Book Talks

Aside from the dated clothing, my library actually looks a lot like this after a book talk.

As a middle school librarian, I have a very small amount of time with each class, and unfortunately I don't see some classes more than two or three times the entire school year.  As such, I try to maximize the time I do have with them.  We do not have a computer lab where I can teach them research skills, so I spend more of my time talking about books.  And let's be honest: middle school is the time when kids stop reading.  They don't have time for it anymore, teachers don't prioritize it, and it stops being cool to be the kid with the newest book.  I can't transform all of our English/Language Arts classrooms into bastions of free reading, but I can do my best to entice students while they're in the library.

When classes do visit the library, I give them a couple of very brief book talks and then let them search for books to check out. Rather than centering my book talks around a theme, I try to find a variety of books.  I have many students who are "onlys": that is, they will only read books written in verse, or only read books with a sportsball on the front, or only read books that are part of a dystopian series. Because of this, I always try to book talk at least two brand-new books, at least two books that have multiple copies in the library, at least one book that's the first in a series, and for all of these I try to choose at least three genres so the kids aren't hearing about only science fiction, or romance, or mystery, etc.   I also try to make sure I only book talk books I've read, which means I have to read from a wide variety of genres and keep current on the books I know about, too.

For example, I might talk about Roland Smith's Peak by saying, "The main character's name is Peak, and he gets in trouble for climbing up the outside of skyscrapers.  The adults decide to send him away for a while so no other kids try to mimic him and climb buildings, too, so he's sent to live with his dad.  But instead of grounding him or taking away his cell phone, his dad takes Peak on a trip to scale Mount Everest, hoping that Peak will become the youngest person to ever reach the summit."   Yes, my students could possibly get that much information from reading the back of the book, but many of them won't be bothered to do so.  They will, however, pick up this book and check it out.

When I finish my book talks, I always put the books I've discussed on a book cart so students can look at them. Sometimes I sneak read-alikes into the cart, books they might also like but that I didn't have time to discuss with them.  When I put Peak on the cart, I added a copy of The White Darkness and a copy of No Summit Out of Sight, and every copy of those three books is currently checked out.

Book talking books to the kids has a few added benefits.  First, the kids learn that I love books and love to talk about them.  This means they are always - and I do mean always - coming up to me and asking what a book is about or telling me about a book they've read or asking for recommendations. Not only that, but giving a book talk and then allowing students to wander and check out books sets the expectation that everyone should be able to find something to read, even if it isn't a 400+ page fantasy tome. I get more kids to check out books when I can show them the wide variety of reading options that are available to them, and book talks are a good way for me to do that.

A Day in the Life of a School Librarian

I have had a few (not many, but a few) people wonder if I spend my whole day sitting at my desk reading books.  Any fellow school librarians (or any librarians, for that matter) are chuckling as they read this, because they know that librarians are, unfortunately, the last ones to get to sit and read, especially at work. I always carry a book with me, so the students can see that I do value reading, but I often carry the same book to and from work for an entire week and only read a few pages at home when I have a spare moment or two.

So, for those of you who wonder what in the world a school librarian does all day, here's a snapshot of a typical day, at least for me:

7:20 AM: I arrive at school.  Technically, my day doesn't start for another ten minutes, but if it's cold or raining outside, I don't like to leave the kids outside waiting for classrooms to open, so I'll open the library as soon as I get to school.  I turn on my computer and spend the next forty minutes checking books in, checking books out, making recommendations, and chatting with the students who are waiting for school to start.  I typically have 30 or so students in the library first thing in the morning.

8:00 AM: First period starts.  I use this time to shelve any returned books and straighten the books still on the shelves, as they have been ravaged by the students before school. Then I double-check my [still unfinished] to-do list from the day before and make sure there aren't any important emails to reply to.  If any classes are coming to visit the library [and there usually are at least two], I prepare some books to booktalk to them so they have an idea of the different types of books available.

Throughout the day, I answer my phone, supervise children who need to make up tests, check out textbooks to new students, answer random teacher questions [no, I do not have a copy machine in the library, etc.], scour the internet for free books to give to my kids, complete parts of projects like dividing the library into genres or just cleaning each of the shelves since they can get pretty dusty throughout the year.  I also write book reviews, as I often receive free ARCs [advanced reader copies] of books in exchange for reviews.

11:00 AM: Seventh grade lunch. I make sure to run to the bathroom before the kids come, because once they are in the library I will be trapped for thirty minutes.  This is a repeat of the before-school time, except I can have up to 60 kids in the library at once, all checking books in and out, asking for recommendations, playing games, looking at old yearbooks, working on homework.  I work my circulation desk and also keep an eye on the kids to make sure any shenanigans don't get too out of hand.

11:40 AM: Seventh grad lunch is over.  I hurry to lock the library and run to the teachers' lounge to eat, if I'm lucky.  Sometimes a class is visiting during this in-between time, in which case I'll gulp down my lunch later.

12:10 PM: Eighth grade lunch.  Same as seventh grade, but bigger kids.

12:40 PM: Lunch is over! I quickly shelve returns and pick up any stray books, making sure the shelves are back in normal order and all the chairs are pushed in.  This is my time to search for more free books, apply for grants, write reviews, schedule any library visits, etc. etc. unless there is a class coming to the library.

2:50 PM: School is over for the day, but the library is still open.  I have a small crowd of kids who will come in to check out one last book before heading home.  A small group of boys has their own CCG [customizeable card game like Magic] they like to play, so I let them use one of the tables for as long as I am still at work. Some kids come in to do homework before they head home. Teachers may stop by with questions.  It's mostly fairly quiet.  I get the returns checked in and ready to shelve, make one last round of the room to pick up stray items and lock the doors, and make sure my to-do list is ready for the next day.

3:30 PM: If there are kids left in the library, I kick them out, then grab my lunch [hopefully I've had a chance to eat], the book I'm always in the middle of, and my car keys.  I lock the library and head home.  Perhaps tonight I'll have a chance to finish that next chapter in my book.

Arrrrrrrrrrrrrgh! Rules o' the Ship

Today is International Talk Like a Pirate Day, which is a great holiday to celebrate in a middle school.  I will definitely be talking like a pirate and telling [probably lame] pirate jokes to the students all day.  However, even though we will be swashbuckling and making people walk the plank, I still expect my students to follow my rules.

Every library, every place really, has rules, and my students are very used to that by this point in their lives.  They spent the first several days of school learning the rules for each of their classes, the rules for the cafeteria, the rules about what they can and can't wear to school, etc.

When I first set foot in this library, there were no less than five different "library rules" signs on the walls, and each one had a different set of rules on it.  I was amazed that the students weren't confused by all the inconsistency, but one of the first things I did [after removing the toilet bucket from my desk, which is another story altogether] is remove all the rules signs.  I wanted to start the year with my own set of rules, once I figured out what they were.

I had my own rules-for-the-rules, too: I wanted fewer than five rules (three seemed a good number), and I wanted them to be positive statements, not negative ones.  Rules that say "Don't do X!" just beg for children to test them by doing X. I finally settled on the following three rules, which are posted by my desk on a nicely portable sign in both English and Spanish:

1.  Be respectful to adults and other students.
2.  Be responsible for all library items you use.
3.  Leave all food, candy, gum, and drinks outside the library.

The "be respectful" and "be responsible" rules I borrowed from my teaching days.  Those two rules cover just about everything that could possibly be a problem, because behavior issues can usually be tied to disrespect of another student (like taking a person's chair or name-calling) or irresponsible behavior (like fighting over a computer or neglecting to pick up game pieces when the bell rings for class). I like that these rules are simple and that the students generally understand that I want them to act like nice people and not jerks in the library.

I don't have a "no running" rule, because running is dangerous to other people in the library and falls under the "respectful" rule.  I don't have a no screaming rule for the same reason.  The food rule is easy enough to enforce; I've told the students that if they are chewing gum, I'll ask them to spit it out, and if they have another food item I'll send them to the hallway to finish it.  I don't throw away their food or drinks, but I do relocate them. Throwing away something the students paid for just makes them mad, and I don't want to anger them unnecessarily, but I do want to keep the library clean.

I also don't have a rule about cell phones.  A cell phone rule makes sense in a classroom, since we want students to pay attention and learn. But in the library I have students who chat with each other, who read books, who play board games, who recommend books to me or to others - all of those things can also be done on a cell phone, and I don't mind if they use them to look up an answer on Google or to show their friends their high score on Flappy Birds. It's important to me to have rules that are enforceable, and trying to stop all 50-60 students who are here during lunch from playing with their phones sounds like an exercise in futility.

These rules work well for me in my middle school library, but I can understand if other types of libraries need different types of rules.  What rules do you have in your library?

Talk Like a Pirate Day

This Friday is International Talk Like a Pirate Day, a holiday that started as a joke between friends and mushroomed into a great activity to use in classrooms and libraries.  Even Krispy Kreme is getting into the spirit of things, offering free donuts to people who talk like a pirate when they order their food.

Last year we didn't celebrate this holiday in my library; I was too new to the profession and still trying to weed the 1950s-era books from my shelves. However, this year we are celebrating.  I have a list of pirate vocabulary I will be posting on the wall as well as some pirate jokes that will be scattered throughout the library. In addition, I have found a few pirate trivia questions that students may answer in order to win a prize.  I will be dressed like a pirate (well, a middle-school appropriate pirate who follows the dress code, of course), and there will be a display of pirate-y books for the kids to read.  I'm posting this pre-holiday so that those of you who also wish to get into the spirit of things can borrow my handouts and signs, etc.

School Daze

The disaster that greeted me in the library at the beginning of this year is significantly different from the mess I saw last year.  Last year I entered a dusty, disorganized, decrepit, dilapidated room where only the brave would venture.  I was greeted with an emergency toilet bucket on my desk.

This year the mess was more due to massive quantities of boxed curriculum being delivered, and that was easily solvable.  I was pleased to discover that, once the dust had settled and the textbooks had been re-homed, the library looked pretty much the same as it had when I had left in June. 

Not much is different this year.  I have rearranged some of the furniture and created larger signs for each genre section, but the library itself mostly looks like it did before.  I did give our book return a serious makeover: 

I think it looks much better this way, and it's easier to say, "Please feed your books to the purple monster," than, "When you return library books, put them in the book return; don't just randomly hand them to the librarian and expect that she'll know what you want."

Since the library is so clean, I was able to open for regular library business on school day #6, which is two days sooner than I had previously expected. Our circulation stats have been amazing so far.  I combine the months of August and September in my records, since we are only in session for a week of August and the library has typically been closed for that entire week.  Two years ago (before my time here), 943 books circulated in August and September.  Last year, 1,223 books circulated.  This year, in the past four school days alone we have circulated 788 books.  I am excited and a bit nervous about the popularity of the library. Already my once-full shelves are looking very empty, and kids are asking for books that have already been checked out. 

I think this is going to be a good year.  Stay tuned for more updates about the goings-on in my library, as well as additional book reviews (once I have time to actually sit down and read a book instead of simply carrying it back and forth from home to work).

Safe Spaces

I still remember vividly the day my French teacher told us she wouldn't put up with our crap in her classroom.  I was in yet another new school, my freshly purchased Dollar Store notebooks and pencils filling my older-than-dirt backpack, last year's not-quite-dead shoes on my feet, when my teacher told our class that she was willing to put up with a lot of crazy, but she absolutely did not put up with bullying. Ever. She told us in no uncertain terms that if we chose to pick on someone else in her room, we were choosing to spend the rest of the day in the office.

This was the first time I had heard anyone say anything like that. I had been to seven different schools, and as the perpetual new kid, I was used to being first a curiosity and then eventually an object of pity and/or ridicule as the year progressed. I knew it would proceed that way because it always had.  I wasn't looking forward to that progression at this school, though, because it looked like my family had finally settled in for the long haul, and if I was going to be at this school for four long years (twice as long as I'd been at any other school, ever), then I would rather not have to be teased the entire time.

Years later, I determined to do the same thing in my classroom, and I did. My seventh grade students did a lot of crazy things - making cardboard and duct tape "armor" for battle scenes, sitting inside their lockers and underneath their desks for free-reading time, using the window as an egress on days that the aircon died - but there was no teasing or bullying in my room.  My kids felt safe to be themselves, even if the "self of the day" was one of their alter egos. [Ask me about my student Catman sometime.]

When I started library school, I knew it would be very important to me that my library be a open and welcoming space for all people. One of the first things I did as a newly minted middle school librarian was to visit GLSEN's website and order a safe space kit.

The stickers are still in my desk, but the poster(s) have been laminated, and one of them hangs in the space behind the circulation desk.  It's quite visible, but it's also obviously part of the slew of posters I have hanging on my walls.  I wanted it to be noticeable but still part of the library landscape.

I also made a point to evaluate the collection at my library.  We have more than a few books - both fiction and nonfiction - about various minorities, but we had a grand total of two books about LGBTQ+ people when I got to this library. We now have twenty-eight books, ranging from nonfiction and poetry to manga and realistic fiction. That's not a lot, but it's a lot better than it was. I recommend these books just like I do any other books in our collection, regardless of the perceived or assumed identity/orientation of the student with whom I am speaking. I also have a picture of my wife on my desk, the same way other people have pictures of their kids or their cats or whatever.  My library isn't covered with rainbows and glitter, but I do make it clear to all students that this library is a safe space. Period.

In the seven months we've had so far of this school year, I've had perhaps a handful of kids say something about the poster.  The conversation usually goes something like this:

Student: "Mrs. F., I like your poster."
Me: "Really? Thanks. I like it, too. I think it's important that everyone feels safe at school and knows they won't be teased just because they are different."
Student: "Yeah.  Did you know that my dad/uncle/sister/friend/etc. is gay/lesbian/trans?"
Me: "No, I didn't, but I think it's neat that you wanted to share that with me."

Sometimes they talk about being teased because of their friend or relative; sometimes they talk about that person feeling hurt or betrayed or depressed. For most of them, it sounds like the first time they've actually told anyone, and sometimes just having someone else help you carry your secret makes it easier.  Sometimes all kids want or need is a place to feel like they've been heard, and I've given them that.

It's still a fact that LGBTQ+ youth are more likely than their peers to become depressed, miss school, or consider suicide because of the teasing and bullying they deal with on a daily basis. If I could, I'd send a guardian angel with each of those kids to school each day, blocking their eyes and ears from the hurtful things other people say and do. I'd remind them that things do get better and that they are loved and important. Owing to my lack of guardian angels, I have created a space in our school where kids can feel safe and know that they can be themselves.

What about you? What kinds of things have you done in your library/classroom/business to make it open and welcoming for all people? 

Shh! Or how I stopped enforcing quiet in my library

Before I started library school, I spent six years teaching English at a small private academy on the island of Guam. Because of the small student body, my teaching schedule changed every year, but for the most part I taught 7th grade English, usually three sections of 7th grade English every day.  After six years and well over one thousand students passing through my classroom doors, I learned a few things about middle school students:

• They are very creative.  My students were old enough to have a wide variety of interests, and they loved to incorporate those interests into the assignments I gave them. For example, I had one seventh grade student complete his poetry notebook exclusively with poems about surfing. 
• They have a lot of energy.  My students had just transitioned from elementary school, where they had regular recess and bathroom breaks, to junior high, where they were shuttled from one class to another and required to sit still for forty-five minutes at a time.  Many of my students suffered from Recess Deficit Disorder.  They were perfectly capable of focusing in class and working, but they had too much energy trapped inside to do that unless they had some time to run and play.
• They aren't sure who they are.  I had students come in one day acting very mature, only to come in the next day whining like a toddler. Some students went through phases where they asked to be called by a particular nickname, only to drop it the next week when it was no longer wanted.  These kids are trapped between being children and being teenagers, and oftentimes they will act like both in the span of fifteen minutes.  I taught one class where one student lost a tooth and another student started her first period in the same hour. 
• They love their electronic devices, but they love them for the connection they provide.  My students relished the days I let them play board games in class, not just because it was a break from grammar and literature, but because they got to spend time with their friends. Many of my students didn't have the opportunity to interact with each other outside of school, so they were glad for any time they had during the school day to chat with their friends. Even now, I more often see students gathered around a single screen rather than sitting next to each other texting back and forth. 

As a teacher, I decided early on that it was more important for my students to leave my class knowing that English is interesting and doable than being able to recite the fourteen uses of the comma or being able to differentiate between transitive and intransitive verbs.  I wanted them to be able to enter another English classroom the next year with confidence, a positive attitude, and a willingness to do their best on any assignment, no matter how difficult it may seem.  I wanted English accessible to all of my students. 

Now that I am a librarian, I have taken a similar approach to my library. If my students leave this school after 8th grade knowing that the library is a place they can go to find information, and if they have begun to develop a love of reading, whether it be sports biographies, manga, or 500+ page fantasy novels, then I have done my job.  I want my students to know that librarians are there to help them and that they are not scary cardigan-wearing shushers of humanity.

That means I spend a lot of time around what I call "loosely controlled chaos."  I do not insist that students be silent in the library, because that would turn me into a silence enforcer instead of a purveyor of information and provider of great books. I do encourage students to come to the library often to play board games, to research on the computer, to work together on Minecraft projects, to gawk at the displays I put up, to learn how to fly paper airplanes, to build with LEGOs, and, yes, to check out books. 

Students attempting to lodge a paper airplane in the ceiling tiles.

For example, last week there were some students flying paper airplanes in the library. Rather than tell them to stop or sending them out, I pulled out our paper airplanes books and set them a challenge: build a plane that will get stuck in the ceiling tiles.  Anyone who can throw a plane up to the ceiling and get it lodged there will earn a free book at the book fair.  The students had a designated area for throwing, and although they were not (yet) successful, they left the library talking about trying new designs over the weekend.  What started out as a mostly harmless pursuit turned into a research project. 

The week before I had a student walking around the library holding a water bottle and the largest atlas in our collection.  He used his "holy book" and "holy water" to cast the demons out of the library.  Was it weird? Yes. Was it bothering anyone else? No. Instead of telling him to sit down and be quiet, I thanked him for exorcising the library demons.  Now that student (and anyone who witnessed him) knows that it's okay to be a little bit weird in the library.  Next week he'll probably be done with his exorcisms, but he won't be done using the library. 

Come to my library during a typical lunch hour and you will see a room that barely resembles a library. I have had students create elaborate LEGO structures and use LEGO catapults to bombard them. I have had students spend their entire lunch break looking at books about One Direction and singing their songs together.  I have a group of students who regularly come to the library and play Sorry! or Connect Four.  It's not obscenely loud, but neither is it completely silent.  The library has become a place where students can learn, can try new things, and can connect with each other.   For an hour before school and two thirty-minute lunch periods during the day, I quiet my inner shusher and let the students explore.  Instead of being a bastion of silence, the library is a bastion of exploration, connection, research, discussion, and relaxation. 

My Kingdom for Some Books

I work at an urban middle school, and from what I've been hearing from libraries across the country, I am fortunate to even have a job at a school library. Some of the schools in my school district share a librarian, so I'm even more fortunate in that I stay at the same school, with the same collection and same kids, all the time.

When I started at this school, I was dismayed at the state of the collection. From the looks of things, it had never been weeded; there were books in this collection that were older than my parents. I can't imagine that a book from the 1950s would be of much use to the average middle school student.  So I did what any reasonable librarian would do in this situation: I weeded. I cleared out all the books that were so laughably old that the information was no longer correct.  When the dust finally settled, I had a more up-to-date collection than I had before, but also a noticeably smaller one.  I needed to add new books to my collection, and I needed them now, if not sooner.  There was only one problem: I have no budget. Yes, you read that correctly.  While my school is blessed to have a library and a librarian, there is no budget for new materials. None. Zero. Zip. Nada.

All this meant for me is that I have had to get rather creative in the way I obtain new books for my library. I spent the better part of a month scouring the internet for possible sources for books for my students, and while I haven't found a magic money tree that would provide me with a budget, I have found a few options that may also work for you:

• Donors Choose: This website allows teachers (and librarians) to create a wishlist of things for their classroom/library. Once the wishlist is created, the site generates a funding total, and all you have to do is advertise it.  Some of your friends, family, or faculty may be willing to donate some money to help your library get new books. Your project will also be on the Donors Choose website, so people searching for a place to donate may choose your project as well. I created a Donors Choose project in September and it was funded by the end of December.  We had our new books in January.  I had to send in a thank-you package containing thank you notes written by my students, and I wrote a thank-you letter that was posted on the site.  I will probably create another of these projects in the fall.
• Goodreads: I hate to give up what has been a good source of free books for me, but I also want to make sure others have books.  Goodreads is a great resource for information about books. I have it up on my computer all day long, as students are always asking, "What's the next book in the such-and-such series?" or "What is this book about?" I write reviews on there myself and keep track of what I'm currently reading or what I want to read. But Goodreads also does giveaways; you can sign up for as many as you like, and if you win the book, it's mailed directly to you by the author or publisher. I have won probably ten or so giveaways over the course of this school year. Goodreads does suggest that winners write reviews of the books they receive, but it isn't required. The catch here is that lots of other people sign up for the giveaways, too, so while I've won ten books, I've probably entered five hundred or more giveaways.  I don't win often, but it is nice to receive a free book when I do.
• Goodwill, Salvation Army, Thrift Town, etc.: Stores that sell used goods are great sources for books. They aren't free, but they're usually a lot cheaper than they would be otherwise.  The key is to check the same store(s) on a regular basis. I was able to purchase the last six books in the Pendragon series (in hardcover) for $1 each, which completed a set at our library. While I can't give my entire paycheck to updating our library, I can buy $6 worth of books now and then.
• Library Book Sales: Our county public library had a book sale a few months ago, and I made sure to visit the first day it opened. I grabbed as many YA titles as I could carry.  Because YA books are still sometimes considered children's books, they often sell for 50 cents or $1.  In this case, I got ten recently published hardcover YA novels for $5, and they were practically already processed for me! All I had to do was cover the old library barcodes with my own and we were good to go. 
• Free Book Stores:  Yes, this is really a thing. They accept donations, organize them, and then allow people to come in and take a certain number of books each time. Since these books are free and are donated, it's kind of hit-or-miss, but it's possible to find good things here.  And they're free. 
• East Bay Children's Book Project: If you live in the SF Bay Area, you can take advantage of this program.  It's currently set up in a park in Oakland, but they are looking for a new home for the fall. If you are a teacher or librarian, you can take up to 50 children's books or an unlimited number of YA books each time you visit.  I have gone three times now and gotten over 300 new books for our library. The only cost involved was my travel time and the gas for my car. 

  

  Books I got from one trip to the EBCBP - all free!

• Scholastic Book Fairs: My school has a book fair twice a year. I always make sure to attend a workshop, which earns me 25 Scholastic Dollars, and I always take all of the profits in Scholastic Dollars as well. We also did the All for Books program during this last fair, and my students raised over $150 - that means that I had $150 to spend on books for my library, and a library in need somewhere got 150 books. 
• Friends and family: I have made it abundantly clear to my ever-patient friends and family that my library needs books. Now they are also on the lookout for books that are on sale or books they can donate. Sometimes they give me books they are trying to get rid of, which means I might get outdated books or books that are not appropriate for middle school, but I always accept them anyway and just find new homes for them if they are not right for my library.
• Students: It might sound weird, but some of my students actually have a lot of current YA books that they've either already read or already decided not to read.  Just this morning I had a student walk in and hand me eight books that she didn't want anymore.  Several of these books fill in gaps in the series I am collecting. She told me, "I like donating books to our library, because even if I haven't read them, I know I can always check them out later if I want to read them."
• Publishers: Sometimes publishers will send me free books if I contact them after I've attended a Booklist webinar. Also, obviously it's easy to get free books from publishers at conferences like ALA; unfortunately, these conferences can be expensive and aren't always close enough to home to warrant a trip.  I am planning on attending the conference in Las Vegas this year, so I'm hoping to get some books there, too. Capstone Publishing offers $100 in book points to AASL members, so I got four hardcover biographies from them, absolutely free. 

This is how I've been able to add nearly 1,000 books to my school's collection this year.  I still have a wish list a mile long, but the library is much better off than it was at the beginning of the year. 

How about you? Are there any free/cheap sources of books you've found?

Posting Reviews

I love the library I work in. I love my giant circulation desk with all of its counter space, the huge windows that let me see the sun shining through the trees, the birds chirping outside (except the one time a bird came in the library, but that's a story for another day), and all the space my students have to work or play games or read.  The one thing I don't particularly love, though, is the giant support beam that sits right in front of my desk.  It's pretty clear that the space my library's in was intended to be two separate classrooms at one point, and that this beam would normally be hidden in the wall, but when I sit at my desk, if I don't focus on the trees outside the windows or the shelves of books, I see a post.

One of the first things I did this year as I was cleaning and organizing the library and working on making it welcoming and inviting for my students was to consider this post.  It was just so ugly, and it's right in the middle of my space, so it's ugly and obvious.  I tried to figure out what I could do with it to make it both useful and more pleasing to look at, when it hit me: I could use this post for student book reviews.  The students could write short reviews of books they've read, and I could post them on the post (see what I did there?).

I created a short review form.  I wanted it to be short so the students wouldn't view it as an assignment and so that the students who are not strong in writing skills or who are learning English as their second language could also complete the form. Also, I wanted there to be room for lots of reviews on the post, so the paper needed to be small.  I created a form that fits four-to-a-page and looks like this:

I then printed this form on brightly colored paper, cut each paper into fourths, and made use of some leftover office supplies to display it like this:

The first day these sat out on my desk, I had four students ask what they were.  When they found out that they could write reviews for a book - any book - and that I would post the review, even if they didn't like the book, they were sold.  They all took one sheet of each color, sat down, and wrote reviews for me. Pretty soon other students were curious, too, because the pole was becoming colorful and eye-catching instead of being an eyesore. Some teachers requested copies of the review form to use as an extra credit assignment in their classes. Some students took review papers and used them as bookmarks, then filled them out when they were finished reading their books.

The students really enjoyed reading each other's reviews, looking for their own reviews on the post, and choosing books based on their classmates' recommendations.  I think they also appreciated that there was no pressure with these review papers. I didn't check them for grammar or spelling, and I didn't mind if multiple reviews were written for one book.

I have had to reprint the review forms on several occasions because they are so popular.  Now, when students tell me they don't know what to read, in addition to traditional reader's advisory (which I truly enjoy doing), I can also point them to the review post and suggest that they look for a good book there.

The review post is very full, to the point where I have had to overlap review forms because there simply isn't room.  The students have asked when I plan to pull down all the reviews so we can start over. For now, I'm planning on leaving all the reviews up until the end of the school year, and in the fall we can start redecorating the post.  Now when I sit at my desk, I don't mind if the post blocks my view of the sun-dappled trees outside; it's giving me a chance to see what my students are reading.

As always, if you wish for a copy of my review form, I am more than willing to share!  You can download an editable copy of this form here. 

Genrefied

"Mrs. F, where are the scary books?"
"Miss Libarry Teacher, where's the Percy Jackson books?"
"I read all the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books; what should I read next?"
"Where are the love stories?"

For the first two months of school, I fielded these types of questions all day long.  For the kids looking for a specific title, I was able to point them in the right direction.  But when a kid wants a genre of book or a book similar to his/her favorite series, I had more difficulty.  It wasn't hard to come up with a read-alike, but it was hard to point the student to the shelf containing all the read-alikes.

Thus I decided that the fiction section in my middle school library needed to be divided by genre.  I started by reading everything Mrs. Readerpants had to say on the subject. And I paid close attention to both my collection and my students.  After I finished planning, it was time to roll up my sleeves and get to work.

I decided to divide our fiction into eleven genres plus one section for the graphic novels/manga. I have approximately 2,000 titles in the fiction section, so this was going to be a large task, but not an impossible one.  I created genre categories as well as color codes for each genre:

• Historical Fiction (Dark Green)
• Fantasy (White)
• Mystery (Purple)
• Realistic Fiction (Orange)
• Humor (Yellow)
• Romance/Chick Lit (Pink)
• Adventure (Red)
• Science Fiction (Light Blue)
• Paranormal (Dark Blue)
• Mythology (Light Green)
• Horror/Scary (Black)
• Graphic Novels/Manga (Bright Pink)

Then I took the books to my desk, one cart-full at a time.  Each book had to be individually scanned, changed in the computer, and tagged with a color-coding sticker on the spine.  I changed the call numbers to reflect the new genres; for example, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone was changed from F ROW to F FAN ROWLING.  Keeping the fiction designation allows all the fiction to still be grouped together in my catalog, but the genre classification allows my patrons to find the books in the correct location. This was a long process, and I have a small library, so I can imagine it would be a much bigger task in a larger library. 

Most of the books were easy to genre-fy.  Some books I had to look up on Goodreads to see other people's categories and get an idea of where they should go.  If a book fit in multiple genres, I put it where I thought my students would be most likely to look for it.  As I completed each cart, I adjusted the shelves so that the genres were placed together.  This meant I shifted books a lot, but it was good for me to be able to see how the genres would all fit on my shelves.

I have wooden bookshelves and they are attached to my walls, so I couldn't rearrange the shelving itself, but I was able to dedicate a certain number of shelves to each genre.  I ended up giving each genre its own vertical bookshelf, except that Mystery shares with Scary books and Mythology and Paranormal share a shelf.  This is because of my two biggest genres: historical fiction and fantasy both needed two vertical shelves each to fit all the books.  I am now considering dividing both of those sections into subsections.  I would split fantasy into high/low fantasy (because kids who like Harry Potter will not necessarily gravitate toward Redwall), and I am considering dividing the historical fiction by broad time periods or just pulling particular topics into their own area (World War II and the colonial period, for example, have a lot of books each).

It took me approximately one week, working on my own, to genrify all of my fiction and graphic novels.  I still have to genrify any books that have been checked out during this process, but that is a much smaller project that can be completed as the books are returned to the library.  I have signage up in each section that identifies the genre (in English and Spanish).  The signs contain pictures that represent that genre, and the lettering on each sign matches the color codes for that particular genre.  Already I have noticed a difference in the way my students look for books, and many books that have not moved at all this year are now circulating. It's too soon to tell what difference this will make in my circulation statistics, but the comments from students and teachers alike make the hard work worthwhile.

"Wow, the library is so much nicer this year."
"I can actually find the books I like to read."
"It's so much more organized; I like our library."

If you are considering dividing your fiction section by genre and you have questions for me, feel free to comment on this post and I can reply to you via email.  I am also willing to share the signage I created; I can send you a PDF copy of that document upon request.