BVSD Libraries: March 2017

Friday, March 24, 2017

Guest Blogger - Barb Miller

March Madness? No, Weeding Madness!

Barb Miller, Teacher-Librarian - Manhattan MS

What do you get when you combine two middle schools, don’t keep up on weeding and then remodel the library? I wish this were the set up to the start of a joke, but it’s not. It’s what happened to me when Baseline Middle School combined with Burbank Middle School to become Manhattan Middle School and I took over as the librarian.

...weeding was one of those tasks that just never got done...

I must admit that I had plenty of things to do and somehow or other, weeding was one of those tasks that just never got done (especially nonfiction). A few years ago, my shelves were past bulging and I could no longer ignore the ugly truth that I had better start weeding. I was incredibly lucky to have help from one of our parents, and none other than the Colorado Librarian of the Year -Beatrice Gerrish. Beatrice was extremely helpful and generous with her time. Since this wasn't ‘her’ library, she wasn’t attached to the books and we started weeding in earnest. I would highly recommend asking a fellow librarian to help with this; as a matter of fact, BVSD will provide sub time to make this happen- email Zoe.

...9,356 books (over 50% of my collection) were weeded

Fast forward to this year with a library remodel on the horizon and architects telling me there would be room for a maximum of 8,340 books. Yikes! I dug in with gusto and with the support of my principal, 9,356 books (over 50% of my collection) were weeded. Of course, I didn’t do this alone; I had help from our incredible PTO, library aides (slave labor), Mackin’s phenomenal Bobbi Craig, Insignia and Mackin’s Collection Analysis, and Rae Ciciora (helpful weeding advice).

A couple of pieces of weeding advice which really stuck out and helped me were - 1) Fiction and NF were going to flip. In my new library, I’d have more fiction than nonfiction, and 2) weed the NF by date of publication (try not to have items over 15 years old) and the FIC by least circulated. Most books not checked out in 3 years probably need to get the heave ho.

We’ll be developing a 3-year plan for purchasing both print and e-book resources

Yep and get ready for this - in all, from 2012-now, we’ve weeded a total of 29,420 books!
The library is looking pretty barren and forlorn but I’m looking past what is and imaging the gorgeous new space that will be here next fall. Since our library is closing early (May 5th), I’m looking forward to having time to explore Overdrive and Mackin Via, as well as help teachers develop curriculum maps. We’ll be developing a 3-year plan for purchasing both print and e-book resources for the gorgeous new library.

Now I just need to go home and start spring cleaning. Somehow, that doesn’t look very daunting anymore...

Guest Blogger - Kim Butler

Critical Thinking in the Library

Kim Butler, Teacher Librarian - Birch Elementary

Project-Based Learning Pilot Program

This year I have focused my with students on critical thinking skills and teamwork. I have been fortunate this year to work toward this in a couple of areas. I have been working with our TAG Coordinator to provide extensions for students on ALPs, and other teacher selected students. These extensions became Project Bulldog; a project based learning pilot program. We meet with the students twice a week for about 40 minutes each and the students work on various projects. Project based learning takes authentic learning opportunities and gives the students freedom to explore a topic thoroughly while producing a project to share with an authentic audience.

How can we, as innovators, create a space that will meet all of our needs?

Our first project was all about the furniture. The driving question was: How can we, as innovators, create a space that will meet all of our needs? We were a Phase One school and so the majority of our construction happened over the summer. The furniture we ordered did not arrive until late November. In preparation for this we took the Project Bulldog kids on a field trip to a school that had similar furniture and had some speakers address the kids for our entry event.

From there the students created projects that centered around the furniture. Some of them developed floor plans using feedback from teachers and research on appropriate classroom set ups, some made safety videos, some even delved into the history and evolution of furniture. Some students created a persuasive video for how to use the furniture in the cafeteria, and some made video games that set a furniture layout based on individual responses to questions. They shared their projects with their classmates and parents in a gallery setting. The completed projects were put on the Birch site for people to explore.

How can we, as community planners, provide Mars colonists with a full and satisfying community life?

Our second Project Bulldog project took on a different flavor. We decided to aim this more towards the standards in the individual grades and offer a little more guidance and background knowledge. For 4th and 5th grades we decided to center our work on exploration of Mars.With the driving question: How can we, as community planners, provide Mars colonists with a full and satisfying community life? This would hit the exploration standards for 5th, space for 4th, and also provided an authentic topic because of all of the incredible work that is currently happening in regards to occupying Mars.

We did some work around Mars as a planet, comparisons to Jamestown, and even had an expert in to share some information about travel to Mars so far. The students are now developing projects centered on government development, entertainment, “a day in the life”, job recruitment, and transportation. So far their projects range from recruitment videos to 3d models of games, and even the best way to tax the community. These projects will be explored by a panel of “experts” including the speaker from earlier.

...projects will be explored by a panel of “experts” ...

For the second Project Bulldog project in 3rd grade, we decided to focus on a more authentic and school centered need. Each year the third grade students take a trip to Ecocycle to learn about recycling, and the kids in Project Bulldog are leading the charge toward better recycling within the school. Students had visits from a recycling expert and then developed a plan to share the things they’ve learned with the school. Their plans included a trivia slideshow that plays during lunches and culminates in a trivia contest complete with prizes, a video game that also instructs about proper recycling, and a video sharing the importance of recycling. Projects will be presented to the entire school as well as within the Third grade classrooms and on the Birch website. We’ve expanded the Project Bulldog work to include 1st grade, and they are learning about composting to accompany their classroom investigations of plants.

Wednesday, March 1, 2017

Rae's March Blog

Part II:
You’ve gathered the low-hanging fruit and tossed the sour milk. Now what?

Get your inventory game-plan started. Determine which section to start with and how long it will take. Smaller sections allow a bit more flexibility when you are interrupted through the process. Perhaps you can start with the 000-300’s. And remember you can do a shelf or two a day.

Inventory-Get'r Done!

Hints:

Be sure to use the Copy Call No range, it will be the easiest way to get a complete inventory.
Scan over the course of several days, if needed. You can always stop scanning and come back later to begin scanning again. Just use the top drop down menu to find the inventory you are working on to resume.
If you are Importing from a list, the missing items report will include books with invalid barcodes.

How-To:

1. Initialize Library System - It will ask you to name the inventory when you click Initialize Library System. Be descriptive enough to know what section you are inventorying.

2. Attach a barcode reader to your laptop and make sure the cursor is in the Scan Copy Barcode box. Start scanning. The books will show up in the list below.

3. When you have finished scanning the section* you’ll want to Finalize the Inventory by changing all unscanned items to missing. You will sleuth out the missing items next.

Do not do Step 4. It is an optional step that doesn’t work well for our district.

Troubleshooting the Inventory Process

1. Gah! Invalid barcodes or barcode not in range: what to do?

If you are scanning your inventory in Insignia (there is the option of importing a list of scanned items. Troubleshooting a scanned list will be more difficult) this is your opportunity to really make sure your data matches your shelves. When a barcode comes up invalid, open the Find/Add window. Then try these:

Try typing the barcode number instead of using the barcode reader. If that works, you might need to reprint the label. Now type the barcode into Inventory.
Type in the title. If it returns the title without a copy attached, maybe this copy has already been deleted. If you are keeping the copy, add it back in as a new copy, but use the already attached barcode.
Take a look at the Material Type, or Collection Type of the title. Perhaps the copy is attached to the wrong title. You can relink the copy to the correct title. For example: a print copy of Little Women is attached to the DVD version with the same title.
If the barcode is one of the old 6 digit codes, you might need to type “3 + school code + the old barcode” into the inventory window to get it to “read.” See this list for school codes, add zeroes in the middle as needed to make 14 digits.
Let Rae know if you have any other situations that aren’t covered here. Screenshots in an email are very helpful.

2. Grrr! The Find/Add search results show titles that I've weeded!

The Find/Add window will show titles with no copies. The reasons are various, but include: the title was originally cataloged in your library, you once owned a copy and now you don't. Don't worry about these.

Titles are held at the district level. Other schools may have copies attached to those titles. I know it's frustrating to think you've weeded yet still see these titles in a Find/Add search. The Find/Add window is geared toward cataloging: adding new books to existing titles, etc.
To see what you have on your shelves (or rather, what Insignia thinks you have on your shelves) use the Search feature. Then use the filters on the right to narrow the search down if needed. These search results will tell you at a glance what copies are In, Out, or Reserved.

Reconciling the Inventory

After Inventory is finalized for each section, you’ll want to run some reports. The Missing Items list from Inventory (or Report>Reports>Catalog>Inventory - Missing Items) allows you to track down missing books to determine whether they are really lost. If you find missing books, be sure to change their Copy Status in Insignia to “In” or if they are lost, change status to "Lost" or “To Be Deleted.”

Weeding in Earnest

The Least Circulated report is popular for weeding. It will list titles of books under a certain number of circulations within a chosen timeframe. (Report>Reports>Circulation>Least Circulated Items) It is easy to print off this list and hand it to a trusted helper to pull books for your review at a later time. Be sure to “Order By: Copy Call No” for quicker work (at the bottom left of the report window).
Consult the MUSTIE
Delete weeded items from Insignia