?? Pt 1

[Evie <e_fowler@YAHOO.COM>]

Wow, what a response to my question!  I received about
60 responses.  I have included many that justify why
we should close the library's circulation before the
end of the year, as well as ideas what to do those
last weeks of school.  I have used snippets of some of
the responses, and have put the state or city of the
the responder's orgin.  I think it's really
interesting to see the different ideas from the
different area's in the US and across the world!
Thanks again to all who responded.  (This is long, so
it will be a three parter!)

Unless you have extended contracts, expecting the
librarian to have full classes and circulation up to
the end is ridiculous. Obviously, the powers that be
have no idea how long it takes to get everything back
in and account for everything.
I find that since I've been automated it takes just as
long as it did before because we have fewer
volunteers. I have used our older kids to scan though.
I surely hope that your administrators will
reconsider.
Topeka, KS

The decision was up to each principal in his/her
school. We did stop circulation early. We usually set
a date in the entire district. They did allow that.
The last week (sometimes two) I called story week and
entertained classes by reading to them the entire
period or playing library games, puzzles, coloring
sheets, etc
Arizona

Our principals decided that the heck with us, they
were tired of taking the flak from the teachers about
the libraries being closed that last week. One told me
that he'd rather pay us for "a couple of days" extra
if we had to come in after school was out. When we
tried to take him up on it, we were then "reminded"
that we had non-contact time (before and after the
kids were here) to work on inventory, so he didn't
need to pay for extra days.
Minnesota

We stop circulation the last week of May... and during
the next THREE weeks of school we do inventory, over
dues, orders and special projects.... In one week, we
could not even get all our books back! An our
inventory always takes longer than one week... we
continue to service staff and teachers but classes are
ceased unless a special project is arranged....
Cape Cod, MA

I do stop lending two weeks ahead and have all books
due at least one week before the end of school. This
allows me to mail payment notices home and make phone
calls when I think it might produce a missing book. I
have requested, and will probably get, a sub to
conduct classes for three days so that I can be free
to do a partial inventory. I am trying to make the
case that the collection represents a huge investment
of taxpayer's money, and that it would be
irresponsible not to do at least a partial inventory
each year. Our school also automated this year, so
part of the challenge will be to figure out just how
to do one.
Duxbury, MA

Our last student day is June 8; my last library class
is May 26. I will not have students past Memorial Day.
Also, students will not check out books for the two
weeks prior to closing. Kinders will stop a week
sooner, as they get out ahead of the 1 - 8 grades. It
takes the entire time to track down overdue & lost
books. (And all the books have to be returned to do a
proper inventory.) This can't be done with student
traffic - even without checkout, students will read &
mis-file ... it's their nature.
Erie, PA

At our school the last day to check out is 3 weeks
prior to last day of school. Otherwise we would never
get the books back.... We have to use threats of no
report cards; bribes for turning in anybody else’s
book found sitting around. One school in our district
doesn't take classes the last week.... Special deal
approved by principal
Fairbanks, AK

Last year, they did hire an extra aide for the month
of June to cover library preps since I was packing up
the library for renovations. This year I won't even
ask. We will stop circulation at the beginning of June
and try to get the shelves in order at least.
Bay Shore, NY

I work in a private school and we require all books to
be due 2 weeks before the end of school. That gives us
time to charge students for lost books. No report
cards are given until all obligations to the library
are met. We hold classes up until the last week when
we do inventory.
North Palm Beach, FL

Our district has the same policy of libraries open
first day till last. To accommodate inventory and
processing they pay us for 20 hours over the summer.
Not really enough time, but getting paid for part of
it is nice.
I do not allow circulation he lasts two weeks of
school so I can track lost books and begin inventory.
I do have classes both those weeks after a fashion.
The first week, I read to each class the entire period
and they cannot check out. The last week, I invite the
public children's librarian in to talk to each class
about the public library, the summer reading program,
checkout policies, etc. It's good PR between us, and I
can be inventorying while she's talking but available
if there's a problem.
Central City, NE

I don't know why those who are not librarians cannot
get it into their heads that running a library (much
less seeing classes, doing computer work, etc) is a
full time job in itself. Without an inventory every
year the library will begin to fall apart. You will
not know what you have and what you don't have. Books
will remain out of place and during the following year
you won't be able to find them. And of course next
year you won't have the time to look for them. An
inventory is a vital part of a school library program.
AND you cannot do an inventory when you are still
seeing your regular classes and the books are coming
and going in and out and you don't have time to put
them in order and there's no time to inventory them
anyway. Can you tell this is a spoap box I have been
on before? In my system there are 15 elementary
schools. We are not automated. We do close two weeks
before the end of school for classes but not for
reference use or teacher use, to inventory. I usually
get all the books put on the shelves in pretty good
order and on my good year’s inventory about a quarter
of the library. This means I get through the whole
place every 4 or 5 years. Let me add that I have no
parent help. If I didn't get those last 10 days (which
is really only 8 since we schedule during one of the
days and also have a field day on the other.) I would
have a library in shambles to leave behind in June and
to come back to in September. This is, as they say, no
way to run a railroad.
Newton MA

I had a similar situation in a couple of schools. The
problem was coming from the teachers, not the
principals. I used the building's average daily
checkout times the number of extra days divided that
number by 70. 70 is the average number of materials
that a person can check-in, put on the cart, organize
and shelve in the correct spot. ex. 157 items per day
x 8 days = 1256 items divided by 70 = 18 hours of
shelving without any interruptions, stop to say hello,
answer any kind of question or phone call, break etc.
I had decided that the items would be stacked and not
put away, what could not get done in the time
allotted. Frustrating to say the least. My formula did
help to give stats to support the need.
Fargo, North Dakota

You need at least a week to herd up all the overdues
and loss’s at the end of the year and convince people
they need to turn in what they have out.  We shut off
circ, except for in-house loans of instructional
materials or very temporary
use-it-and-bring-it-back-in-an-hour kind of loans at
least a week before the end. I usually try for 2
weeks, because I have 3 schools and must collect for
all of them. I have to do inventory after school is
out - there's just no other way - but my contract goes
for 2 weeks after school ends, so I have time to catch
up a little.
Soledad, CA

What I finally found to be the answer (albeit not the
perfect one) was doubling or tripling up of classes to
whom I would then show some good educational video,
etc. We have an educational cooperative close, which
housed some one-hour video cassettes of several books
we had in the library. I always tied these in (face to
face instruction, you know) and talked about the
author, etc. The fact that I took the classes for an
hour or more rather than the usual 30 minutes made the
teachers think I was offering something really
special...so even it wasn't on their scheduled day,
they were happy. Sometimes I did this the week before
the last couple of days, so I had a few days without
classes. Books usually had to be checked in two weeks
before the end of school.
De Queen, Arkansas

Our district policy is that all libraries close the
last two weeks for inventory and all books must be in
by that time.
Long Beach, CA

My school district stops check out about 2 weeks
before the end of school. Our last day for students
will be the 14th, so we will probably stop check out
about 2 weeks before. Our administrators assumed that
automation would speed up inventory and cut down on
the need for closing as early, BUT they were wrong -
automation has made the process longer with more
accurate records of what is present, lost, or missing.
You still have to get the books in order before you
scan them to dump into the computer OR at least I
always have!
South Boston, VA


=====
Evon Beth Moyle
Librarian
Afton Elementary School
Pennsbury School District
1673 Quarry Rd.
Yardley, PA 19067
e_fowler@yahoo.com

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From: Evie <e_fowler@YAHOO.COM>
Subject: HIT: ELEM inventory the last week of school?? Pt 3

In our school I must keep books available to the
students until 3 days before we finish school. This I
know will be a nightmare. I plan on setting the
computer to actually have everything due 8 days before
school is out and then on those last three days I will
be hunting down materials and any not returned will
not receive their report cards. Even further I will be
able to bill on the next year's book bill any
materials not returned. I don't know when I will be
able to do inventory because I will also will be
having classes till the very end of the year. Maybe I
will do it on my vacation?????????????

I only work 2 days a week and the other librarians 2
1/2. Some principals insisted that librarians work to
the end and some let the librarians decide. This year
we finally got the superintendent to say everyone can
end check out 2 weeks before school and no students
the last week. It is difficult to track down overdues,
read and fix shelves and due inventory in 2 days.
Unless they want to pay you to work when school is out
(which our district did not) then it is impossible to
have classes and put the library in order. I refuse to
have students in until the class lists are finalized
and I have them all inputted in the computer. If the
students come in before this happens, I do not have
the time to ever get it done. You must insist on
having the last week free!
Burlingame, CA

Our elementary libraries are closed the last week of
school for inventory. All books are due in the Friday
before. We also have one additional paid day to tie up
loose ends (supposedly AV equipment, but doing
inventory in reality). The way things actually work?
1. It takes much of the last week to get stuff back
from the chronic overdue folks. We do have a state law
making parents responsible for lost or damaged school
property, from books to football uniforms. We hold
report cards (some parents don't care), and at the HS,
students may not register or graduate. 2. Our
volunteers mostly dry up that week, so even more
inventory doesn’t get done. I'm often setting up the
sound system for the rocket launch, graduation, award
assembly, talent show, so yet more doesn't get done.
On the positive side: NM state law requires an
up-to-date shelf list. The state doesn't have any
library media standards, but it does have the shelf
list requirement. Years ago, we used that as part of
our rationale for closing. Take an average valuation
for your collection and any equipment you administer
and ask your superintendent if he feels comfortable
with not having a handle on all those thousands of
dollars worth of tax money purchases. By the way, our
HS and MS libraries are open until the last day with
classes. They are paid their daily rate to stay open a
week/three days respectively with support staff to do
inventory.
Los Alamos, NM

I close for at least two weeks and this year maybe
three to collect all books and take an inventory...It
is the librarians discretion in LAUSD.
Los Angeles, CA

In mid-May I begin to firmly enforce the # of books
kids can check out, and I start to pester them more
about bringing back overdues. All kid books (except
for those needed for projects) need to be back two
weeks before the last day of school. This gives me a
couple of weeks to send letters, call parents, etc. to
get back all of the long-overdues, get parents to
replace lost/damaged books, or even get $$ for
lost/damaged books, etc. All teacher materials must be
returned by the last day - teachers have a check-off
list of certain things that they must have completed
before they can leave for the summer. One of the
biggies is that all library materials must have been
returned, and I have to sign-off on their list. Thus
teachers have a big incentive to get everything back
to me. (Just two weeks ago I sent out a
"spring-cleaning" notice, asking teachers to bring
back items that they were done with. I attached a
print-out of all of the items the teachers had
checked-out. I had a lot come back - some were from
units that the teachers were done with months ago!)
With my principal's ok, I have no classes the last
week of school - this is the week we spend reading the
shelves, looking for lost items, doing a limited
inventory on just certain areas, getting A/V equipment
sent out for cleaning, storage, etc. If you have to
have classes through the last day of school, is your
district paying you to come in after school to do
inventory and all of the other end-of-the-year chores?
Does your district value the information
resources/equipment that the tax-payers have paid for
to keep in the library? Does your principal/district
administrators realize that the librarian has
considerable responsibility for a very expensive
resource? Does your principal/district administrators
understand the different roles that the librarian must
perform? We're more than a teacher - we're
teachers/resource consultants and managers!! Would
your administrators insist that your principal covers
for a classroom teacher and neglect her/his principal
administrative duties?
Upper Arlington, OH

If you are required to circulate books up to last day
how are you expected to get materials returned or paid
for if lost???? Sounds like you are providing release
time for classroom teachers as a top priority and
getting your required professional work done on your
own time. Maybe providing accurate records of what is
missing is not information the powers that be are
comfortable having available. One suggestion might be
to have a grade level or even more if possible at one
time and share a literature based video to provide
coverage for teacher planning time while providing
something of value to the kids. By meeting in larger
groups some time would be freed up to do the end of
year administrative tasks you need to do. Do you get
the same planning time as classroom teachers within
the student week? We discontinue student circulation a
couple of weeks before the last day in order to get
materials returned or paid for. We allow in school use
of all materials and will put together a class
collection for a unit or free choice (primary) if
desired.

All books are due 2 wks before school is out at our
school. Teachers may keep books and AV equipment out
until the last day of school if they wish. Most turn
in early though. We have a book fair 3 wks before
school is out--this is the week no check outs are
allowed. The next week we have a book trades day and
the last week we have trivia games with small prizes
for the winners in elem school since I do have classes
until the last day of school.

Inventory must be done, right? I don't think anyone
will argue the necessity of accounting for all library
materials. If the teachers expect me to teach till the
last day, and then do inventory after school is out,
then I will expect to see all of them there working
for the same number of days I need to get the job
done. They might be more agreeable to giving up their
prep if that is their choice. After all - why should
we work into the summer with no pay if they don't?
Oswego, NY

=====
Evon Beth Moyle
Librarian
Afton Elementary School
Pennsbury School District
1673 Quarry Rd.
Yardley, PA 19067
e_fowler@yahoo.com

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