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Good Morning,
Thank you for al of the words of encouragement and the
ideas. To summarize my original request, I am losing my
clerk and wanted ideas of how to run a one person media
center. Many of the responses were similar, so I have
summarized them below. 
I found that many of you put in extra time either staying
late, coming early, or working from home. Also, there are
many activities that suffer due to the lack of staffing. In
other words, you do what ever it takes to get things done.
The only thing that concerns me about this is that if
everything seems to be running smoothly will we ever get the
help we need? In my district the clerical staffing
guidelines call for a clerk in the media center. However, it
is up to the principal where they are assigned. So, my clerk
is in the office answering phones and handling the sign ins
and sign outs. But, I do what I do for the students.
Every one of you relies on library assistants to help you
get things done. These are only available at my site for 3
of the 5 periods. But, I plan on training students from the
classes to do the whole class checkout. I will just have to
be available to deal with those students with overdue books
and fines.
I do plan to focus on those things that are important to me:
the first thing is getting books into the student’s hands
and promoting reading. I also plan on focusing on those
items that affect my evaluation. 
I received many good ideas:
1.    Take a planning period
2.    See if those things that do not directly affect
student achievement such as laminating, etc can be assigned
to other people.
3.    Make it a policy that all requests need to be made at
least 1 day before they need or want them. Let the teachers
know that the lack of an aide is going to change the way
things are done in the library.
4.    Very strict structuring of classes using the library.
Make it clear to teachers that they are responsible for
supervising and managing behavior.  
5.    One of the things I have done in the past is set up
three or four "administrative" days each month.  On those
days, I set aside a certain amount of time during each
period for accepting students with passes.  I schedule no
classes on those days.  Those are the days that I attend all
of the instructional team meetings. If one of my
administrative days falls on a day when there are no
meetings, I use that time to catch up on reports or
paperwork, vendor meetings, or anything else that needs
doing.  I also trained 6-8 students in basic shelving and
how I like the center set up for classes, and I let them
handle those things for me in the mornings before they go to
homeroom.  6.    Insist that all teacher requests be put in
writing, dated, and put in your mailbox; let them all know
it's first-come-first-serve as you have time. Every time
someone stops you for a question or service, tell them the
same canned speech: "Can you make sure to write that down,
date it, and put it in my mailbox? I'll get to it as soon as
I can. I'm all by myself in the library now, you know.
Thanks!" Once teachers begin not getting things the minute
they want them, maybe you'll get more help.
7.    I think canceling scheduled classes even though they
send 5 students at a time works better for the students. You
get to actually help a small group instead of everyone just
messing around. It sends a clear message that things have
changed. And no more just stopping to help faculty. Say "I'm
so sorry I'll put that on my to do list and get back to you
later".
8.     Set up a fixed schedule of class checkouts. Work
around that fixed schedule for the other classes.
9.    Over the summer I read and implemented David Allen’s
Getting Things Done book/approach and am very glad I did so.
I feel much more in control and aware of what needs to be
done at any one time. ( I have purchased it to read)
10.    Also, in order to keep myself planted at the
circulation desk more often and at my office desk less often
I bought a small cart at IKEA that I roll out to sit next to
me during the day and store in my office at night. On it, I
put my calendar of classes, reader’s advisory books I may
be
working with, files of projects currently in action, my
receipt book for lost book payments, and the AV reservation
calendars. I also store tape and scissors in it. 
Thank you again for all of the great suggestions.
Diane

Diane Cotten
Media Specialist
Marshall Middle School
Plant City, Florida
cotten_s@firn.edu

Diane Cotten
Media Specialist
Marshall Middle School
Plant City, Florida
cotten_s@firn.edu

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