BFTP: Signs of an abundance mindset in libraries
Wednesday, December 9, 2020 at 06:15AM Given the budget shortfalls in many school districts due to the pandemic, an abundance mindset will be more difficult to maintain that ever. But keep trying!
It doesn't happen often, but I kind of lost it one day. Our elementary media EAs (Educational Assistants) were meeting and the big topic was changing the circulation policy in our K-5 libraries.
Due to some of our libraries having had highly restrictive circulation policies, the library coordinator, the elementary principals, and I decided that all students, regardless of building, would be able to check out four books at a time, regardless of grade level, and at least one book could be a "choice" book.
Given the following discussion, you'd have thought we proposed taking a torch to books and just watch them burn. What if the teacher doesn't want the kid to check out that many? What if one kid gets all the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books and never brings them back? Just how many books can a kid check out before we cut him off? You get the drift.
But what set my hair on fire was when one well-intentioned EA said, "But in MY library, I take great pride in making sure I have all my books on the shelf and I get judged on how few books I have overdue or missing."
In no uncertain terms, I'm afraid, I reminded her and others that these were not their libraries. These libraries and the materials in them belonged to the school, the kids, and the teachers. We were only the caretakers and managers of the libraries, not the owners. And that the metric we must use to evaluate the success of the library and the library staff from then on would be the circulation rate, not how many books were overdue or lost.
I am embarrassed to say, I saw a few tears. I could have said it more kindly.
On reflection, I could empathize with these smart, caring, and skilled EAs who I sincerely believe love books and kids. For many years in our district, the libraries had been funded by building dollars, creating under funded and highly inequitable collections. Ranging from a meager $1400 to an inadequate $3800 per 6 grade level building, most EAs turned not to the district, but to book fairs and PTOs to add at least a few new titles each year, making sure what new books that did come got into as many hands as possible. During my tenure in the district, for the first time, we established a district-wide library budget that would support a well-weeded collection of 7500-8000 volumes.
While it's fairly simple to change funding sources and formulas, it's a lot tougher to change a culture with a scarcity mentality to an abundance mentality.
What are signs of an abundance mindset in a school library?
- Generous circulation policy
- Forgiving overdue policy (no fines!)
- Multiple copies of popular titles
- Well-weeded collections
- Proactive measures to increase number of students in the library and lengths of library visits
- Proactive measure to make sure all classroom teachers get kids to the library on a regular basis
- Providing classrooms sets of library materials
- Participating in book award programs
- Student clubs, volunteers
- Readily changing book displays
- Genrefication of the collection
Is your school's library working in an abundance or scarcity mindset? And can the librarian still have an abundance mindset even when library funding may not be optimal?
I think so. Please don't cry when you read this.
Reader Comments (2)
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Hello Sir
Thank you for this post. As a new librarian with the responsibility of deciding how many books kids can take out, this gives me some helpful ideas.