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Thank you to everyone for helping with this issue! There really are a variety of suggestions here, and for those of you struggling with the same problem I urge you to take some time to browse these. I'm still mulling over my options and trying to get a feel for what would work best with my students! Carrie Fox Librarian South Park High School, South Park, PA foxc@sparksd.org 412-655-4900 ext. 238 *** I would definitly require passes from teachers. I think that you should also ask the student to see the specific assignment. This way you can sort of monitor what they are doing, particularly on the Internet. After a while, you may find a pattern of some teachers just randomly writing passes to students that they may not want in their classes, but for the most part if a teacher's name is on the pass, the student has an academic purpose. Also, make sure that you require them to sign in. Every student should sign in if they are not with a teacher. Keeping a record of who comes in is an important part of the job. *** You have targeted the universal HS library problem, at least in schools with study halls. I haven't found the perfect solution either. I too am torn. Whether or not this will work depends on 2 things: 1) Will your teachers adhere to the research requirement or will they simply send students to be rid of them? 2)Will you send students back to study hall if they don't have productive work? A question: If you have students every period, what do you do when you are formally teaching? Librarians should not be expected to accommodate study hall students while also teaching a class. Other teachers aren't expected to do that. The perfect solution would be to have a recreational area for students who have earned that privilege, as a few schools do, or to eliminate study halls, as many schools have done. *** We limit the number of students that are allowed to come down each period depending on the number of study halls during that period. We issue passes to each study hall teacher and each student coming to us must have a pass. They leave the pass with us at the counter and we require them to sign in and out also, recording their name, the study hall teacher’s name, and the time they arrive and the time they leave. When they leave, we sign off on their pass and give it back to them and they are supposed to return it to their study hall teacher. *** he rules established for our library state that 6-8 study hall students may use the library IF a class is not scheduled in the library. If the class is not a large one we can still provide for study hall students. I have a "soft" area of the library that has some throw pillows and soft seating that those 6-8 students can use. Study hall students know that they are welcome to be in that area as long as they are not disruptive to the class using the library. All students must sign in and sign out when they leave (if they go back to study hall or class) before the end of the period. This not only keeps track of who is in the library, but if we have a fire/tornado drill or an emergency we know where each student is. I take that sign out sheet with me in those situations and can verify the location of those students Study hall students do homework, use the computers, read magazines/newspapers, check out books. It is rare that they are just "messing" around because they know if they do I will send them back to the study hall. We only last year had the 7th and 8th grade added to our building and it was a bit of a challenge to them to understand the behavior I expected but they are doing a great job this year. The 6-8 rule is in place because I usually have the same number of students coming from various classes to do some quick research, take a test, check out a book, etc. We are a small 7-12 school of about 300 and my library can accomodate about 25-30 people at a time. *** Just this year I've had a few trying study halls and we are trying something new with them. The SH monitor can send 2-3 at a time for only about 10 minutes then they go back. It helps with these kids who have nothing to do. *** Our small school (<600 students grades 9-12) is on a block schedule & we have one study hall during each of the four blocks. Students are allowed to sign out from study hall to come to the library. I created a sign out sheet that is self-limiting because of the number of spaces I put on the sheet. Since we have 80 minute blocks, I divided each block in half. When students arrive in study hall they may sign up for either the first half or the second half (we send first group back at "half-time"). The sign up sheet has 15 spaces for each half. There are also 8 spaces for the whole block--for "research priority" for students who are working on a bona fide research project. Most often we have between 5 and 20 students from study hall, depending on the time of day & day of the week. If we have multiple classes scheduled & don't have the space we call study hall with limits. Hope this helps. Write back if you want specifics. *** In my district some study halls are rather large and to accomodate we have students with last names A-K one day and L-Z the next. We post the schedule on the doors to the library and also have it available on the web. But we also offer a pass system. If a student has a major project or assignment and needs to come to the library during study hall the student may obtain a pass from the teacher who created the assignment. I use the passes that are found in Joyce Valenza's "Power Tools Recharged. " It works well. Our students all have agendas that they are supposed to write their assignments in. To reinforce study skills and what is going on in the classroom I ask to see their agenda when they sign in to make sure they have it filled out and have something constructive to do. Sometimes they don't have an assignment and would just like to come in and read which is great. Every year I reflect and come up with ways to make our processes better for everyone involved. *** This is a subject that comes up quite frequently. Philosophically, I would like to see the doors as open and as inviting as possible. Unforturnately, the reality is that too many students will just use the place as a lounge and ruin it for everyone else. As someone who has spent too many years just dealing with crowd control, you need to find some way to reduce the numbers. That eliminates much of the problem. We only allow honor students (Jr. or Sr. with an 88 average or better) to use the library without a pass. Everyone else needs to see teacher for a pass to come to the library. This includes lunch. I have included my guidelines for you. You'll have to work things out with our staff and building principal. *** The solution that we used until this year, when Study Halls were eliminated from our schedule (almost) entirely was this: 1) Students who wished to use the Library from study Hall needed to get a pass from one of their subject area teachers (presumably for an assignment), their Guidance Counselor (if they needed to do college or career research), or a Librarian (for recreational reading) before the start of their Study period. Once the bell rang for them to be in class, no passes could be issued for THAT period's Study Hall. Study Hall teachers could NOT issue passes for Study Hall, only honor passes from other teachers. 2) If students were repeatedly disruptive, we'd send them back to Study, and either send a not to the teacher who originated the pass or make a point to mention their student's behavior. We'd also let the student and Study Hall teacher know (if they were enough of a problem) that they were suspended from being allowed to use the Library from Study Hall for anything from 2 days to the rest of the term. 3) Substitute teachers were (and are) NEVER NEVER NEVER allowed to write a pass to the Library unless sending students individually or in small groups is in the lesson plan left by the classroom teacher. Subs were treating their classes like Study Hall, and sending us their biggest problem children. *** I tried to get all the kids in here during their study hall to do some constructive educational things. Most of them do, but you have the odd ones that does not have any work to do. The only thing that works for me, is to send them back to their study hall after one warning. So, if they can not behave, they go back to the study hall. That keeps the noise down, and the unruly out. *** I work in a school that only has 2 study halls per day wrapped around the lunch period. So half of the school is at lunch and the other half is in study hall. I initiated a system years ago that has been practically foolproof. Every morning the students come before 1st period to obtain a library pass - only the library can write these passes. The pass is printed on NCR paper so when we write it a copy is written also. The pass contains the students name, date, and study hall teacher name. The bottom of the pass has a spot for the study hall teacher's signature and time the student left study hall. I give the student the top copy and I keep the bottom copy of the pass. The student reports to study hall at the appropriate time, obtains the study hall teacher's signature and then comes to the library. I match up both copies of the pass so I know who is in the library. If I only have one copy of the pass then I call the study hall teacher to make sure the student is still in study hall and forgot to come to the library or maybe they are not in study hall and are cutting - then this goes to discipline. The student remains in the library for the entire period and does not need to go back to the study hall. This way, I have control over the number of students who are in the library during each study hall. If we are getting too full, I simply tell the latecomers that they need to come to the library after school or in the morning. But nobody gets in the library unless they have a pass issued by me. I also have students who would come to the library everyday if I let them. I let each student come to the library twice a week but after that they must produce a note from a subject teacher that verifies they have a project that they must work on. I once substituted in a school that had a study hall every period. This librarians method was similar - the student needed to sign a sheet in the morning before school. The librarian taped a sheet of paper for each period on the circulation desk. The student signed his name and study hall teacher name and period on the sheet. Then the student would come to the library rather than study hall. The library aide emailed each study hall teacher in the morning with the names of the students who had signed up for the library. I think both methods sound more complicated written out than they actually are in practice. I always liked the idea of making the student responsible for getting a pass in the morning rather than letting the study hall teachers decide which students could come to the library. *** Detentions. Kick them out of the library for 2 weeks if they cannot behave in there. I too struggle with this. *** I require students to have a pass and if they aren't working productively then I send them out of the library. *** I solved that problem by requiring students to get a pass from me for the specific period that they want to use the library - that way I can control how many students come and I can find out ahead of time what they will be working on. I have been doing this for several years and it has worked out well. *** Have research/Assignment passes. Make sure teacher writes the assignment. Have popular magazines local newpapers etc. on a cart and send them to study halls for browsers. Install couple of computers with Internet in study halls. We have done that and it works beautifully. *** We used to have anybody and everybody coming in from study halls plus classroom passes. Our IMC turned into a commons. Now students must have a presigned pass from a teacher BEFORE they get to study hall...this prevents study hall teachers from unloading on us. We have a no talking w/o permission guideline in part of our facility, another part students may work together on school work. Hope this helps. Students who do not follow guidelines lose privileges... *** My study hall procedures just underwent a change this year and has been working beautifully. 7th and 8th graders must come to the library in the afternoon after school or the morning of to request a pass for that day. I generally know what research projects are going on in the building but I have lots of computers so often they just need to type some homework. I find that the motivated kids will take the time to think ahead. Our old system allowed SH teachers to send 2 kids per study hall but that this often meant large groups of friends would gather here. Now, the burden is off the teacher and the library has control. *** I don't require the kids to do school work, but I do require a very low level of noise. Also, I only let the kids use computers I can actually see, unless there is a big paper due. Then I let some responsible kids use the computers I can't see to type papers. If they are not doing that and I check on them, they are busted. *** If they don't have work, I send them back. If they are failing one or more classes they can only use the library for research. Good luck! *** Over the years and with the support of staff we have developed a relationship with study halls that is working. The idea is to always provide individuals access when needed but to regulate it based on their individual performance and on what the place will hold. To whit, we have a pass system that uses two different colored passes to access the library from study hall. A green pass is issued by study hall teachers themselves and the number of them they may issue each day is a number I give them. My number comes from looking at how many students they have in study hall (after all I don't think it would be fair for them to send most of their students to the library) and how many study halls there are that particular hour. For example, first hour we have two study halls of 25-30 students and each is allowed to send 5 students with green passes per day. The study hall teacher determines who gets the green passes. But low grades automatically freezes a student in study hall and poor behavior can too. The other pass is a pink one we call a special pass. We use this pass to insure the student gains access to the library when necessary for class work. It is issued by a student's classroom teacher (not the study hall teacher) and specifies what task the student needs to accomplish in the library. It allows us to hold these kids accountable, and by its color is easy and quick to identify from the green ones. Students with a green pass from study hall are allowed to more or less choose their activity in the library but we expect them to behave according to our standards. Students present the pink pass to their study hall teacher. We have told study hall teachers we will accept any number of pink passes students bring to study hall. (The exception is that if the pink pass requires him to use a computer and all computers are in use, we will send the student back to study hall rather than have him sit around in the library.) We find students with a pink pass are more likely to be on task because they know their classroom teacher expects them to accomplish something. If they are not doing as specified on the pass we send them back to study hall and alert the classroom teacher. (Classroom teachers do appreciate hearing when a student on a pink pass did not do what was expected.) The pink pass may be used by any student(even one with poor grades)so it is a way we can guarantee they have access. We feel justified in doing this as the majority of classroom teachers will only write a pink pass if they trust the student to do what he says he needs to. *** My experiecne is that when I required a pre-signed pass, I had an empty library. So I deal with it via my discipline process which I find works really well. I just have a few rules which I enforce consistently. One of them is 2 people per table and no talking between tables or table-hopping. I post the rules on the tables for awhile so that everyone has an opportunity to learn them. then if I see a violation - the students is out for 10 school days. A second violation is another 10 days + a letter to a parent. 3rd offenses is 20 school days out, a parent letter + an office referral. I rarely have to go past step 2. I have an array of forms to manage it all. I have attached the forms. Please feel free to ask questions and to modify any of the materials for your situation. *** ve been a librarian at Highlands High School (in Natrona Heights, PA) for the past 2 1/2 years and I've had a similar problem. This year the problem was much worse -- to the point where I would find myself with 35 kids who came with absolutely nothing to do but socialize. I felt the same way about not wanting to give the wrong message and make students feel that they weren't welcome in the library. I finally decided on a system where each study hall teacher was given two passes. They are allowed to send one student per pass - so only two students per study hall. These students are allowed to come for any reason (to study, to read magazines, whatever). If a teacher has another student or group of students beyond the first two who really need to work on a research project or need the library to do homework, the teacher is to call me and let me know that those students are coming to work. If those students come and are not working, they know that they will be sent back. This has been in effect for about two months and I haven't had any problems - from teachers or students. My library is a much quieter place and students have been much more productive here. I think it was just a matter of setting down the rules, making the students aware that I'm not running the library as a place for socialization. Many of the problems were from groups of three or four students who wanted to come to the library just to socialize. Once their group was cut to two, they had no interest in coming. *** All our students must have a pass to come in from study hall from a classroom teacher. We have spots to check if they can use internet, word processing, or books/study. If we are having problems with a student, we email their teachers and they lose library rights for two weeks. That is generally enough to keep students in line. *** too struggled with this, but have found the following to be successful. We issue two kinds of passes. Browse passes, which are limited to 5 per study hall are for students to read the newspapers, magazines, look for a book or just to read. There is a separate space for these students set aside and I really enforce a NO talking rule. If they talk they get sent back. They also can't use these passes if they have incompletes or are failing any classes. The other kids must have a "planner pass" which essentially is a note teachers must write in their planners stating what they are to do when they get here. This allows use of one of the 48 computers. Again, I enforce a NO talking rule unless the kids are working in groups and I usually know which projects require that because the teachers have already generally brought them in for a work day previously. This has worked well for 8 years. *** I am one of three librarians in a New York middle school (2 middle school librarians plus the district coordinator who has her office in the middle school). We disagree over this issue all the time. They want to restrict student access to the library by building all sorts of barriers--from research passes like you suggest, to limiting the number of students from a study hall to 4 or 5. I am opposed to that but always lose partly because its 2 to 1 (really 4 to 1 if you count the clerks) and partly because its the dept chair. However, that does not change the fact that I am right. I had a pretty good attendance record at library school but must have been absent the day they taught us to throw kids out of the library BEFORE they did anything wrong. Yet in our building, that is exactly what happens--the other librarians stand guard at the door like they are protecting a maximum security prison and send students away for the simple crime of being the sixth student from a particular study hall. Imagine how a librarian might feel about such prior censorship of books. Imagine doing that to patrons at a public library. We need to expect our students to treat each other with respect (and believe me that is high on my list--there is no one who would describe me as a push over). However, by requiring a research pass you limit students who want to read the newspaper or a magazine and completely cut out the students who wonder in the stacks and discover a book that is just right for them. I would suggest that you have clear guidelines about respecting other students in the library and enforce them but I would highly recommend that you do not unnecessarily harass the students who what to use your library. *** YES * they definitely need passes. You may have some who try to goof off and disturb others anyway. Who says just because they have a pass they will do what they should? Make sure you let your teachers know that no matter whether it is study hall or not, pass or not, if students disturb others they will be sent out of the library, back to class, or wherever is the appropriate place. Having said that, I do allow low level talking, etc. among students in my library, but if folks are loud and it becomes distracting to others, out they go! -------------------------------------------------------------------- Please note: All LM_NET postings are protected by copyright law. 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