Tgt: Centralized Processing

["Johnson, Barbara" <bhjohnso@ALBRIGHTMAIL.ALIEF.ISD.TENET.EDU>]

Dear All:
Here is hoping you can help a fellow Texas librarian concerning district
centralized processing. Her message is below--please respond to her
directly-not to me. Please excuse the cross-posting for TLC members. Thanks
in advance! Barb :-)

Barbara Johnson, Librarian
Albright Middle School
Houston, Texas 77083
bhjohnso@albrightmail.alief.isd.tenet.edu
<mailto:Bhjohnso@albrightmail.alief.isd.tenet.edu>

Send responses to:
Cathy Conger
< cconger@BRYANISD.ORG <mailto:cconger@BRYANISD.ORG>  >
Library Supervisor
Bryan ISD


To TLC Members across the state:
I need your help. I am the Library Supervisor in Bryan ISD, and I have been
given two weeks to "justify" the existence of our district's library
processing center. We are having some budget crisis for 2000/2001, and they
are looking to cut my staff in half and possibly cut some of our services.
My boss has asked me to "report on the positive and negative aspects of a
centralized library processing center as evidenced in other districts across
the state." So I am coming to you with a plea for your input.  Our district
is 13,500 in enrollment. We have 15 elementaries, 3 middle schools, and 1
high school (the high school has 3,400 students in 9-12). We have certified
librarians in every library. At our new high school library we have 3
certified librarians and 3 library aides, thanks to the new standards. We
have good facilities and have had good budget support for our library
collections.
Even though I realize that my opinion is a biased one, I think we have a
strong library program. We have a library processing center, a district
media center, and a teacher material center-all under one roof. I have four
staff members under my direct supervision -- 1 secretary and 3 clerks.  In
addition to the library responsibilities, we also administer the district's
textbooks.
I will be giving my boss plenty of evidence of my own in an effort to
convince her that central processing is not only more economical and
provides consistency throughout the district, but more importantly relieves
the campus librarian of many clerical and technical responsibilities. I feel
strongly that it is more important for the campus librarian to have more
time to spend serving students and faculty than performing the many
time-consuming tasks involved in getting materials ordered and ready to go
on the shelf. I realize that many other districts don't have a centralized
processing center, but I really have strong feelings about the benefits of
doing things for all the libraries in a district in a uniform and consistent
manner.
If you could respond to my plea, I would be ever so grateful. I am looking
for honest feedback. My boss did say she wanted the positive and negative
side of a centralized system, so let me know what you think. For those of
you who do have a centralized system, please let me know what services you
provide not only to librarians, but to other district personnel as well.
Also let me know what your district size is and how many staff members you
have at the district center. Thanks in advance for any responses you may
send me. I have been so impressed with wonderful sharing of information
that goes on all the time among the TLC group.-Cathy

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