[ISLMA-Share] English Novel Checkouts

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I catalog all the English Department books, too.  They are kept in storage
in the English teachers' classrooms, but they are checked out through the
library.  On the day that a teacher is ready to begin a new novel, he/she
hands out the novels to the students and they walk through the library in
nice neat line with their student ID in one hand and the book in the other.
I scan them.  It takes all of 5 minutes, max, per class.

Advantages: if a book is left in the gym, cafeteria, etc. it is easy to
scan it, find out who it belongs to, and return it.  If a student loses a
book, my billing system takes over to bill & replace the item.

My English Department is delighted with this system.  If  teachers choose
NOT to use the library for their classroom novels, then *they* are
responsible for doing their own textbook inventory, figuring out which
students didn't return books, getting the money from the student, and
dealing with the school secretary and the PO process to replace the missing
items. The administration has made it clear that they will NOT be replacing
books because of shoddy inventory work.

Could you work together with the head of the English department and the
administration to come up with a similar solution?

Michelle Harris
Heyworth CUSD #4

On Thu, Oct 20, 2016 at 11:32 AM, Email list for the Illinois School
Library Media Association <islma at list.railslibraries.info> wrote:

> Hello,
> I'm looking for advice on a situation I'm in this year.
> We recently consolidated all of the English novels into one space and
> barcoded them for use with the library software because the teachers were
> losing too many copies each year by not keeping good enough records.
> Originally, we thought I would just check the books out for each class when
> the time came. However, I'm finding that this is taking up a much bigger
> chunk of my time than expected and my programming/planning has suffered.
>
> The English classes checkout 3-5 novels per semester. This means that
> every couple of weeks, I am having to round up books and schedule times
> with the English teachers to do the checkouts. It's been very disruptive to
> my usual work. I have no assistants to help me except for two student
> assistants twice per day. They have been great about helping me check the
> books in, but are not usually available when the novels need checking out.
>
> So I devised a system in which I designated a cart and a scanner
> specifically as English department use only. I've given our English
> teachers permission in Destiny to check books out/in. I typed up very
> specific instructions for logging into Destiny and checking the books out.
> One of my student assistants even made a video explaining how to check the
> books out. So the new system is as follows: The teachers are to tell me
> when they need a novel and how many copies of it. I put the novels on the
> cart and have the scanner with instructions for checking the books out to
> students. The first time that the teachers need to check out books, I bring
> the cart in, walk them through the checkout process for the first few
> books, then leave. After that, it's completely up to them to come get the
> cart, check out their books, and bring the cart back (unless they have a
> tech problem). I will continue to put the books on the cart ahead of time
> for them, though.
>
> Naturally, the English teachers are fighting this. They see it as one more
> thing on their plates, when in reality, I'm taking at least one thing off
> of their plates. Instead of them having to find out who has the novel they
> need and bringing enough copies back to their rooms, I am now doing that
> part for them. And instead of writing the novels/student names down on a
> piece of paper, they are scanning it into Destiny. Besides getting my
> programming and teaching time back, after thinking the various options
> through, this seemed to be the best way to get classes the books they need
> when the teachers want them. If I am ever absent on a day when they want
> books, especially if it is an unexpected absence, their plans would be
> thrown for a loop. If there's anything I've found about our English
> department, they are not the most flexible group of teachers.
>
> I don't mean to put down our English department though, because they are
> great teachers.
>
> What I am wondering is if any of you do something similar to this system,
> if you do something different (as a solo librarian with no full time aide),
> or if you think I am wrong in using this system. The English teachers
> clearly think I am wrong in it.
>
> Thank you!
> Alison Kurtz
> Library Media Specialist
> Sandwich High School
> 515 E. Lions Rd.
> Sandwich, IL 60548
> 815-786-2157 ex. 22134
> akurtz at kidsroe.org
>
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-- 
Michelle Harris
District Librarian
Heyworth CUSD #4
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