It's a Dirty Job . . . Someone's Gotta Do It

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A public librarian was visiting the school a few years ago and observed parts of my typical day. If the amount of interaction I have with kids and teachers was surprising (I teach, recommend books, co-plan, and co-teach, as well as just being a sounding board--one teacher has joked that I need a sign like Lucy from the Peanuts has for over my desk), then the fact that I also order for four schools, check in, check out, and shelve every book that circulates was an overwhelming reality to this visitor.

I had no idea that public librarians did not spend time shelving or even deal with circulation. Their jobs are so different. Imagine my surprise when I recently found out that there are people at the public library whose jobs are solely to go through each returned book, page-by-page, to check for damage and objects left behind. I, on the other hand, recently had a couple of disgusting revelations of my own. Before working as a school librarian, I could not have imagined fanning a book for display only to think, "I hope that's chocolate." Yes, that happened. I carefully removed the dust jacket and cleaned both the jacket and the book of the offending substance--something that happens often enough that I find myself asking, "What do they do with theses books?!"

The second instance involved a book that came in feeling like a sponge. The student told me that it ended up in the back of the family's truck on a trip over winter break. The tarp that was supposed to protect the items in the truck bed did not keep water from saturating the library book. It was heavy with water and had started to mold. This book, unfortunately, could not be saved.

The joys of moldy books. This one had only circulated a handful of times.

If this was a rare occurrence, it would not be worth mentioning. However, I have to make the decision about whether to clean, fix, or throw away books on a regular basis. Collection maintenance is a job that takes a larger portion of my time than I could have imagined. From replacing dust jackets, taping ripped pages, and weighing whether to replace or rebind a book, I am constantly weighing my budget against collection needs. Lost books, especially those from popular series, pose issues as well. How do I keep up with our needs on a limited budget with so many damaged and lost books constantly coming my way? What strategies do school library professionals employ to balance not only their budgets, but their time--probably a more important commodity for teaching librarians, with so many demands coming from both areas? That's definitely an invisible juggling act that I would like to discuss further.

Any chance you can recommend . . . ?

It's no secret that librarians are generally book experts. At least in some way, most librarians I know are immersed in reading--sure, we all have our favorites, but we're also generally well-versed in lots of genres since we read reviews and stock shelves with the latest and greatest. It's not surprising, then, that I am asked for book recommendations. I can think of three recent instances in which I stepped outside of my work life in order to provide recommendations.

Right after the winter break, a staff member from another school emailed me. She wanted to start a book club for sixth grade girls and was looking for title suggestions. I spent some time thinking about diverse books that might engage girls in thinking about and talking about the struggles that come with being a middle school aged girl. My response to her was:

Examples of books that might work (I have read all of these):

Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson This is Woodson's autobiography written in poetic format. She writes about the struggles of coming of age while also going through family transitions.

Blackbird Fly by Erin Entrada Kelly is contemporary fiction about a girl who is going through bullying at school and how she learns about herself and her own power while learning to play guitar.

Hattie Big Sky by Kirby Larson is historical fiction about a kick butt girl who goes out and settles land in the west as part of an inheritance. 

Roller Girl by Victoria Jamieson is a graphic novel about a middle school girl going through a friendship transition--learning to focus on her interests and make a new friend, while realizing that she does not have to leave her old friend behind. 

The War That Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley is historical fiction about a girl and her brother who are sent out of London during WWII and have to make a life with a stranger while coming to grips with the abuse and neglect they suffered with their mother.

Another option (I have not read this, but is part of a series, so if they like it would be easy to continue): The Secret Language of Girls by Frances O'Roark Dowell (from publisher: Marylin and Kate have been friends since nursery school, but when Marylin becomes a middle school cheerleader and Kate begins to develop other interests, their relationship is put to the test.)

If you don't think these will work, let me know and I can make more suggestions :-)

After I sent that response, I pulled a couple more options aside and am considering recommending them after I have had a chance to read them:

Awkward by Svetlana Chmakova "After shunning Jaime, the school nerd, on her first day at a new middle school, Penelope Torres tries to blend in with her new friends in the art club, until the art club goes to war with the science club, of which Jaime is a member." (from OCLC)

Dream On, Amber by Emma Shevah "Amber's Japanese father left when she was little, and her sister Bella was just a baby, so now she fills in the frustrating gap in her life with imagined conversations, and writes letters to Bella that seem to come from their father." (from catalog)

The book club began last week with Roller Girl. I am hearing good feedback about the book so far and have even received a request to attend a roller derby bout with some of the book club members. How fun is that?!

My other recent interactions involved parents of middle school and high school students asking book-related questions on Facebook.

"I need your opinion. [name of child] devoured the Maze Runner and Divergent series of books, quickly. Do you have a recommendation on what she should read next?"

"Book loving friends, I need suggestions for teen books that are not depressing. There must be something better than Twilight but less heart-wrenching than A Thousand Splendid Suns."

One of these requests was posted directly to me and the other was a general post. I am always interested in what others might recommend when asked. One of my friends posted this list in response to the first request. I probably would have recommended everything on that list, but it's a BIG place to start. This is how I responded:

"Ok, full disclosure is that I have a list on [name of my] library catalog site that is pretty comprehensive. It was my plan to provide a fancy-dancy link so you could just have her check [her daughter's] library for the same books (they have most, maybe not all??--that is also something I am working on as I am now doing selection for all MS libraries). However, I am told that is does not always properly link (boo). So, I am working on turning it into a bibliography and adding it to my blog. In the meantime, my favorite follow ups are the Across the Universe Series by Beth Revis and the Delirium Trilogy by Lauren Oliver. Both of these series have (probably) my favorite beginning lines/scenes in teen lit. BUT--these are only a start. My list has over 100 books (and counting!) I will update you once it is available in a better format. Hope these help in the meantime. Oh, and I should also mention the Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer so that [my daughter] does not come after me in my sleep. They are dystopian, but also reinvented fairy tales (ie Cinder is Cinderella, Scarlet is Little Red Riding Hood). I liked them . . . she is obsessed." 

In response to the second parent, she received many recommendations. It was interesting to me that when she asked for "not heart-wrenching," people gave her titles that included suicides. However, she also got a recommendation for my favorite book (The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian), so a mixed bag. My response to her was:

"Yes. There are piles of amazing books. I just finished Infinite In Between by Carolyn Mackler. She writes the POV of a freshman orientation group from 9th grade to graduation, alternating among the characters. I also loved Echo by Pam Munoz Ryan which follows a harmonica as it passes among several children from different countries and different circumstances during WWII. I can make you a full bibliography of options next week (massive cold right now, so head is muddled)." 

I have not had time to compile a full bibliography, but I have started collecting current titles that might fit the bill. Though not a specific request to me alone, I'm hoping I can help her daughter find books she might not otherwise get her hands on.

I have often wondered what kids do when there is not a librarian reading and recommending titles at their school. These examples seem to prove that they do get good books in their hands . . . maybe because their parents have resources beyond what is available within the school walls. However, what happens to the other kids? With only five librarians servicing the needs of 25 schools, most kids do not get personal interactions with and/or book recommendations from a librarian. Though an invisible librarian provides great books to their school libraries, there is no guarantee that they will ever get into the students' hands. I hope to continue dialogue with the parents who have made requests, as well as to create bibliographies that might help. What are some other ways that we can make a librarian less invisible to kids who don't have equitable access?

Why do we care about that Dewey Decimal System?

So today I am cataloging some new non-fiction books that just arrived for one of our high schools, and I am getting to do one of those completely invisible tasks that I think, I hope, actually makes a difference.  A small one maybe, but hopefully one that helps with what I believe is one of the most important roles of a library and the expert librarians that work there.  Help people find the resources that will help them take the next step in their lives and learning.  We do that in big and small ways in school libraries, in how we teach students to evaluate and make sense of information, in how we collaborate with teachers to design lessons that ask our students to think deeply and problem-solve, in how we provide books that students not only can read, but want to read, and even in how we use that funny Dewey Decimal System.

Here is an example of the latter... the small task of deciding the best Dewey number to give a book and why it matters.  Notice, I did not say the RIGHT call number.  I said the BEST call number.   Assigning the Dewey numbers is not always a clear-cut, exact science.  It also requires that I consider the audience, the specific community of students and teachers that will be using the library and how they search for information. 

A little behind-the-scenes for any of you not familiar with how library books get all those library labels put on them... Our library books arrive mostly "shelf-ready" from the vendors we buy the books from.  That means they already have the call number assigned, the book jackets, labels, stamps, etc.  This works out just fine most of the time, and saves us a lot of time.  However, the non-fiction call numbers they choose are not always the call numbers we would choose, so I go through each one of those myself.

Okay, on to the book in question: Women of Colonial America: 13 Stories of Courage and Survival in the New World by Brandon Marie Miller.  The library book vendor we purchased the book from gave it a call number of 920, which is where all collective biographies (books with more than one biography such as African American inventors) go.  Yep, technically that is fine.  Once books arrive here, our library catalog system has a program that also suggests call numbers.  That system gave the book a call number of 305.4, which is for books on Women.  Yep, that works too.  So which one should I choose?  

Neither!  First, I happen to know that books in 920 (collective biography) just do not get checked out much in our schools, so that's not ideal.  305.4 is in the 300s which are all Social Sciences books.  That is pretty broad with books on a wide range of subjects related to people such as bullying, civil rights, crime, and so on.  I'm concerned that this book will get lost in the 300s.  I do know that our high schools have multiple U.S. History courses, though, so instead of either of those recommended numbers, I opt for the historical aspect of the book and put it in 973.2 (United States History, during the Colonial period.)   That decision making process took me less than a minute to figure out, and no one will ever have a clue that this decision was ever even considered.  

So what's the big deal?  Well, my hope, and the reason I do this, is to remove even the smallest obstacle to a student finding a book that will help them.  What does it save them?  Maybe the few extra steps of having to look in two different sections of the library for a book doesn't sound like much.  Maybe you think that if they search the library catalog correctly, they would find it.  But most of our students don't get a chance to learn from a certified school librarian until they hit high school, and even then, there are over a thousand students for one school librarian.  Since I don't know how experienced any one of those students are with using a library, I want to make it as easy as possible for them to find what they are looking for.  

In that small, invisible way, I am trying to make sure they can find the books that will help them take the next step in their learning.