The general consensus is showing a significant increase for the
secondary level. Circulation at the elementary and middle school levels
has been strong already and is staying that way. The reasons for the
increase vary, but these represent some very good suggestions. Thanks
to all that responded.
Ed Nizalowski, SMS
Newark Valley High School
Newark Valley, NY
enizalowski@nvcs.stier.org
"If you have an opportunity to make things better, and you don't do
that, you are wasting your time on this earth."
Roberto Clemente, Pittsburgh Pirates, 1971
Currently reading Over the Wall by John Ritter
I've seen the same thing here. I've been here for 8 years and in that
time our rec reading stats have really grown. We have 740 students in
grades 7-9 and we've had almost 6100 checkouts to date. Many of those
are for research projects (we have an overnight loan policy for project
reserve books), but a nice chunk of that is also fiction and
recreational non-fiction. I think that YA is being marketed much better
than in the past and there is a ton of great YA stuff out there right
now.
Dave Wee, Librarian
Harvard-Westlake Middle School
700 North Faring Road
Los Angeles, California 90077
Phone -- (310) 288-3270
E-mail -- dwee @ hw dot com
I have K-6 in two different schools. When I first started ten years
ago, my sixth graders told me they didn't want me to read to them as
that was for babies. Kids just weren't that interested in reading. One
girl looked at the shelves and sighed, "There's nothing to read here."
Frankly, I agreed with her. Then we got the AR program. I didn't
follow it quite the way one is supposed to. But we emphasized lots of
reading, circulating classroom bins with books around the grade level,
getting instant feedback on tests and collecting points. Teachers
pushed the importance of reading books, parents got involved, we
received money for books from PTO, and I built the collection. We got
excited when the monthly circulation in my largest school went up to 700
books per month. Last month, about eight years later, my monthly
circulation for the same library, with a slightly smaller population,
was 2239 books! Last year, my little ones starting asking if they could
take more than two books out! I asked, "How many do you want?"
They replied, "Ten!" I ok'd it as long as they didn't have overdues. I
never pushed anyone or how many to take. But these kids regularly take
five to ten books per week, read and test on them as well as those from
the classroom circulating bin. And they get them back too. I had a day
recently where half of the kids were gone for a concert. I hadn't
really planned to do much with the few remaining fifth graders. But
they (mostly
boys) bounded into the room crying "Will you read to us?" (We mostly do
skills at that level). So, I did, introducing Alex Rider to them and
not one copy was left at the end. I have the nicest conversations about
books with students. They are begging me to order the latest books. I
think overall it is because they see my love of books, the teachers
constantly emphasize that reading for fun is important, parents are on
the bandwagon, we start in kindergarten with this, and we have many more
great books to entice them. Now we are meeting once a week through the
summer and one afternoon after school! AR gives them feedback, and
goals to reach. There are some who are competitive about it, but most
look at reaching their own goals. But it is really the overall attitude
by all that reading is fun and important, with lotts of good books to
prove it, that is making the difference in this school!
Lorraine E. Calabrese
Elementary Librarian
Northgate School District,Pittsburgh, Pa.
calabrese3016@comcast.net
Yes, our numbers are WAY up...somewhat due to Twilight, but since we
have limited copies of each book, that's not all.
One of the fastest circulating series we have is Ranger's
Apprentice...so much so, in fact, that I was strongly coerced into
buying #7 & #8 directly from Australia, since they weren't available in
the US yet.
Other than that, much of the circ stats are just UP, but not with a
particular pattern...the ones that are always popular (Crank, One Child,
A Child Called It, etc.) are always out. Hunger Games is big, as is
Hangman's Curse. Brisingr is very popular, too.
I am thinking that it's now COOL to read a lot...I'm sure some of this
is due to the fact that the characters in some of the popular books are
avid readers, too. Another theory I'm working on is that kids may be on
visual overload from all the movies and TV...reading a book is more
relaxing, solitary, and more of a retreat. I think kids get more
excited about books than they do about movies. Even with Twilight, I
hear the kids over and over saying "the book is SO much better" so it
encourages more reading.
Somedays I positively feel like a dealer supplying a bunch of junkies,
the kids are so rabid over checking out a certain book!
On that note, have you read GRACELING? I am thinking this is another
one that's going to fly off the shelves!
Elizabeth Fox, Technology Instructor
Newport High School, Newport, OR
keokuk@casco.net (pm)
Liz.fox@lincoln.k12.or.us (schooldays only)
I really could not say [why circulation is up] ... at first I thought it
was that we were using ther Accelerated Reading program--but that has
pretty much gone to the wayside at our school. I do not have as many
kids coming in to "play" on the Internet as I used to--perhaps the
novelty of that is wearing off?
Also, graphic novels seem to have drawn in a whole new group of
readers. And, of course, I truly think Harry Potter had a huge
influence on the kids. Now, they are often drawn to series. I wish I
knew but I am delighted either way.
Connie R. Spurlock [connie.spurlock@southwestschools.org]
I have a smaller phenomenon going on in my school. Before I arrived, my
predecessors never invested in fiction so I've been using the majority
of my budget to create a relevant fiction collection. I've had about 200
books circulate with a population of 1200 plus. It's a start! I have
about five girls who are hard-core readers and hopefully more to follow.
Nicole Sette [nsette@gmail.com]
I am in a middle school and we have 916 students. Last year we
circulated over 40,000 books. I too am trying to determine what has
contributed to this. I think having a current collection of popular
literature and having Language Arts teachers who use a book discussion
method of teaching are two big reasons. The rise in popularity of
series books for this age is also a big contributor, in my opinion. We
have a culture of reading in our school.
[Name withheld on request]
Partly because it was INCREDIBLY low--we're probably only slightly above
average now. My cohort and I replaced 3 media specialists (we are two
now) who believed the library should ONLY have non-fiction materials and
be strictly for research. Fiction books were the remains of the opening
day collection from the 70s. And the furnishings were also the same.
We have been fortunate enough to be provided with new carpet and paint,
a budget for furniture and repainting the shelves. We have over 2300
students. I think perhaps 500 books might have been checked out the
entire year before we arrived.
We bought a LOT of young adult fiction, weeded extensively, began
collaborating with the teachers, had students produce book talks to be
shown on the tv news program, had English teachers assign 'shelf
talkers' (an LM NET idea--students write briefs of books to display near
the title on the shelf) to post, put up a lot of special displays,
developed a readers' advisory center with computer links, book lists,
and a wish list. We also created a power point of students reading that
runs full time and they request to be added to it. I have mastered the
art of the 'hijack' book talk. We have 40 (new) computers in the media
center and when classes came in to use those, I began asking teachers if
they minded if I talked to their class for a few minutes. I book talk.
Those books fly off the shelves. Now if I don't book talk when they
come in for something else, they ask why not. This year we have added
student created book trailers to our website and as a collaborative
project. I also publish a monthly newsletter for the teachers, who
generally post it. I coached swim team last year and ended up making
READ posters for many of the sports teams and a lot of individual
students. (I'm not coaching this year.) The work study program and
gifted program are both based in the media center so we work with those
teachers a lot as well and have some student interns from the work study
program. I send a lot of informative emails to teachers, pass on
websites and create rubrics for them.
We make a huge production when new books arrive. The English teachers
bring students down to go through the new books. When the science or
social studies department is doing a project, we find comparable fiction
books and promote those --for example when they were working on cloning
projects we pushed books like The House of the Scorpion and Jurassic
Park.
We're having fun and the numbers keep climbing....I'm at home and can't
access them just now but we ended last year with a circulation increase
of over 400% and last time I checked a few weeks ago, we were running
double that this year. I think the biggest change is just making the
place welcoming both in looks and personality. We greet students when
they come in, ask if they need help, and make ourselves accessible.
Cheryl Youse [cyouse@gmail.com]
Yes, It's amazingly similar here!
I have 685 students and, although I don't know what I've circulated to
date, my year end totals have gone from 4000+ to 5000+ to 6000+ by June
2008.
I know it's due to 3 things:
-I started buying all my fiction from Barnes & Noble, throughout the
year, and we process it in house.
-We started a summer sign-out campaign, encouraging all 8-11 students to
borrow.
-I put non-fiction monies into fiction and high interest titles. Plus, I
get 2 of everything and teachers use this as a gimmick to have kids
buddy-up and read the same title.
(of course it hasn't hurt to have Twilight and Brisingr and other hot
titles!)
Vicki Reutter, LMS
Cazenovia (NY) Jr. Sr. High School
vreutt@aol.com
vreutter@caz.cnyric.org
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