Library, Marblehead Village School, 2.5 hours

During my observation on 2/15/13, I witnessed a variety of things that a typical Friday might bring.  A 4^th grade class was utilizing the library for a non scheduled “free read” time, special education came into the library with some students so that they could work with the LMS in a smaller group to find books and she offered assistance with their projects, and lastly the LMS was training a new community volunteer.  Once I had a chance to sit down with the LMS, we discussed her newest project and the usage of volunteers.  When looking at what guideline I first felt this observation seemed to target, reading or collaboration came to mind, but after some reflection, I felt that it should mainly address the collection and information access.

When I think of collection and information access, what comes to mind is a library full of books, periodicals, reference materials, audio/visual materials and computer access to databases and the internet in general.  While there can be virtually unlimited access to materials, which I saw firsthand from my time shelving some books for Mrs. Soghomonian and straightening the well used bookshelves, what was missing is a way for children to know which books are best suited for them.  Sometimes in an effort to achieve quantity, we need to step back and qualify what we have.  This takes the form of the LMS’s newest project that she is working on with a great deal of volunteer involvement.  She likes to have the volunteers help out with the daily clerical activities of the LMS, but she is mindful that there has to be a long term project that can be worked on once the other aspects of the job are completed.

As part of a recent Lucy Calkins study group that Mrs. Soghomonian is taking with teachers in the 3^rd through 6^th grades, she shared with me their collective goal which is to level all the guided reading books.  Most classroom teachers have a much smaller collection and the teachers are having room parents and volunteers label them.  Mrs. Soghomonian decided that this would be an ideal project to have her many eager volunteers work on when they have some spare time to donate.  Knowing that there are approximately 8,000 books in her collection, she knows that this is a large task.  

She first printed out a listing of all the fiction books with the author’s name in the library’s collection.  Mrs. Soghomonian then highlighted the ones that were used the most as a great place for the volunteers to start researching the guided reading levels.  To find the correct reading level, she showed the newest volunteer Scholastic Book Wizard and Booksource as the online resources that would assist them.  Mrs. Soghomonian will later go into the records of each identified book and add the guided reading level into the MARC record.

Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak - Level J (Courtesy of Scholastic Book Wizard)

Caterpillars to Butterflies by Bobbie Kalman - Level J (Courtesy of Booksource)

Mrs. Soghomonian likes the idea of making a reference to the level in the record but does not want any levels written on the books themselves.  She was also clear that her role as LMS was not to teach reading but to be supportive to its patrons and encourage a love of reading.  She feels that she wants there to be no “stigma” associated with a patron reading a book due to its high or low level by his/her peers.  Teachers, parents and children will be able to search on their desired level when looking for a book.  I feel that this extensive initiative is a great way for the students to be able to find books for their level discretely, teachers to easily identify books that meet a desired level and it is a great way for Mrs. Soghomonian to show that the library is supporting the classroom teachers.  Her next areas of focus will be nonfiction high usage curriculum units of study before tackling the remaining resources in the library.  This leveling project, while not the main initiative that Mrs. Soghomonian is undertaking, certainly will allow teachers and users to meet the needs of the curriculum at a level that is appropriate for all learners.  Leveling will give this well developed collection the quality and meaning on a more individual basis to meet patron needs.