Thank you all for your feedback. I'm going to try some of your ideas and see how
it goes.
The Question:
If you are on a fixed schedule, when do you stop circulation and begin
>inventory and end of year duties? When do you stop teaching classes to
>do inventory?
Our elementary librarians do their inventory on conference days (half
days) and have 5 days set aside at the end of the year to complete it by
contract. We are in the process of teaching them to do it "on the fly".
We're also setting up community service projects using high school and
community college students to do the inventory in our elementaries.
As a middle school librarian with a semi-fixed schedule, I'll be using the
time during our state testing to do the majority of my inventory. I
usually start my inventory in January, setting up a goal of 3 bookcases
per week (15-18 shelves). I can divide up my collection into many
sections and complete a section at a time (000-200, 300-400, 500's, 600's,
etc).
Our last day is May 25 and the last week students will check out is the week of May
1. That month will focus on promoting the public library Summer Reading program
through book talks and activities related to the theme. I will also show a video
of the nominees for next years state book award to grades 3-6.
Here in NJ our last day is usually around June 18-20. When I was in
elementary school I started showing videos around June 1. I weed,
straighten up, fix shelves, fix books, etc. I do all this so that I can
leave a clean and organized library for the summer. No one has ever
complained and everyone seems to understand. Book check out ends 1-2 weeks
before this. I don't have help of any kind.
In our district library is a prep for teachers so the students attend library
throughout the entire year. We do stop circulation around the end of May,
beginning of June. Our district ends the third week of June. I guess when you get
your responses you may need to know when the school year ends in each district. We
sometimes show videos that are related to the curriculum like:
A Wrinkle in Time-5th graders after doing the Newbery awards
The Whipping Boy-4th grade Historical fiction
We also play review games like Library Jeopardy, Dewey/Newbery Bingo etc.
Since these have been played during the year they can be student run.
I am on a fixed schedule and I have three buildings so....I try to do a complete
inventory at only one building a year. I do not close bc of the schedule covering
prep times. I usually stop signing out book by the 2nd week in May. Classes use
centers, including listening, games, puzzles and yes, I hate to admit sometimes
videos. They are all library related either author talks, beyond the pages or
skills. IT is a real challange. I do have an aide so that helps. I'm hoping that
admin. would extend my contract so I could stay another week to finish all the
tasks that need to be done. If you come across any good ideas on how to take
classes and close up a library all at the same time, please let me know.
I am the media specialist at a middle school with about 500 students and
17,000 volumes of books. I do not have an extended contract, but I do
have a full time aide. She is excellent.
Our last day of school is May 23. All library materials are due on
Friday, May 11, unless the students speaks to me or my aide. That is
also the last day of my fixed library classes. In the past there has
been some complaining by teachers, but the administration backs me
because of inventory and end of the year duties.
During inventory the media center is open for keyboarding, researching
or studying. The students are not allowed in the book stacks. We do
not inventory the entire library every year. The reason is that there
isn't enough time with a little over a week to complete it.
I have been in 4 other districts and it is the same story everywhere.
In my district it is a part of the contract that the elementary libraries are shut
down for the last 10 student days of the year to do inventory. Books are usually
gathered one to two weeks prior to starting inventory. We do not see classes during
inventory - thank goodness
I have three schools to do, but we stop about 9 days
before the end of the year. I no longer have classes
and with the help of the aide from each building we
get all three done in that time period. If I only had
one school I would ask for at least 5 full day with no
classes.
The last two weeks of school the library is closed. I do field trips for
my AR students one week and close out on the last week of school.
I stop two weeks before the end of the school year. I only work 3 days a week so
that gives me 6 days to do inventory and round up stray books. I tried one year to
keep going and show videos but it really wasn't very efficient. Also, because my
time is limited, I choose fiction or non-fiction to inventory each year and them
rotate. Not a perfect solution but I just don't have time to do the whole
collection each year.
We are on a fixed schedule in an elementary of 700 students. We gave up
trying to do end-of-year inventory years ago, because we could never get it
finished. We now do rolling inventory. We start in January, and do our
shelves a section at a time, but in sequence, so that our inventories are
always a year apart. With an automated system, doing a section at a time
rolling inventory is not really that difficult, and it means we are not
rushing at the end of the year to get it done. Once we have finished, we
use our time at the end of the year to double check those things that were
found to be missing during the in-progress inventory. You may find this
system works better for you.
We stop the week before the last week of school because we have an extra
week to work after that.
Could you please post a hit with your responses? This is the first year we have
been automated, so I am anxious to do my *first* inventory! I stop teaching
classes 2 weeks before the last day. All books have to be turned in 7 days before
the last day. I have allowed the younger classes to still come in for a story and
short lesson. Curious to know what others do.
I do inventory in April when we are still circulating. With an automated system it
doesn't have to be in perfect order to be reasonably accurate. 3 weeks before
school is out we go down to 1 book. 2 weeks before school is out 0 books. I have
kids right up until the last half hour of the last day of school. I usually show a
video that last 2 weeks. I have some Dr. Seuss for 1st grade, Tall tales for 2nd,
Encyclopedia Brown for 3rd, and 4th & 5th I rotate Pagemaster & Neverending Story
unless I find something else that ties into what they are finishing the year with
or we end up with a longer story. One of our Media Specialists does Camp Read a
Book and plays a book on CD or tape.
usually stopped classes two weeks before the end of school. The first
week focused on sending out the last overdue notices and starting inventory.
The second week was spent arguing that the book that the notice was sent for
was not actually in the library, then completing inventory.
Teachers would complain. Sometimes I had older grades come in and write
down the number of books on each shelf on a post it and leave it on the
shelf. Other times I offered to take the lower grades if the teachers were
willing to give me their aides for an hour. They opted to keep the
students.
I did this when i was in a library and i teach this to my students:
You don't need to stop circulation while you do inventory!
Remember that inventory just wants every item accounted for. If a book is checked
out, it is accounted for! Inventory will happen much faster the fewer books you
have to scan. So it is really to your advantage to have fewer books on the shelf
while you are scanning.
Just block off one section of shelf at a time, and scan away. In fact, I recommend
that you do one section of the library every week of the spring semester, so you
only have to track down and locate a few stragglers by the end of the year.
Also remember that there is nothing magic about doing inventory at the end of
school. You could do it in the summer, the beginning of the fall, during testing
week, etc.
Re: showing films: unless you have a movie license, you are violating copyright law
to have those babysitting showings.
We start weaning the kiddos down to finally 1 book about 3 weeks before school is
out. We have classes through the next to the last week of school, with no classes
the last week. Since we have basically closed off checkout (K and 1 are closed off
a bit earlier) we start inventory two weeks before school is out (the last week we
have classes and the last week). We used to wait until we had no classes but it
just didn't provide enough time.
I put a wireless laptop computer on a cart and move it around to the shelves. We
tried one of the hand held thingys years ago and I just didn't like it. I much
prefer to have a screen where I can see what is happening...
We have about 16,000 volumes to inventory.
would like you to post a hit. I find it very hard to do inventory on a fixed
schedule. I did my inventory on my 55 minute planning period each day. I stop
check out ten school days before the last day of school. I start 'hunting down"
books five days before school is out. I had my students read magazines and books
of high interest such as I Spy and Guiness World Record books during these last
days. Depending on the class, I could get some inventory completed while they were
reading. It still is very difficult and I would like to know what strategies
others are using.
When I was on fixed schedule, I always stopped everything 2 weeks before school was
out to get everything back. The library closed at that time as well, so that no
activity was going on during inventory, etc. I don't do that now, though because
I'm in a different school this year.
Our county office allows each library one day per 1,000 items to be inventoried- up
to 10 days. The libraries with substantially more items are the high schools and
they have 2 librarians and at least part-time clerical help. I have close to the
10,000 items required for a 10-day inventory allowance, so the library is closed to
students the last 10 days. Teachers still take videos and whatever else they need
up to the last day. I cut off student circulation about 10 days before inventory
begins and my assistant principal helps me round up the worst offenders to get
books in and fines paid. The early closing is somewhat mollified by the fact that
we have a book fair (1/2-price on everything) during that week before inventory
begins, so the students still get to come to the library even though they can't
check anything out. This schedule has been in effect since before I came here 12
years ago, so the teachers expect it and there's no element of controversy involved.
2 weeks before school is out
I stop classes 2weeks before school. The teachers are welcome to come in and use
the facility and teach their own classes.
I'm on a fixed schedule like you. I tend to do my inventory during testing in May.
I don't have regularly scheduled classes then. I only have to baby sit those
needing accomodations until the teachers come to get them.
I have Follett, and I do inventory anytime of the year. I usually stop
checking out books 2-3 weeks before the end of the school year.
I stop the kids from checking out any more books 4 weeks before the end of the
school year. That gives us 1 week to get the books back and 3 weeks to do
inventory which has proved to be plenty of time. I have a full time secretary,
though. I keep teaching classes and just do inventory during all my "spare" times.
My secretary does inventory whenever I'm teaching and then we pull in all the
extra aides, volunteers, and substitute teachers that we can to help during odd
times as well! Hope that helps! Isn't fixed scheduling fun?!?
I begin in May with about 3 weeks of school remaining for us. Videos do
not always work with my groups. Sometimes they do better reading
magazines or reading from World Almanac for Kids. (I have a classroom
set). My library is very small so I just work around the students. I do
not wait for all the books to be returned. Classes continue to come as
scheduled but checkout is stopped. Students complain but I just explain
that I have to count every book in the library to make sure that they will
have books to read next year.
We have a tiny public library in the community so I encourage them to use it.
I am on a fixed schedule in a large K-5 school (1182 students). I see 7
classes a day for 40 minutes in an 8 day rotation. I will continue to have
classes through the last full day of school. We stop checking out books to
students 2 weeks before school ends and begin inventory then. I have a
wonderful assistant and 2 parent volunteers who actually do the inventory.
We are on a fixed schedule, but we meet all classes from the first day
of school through the last day of school.
We do call in the books about 10 days before the last day so we know
which books are missing and lost and then we charge accounts for books
lost.
Our Follett Destiny allows us to do inventory anytime since it counts
books checked out as "accounted for". We did our inventory in February
and March and it is great not to have that hanging over us at the end of
the year.
We teach our regular curriculum every class time.
I am teacher prep time. I can not just stop teaching when I need to. I
go to the last day, the last class.
I don't do an inventory every year, either.
My aide and I have done inventory in the middle of the year. The
automation system adds the books checked out with the books on the shelf
to determine what is missing. So it really can be done at any time.
have a fixed schedule for K-3, two buildings. The last week of school (six day
cycle) the library is closed to students for inventory. All the books are due back
a few days before inventory starts. This year during my last week of classes I
plan to do a book swap so the kids leave the library with a book. It may be used,
but it will be a book nonetheless. I have been shopping yard sales for good shape
books to fill in for the many students who will not bring in a book to swap.
Hope this helps.
In our school district, in the elem. schools, all circulation stops two
weeks before school ends. Students may take books to their classrooms for a
specific class assignment only. The major reason for this is that it takes
about two weeks to get most books back & shelved. Library classes usually
go until the 2nd to last week of school, mainly because library is teacher
prep time.
We do a computerized inventory (with scanners) and have a team of 3 who do
the inventory in one day (up to a collection of 9000 items). So we can do
inventory just a couple of days before the end of school with no problem.
I usually stop circulation about two weeks before the end of school. I
am on a fixed schedule, though, and have classes right up until the end
so I'm not able to do inventory until the students are dismissed for the
year. I don't show videos during the last days. Instead, I do
read-aloud, I allow students to choose from the books and magazines I
have weeded during the course of the year (I usually have enough that
every student can choose at least one item and they get a real kick out
of the idea that they get to keep it!), and I allow students to play a
variety of board games (Guess Who? Connect 4, Scrabble Junior, etc.). I
also put out a couple of jigsaw puzzles on different tables for each
successive class to work on. That seems to keep everyone busy!
Depending on your circ system, you may not have to
shut down to do inventory. We use Follett (not
Destiny) and do inventory while we are still open and
circulating.
When I was on a fixed schedule, my principal let me stop 2 weeks early to inventory
and annual reports. Unless you have one of those Movies USA licenses, you can't
show videos while you inventory. It would not count as face to face instruction.
If you can't shut down for inventory, don't do one and document it as one of the
reasons why you should not be on a fixed schedule. The other teachers in the
rotation do not have administrative duties like you do. (I'm assuming that you are
in the fixed schedule to be in the rotation and allow teacher planning)
loveyourlibrary@verizon.net
Janice Kowalski-Kelly, LMS
Cleveland Hill Elementary
Fight prime time, read a book.
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