[LM_NET] HIT: blending younger grades into HS (7-12)

[Elizabeth Fox <keokuk@CASCO.NET>]

Thanks to all who responded - I will keep you posted on the direction we
go...your advice helps us a lot!

Elizabeth Fox, Technology Instructor
Newport High School, Newport, OR
keokuk@casco.net (pm)
Liz.fox@lincoln.k12.or.us (schooldays only)
http://ta.gd/nhsmedia
----------------
I am in exactly the same situation you are. Students in our middle school
(grades 5-8) will be split between the elementary (K-6) and high school
(7-12). The middle school collection is being split as well. Books that are
more elementary in nature will be left at the elementary (the room that
housed the middle school library will become the elementary library), books
that are more upper level in nature are being moved to the high school. I
will be spending the majority of my day at the high school. Having served
elementary and middle school students for the last 21 years, this will be a
big adjustment. I had one period a day at the high school this past year
which allowed me to ease into the situation slowly.
 
As for boxing duplicates for storage, check the condition of each copy and
keep the best one. If you think it's something that will receive a lot of
circulation keep and shelve both copies if you have the space. I've done
MAJOR weeding of the MS collection as part of this reorganization, so I've
tossed a lot of worn, damaged and out-of-date items.
At this point I don't plan to separate my Jr. High materials from the Sr.
High ones. I just don't have the shelf space, and don't expect there to be
major problems regarding appropriateness. If there are, then that's when I
will address the matter.
--------------------------------------
We had a similar situation 5 years ago when we built a new school and
combined the middle school and high school collections. At the time we had
two libraries in the same building and all the books had a different range
of barcodes for each library and the property stamps were different colors
in each collection so when we put them together we could tell which were
appropriate for the middle school kids. We kept most duplicates. Extra
reference books were donated to classrooms. After three years of all the
books shelved together, we decided it was too complicated for students to
know what they could read. The older students were not using the library
because it was too hard for them to find the higher level books. We moved
most of our reference books and intershelved them with the nonfiction books.
This allowed us to use the reference shelves to create a YA section. That
really helped bring the high school students back. We have a form explaining
our collection to parents that we let 8th grade students take home to get
permission to read books from the YA section. We don't advertise the form
but give it to students who ask or the reading teacher recommends to us.
Sometimes it is a difficult call which section new books should go in. We
have 6th graders too so I try to be careful about what is available to them.
I rely heavily on reviewers recommendations.
-----------------------------------------
My high school went 7-12 last year. I was able to acquire books through my
district from closing schools. I integrated them into the existing
collection.  Given the wide variety of reading levels among high schoolers,
I'm sure some of them would appreciate the lower ability books. I don't
worry about younger students checking out inappropriate books. A few do read
books that I think are too mature, but they acquire those books at the
public library or from friends anyway.

There were a few changes I needed to be better prepared for, but couldn't
because the library staff was also cut last year.

I needed to become more aware of the curriculum in the younger grades, so
that students could have materials in the media center.

Middle school teachers have a much different experience with the media
center and they needed more extensive orientation.

Finally, middle school students are more inquisitive and have very busy
hands! You have to be careful about what is visible, the most obvious thing
I can think of is computer cables. You may need to reconsider where you
leave materials and supplies.
-----------------------------------------
I have a 1st-12th grade building. My middle and high school books are
together. I label books that are high school level (characters, situations,
reading level, etc.) with a Young Adult label from Highsmith. I explain at
the beginning of the year why they have that label and rarely allow a middle
school student check out one of those books.
------------------------------------------
I have run both kinds of libraries.  For your own sanity, I feel that
you will need to merge your collection.  If you try to separate, you
will need to put some sort of middle school label on the younger level
books so that you know where to shelve them.  And the more different
sections there are in a library, the more confused the students will be.
 That said - when we split into a middle school and a separate high
school - the high school kids were thrilled.  In their (erroneous)
perception - our fiction section was much better because the books were
not "baby books" anymore.  Interesting, since most of the great books
they were now so thrilled with had been in the old library.  I concluded
that mixing ms and hs fiction books caused this perception.  So -
perhaps having a special label on either the ms or the hs books would
help, even though you shelve them together.  You would still merge the
collections - but the labels might help browsers look at only those
books at their level.  I did not worry a great deal about about
age-appropriate material.  If I noticed them checking out something
really inappropriate such as a 7th grader taking out Looking for Alaska,
I would quietly encourage the student to find something else.  If they
were insistent about taking the book, I would ask them to bring me a
note from a parent saying they were OK for their child taking out a book
at a mature high school level.  That was usually the end of things.

If you DO decide to separate the collection - make sure that you err on
putting books in the high school collection.  The junior high students
will be delighted to get into the upper level books - but a low level
reader at the high school library will be embarrassed to take out a book
from the lower level section.  For example, most Gary Paulsen books are
fine for both ms and hs.  If you have only 1 copy of each of his books -
then put them all in the high school section.

All things considered, I would NOT separate the collection.  You have to
consider your community and your staffing/work load when making the
decision.

Combining ms and hs can be tricky for discipline.  HS students are
better able to manage their behavior in a more casual atmosphere.  MS
needs more structure.  So - if you can somehow create a hs space and a
ms space, you can hopefully keep order while not stifling the hs
students.
----------------------------------------------
Our library is 5-12.  The non-fiction is not labeled by age, however the
fiction and story collections are.  The younger fiction and story collection
have a YA label and are shelved separately.  We discourage 5th graders from
borrowing high school books, but we do not forbid it.

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