Blackout Benefits

[Gayle Hodur <ghodur@REDSHIFT.COM>]

Our rolling blackouts in CA have been anywhere from a minor annoyance to a
mid-sized problem in the library, but we got an unexpected benefit from
Friday's blackout. Normally we would have tried to laboriously continue
checkouts by writing everything down. We decided to scrap it, and move out
into the sun with all our new books and our processing tools. We set up
"camp" at a picnic table outside the library just at the heaviest recess
time. It was hot as Hades, and we answered the question "What are you
doing?" about 80 zillion times. But we now have kids who are wildly excited
about things that are about to be released for checkout, and they also have
a tremendous respect, now, for how much work it takes to get from the box
to the shelf. We had dozens of conversations about books, authors, and
illustrators. We pointed out some lovely embossed illustrations and how sad
it would be if someone wrote on them or got them dirty. We had kids
trimming book jackets to fit, and ripping tape strips, and talking about
how we'd feel if that book got dropped in a puddle its first time out.
While it was hard to give up a regular checkout, I do think we accomplished
an unusual amount in that hour, and probably something that, in the long
run, will do more good than if everything had gone as planned.
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Gayle Hodur                             Snail mail:     Main Street Middle School
District Librarian                                      441 Main St.
Soledad Unified School District                         Soledad, CA  93960
Soledad, CA  93960                                      831-678-3923

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