A Fall Report on our Library

I just wanted to write up a little progress report on the activities occurring here in the library over the fall term. There’s been a lot and I’ve learned a lot. We have a lot to do still to keep building this place into a learning commons.

My Goal to build this library!!!

1. A welcoming, service-oriented, tech-rich environment that is open on a regular basis and that invites students in to find resources and services that support their work.
2. Comfortable reading areas that attract students to books and to developing the lifelong habit of reading.
3. Comfortable working areas that enable different groupings of students to work, from independent learners, to pairs and small groups to whole-class instruction.
4. 24/7 access to digital resources as well as a collection of dynamic print resources all supporting curriculum and reading.
5. An area that would invite teachers, and guests to work with a class or group, with the support of the teacher-librarian to present multimedia or other performances.
6. A place that would provide students and teachers with opportunities to learn more advanced technology skills and create more complex digital products.
7. A place that is available for teachers to work in groups in workshops/lunch n’ learns to build new skills or collaboratively develop new resources, tools, etc.
8. provide a multitude of literacy initiatives and reading programs

Total number of Forest of Reading Books - 160
Total number of students participating in Forest Voting - 194 signed up
Activities for Forest of Reading

• Book Club
• Award Design Contest
• Talks with Expert Teachers
• Voting
• Imovie for the blog

Library Helpers
Currently 17 students come to the library regularly to shelve and restock books and help with maintaining the library

Study Hall
This runs Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday - 99% of the time I’m full and have to turn people away


Total number of checkouts to date - 2971
grade 6 total = 567
grade 7 total = 847
grade 8 total = 784

Total new items purchased by year
2011 - 503
2012 - 788

Total number of items in the library
Books - 2594
easy read/picture - 246
Graphic novel - 210
Magazine subscriptions - 8
Prof reference - 334
encyclopedias/reference - 180

Age of Books
Average age of books is 11 years old by publication year
2004 - 1111 total books published this year these are fiction and non-fiction
2001 - 887 total books published this year these are fiction and non-fiction
2008 - 442 total books published this year these are fiction and non-fiction

Graph Age of books by Dewey system

Teacher Research/Collaboration

• grade 6 research for Biodiversity - students researched and created presentations using poster board or prezi or powerpoint
• group research on Aboriginal peoples - students created a presentation for class on a specific group of native people
• completed Dare Arts cards
• research for grade 8’s completed Island City project
• grade 7 french project to create comics using Bitstrips
• utilized Tumble books
• website creation with live reenactment utilizing twitter for confederation
• recording radio advertisements in french for restaurants
• utilizing ipads and screenchomp for explaining websites for a charity “Shattered” novel study
• utilize computers to work on gizmos for science
• utilizing Imovie to create TV ads for a French Restaurant
• utilizing Ipads to film skit for french
• research project on mixtures and solutions end product was powerpoint or prezi
• research project with students on Canadian Artists
• research project on famous musicians students create a presentation for the class, like Prezi, powerpoint, frames 4, or jeopardy
• research project for migration students are creating photo essays on push and pull factors
• robotics project
• collaborating with me to train students on premier

Upcoming Projects/Plans

• using both the cart in class and the lab students will do research for cells
• will use Imovie to create trailers for the book the Twits - we will split the class and do storyboards then alternate filming times
• students will research water then create children’s stories about water utilizing Storybird
• utilizing audacity to make podcasts in music

6 Teachers bring their classes for regular book exchange

Fundraising

• Book Fair - 250$ - store credit
• Chapter’s night - 400$ - gift card
• Dare Arts - 95$ - cash
• Adopt a School - 500$ - gift card

Major Expenses for library budget

• Purchasing Fiction titles appropriate for grade 6’s - 1500
• Purchasing Graphic novels - 500
• Purchasing replacement book tape - 150$
• Repair books - 195$
• Magazine subscriptions 275$
• Incidentals like barcodes, magazine racks and board games took up the rest

Lessons learned from this year so far

• I can’t let teachers book regular weekly periods for computer use. There isn’t enough flexibility to schedule around them in 4 period day
• I needed to purchase more than 8 copies of Red Maple for Forest - they’re very popular
• The cart is a huge maintenance issue - reliable students should be trained in September to help with upkeep
• Cell phones are too small for BYOD to be useful awkward for kids to read
• The cart needs to monitored every period to ensure everything is back
• If Ipads are constantly plugged in to charge the battery dies
• Netbooks must be shut down with each new user or you can’t get on the network
• Each Wi Fi hub has 30 logins
• The cart is heavy
• Not everyone knows that you can sign out books from the library
• Not everyone knows that they can bring kids to the library to do research and collaborate/team teach with me
• Many teachers aren’t aware of the need to scaffold research so students of all levels are successful
• I have a lot to learn :))))

Gearing up for the Forest of Reading!!!

We are currently gearing up to kick off our Forest of Reading event in our school. Every year the Ontario Library Association hosts the Forest of Reading, which is a celebration of Canadian Authors. Our Forest of Reading program is funded through our chocolate fundraiser. Each year we use some of the fundraising money to purchase the books for students.

There are several different categories. Our school participates in Silver Birch Fiction, Silver Birch Non-Fiction, Silver Birch Express, Red Maple Fiction, Red Maple Non-Fiction, and White Pine.
Here's an introductory video about the program.

Here's what kids have to say!!!

There are many ways that students can participate in the program, here at RHL. Students can read the books for sheer enjoyment and leave a quick note on our blog or on our comment board in the library. They can choose to participate in our book club which will run during the last half of period 2 on Thursdays. Students may wish to participate in our book reviews which will be posted (with parent permission) on this blog site. Students may also wish to participate in the Forest of Reading contest. The contest allows students to vote on and decide on the best books in the Forest of Reading this year. They must read at least 5 books from any one category in order to be eligible to participate in voting. The winners of the contest will be announced in the spring. We will have a Forest of Reading celebration at the end of the year which will recognize the success of our students.

Questions and Answers about Staffing the Library here at Lagerquist

Currently, here at Lagerquist our library is staffed for 80% of the day. I am a part time teacher/librarian. I want to make it clear that this is not about me bargaining for a full time position. In fact I dropped down to 80% 4 years ago in order to take care of my young family. Should our library be staffed full time. Yes! I believe it should but this of course is not in my power to change. This is blog is about giving clear information about how much our library is available to students under our current staffing allotment. 

Why is our Library not open full time?

The amount of staffing for each school library is based on student population. Here at Lagerquist our student population is approximately 650 students. As such, we fall into the 80% staffed library formula. If we were to have less students our library staffing would diminish. If we had more students our library staffing would increase.

How does one calculate the amount of time the library is staffed in a day cycle formula?

Here at Lagerquist our cycle has 24 instructional blocks which works out to 4 periods per day on a 6 day cycle. An 80% allotment means the Library has 15 periods available as teaching/staffed period and 3 periods for teacher planning time, totalling 18 periods out of 24. 

What does this look like in terms of open library doors? 

On paper the library is open from 9am to 1:30pm daily. I do not close the library for my planning times, in reality I don't take them. I also staff the library beyond my allotted contract. Our library does not close at 1:30pm I stay for an extra half hour daily in order to keep the space open for as long as possible. 

This means the library is open as much as possible which I feel is extremely important to the success of a library, in the school environment. Students need to be able to drop in and utilize the resources in the library when they need them. Students have not perfected the idea of planning ahead and working within a time frame. Plus you never know when you might need something. 

What services does the Library offer? 

One of the services I offer is Study Hall which I run on my own and of my own volition. I open the library for 3 lunch hours a week in order for students to have access to computers and workspaces they may not have at home. They use the time to finish up homework, to exchange books, to read quietly, to study for tests, to utilize items they cannot sign out like class reserved print resources, Ipads or netbooks. The rule of Study Hall is you must be working on something. Students use Study Hall regularly I often have between 30 and 40 students in the library on an given lunch hour.

Is Study Hall considered a part of the 80% staffing? 

No it is not. Study Hall is an extra that I run because I feel it is important and in reality a part of the unwritten job description of a library. Libraries should be open and available to students when they need it. 

Hopefully, this gives you a better picture of how much our library is open and available to students. In upcoming blogs I will discuss more of the programs we offer, how study hall works and it's benefits, the Forest of Reading program will begin running in the near future and lots of other activities that will occur here in the library.