Forgive me, the first time I posted this hit I forgot a page. Here is the =
letter over again. I used many of your ideas. A million thanks to all =
who e-mailed me.
Adminstrators need to understand that the ongoing amount of work that a =
librarian has is different than other teachers. Librarians are teachers, =
as well as a support service for all staff members. The work accomplished =
by media specialists during our summer week of work is critical to =
providing quality library media services to the staff and the students. =
Many tasks need to be accomplished to maintain a library media program =
that promotes information literacy and technology in the curriculum, =
facilitates teaching, student achievement and lifelong learning. If we =
are not allowed time to get the media center ready, then we can=27t =
support the other members of the staff. Students look forward to checking =
out books on their first day back to school. We circulate over 1,000 =
books the first full week of school. If student records for checking out =
books are not reconfigured with current class information, it will take at =
least three weeks before students can start checking out books. The =
summer time work allows my two part-time aides to work together to =
add/change/delete/clean up patron names. It is more efficient for them to =
work together to complete this task. =20
Classes cannot access the collection without some prior work to update, =
catalog and organize it. Acquisitions, cataloging, and other business =
operations are extremely important to responsible fiscal management of =
funds. Orders need to be placed so that new materials arrive before =
school and can be out on shelves when teachers and students return. =
Organization is vital to a library=27s efficiency. =20
To attain such goals, a media center must have an accurate database. =
Current materials must be accessible in a timely manner. The media center =
must be user-friendly with appropriate signage on shelves. All books and =
media must be properly labeled for easy access. Popular titles must be =
replaced as needed. In order to promote student learning plans must be =
made for the media collection to support new programs. Suggestions for =
upgrading our collection are made by teachers in June. The library =
searches for materials to enhance the curriculum needs of the teachers. =
The list of duties above takes you through important activities to help =
reach these goals. Without extended employment, there would not be time =
to attend to these critical tasks.
1. Check in magazines that have come in over the =
summer. Arrange the most recent issues on display shelves. =20
2. Claim magazines that did not arrive. Open and sort approximately 4 =
boxes of summer mail.
3. Order new equipment.
4. File publisher catalogs received over the summer.
5. Answer any summer correspondence.
6. Make entire media center inviting for the opening of school. This =
could include: filling display cases, putting up bulletin boards, =
rearranging furniture that has been moved by cleaning crews, bringing in =
plants, and putting out special displays.
7. Clean & repair equipment. If impossible for us to repair, send =
out for repairs. If needed, deliver audio-visual equipment to classrooms =
or rearrange them in their proper location for checkout.
8. Check inventory of equipment. =20
9. Make new bibliographies for teachers.
10. Shelfread the book collection and audiovisual collections.
11. While inventorying the collection, weed any out-of-date materials. =
Update computer records based on inventory. Delete MARC records of lost =
books and add records for titles not in the database. Work on snags found =
during inventory: titles classified wrong, two copies with different =
classifications, etc.
12. Order books found to be missing in inventory--if you choose to =
replace them at this time.
13. Unpack orders. Check billing records for new materials, process =
them and send them to accounting.
14. Process books donated to the library or received without catalog =
records. Load computer disks into computer to upgrade database.
15. Develop the collection by checking with teachers and students for =
books that will support the curriculum. Ordering materials to support new =
or additional curriculum.
16. Read reviews of new materials. Select print, nonprint, and =
electronic library resources. Check database to avoid ordering duplicates.=
Prepare ordering information.
17. Initiate purchase orders for items needed: i.e. supplies, books =
and media.
18. Shelving, processing, labeling VCR tapes.
19. Covering & repairing books and other materials.
20. Update records for all new teachers and explain services offered.
21. Establish routines and procedures for organizing and circulating =
media and equipment.
22. Updating library lessons, including organizing content, duplicating=
materials, etc. Research on the web for new ideas. Organizing files.
23. Plan professional development activities to keep current on all =
aspects of the school library media program.
24. Consider different ways to involve parents/community in the =
library media program.
25. Decide whether discarded books are to be re-ordered.
26. Create reports.
27. Clean files on computer
Thanks,
Janet Webekind
Janet Webekind
Librarian
Wedgwood Elementary School
236 Hurffville Road
Sewell, New Jersey 08080
(856)227-8110
JWEBEKIND=40WTPS.ORG
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