Reader Responses

Hello,
I recently received two responses to two different posts and thought I would share them with you.

A few weeks ago I wrote a post about different ways to add books to your library without spending much money. One response came from Rosemary. She wrote that her local Barnes and Noble bookstore does an in-house book fair for her school. She has had three Barnes and Noble book fairs over the past three years and has been very pleased with this arrangement. The profits come to her on a B & N gift card which she uses to help increase her school library budget. Contact your local Barnes and Noble for more information.

Last week I wrote about using student helpers in the library. My student helpers belong to the Library Club. Donna responded to say that she has used student helpers in her library for 18 years. Her name for them is ‘Library Rats’ which is a play on the ‘Lab Rat’ term. The name has turned into a badge of honor over the years. Donna takes notice of students who will be useful in the library or might also get a boost of self-esteem from the job. She gives personal invitations to these students (even as young as 2nd grade) and begins training them. They come at their recess time once or twice a week and each student has assigned duties. When their job is done for the day, they receive a small piece of candy. Twice a year – Christmas time and end of the school year – she gives out small gift cards to the local Border’s store. Donna has many students requesting to be a ‘Rat’, but she explains that she can’t hire everyone. Also, once Donna trains her ‘Rats’, she keeps them as long as she can.

One thing I DIDN’T tell you is that this year, I am having some issues with my student helpers. About a third of them quit coming regularly and therefore are no longer members of Library Club. About a third of them come in, but don’t really do what I have asked them to do. I like the idea of training them and KEEPING them until they graduate or until they choose to leave. I also like the idea of assigning jobs. I will have to rethink my plan next year.

I hope these ideas from two of my readers are helpful to you. Take what you like, or tweak the ideas and plan until they work for you.
Hope you have a great week!
Audrey