Procedure

First Steps: Once my project proposal had the OK from everyone involved, I was excited to begin. I decided to start with the crates of books from the fourth grade themes because I teach fourth grade and would be most familiar with those themes. The media specialist and I met to go over the procedures for adding a book to the card catalog using Bibliomation. She was in the process of establishing a special location code for the reading room RD-CL (reading - Crystal Lake) and would let me know once the system would be set to recognize RD-Cl as a location. I learned the basics of how to get around the system and how to search by ISBN and title. We also went over adding the records or overlaying then updating the record to reflect the item number (bar-code number), branch (ECL), location RD-CL, price, and call number. To have these books searchable by theme, we decided to give these books a special call number. All the reading theme books would begin with Reading/ then the theme title. I questioned this method of labeling and wondered if adding a local series note would be a better way of identifying the themes, but was told this was the best way.

Ready to go: Before I could start with the fourth grade books, I had to think of a way to shorten the titles of the themes. To do this I asked the other fourth grade teacher her thoughts and we chose a one or two word title to go with each theme. The titles we chose are close enough or summarize what the theme is about (see the For Teachers page for a list of the themes). My first day was slow going. I was getting used to the system and was working on my own so when I had a question, I had to write them down and be sure to ask the media specialist the next time she was at CLS. She only comes to the elementary school one day a week, so I would have to wait till then. But for the most part, I was beginning to settle into my own system and rhythm.

Weeding: Some questions arose immediately. Weeding was one of them. It is a big issue with these crates of books. So many of the books are falling apart or really old. The books that were crumbling or loosing pages I put into a discard pile. Books that were so old they didn't have records in the system and I knew my students weren't reading, I also added to the discard pile. I kept a list of the books I discarded for the reading consultant's inventory. I know if I followed the library's weeding procedure many more books would have been discarded, but as a classroom teacher I knew these books had to follow different guidelines. Books that have multiple copies with a few falling apart I couldn't discard because I know how important it is to have a class set. I also kept books that I know are used a lot. At least I am now aware of the situation and will keep it in mind when thinking about the next budget (October 2004 for the 2005-2006 school year). These books are not part of the library budget, but are usually purchased with grade level language arts money. I will request replacements for some of the falling apart books. I will also make this suggestion to other grade level teachers and the reading consultant.

Different Media / Books Without Records: When searching for records, most of the books I was able to add without much problem. However, in the crates were not only books, but also books on tape. These were a little harder to search for, again partly due to my limited searching techniques. The media specialist told me to search by title and look for a record that says talking book. Even with this suggestion, most of these books on tape were added to my pile of books with out records. As I searched for records, if there were books that I couldn't find records for I put them on a marked shelf on my cart. Eventually these will be added with the media specialist's help. An interesting note are the books that were purchased with the reading series. They were specially published with the reading series noted on the title page but can be found as regular trade books. Because they have a different ISBN, I am waiting to add the correct record to the catalog. Once these are added, the numbers for each theme, see statistics, will definitely increase. Last week the media specialist sent me an e-mail with the information Bibliomation needs to add the appropriate record to the system so we can add it to our catalog. With both of us working together on this, these books should be added by the end of the school year.

Sorting: Another interesting part of this process was finding books in crates where they don't belong. Many were just misplaced and I was able to put them back in their right "home." Other books didn't seem to have a correct location. These books are marked on my cart, "Where do these go?" and so far I have not found an answer. Some of the books look like they went with themes we no longer teach, and others if you really stretched the theme topic I guess could fit, but I feel better trying to find a different home for these books.

On to Third Grade: It felt very rewarding to finish all the themes for fourth grade. Third grade is a little more of a challenge. I don't know the themes as well and was a little more hesitant to discard books or more them around. With the help of the third grade teachers, I again shortened the theme names for the call numbers. I started with a huge theme (Beverly Cleary) so I was only able to get through two third grade themes. I stopped after the second theme and am currently trying to finish any loose ends. There are two shelves of books on my cart that need to be added to themes already done or moved to a different location. I also hope to keep working on the project this summer and have submitted a project proposal to the district for summer curriculum work. These ideas are mentioned again on the conclusion / future steps page.

To see a sample of the records or to search the catalog follow the directions listed on the For Teachers page.

LG 4/20/04