Atkinson Library Annual Reports

School Year: 2016-2017          Librarian: Kelly Bowles

• No longer completely genre-based (café model)—2469 books reclassified to “Everybody” section.
• Library shelves and books rearranged into larger sections “Humanities, Science, Relationships, Everybody, Early Readers, Chapter Book Series”

The library operated within the Special Area team on 12 week rotational cycles with each class. Classes were typically 25 students, and all classes K-5 were seen for 40 minutes, with every class besides Kindergarten seen for an additional 60 minutes each week to accommodate classroom teacher CTT.

Classes who were in the library for the special area rotation checked out one day a week during class. However, classes not in library special area had the option either to sign up for weekly checkout as a class or to send students individually to the library on a “as requested” basis. One fourth grade and one fifth grade did not sign up to checkout at all this year. Cycle Three was hurt the most in circulation as in addition to those fourth and fifth grade classes not signing up to checkout, one kindergarten did not, one first grade did not, and one third grade did not. This caused our circulation statistics to plummet.

Aside from December and April, students checked out an average of 1000 books per month, for a total of 7852 this year. However, due to the lack of a librarian last school year, 91 books were marked lost at the beginning of the academic year, with an additional 207 books lost during this school calendar year, 127 of which were marked lost from students and teachers failing to return books at the end of the year.

The total collection of the library is 7191 books. However, almost 50% (3135 books) are class sets and therefore available to be checked out by professional staff. Therefore, we only have 4056 books available to students. It is recommended that libraries have 18 books per student, and for a school of our size, that would mean roughly 7500 books, or 3500 more books than we currently have. Additionally, this year the library has moved away from being completely genre-based, by adding back in an Everybody section. 2469 books were changed in the catalog, new label printed, and rearranged in the library.

The library spent $3000 from Title 1 Funds, $3600 from grants and allocated funds, as well as an additional $2000 from leftover book funds, for a total of $8600 spent on new library books. These new additions expand our STEM, early readers, and graphic novel sections, as well as updated the in-demand chapter books. Additionally, a DYMO label printer and new barcode scanner were purchased to help facilitate the relabeling and cataloging of Everybody books.

The library collaborated with a first grade teacher to learn about and write an instructional “How To” piece for the students’ writing portfolios. Second grade completed fairy tale comparisons, and wrote an opinion piece for their writing portfolios. Third grade wrote poetry, fourth grade studied mythology and completed both myth and state independent research projects, and fifth grade collaborated with Lowe Elementary students to read historical fiction texts, provide online feedback, and write letters from the time period for each book.