Library, Marblehead Village School, .5 hours

My 2/6/13 observation was of the after school program that is run by the librarian from 2:30 to 3pm daily.  She provides this time on a regular basis so that the students will be able to come leisurely after school to check in/out books, work on homework both alone and in groups, get assistance on a research project, find sources, socialize with friends or read independently.  During my observation, I witnessed all of these things happening at one time or another.

In the library, Mrs. Soghomonian has two computers she allows children to use in addition to two others at the check in/out desk which contains the database and another at her desk.  Unless he is using one of her computers she will allow children to use them as well.  (At this time of day, the computer lab is off limits for student use since she is not able to provide supervision in there.)  

As I entered the library, a student was already seeking assistance to find a site author for his 4^th grade teacher assigned research project.  The student had initially used the WorldBook Database for one source of information but needed another, so he used Bing to find one.  On the site, he found Ezine Articles but he was having a difficult time finding the author.  Mrs. Soghomonian also could not find any information about the author and reminded the student to use the databases on the school library’s website.  She told him that his class had not learned about website evaluation yet during library class but they would be learning it soon.  Mrs. Soghomonian asked him if he had a difficult time locating author information on the WorldBook and he did not.

Tables and Chairs in Village Library

The library provides many different seating options.  There are small sofa sections scattered around the periphery of the library, along with tables and chairs, folding canvas stadium chairs and green circular corduroy chairs.  While most children opted for one of those, 2 girls spread out their papers on the carpeted floor in front of their friends to work as a group on homework.  The 20 children in the library were not quiet but instead used appropriate voices to interact with each other.  All the children were utilizing the library resources, the physical space and/or the expertise of the librarian.  

 Assorted Seating at Village Library

The librarian likes this time of day.  She enjoys helping individual students during this unstructured time.  She has the luxury of doing this thanks to the invaluable assistance of a very dedicated parent volunteer who sees the benefit of providing daily support after school with Mrs. Soghomonian.  This parent began her association with the library as a volunteer for her older son’s class when he was in 4^th grade.  Once her older child was in 6^th grade and her younger son was in 4^th she began coming afterschool to work in the library.  She is in her third year of working with Mrs. Soghomonian afterschool.  She claims it is a win-win situation since she allows Mrs. Soghomonian to focus on more important work while she provides the clerical assistance that is desperately needed. 

This parent spends her time doing any task that is required of her.  She checks in/out books, straightens out the shelves for abandoned books, and covers books for processing.  As our time ended, the parent politely announced to the students that they had 2 minutes remaining before the library would be closing.  By this point the librarian had left for her staff meeting and the parent was shelving the last of the books so that Mrs. Soghomonian would have a clear cart to return to.  It was clear to see that both the librarian and the parent both appreciate what the other does and they have a seamless working relationship.