Epic fail - or epic challenge?
Monday, March 18, 2013 at 05:26AM 
Leigh Ann Jones over at the Shelf Consumed blog has two posts well worth reading by all librarians: Epic Fail and Rounding Up Readers.
In her first insightful post, Leigh Ann talks about a high school girl who is an avid reader but simply does not use the high school library.
Epic fail, as the kids say. We have kids in our school who love to read but never come to the library. Ouch.
Why? From the post:
Some Reasons MS/HS Readers Don't Come to the Library (in no particular order):
- I'm too busy/my schedule doesn't allow time to come when I'm at school.
- I didn't know the library had the books I wanted.
- I thought checking out books was mostly for the younger kids.
- I go to Barnes and Noble when I'm at the mall.
- I get lots of Barnes and Noble gift cards for my birthday, etc.
- I'm afraid I'll lose library books.
- I thought you had fines in the library.
- I thought you had to return library books in one week.
OK, I can see that the school library can't do much about 4 or 5 - nor would we want to if we could, but the rest of these reasons could be ameliorated. And Leigh Ann, bless her proactive heart, shares in the follow-up post, her actions...
- Display New York Times bestsellers that we have in the library for middle grade readers and teens (see photos [in blog post]).
- Go to Barnes and Noble on a regular basis to grab lots of brand new books to minimize the lag time from when the books hit stores to when students check them out (I check reviews in the store using my phone).
- Simplify checkout by eliminating the library card. Students now self-check using their lunch number.
- Email the middle school and high school reading/English teachers to ask for help in spreading the word about great books and friendly policies in the library such as no fines.
- Beef up the digital eBook collection.
- Make school-wide announcements asking students to save their cash and come to the library to request the book they want to read instead.
- Recruit students to recommend books for our library blog.
- Greet every student who comes to the library. Engage them in conversations about new books and reading if possible.
How about eliminating fines for overdue books - once and for all? (One major reason I don't check out books from any library.) How about accomodating those busy schedules with before and after school hours? Does the library need a Facebook fan page to keep kids up to date on new materials? Is there a way for students to request books online via the library website? (see below) Any special programs that the library can hold to attract students? Does the library have any non-book services and resources that might bring kids in who would then see the book displays?
The question every library today should be trying to answer is "Why should people come to my library?" Leigh Ann has given us a good start in answering this question.
Reader Comments (3)
I'm sort of the librarian at a 5th-6th grade building. Tons of problems with overdue books. So, I changed the global due date to the last week of school and tripled the limit on the number of books checked out by students. Going much more smoothly now and everybody's happy (including the teachers who kept getting the overdue notices to hand out to their students). Potential and maybe inevitable problem for me at the end of the school year: hundreds and hundreds of books to check in and re-shelve and books that can't be found. But, then, if kids will come in here and get more books to read, won't it be worth it? I think so.
Hi Bob,
I applaud the plan. Keep Blue Skunk Readers in the loop on how it goes.
Thanks,
Doug
Doug,
Thanks for highlighting the post in ShelfConsumed and for adding more ideas on how to attract readers. You're totally on the mark about elminating fines, and I love Bob's earlier comment about allowing longer time to keep the books and not being so stressed about due dates.
Great question--why should kids want to come to our libraries? Lots to think about and do!