Lunches and libraries

Jeff Hastings sent this great (and saddening) post to LM_Net and has graciously given me permission to repost it here.

...lunches and libraries. This is a topic well worth revisiting often because schools are becoming more rigid and inflexible with each passing year it seems, and accommodating walk-in traffic during lunch periods is so, well, FREE, ELECTIVE, and NON-PRESCRIBED that it can be difficult to pull off in increasingly locked-down institutions...

You know, everyone seems to want our school libraries facilities to include a Starbucks and a stage for folk quitarists these days, and I'm all for kicking back our buttoned-down reputations, [as long as I can station a tip jar on the circ desk] but it's good too, to survey the realities we're up against.  Here are some of mine listed totally anecdotally:

1. I was really surprised once when one of my most faithful patrons, a kid who hung in the library during his lunch period each day, was "busted" by a teacher. The teacher -- who was also a lunch supervisor -- tried to explain to me that the boy "was hiding in the library to avoid going outdoors." Apparently this was somehow deemed severely dysfunctional. The kid was a great reader, by the way, and repeatedly this scholarly ectomorph was literally dragged out of the facility kicking and screaming by said, burly, lunch supervisor. I admit, I passively, umm, forgot to bar the kid from hanging for a few minutes each day and reading his way through noon. I also admit that I came to find witnessing this absurd cat-and-mouse game to be quite entertaining--not unlike Pink Panther cartoons can be if you're in a certain mood.  Anyway, the point here is that, for reasons sometimes unfathomable to us, NOT ALL ADULTS NECESSARILY WANT KIDS IN THE LIBRARY DURING LUNCH. This includes parents, teachers and administrators. I've found this to be the case more often than one would think.
2. WHICH IS WHY I now operate my library facility in a sort of DON'T ASK, DON'T TELL fashion during lunchtime hours. Meaning that, with a tacit nod from my principal, I cheerfully allow kids to pop in during lunch, though I have also been asked not to actively promote the facility as a lunchtime refuge, probably for some of the reasons I'll try and remember to mention below. The basic philosophy: allow anything that does not become a problem.
3. THE LAISSEZ-FAIRE THING only goes so far, though: I've found myself quietly contacting parents now and then to say hello and let them know how nice it is to play host to their son or daughter during the mid day hours. I tend to do this, especially, with kids who eschew lunch completely, to see if there are dietary concerns to discuss. Parents universally appreciate this kind of contact, by the way.
4. THE CUSTODIAL ANGLE. Here's news: We're not exactly rolling in school funds here in Michigan and that translates into less and less custodial help. Our cleaning staff was privatized lately in an effort to squeeze still more Pine-Sol out of the old mop. Even before that dire move took place, I was approached by our day custodian who demanded that I STOP LETTING KIDS EAT IN THE LIBRARY. The problem had nothing to do with the students being little piggies--they were actually neater than I'll ever be. The problem was that the remnants of their lunches --due to the dearth of custodians -- had plenty of time to rot and even ferment between garbage pick-up, attracting all sorts of rodentia and even a few really desperate alcoholics.
5. THE STAFFING ANGLE. Man, I had no idea how wonderful I had it back in the 1990's. Back then I had a full time library secretary, which gave me tons more flexibility to serve multiple patron groups simultaneously. These days, I have secretarial back-up in the afternoon hours only, which means that when I am actively teaching classes during a.m. hours, including early lunch periods, I have no choice but to close the facility to other traffic for lack of supervision and staffing at the desk. My lunch kids have grown used to the idea of looking for the closed sign on the door, but I REFUSE TO GET USED TO THE IDEA OF PUTTING IT THERE.
6. THE PASS THING. The hall pass is still the golden ticket of student mobility and, in terms of lunch traffic, the question is who grants a pass to a kid who wants to hit the library during lunch (which translates into: who is responsible for kids in-transit) There doesn't seem to be a perfect answer for that one, so I'd be interested in hearing from colleagues about that. I'm really lucky to be positioned directly across from the caf: We get long lunch lines and kids can pop out of them and visit us for a while instead. I've also had to chat it up with some of the lunch supervisors to let them know that it is quite okay for them to allow students to cross the great divide and visit us.
   

...I look forward to hearing from others and maybe brewing a more even-handed and realistic discussion about what school libraries can and cannot do within the current exigencies many of us are forced to work within.

Jeffrey Hastings,
School Librarian,
Highlander Way Middle School
E-mail: hastingj at howell schools dot com

My question: Is there a formal means of giving a wide range of stakeholders a voice in policy-making for libraries? Is Jeff's school, like many, "ruled" by only a few pushy folks? How are they counter-acted? One way is here: http://dougjohnson.squarespace.com/dougwri/advisory-advice.html

Comments

[Librarian Marn]

The lunch monitor in the first example reminds me of an art teacher I worked with when I was an 8th grade English teacher. She once told me one of my students "read to damn much." I told the kid not to read in art anymore, but really....is that even possible!?

[VWB]

Oh boy, do I relate to the "don't ask, don't tell" laissez faire attitude...as long as they didn't draw attention to themselves, I looked the other way! I always like to think there is SOMEONE for every student... someone who provides the secure and safe place...I'm glad I was the "dock" for so many of the ones who came my way.

P.S. Loved the included mug shot!

[Jane Hyde]

Hey, Doug. You're a constant inspiration to me and my tech department. As for lunch, since we're an independent school, we have more leeway, although there are some folks here who prefer restrictive policies. But lunch is a great time for kids in the library. They have about 30 minutes for lunch and usually finish in ten, so they have some free time to come here. For kids who because of grades are assigned to study halls and don't have freedom, this is one of the few times they can come without a pass. We also instituted something wonderful a couple of years ago -- a half hour "extra help period" in the mornings before classes. Loads of kids come during that time to print things out, read the paper, etc. And it's a huge hangout for day students. I'm pretty relaxed: I think we have faculty who couldn't tolerate the degree of freedom and acitivity that exists here, but I like it. Occasionally I have to ask kids to go somewhere more suitable. But most of them are fine. They love to play chess as well.
Another thing I've become more liberal about is allowing food and drink in here. So far it's not a problem, though if some faculty catch on they'll scream bloody murder.

I also wanted to thank you for your support in the past and announce that I have two newlibrary blogs. The one I link to here is the one about the library, not the one for library users. I stole the title from LibraryThing's Thingology blog. My earlier ones were tied to my private gmail login, and that wasn't separate enbough, so I created a gmail account for St. Dunstan Library, and then a Blogger account based on that. So I'm putting the URL out and hoping to get a couple of readers. It's NOTHING like your extensive blog, but it's a beginning of thinking and talking about library evolution.

[Doug Johnson]

Hi Jane,

Thanks for your kind comments.

I am adding the URLs for the blogs mentioned above - Doug

The inhouse blog St. Dunstan's Notes http://dunstanlibrary.blogspot.com
The "about stuff" blog, Dunstanology, http://newdunstantoo.blogspot.com

I am anxious to look at them!

Thanks again,

Doug