Simpson

=Journal Reviews=

The three journals I read were: Library Media Connection, School Library Media Activities Monthly, and [|Teacher Librarian]. I enjoyed reading all of these journals and thought they had great insights into some new ideas emerging in the field. In Teacher Librarian they had an article about learning commons that I found interesting. They discussed the importance of client-side principles and I loved looking at the pictures of their new and improved library space. Other hot topics I noticed were the idea of what does learning look like in the library, graphic novels, vampire novels, and selection processes.

An article I really enjoyed reading was about volunteers in the library (in LMC). It was about the importance of volunteers and how to find volunteers and how important it is to thank them. It included suggestions for finding volunteers that I thought were useful. The article recommended asking for volunteers at the school's open house, asking the PTO for volunteers, or having students volunteer to come in and help. I also learned about what tasks volunteers are good at completing such as: providing coverage in the library during lunch, assisting with circulation, helping the students, mending books, and making bulletin boards. I have never considered just how much help parent volunteers could be! I see why this article is stressing the importance of finding volunteers so the librarian has time to collaborate with teachers and teach students.

Another section of the article I particularly liked was on how to thank volunteers. I think it is very important to make sure you thank volunteers who are giving their time to your library. They had some great ideas to thank the volunteers. Librarians can send thank you cards, add books in the volunteers name to the collection, include their recognition in an assembly, have a party, or offer small inexpensive but thoughtful gifts. I think just taking the time to personally thank volunteers for their effort would be a great way to encourage volunteers to come back for another year!

I really enjoyed the School Library Media Activities Monthly because it offered so many great ideas you could use right away in your library. One of the first things I noticed in it was that it included a bulletin board idea of the month. I think this would be useful when you run out of ideas for what to put on your board. Underneath the article there is a list of things that relate to the month that could also be fun ideas. They include things such as flower of the month, "fall hat month", "national piano month", etc. These could be some great inspirations for decorations or displays or posters in your library. I also read their reading/science lesson plan. The plan had what standards it included, the grade level and everything else you would need to use it in your library.

In Library Media Connection another section I really thought was fun was the "tips from your colleagues". I found a tip that I think I would like to use when I am a library media specialist. It said to store bulletin board letters in plastic page protectors in a binder so that they were always organized and you could easily store them on your shelf. I think this would be much easier than sorting through one big box of jumbled letters. I will definitely enjoy reading this tip section in the future because I like having fast things I could change in a few minutes to make an improvement.

Emily

I love to read Library Media Connection when I can get my hands on it! I always find one tidbit of info that is helpful and useful. The article on volunteers sounds great. It's hard to get volunteers who are willing to devote consistent time so some of the ideas listed are good ones for "stop by" volunteers. Nicole Friend talked a little bit about volunteers during her session on organization. It takes some time to train volunteers so if she is going to take two hours to train a volunteer, she has to make sure this person is going to be reliable. It's important to go over the guidelines and not assume the parent knows how the library operates. Can you imagine the mess if you just let a parent come in and reshelve books? I also liked that Library Media Connection encouraged writing thank you notes. I think it's a wonderful gesture, and I try to do it whenever possible because I know how appreciated I feel when I get one. The colleague tip was also useful; although, I use an accordion file so nothing falls out of the top. I have one for letters and one for pictures divided by topic. CMS


 * The article on volunteers is timely We will be talking about staffing on Tues. Please share some of these ideas! SB

I also liked the Volunteer article. It's important to make them feel as appreciated and important as they are. Organization skills seem to be very important. Librarians are busy enough without wasting time looking for things. Learning commons were also discussed at David Loertscher's session JD

• Volunteers are definitly important! I know I saw that during my field experience. If we are to function as teacher/librarians we need volunteers to help out. I would hate to have to close the library to students who want to check out books because I'm teaching a class. Volunteers help us serve ALL our patrons. I also like the idea of students volunteers. You never know when you may have a budding librarian on you hands :) CNR

Thanks, Emily, for highlighting the article on volunteers as it is (or can be) an important part of your media center operations. I read the part about coverage during lunch - would that fly, I wonder, if they are not certified but supervising students? Probably an admin decision. I enjoyed the Library Media Connection as well and would be interested to see what other issues contain. The Bulletin Board idea of the month was also great as I am always at a loss as to what to do with my boards! --Bill Reagle

Emily, I agree with you that it is important to successfully find and train volunteers. Having worked in a library myself, I did not realize how difficult things can be when you are without help in the library. I am currently completing my field ed. in an urban school. The SLMS does not receive any help from volunteers. She has to focus on a lot of the minute details, instead of focusing on planning collaborative lessons for her students. It is also a good idea to get coverage for the library during lunch. At the school I am working at, the librarian has to close the library for an hour or so at lunch (she has lunch duty). That is a prime time to allow students to visit the media center. It is also just as important to thank volunteers. In addition to other gifts throughout the year, I would allow my volunteers to pick out so many free books at the book fair as a special thanks. JT

I also agree that volunteers are an important and invaluable asset to the library. Where I am doing my field experience, there are no aides or volunteers and the LMS has to do absolutely everything. A lot of time that could be used for instruction is instead being used for shelving, checking in, and checking out books. Quite often she must stay late in order to finish everything at the end of the day. It is a great idea to show appreciation for the volunteers, because then they will be more than happy to keep volunteering! I think Library Media Connection is a very useful journal because of the useful tools and applications. Fresh bulletin board ideas are always welcome. KE

I think parent volunteers would be very beneficial to have in the libraries as well! I'm surprised that the libraries in the school district I work in do not have any volunteers. I'm not sure why they don't but I may have to bring that topic up soon. The library aides run the libraries and they always discuss how busy they are so I would think they would want some volunteers to help them out. I know I definitely would! MP