This is an issue that has become - well, an issue here as well. We're
an open campus and our students have "free hours" instead of study halls
- in other words, during lunch/free hours they don't have to report
anywhere (we're a university lab school).
We renovated the library last year, and it's now become a really popular
place to hang out during the 12pm hour, which is when over half our
students are free. We sometimes have as many as 120 students in here,
and our library isn't very big. All tables and computers are taken, and
we have many students standing around visiting and sometimes even
sitting on the floor.
The administration and I have wavered back and forth about how we feel
about this. I've always been an advocate of having an open library
during lunch, and if someone had told me two years ago I'd be worried
about this, I'd have told them they were crazy. However, now I'm
witnessing firsthand some of the challenges such popularity can bring -
noise, mess and general craziness.
We do have a quiet study room, so students who want a quiet place to
study can go there. We did outlaw food in here after the renovation for
two reasons - one, to help preserve our new furniture, carpet, etc, and
two, because our students don't pick up after themselves. We had banana
peels and pieces of muffins behind the computer tables and became
concerned about mice/bugs. I'd love to allow food in here, but the mess
they created proved they weren't ready for that privilege,
unfortunately.
Some days/weeks I feel like we need to settle things down in here a bit
- our students have a cafeteria/lounge where then can go for
socializing, and I'd like to see more purposeful activities in the
library. Purposeful could mean almost anything - surfing the net,
checking email, reading, homework. Also, we've had some trouble with
disrespectful students and out of line behavior - shouting, throwing
things, sneaking in food. With so many students, its difficult to
monitor these things.
Other days, I figure it's only an hour out of the day, and I can live
with it. If I can't, I'm forced into the role of police officer, and
that's not how I want to spend my time. Other hours are much more
manageable because we don't have as many students free. My
administration supports whatever I want in this matter, so it's up to
me.
Not sure this is helpful in any way, but just some of my musings.
Hearing from other people is giving me additional food for thought,
Anita
-----Original Message-----
From: School Library Media & Network Communications
[mailto:LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU] On Behalf Of Hastings, Jeff
Sent: Thursday, November 08, 2007 9:44 AM
To: LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
Subject: GEN: Lunchtime realities: Yeah: I want a Starbucks, too.
Lori,
Thanks for asking about lunches and libraries. This is a topic well
worth revisiting often, I think, because schools are becoming more rigid
and inflexible with each passing year, it seems, and accommodating
walk-in traffic during lunch periods is so, well, FREE, ELECTIVE, and
NON-PRESCRIBED that it can be difficult to pull off in some increasingly
locked-down institutions. I hope you'll post a hit if you get some good
responses.
You know, everyone seems to want our school libraries facilities to
include a Starbucks and a stage for folk quitarists these days, and I'm
all for kicking back our buttoned-down reputations, [as long as I can
station a tip jar on the circ desk] but it's good, too, to survey the
realities we're up against. Here are some of mine listed totally
anecdotally:
1. I was really surprised once when one of my most faithful patrons, a
kid who hung in the library during his lunch period each day, was
"busted" by a teacher. The teacher--who was also a lunch
supervisor--tried to explain to me that the boy "was hiding in the
library to avoid going outdoors." Apparently this was somehow deemed
severely dysfunctional. The kid was a great reader, by the way, and,
repeatedly, this scholarly ectomorph was literally dragged out of the
facility kicking and screaming by said, rather burly, lunch supervisor
as, I admit, I passively umm, forgot, to bar the kid from hanging for a
few minutes each day and reading his way through noon. I also admit that
I came to find witnessing this absurd cat-and-mouse game to be quite
entertaining--not unlike Pink Panther cartoons can be if you're in a
certain mood. Anyway, the point here is that, for reasons sometimes
unfathomable to us, NOT ALL ADULTS NECESSARILY WANT KIDS IN THE LIBRARY
DURING LUNCH. This includes parents, teachers and administrators. I've
found this to be the case more often than one would think.
2. WHICH IS WHY I now operate my library facility in a sort of DON'T
ASK, DON'T TELL fashion during lunchtime hours. Meaning that, with a
tacit nod from my Principal, I cheerfully allow kids to pop in during
lunch, though I have also been asked not to actively promote the
facility as a lunchtime refuge, probably for some of the reasons I'll
try and remember to mention below. The basic philosophy: allow anything
that does not become a problem.
3. THE LAISSEZ-FAIRE THING only goes so far, though: I've found myself
quietly contacting parents now and then to say hello and let them know
how nice it is to play host to their son or daughter during the mid day
hours. I tend to do this, especially, with kids who eschew lunch
completely, to see if there are dietary concerns to discuss. Parents
universally appreciate this kind of contact, by the way.
4. THE CUSTODIAL ANGLE. Here's news: We're not exactly rolling in school
funds here in Michigan and that translates into less and less custodial
help. Our cleaning staff was privatized lately, in fact, in an effort to
squeeze still more pine-sol out of the old mop. Even before that dire
move took place, I was approached by our day custodian who demanded that
I STOP LETTING KIDS EAT IN THE LIBRARY. The problem had nothing to do
with the students being little piggies--they were actually neater than
I'll ever be. The problem was that the remnants of their lunches --due
to the dearth of custodians-- had plenty of time to rot and even ferment
between garbage pick-up, attracting all sorts of rodentia and even a few
really desperate alcoholics.
5. THE STAFFING ANGLE. Man, I had no idea how wonderful I had it back in
the 1990's. Back then I had a full time library secretary, which gave me
tons more flexibility to serve multiple patron groups simultaneously.
These days, I have secretarial back-up in the afternoon hours only,
which means that when I am actively teaching classes during a.m. hours,
including early lunch periods, I have no choice but to close the
facility to other traffic for lack of supervision and staffing at the
desk. My lunch kids have grown used to the idea of looking for the
closed sign on the door, but I REFUSE TO GET USED TO THE IDEA OF PUTTING
IT THERE.
6. THE PASS THING. The hall pass is still the golden ticket of student
mobility and, in terms of lunch traffic, the question is who grants a
pass to a kid who wants to hit the library during lunch (which
translates into: who is responsible for kids in-transit) There doesn't
seem to be a perfect answer for that one, so I'd be interested in
hearing from colleagues about that. I'm really lucky to be positioned
directly across from the caf: We get long lunch lines and kids can pop
out of them and visit us for a while instead. I've also had to chat it
up with some of the lunch supervisors to let them know that it is quite
okay for them to allow students to cross the great divide and visit us.
Again, Lori, thanks for bringing this up. I look forward to hearing from
others and maybe brewing a more even-handed and realistic discussion
about what school libraries can and cannot do within the current
exigencies many of us are forced to work within.
Jeffrey Hastings,
School Librarian,
Highlander Way Middle School
hastingj at howell schools dot com
-----Original Message-----
From: School Library Media & Network Communications
[mailto:LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU] On Behalf Of Lori
Sent: Wednesday, November 07, 2007 4:39 PM
To: LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
Subject: Re: [LM_NET] Secondary: How Do You Handle Lunchtime?[Spam
score: 8%]
While I understand the need to keep library use productive, I take a
more relaxed stance when it comes to lunchtime use. Each year I get more
kids coming in to the library at lunch to hang out, visit with me or
each other, use computers, eat lunch (our commons area is very small),
read, check out books, etc. It doesn't matter to me if they spend this
time only doing school work as lunch is their only break during the day.
I do not, however, allow cell phone, MP3 or handheld game use as they
are banned schoolwide over the entire course of the day.
I want my kids to feel that the library can be highly
educational/informative, yet relaxing and fun at the same time. My kids
understand the guidelines I have for lunch and so far I haven't had any
problems. I think they feel it is a safe, welcoming place for them to
be.
Lori Reynolds, Librarian
Bonners Ferry HS, Bonners Ferry, ID
lori.reynolds@mail.bcsd101.com
*** This Email was sent by an educator at Bonners Ferry High School in
Boundary County District 101.
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