The MLIS coursework at SJSU includes classes designed to get us thinking about the business side of library work, including effective marketing and outreach techniques to extend access to patrons who for whatever reason, may not be able to visit the library on their own.
Libraries continue to replace their print reference collections, with more easily searchable electronic databases that patrons can use 24/7 from wherever they may be. But the cost for that convenient information access is becoming increasingly steep.
Tying the work in your library directly to the district’s larger goals is a powerful way to demonstrate the value of your school library come budget time. In our case, our district’s top five goals include a commitment to diversity and equity, which means including a statistic in our advocacy reporting the percentage of books checked out that were diverse reads. Problem is that stat is an absolute bear to compile. Last semester, I learned there was a better way.
As a librarian, I am often expected to have read all the books. The problem is, I’m one of those pesky people who believes the refrain “If you read a book for entertainment, it should be entertaining” should apply to me and not just the students at my middle school library. But as a librarian, it’s important for me to know my collection so that I can guide readers to the books they may or may not realize they are looking for. How do I do that, if not by reading as many books cover-to-cover as I possibly can?
I realized this morning as I watched the troops of middle schoolers walking down our street to report for classes that I never did tell you how last year in the public middle school library went (aside from the nonfiction project, that is). Let’s fix that, shall we?
The school year is finally over and summer well underway. Seems like the perfect time to take a look back at the nonfiction project and see whether all that work I did last year to make our nonfiction section more browse-able paid off.
Remember last summer when I said that I really wanted to figure out how to draw attention to the nonfiction section by using it to display…
Grad school is having a “catch up on your reading week,” and I thought I’d use this pause between catching up on my reading and getting started on the two papers a week I have due between now and December 6, to report on how it’s going nonfiction-wise at my middle school library. TL;DR: Nonfiction circulation is up. Way up.
In my last post, I mentioned maybe doing pop-up displays with a mix of themed books from all parts of our collection to increase interest in our nonfiction offerings. Here’s my first attempt, themed around figuring out middle school. It includes a mix of graphic novels, fiction, biographies, and nonfiction books on various school, relationship, & health topics.
My goal for this school year is to boost circulation in our nonfiction section. So far, I’ve rebalanced the entire collection to remove gaps, eliminate overstuffed shelves, and add more front-facing books. This week, I used WordArt to redo the nonfiction signs using thematically shaped word clouds that reflect the topics contained in each section.
CATERPICKLES 