LM_NET: Library Media Networking
Here is Part 2 of the wonderful list of suggestions people sent. Again,
thank you all. You have been most generous and extremely helpful. (Shannon)
*We rely completely on parent volunteers to shelve materials and run the
book fair. They occasionally help in the computer labs. We are moving to
a new school and new media center; parent volunteers did a
lot of the packing and they will help with unpacking. One volunteer
manages the print cartridges recyling program and also lines up all the
other volunteers.
Mary Alice Anderson, Media Specialist
& Editorial Consultant, Linworth Publishing, columnist, _Multimedia
Schools_
Personal home page:
http://wms.luminet.net/teachers/manderso.html
Media tech page:
http://wms.luminet.net/wmstechnology/index.html
*When I worked in a middle school library I always had parent volunteers to
help with the book fair; the PTA president did all the organization and
calling; she had one parent coming in the morning and one in the afternoon
to help which was really great for me. I made sure I sent them a personal
letter of thanks.
We also had parent volunteers help with our Annual Author's Day; for example
during parent conferences we had books for sale from the author who was
coming that year and they set up a table and sold them for us. Parent
volunteers also served lunch to selected students and the author.
You might want to start a "gift" program; give parents a wish list of books
you would like for the library and if they desire they can "purchase" one in
honor of their child; a book plate is put inside the book indicating who it
is honor of; I also did this with book fair books; I had a wish list
available during the book fair that I would like or teachers would like in
the library and parents could purchase one for the library.
In the elementary school I had no help so had a small group of parents who
came in and volunteered; they usually had specific jobs and I had prepared a
folder for each with general instructions.
Use parent volunteers for any special projects you are doing. I would work
through your PTA if you have one; they know who the best people are.
How about surveying parents as to special skills or hobbies they have; then
ask them to come in and present a lunchtime workshop to students who are
interested in that subject. You would be surprised what
interesting hobbies and collections people have.
Along those same lines, one of my home and careers teachers always held an
annual Career Day; she contacted parents of her students and they came in
and set up at at tables in the library all kinds of things about their jobs;
the kids had to interview three of them. I got to meet a lot of great
parents that way and it was good PR for the library. This grew over the
years; parents whose children went on to higher grades were still willing to
come back and participate in Career Day; we had wonderful people who were
very popular with the kids. Now, it has grown so big they have to use the
gym.
This is not really library related but at our annual spelling bee to which
parents are invited I was always the judge. After the bee a brunch was held
for the students and parents-in the library; I always made a point of
sitting at a table with the parents and making the rounds to get to know
them.
Be sure you recognize these people in some way. Diane Pozar Monroeville, Pa.
*I'm the parent of a middle schooler and these are some of the things I do/
have done at our middle school library:
- developed a data base and set of reports used for overdue notices (we are
not automated yet)
- assist students with check out
- shelving
- process returned items
- enter students into our overdue data base and print reports
- assist and supervise students use of the internet
- do internet searches for teachers
- processing new materials including some original cataloging with mitinet
- installing software/computer troubleshooting/advice
- assist with the book fair
- since we are doing retrospective conversion, prepare the shelf list to be
sent out
- anything else that needs to get done
a few notes.... The middle school has one media specialist and NO aides
Marisa Szamreta
PTO Library Committee Chairperson
Dwight D. Eisenhower Elementary
*Our parent volunteers shelve, repair and cover books, as well as cover the
circulation desk.
thesmiths" <thesmiths@mediaone.net> Save Address - Block Sender
*Hi! I am Michelle Graves, the library media specialist for Geyer Springs
Elementary in Little Rock, Arkansas. This is only my second year being an
lms! I am learning a lot and I have many ideas! I hope these will help!
I have a literacy night once a month. The library is open from 5:00 - 9:00
pm and parents come with their children to read library books, check them
out, and/or take Accelerated Reader tests on the computer. Each month has a
different theme like "Warm Up With a Good Book" in January. We serve hot
chocolate and cookies. It has been a great success!
I am starting a Book Club for my fifth graders that will involve parents and
students. Both parents and students will read the book and come for a book
discussion one evening a month. I will choose chapter books that parents
and students can read together or independently.
I hope these help! I love being a lms! I know you will, too!
Good luck!
Sincerely,
Michelle Graves, LMS
Geyer Springs Elementary
Little Rock School District
cthegraves@aol.com
* When I was a parent of a middle schooler, I made the monthly bulletin
board for the library media specialist - she loved not having to put it
together. She would give me a theme and an idea of what she wanted and I
would make it and hang it up. Parents are also great at staffing the book
fairs (hopefully, if you have a book fair the library gets to keep the
profit), I shelved books so that the clerical assistant would have time to
work on processing library materials. I also helped with the conversion to
an automated system by putting the barcodes on the books when I was a parent
volunteer. Perhaps you could have someone make curtains so that you can
darken the room for a video presentation or covers for the computers to keep
the dust off. Just some quick ideas, hope this helps.
Carol Cappadona
Library Media Specialist
Lakeview School
Tyngsborough, MA
doctorcapp@msn.com
*Volunteers could shelve books, do your bulletin boards, assist the aide
with check in and out, put covers on books, paste in pockets and date due
slips, type the newsletter for home, communicate with your PTO, Plan and
support fund raising, just to suggest a few things.
Dorothy E. Tissair
Library Media Specialist
Mark Twain School
Hartford, CT
ricflair@mail2.nai.net
* Parental involvement:
shelve
process new materials
repair
file magazines
update vertical file
new shelf labels and signs
bulletin boards (you do topic, they can make it for you, or you make it and
the volunteer puts it up)
write overdues
process/file magazines
xerox
laminate
display case
web page
special artwork - (e.g., I had one parent make signs to use as backdrop when
the TV studio did birthdays)
make bibliographies
pull reserve carts
find kids in the lunchroom for that "one on one" contact regarding overdues
assist students with research skills when the student has either low reading
skills or is an ESOL student and needs the extra help
Internet searching for you
circulation - help check in or out for books
lunch relief - on days that I know my assistant will be out for
training or whatever, I get a parent to sit on the floor of the IMC so that
I can take my lunch and kids can still come in to get materials.
word processing your worksheets
file vendor catalogs
read shelves
help with inventory
I have one parent making copies of the bar code labels and putting them on
the spines of the nonprint so that when we do inventory, we do not have to
remove the nonprint from the shelf to scan. Will save tons of time. Hope
this helps.
M.S. Preissner, LMS
Redland M.S.
Rockville, MD
*Help with special projects like the book fair and Read Across
America Day, book circulation, story time.
"Laurel Disbrow" <don_laurel@email.msn.com> Save Address - Block Sender
Some of the things our middle school parents have helped us with are:
1. Organizing parent volunteers in our library and creating a calendar each
month of their hours.
(This was a critical task that enabled us to get underway with our
volunteer program. Also, attendance tends to drop off as time goes along.
If parents know that they will be getting a call from time to
time to check and see if they want to "continue with the same schedule or
change their hours," they tend to be more faithful about coming. It is
very hard for regular staff to make the time to call folks during the day,
so this job is such an important one.)
2. shelving books
3. putting shelves in order
4. remarking biographies as 921 (ours were classed as 92), updating the
accompanying automated records, and typing new spine labels (This project
was unique to our library)
5. helping with displays and bulletin boards (Creating letters with the
Ellison machine, designing the board)
6. running the book fair (We set it up, but our parents manned the tables,
straightened the shelves, managed the cash box, kept records of orders, etc.
7. Interfiling paperback fiction and permabound fiction with regular
fiction titles (project unique to our library)
8. Determining genre for fiction books and attaching labels
Some of our parents could do so much more than we asked them to do; others
gave us their energy by their presence. Each contributed a great deal to
our school and our program.
Cathy Rosesntock, LMS
Marlborough Middle School
Marlborough, MA 01752
CRMERCURY@aol.com Save Address - Block Sender
* How about having parents help during check out time or help shelving
books. What about having a parent that covers the books. (We cover ours
with plastic). Just a few thoughts......Hope they help.
Kelli "Kelli Wilson" <auntkelli@hotmail.com
Shannon McNeice
Library Media Specialist
Ellington MIddle School
Ellington, CT 06029
mrsmcneice@excite.com
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