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I could sure use some fresh thoughts on the subject of reducing the number of books that develop legs and walk out the door! We are getting a distressing number of books returned that have never been checked out. This last week it was more than 20 and we are a small school. Then of course this generates serious worries about the ones that DIDN'T come back. I not infrequently find myself looking for a book that is supposed to be on the shelf and is not to be found. Some of this is due to misshelving but not all. Judging from the titles I don't think the primary culprits are teachers. Most of these unchecked out books are being returned in our general return slot and not with the classroom returns so we have no way of even narrowing down the problem to particular classrooms. What we are currently doing: Primary grades: Every child as they check out gets one bookmark of the week in their books and I check for these as they leave the library. Intermediate grades: They get a bookmark for each book and I check for these as they leave. Students missing a bookmark are just matter of factly told to go check with my library assistant who is doing the checking out. I very much dislike being the cop at the door and feel very uncomfortable about what it adds to the atmosphere but it felt like we had to do something. And apparently it isn't doing much good. I am aware that students come through the line who DID check out and are missing a bookmark or two. I suspect sometimes one of their bookmarks was taken by another student and was used in a book that was not checked out. The opportunity easily exists as students frequently have put their books down at the table where they will be sitting while they wait to line up and then leave briefly to do something else. I wonder if in the process of trying to "police" the situation we are just creating a challenge to beat the system. Perhaps an atmosphere of lack of trust is just inviting untrustworthy behavior. But the problem was there before we instituted this system. What do you do to try to ensure that all books actually get checked out??? Do you do anything? And no, security stripping is not an option for numerous reasons. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jean Townes, Media Specialist townesj@PEAK.ORG Clover Ridge Elementary School Phone: 541-967-4565 Greater Albany Public Schools 2953 Clover Ridge Rd, NE Albany, Or 97321 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-==-= All postings to LM_NET are protected under copyright law. To quit LM_NET (or set-reset NOMAIL or DIGEST, etc.) send email to: listserv@listserv.syr.edu In the message write EITHER: 1) SIGNOFF LM_NET 2) SET LM_NET NOMAIL or 3) SET LM_NET DIGEST 4) SET LM_NET MAIL * Please allow for confirmation from Listserv. For LM_NET Help see: http://ericir.syr.edu/lm_net/ Archives: http://askeric.org/Virtual/Listserv_Archives/LM_NET.shtml See also EL-Announce for announcements from library media vendors: http://www.mindspring.com/~el-announce/ =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-=-=