[ISLMA-Share] Going SOLO

Wed Mar 8 09:08:51 CST 2017

I went the other way about a decade ago, but had to refight that battle this fall. We have just under 1200 middle school students.

I have the advantage of being one of the union reps. Hence, we were able to move quickly to a solution this year. As it turned out my aide has the unique job of being the only full-time library aide in the district and her contract puts her in a category of 1 person.

This change also puts more work on you, ask your union rep if this changes your contract and your workload. Why should the district get to create more stress for you without compensation?

How our school won an aide is simple. Document. Document. Document. My circulation jumped after I got an aide. The shrinkage of the collection declined, because we had more accurate circulation records.

For the short-term, read the past postings on self-checkout. I have it set up where the student are trained to check in/out all of their own materials. At lunch times, I have student aides double-check all check ins and do the shelving, book covers, etc… I have students trained on how to do inventory. Embrace student help. Even with an aide, I have 40 different students helping out through the week.

Also, ask you administration what you are to do for lunch? Do you close the library?

Sincerely,

Alan, Librarian serving Brooks Middle School

"What a school thinks about its library is a measure of what it thinks about education."
- Harold Howe, former U.S. Commissioner of Education

From: islma-bounces at list.railslibraries.info [mailto:islma-bounces at list.railslibraries.info] On Behalf Of Email list for the Illinois School Library Media Association
Sent: Wednesday, March 08, 2017 8:45 AM
To: Email list for the Illinois School Library Media Association
Subject: Re: [ISLMA-Share] Going SOLO

I have no experience or advice, just sympathy!!  So sorry to hear of yet another school de-valuing libraries.

Connie Workman
VIT CUSD #2
Table Grove, IL  61482
cworkman at vit2.org<mailto:cworkman at vit2.org>
(309) 758-5138

On Wed, Mar 8, 2017 at 8:13 AM, Email list for the Illinois School Library Media Association <islma at list.railslibraries.info<mailto:islma at list.railslibraries.info>> wrote:
Well Folks, it's happened to me!

My district has eliminated the Media Associates starting next year.  I will be working in my middle school library of 750 students, alone! I will have help for an estimated 1 hour a day, so I am thankful for that.

I wondering if any of you have gone through this transition and if you have any tips?

I have 3 large reading programs and 2 passive reading programs and various activities throughout the year.  I also teach 29 (+5 on various weeks when I can schedule in other teachers) classes every two weeks. We are also 1:1.

Any tips on programs that are more self-run?  I don't want to lose quality, but am having a hard time seeing how to run these programs without being able to check with the students on their reading.

Again, this is a huge change in my world and am grateful for any help and advice that anyone can share!

--
Sincerely,
Amy Hamernick
Teacher Librarian
Century Jr. High
@AhamernickCJH
#CenturyWildcats

"If we always do what we've always done,
we will get what we've always got."
~Adam Urbanski~

_______________________________________________
ISLMA-Share mailing list
islma at list.railslibraries.info<mailto:islma at list.railslibraries.info>
For list archives and subscription options, visit:
http://list.railslibraries.info/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/islma
To unsubscribe, send a message to:
islma-leave at list.railslibraries.info<mailto:islma-leave at list.railslibraries.info>

_______________________________________________
ISLMA-Share mailing list
islma at list.railslibraries.info<mailto:islma at list.railslibraries.info>
For list archives and subscription options, visit:
http://list.railslibraries.info/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/islma
To unsubscribe, send a message to:
islma-leave at list.railslibraries.info<mailto:islma-leave at list.railslibraries.info>

This message is for named person(s) only. It may contain confidential
and/or legally privileged information. No confidentiality or privilege
is waived or lost should mis-transmission occur. If you receive this message
in error, delete it (and all copies) and notify the sender. You must not,
directly or indirectly, use, disclose, distribute, print, or copy any part
of this message if you are not the intended recipient.  Valley View Public 
School District 365U reserves the right to monitor all e-mail communications 
through its networks.Any views expressed in this message are those of the 
individual sender, except where the message states otherwise and the sender 
is authorized to state them to the views of any such entity.  This e-mail has 
been virus and content scanned by Valley View Public School District 365U.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://list.railslibraries.info/pipermail/aisle/attachments/20170308/b02805eb/attachment-0002.html>