Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Donations to the Library

Greetings!

Most of us get books donated to our libraries from well-meaning sources. People clean out their bookshelves and can’t bear to throw away ‘good’ books, but maybe the school library can use them. No matter that the print is tiny, the book is thick, there are few if any illustrations, and it was printed in 1943, the school might want it. Or they are culling their own children’s books and donating ones that their kids have outgrown and no longer read or want.
Don’t get me wrong; you will find some treasures, but you will also find items that aren’t needed for your school. What do you do when a dear church member or parent brings books to donate? Here’s my answer to these well meaning folk. I give the following speech in a friendly way. “Thank you so much for thinking of us. I’ll enjoy looking through them and see if there is anything that the library needs. If there are books that we don’t need, is it OK with you if I find a classroom or other source for the books, or do you want me to give you back the ones that we can’t use?” Nearly always they are happy for me to share them around. So, I then look through and pull out what I want for the library. I have a shelf of books that I occasionally use for prizes and I pull books for that shelf. I may see something that the Kindergarten class could use or another classroom and I pull for them. Any books that are missing covers or pages go into the recycling bin. Anything that is left that I can’t share around or no one wants also goes into the recycling bin. Maybe our dear friend can’t throw away books, but I can and if they don’t know it, they won’t be offended.

What if the book is in pretty good condition but is not appropriate for you library or you already have a copy? You likely have a used book store that will accept it and will give you money or credit to use for books that do fit your library.

Depending on the content of the book, you could keep it for a prize, sell it at school and put the money in a petty cash box, or throw it away. Don’t be afraid of the trash can.

Do you need more National Geographic magazines? If so, then accept them. If not, don’t accept them, or find a craft that uses old magazines. I remember making Christmas trees out of old Reader’s Digest magazines long ago. Find another use for them if you must take them. These can also be recycled.

What about other donations? Does anyone want to donate toys or plush animals? These may be great for display. Put a plush dog on a table or counter and surround him with dog books. I had a parent donate a small set of buildings and I found that they were made for the Sarah, Plain and Tall book. I put a display of Patricia MacLachlan’s books out and put these building around to supplement my display.

Donations can be a wonderful asset to your library. I hope you receive some wonderful books. Have a great week.
Audrey

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Magazines for the Library

Greetings!

Do you enjoy reading a good magazine? Most of us do. Even people who don’t read much will often pick up a magazine a browse through. Magazines are full of short items, and not as intimidating as a thick book would be. They are great for kids especially if the magazine is on their reading level and full of interesting information. If you library does not have any magazines, consider subscribing to a few. Now I suppose you are going to ask me which ones to subscribe to! I would be happy to tell you that you need to have these magazines in your library, but that may not actually be true. I think each library is different enough that you may have needs and interests that another school may not have. If I didn’t have any magazines in my library, I would ask the students which magazines they are interested in. Then I would take their interests in mind when choosing magazines for the school. The following is a list of magazines that we get here at Rogers for our student population and interests. I know it looks like a lot, but nearly all of them are read. We process magazines like a book and students check them out like a book.

American Girl
Appleseeds
Ask
Cobblestone *
Consumer Reports
Current Health Teens *
Current Science
Dig
Faces *
Kids Discover *
Kiki
Model Airplane News
Model Railroader
Motocross Action
Mountain Bike Action
National Geographic
National Geographic Kids *
Odyssey
Popular Science
Radio Control Car Action
Ranger Rick *
Choices
Ski
Sports Illustrated for Kids

Since money is tight for us all, think about getting one science magazine, one health magazine, and one nature magazine. The Current Health Teens (grades 5 – 8) and Current Science (grades 5 – 8) are both from Weekly Reader and are quality periodicals. If you have kids who are interested in archaeology, get Dig (grades 5 – 8) from the Cobblestone Group. Cobblestone (grades 4 – 9) is a great option for American History, and Faces (grades 4 – 9; also from Cobblestone Group) is about people and places. We have copies of these from the 1980’s and they are great supplemental materials for the curriculum. The Cobblestone Group also has Ask (primary grades) and Odyssey (upper grades) which are both science magazines for different age levels. The Cobblestone Group generally takes a theme for each issue and is great at sending sample issues for you to look at when you request them. If you get a sample of Cricket, keep in mind that very often the themes are ‘Ghosts, Wizards, magic, Dragons’, trolls orother themes that we might not feel is appropriate for our schools.

There may be families in your school or church congregation who subscribe to National Geographic and would be willing to donate their copy after they are finished reading it. This is how we get it. Our issues arrive late, but we don’t mind. Maybe someone gets Popular Science and would donate it, or a family might pay for a subscription to one of the magazines for you.

You probably noticed the asterisk by several of the magazines. These are ones that I feel are important for the curriculum and would be a good purchase. You may have noticed that I did not include Winner or Listen in this list. Those are obvious choices, so I assumed that you would already know about them and have them. I did include the Current Health Teens, since it includes many of the same points that Listen and Winner do, but not from an Adventist viewpoint. It is like having the public support our health message.

I hope you have some wonderful magazines for your students to read and learn from. Assign a magazine for a ‘book report’ one month and see what happens.
Have a great week,
Audrey

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Amazon Wish List

Greetings!

This morning a parent came to the library and asked if we had a specific title. After she learned that we don’t have that particular title, she suggested that it might be a worthwhile option for our library and I agreed. I put that title on my list. I have a list of subjects that I want to purchase eventually. For example, I need some books for the ‘E’ section about children with disabilities, working mothers, and cowboys. I keep an eye out for world leaders for the junior high students since this is studied every other year. When I get a chance to browse online or through my magazines and happen to see a title that would be good for my library, I write it down. I have found that a list of specific titles is perfect for an Amazon Wish List. As you add books to your Amazon list, you will be directed to other books similar to the ones you are browsing. You can also look for subjects that you want and even specify the grade or age levels for those books, too.
When you have specific titles you want, look them up at Amazon, and click ‘Add to Wish List’. There are several reasons why this is a great idea.

1. Anyone can access the list and purchase a book for you. I have had a few parents browse our list and purchase titles. Hey, that’s one more book for the library that I didn’t have to buy!

2. The list can be accessed by you from any computer.

3. The list is a record of what you have bought and what you still need or want. A paper list can be lost or misplaced just when you need it, but the Amazon list is always there.

4. You don’t have to purchase the books from Amazon just because you have a list there. I keep my list on Amazon and when it is time to purchase, I print it out and take it to my local book store. They have all the information they need to order the books for you. They may even give you a discount equal to the Amazon discount! I have ordered books for the library from Amazon and also ordered from the local book store. It is easier for me to keep track of the books and the amount spent by purchasing from my local book store. Amazon sends the books as they are ready and charges in increments while I get one statement from the book store. Since other teachers at my school use the school credit card, it can be a small headache to sort out whose charges are appearing on the card; so again, it is easier for me to order from my local store. I also like the idea of supporting a local business. As books are purchased elsewhere, I go to my list and delete them so I don’t receive multiple copies that aren’t wanted.

5. It is easy to start a wish list and easy to keep it up. You can add not only books, but DVDs, CDs, and other items that you want.

If you do not have an Amazon Wish List for your school, this is a great time to start one. I hope you have a great week.
Blessings,
Audrey

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Display Ideas

Greetings!

Winter is upon us and it can be dreary outside. This is a great time to make sure our libraries and classrooms are bright and cheery. It may be time for some new displays. I have some ideas for you. These are things that I am doing in my library right now.

1. Put Up New Posters: Do you have some posters up in the library? Maybe it is time to change those posters and replace them with new ones. If you don’t have posters up, think about asking some of your student artists make posters for the library. This could be a book report option, or an art assignment, or another idea that you have that is even better than mine. The posters could promote reading, or an author, or a particular book.

2. Change out displays: Do you have any displays in the library? If not, then this is a great time to put a few out. I have one for a featured author. I have a very small bookshelf that is perfect for this idea. I put the author’s name and some biographical information along with the books from the library shelves.

What about doing a display for a particular subject? I have a display on pandas, and one on winter and snow. If you have any items that go along with the books, put those items out to draw attention to the display. Put out plush pandas, fake snow, or any other items that go along with your display. Ask the students to bring things from home to add to the display.



3. Contests: About a year ago I had a contest for handmade Christmas ornaments for our library tree. All ornaments were to have something to do with a book. I then had large posters made of the winners and put them up high above the stacks on a blank wall. We have a teacher who is gifted with camera skills and she came and took pictures of the students, then used PhotoShop to put in colorful backgrounds. For a small amount of money, I have a great wall. If you only have a small space, you can just use your regular camera and print copies that fit your space.

I also have found a blog that is dedicated to library display ideas. Check out http://schoollibrarydisplays.blogspot.com/. If you have other display ideas, I would be more than happy to hear them and share them.

Have a wonderful week.
Blessings,
Audrey

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

What are You Reading Right Now?

Greetings!

At one holiday party I was at, our discussion around the table was about the books we were reading. My husband asked everyone, “What are you reading right now?” We got some really interesting answers. This would make a great Morning Meeting question. Everyone can share what they are reading and a bit about the book. If they are still reading the same book next week, they can tell what happened since last week. If they aren’t reading anything, you can encourage them to find a book to share next time. Most kids will love this and it will be a great motivation to read, so they can share.

So, let’s start. What are you reading right now?

We have a little book club here at my school and our group just finished reading “The Help” about Southern women in the 60’s and the black maids. You may remember seeing trailers of the movie within the last year or two.

I also just finished the newest John Grisham book, “The Litigators” about a lawyer who became fed up with his job at a large firm and walked away. He joined a small firm and became involved in mass tort litigation for two different products.

I read a book called “The Wilder Life: My Adventures in the Lost World of Little House on the Prairie”. A young woman who was impressed by the Little House books tells of her trips to visit all the ‘Little Houses’ where Laura Ingalls Wilder lived. I realize that that sounds pretty boring, but trust me, if you like Laura Ingalls Wilder’s books, you will enjoy this one, too.
Right now I am rereading all the Betsy Tacy books by Maud Hart Lovelace. I have most of them in the library, but I would caution you that in one of the high school books Betsy and her friends use a Ouija board.

For Christmas my son bought me the Kindle edition of two books from my Amazon list. One is “The Sorcerer’s Apprentices” about young chefs who apprentice themselves at a famous restaurant. The other is “Under the Table” about chefs at the French Culinary school. To add to this theme, my husband bought me two cookbooks from my list also. I got “Kneadlessly Simple” about making bread without kneading. These are yeast breads, mind you. I have tried a couple of recipes and they are delicious.

You can see that my personal reading is quite varied. I also have books waiting to be read. Some are on my Kindle and some are on my bookshelf.

So, let me know what you are reading. I am always looking for something good to read.
Audrey