How+do+you+handle+Textbook+Management+at+your+site?

====Now that we have experienced textbook management, we're curious as to how each site handles the process. Perhaps we can gain a more efficient -- and less arduous -- system, by learning from each other.====

Mari Kroll || **START OF THE YEAR:** (Mari: 4 non-scheduled days; Mari and Elcie: throughout 6+ days)
 * =Site= || =Submitted by= || =Notes:= ||
 * Northwood Elementary || Elcie Peterson
 * we lift/move heavy textbook-filled boxes from multipurpose room to media center
 * unpack boxes; stack books (according to grade level) in media center
 * each class is called in, where we hand them a (in many cases, a heavy) stack of their textbooks/consumables
 * they proceed to the library desk, where the books are checked out to the individual students
 * when books are checked out to the classroom, we deliver the class sets to each room
 * any textbooks that are not checked out (i.e. Volume 2, later anthologies) are then moved to other storage areas
 * after books have been moved, unpacked, stacked, and distributed; then, extras that were sent out by the district are inventoried, then repacked (at our site, we repackaged about 30 boxes of books)


 * YEAR END:**
 * in some cases, students deliver books to the media center, where books are checked in; then stacked
 * in other cases, we collect the books from the classrooms; then, they are checked in and stacked
 * Teacher Editions are collected and checked in or renewed
 * we inventoried 7,800 pieces of material

Then at the beginning of school year I was informed of the workbooks arriving and we gave permission to the teachers to collect what they needed for their classroom so they could set them up for the first day of school. Then I went with my laptop and scanned all workbooks and textbooks out to the students on the first week. Started at 6th grade then 5th grade on the first day, Day two I got through 4th and 3rd and then I moved to 2nd and 1st on the 3rd day and finally Kinder on the fourth day. It is a lot of work and I couldn’t open the library the as soon as I did last year. Then when teachers said I need another textbook or workbook I could look in my inventory and tell them what I had on hand. If it said 4 were available I had them search. It’s amazing where some are hidden but when all attempts were made to find them and none where coming to light we did order more. Overall the staff were okay with the procedure. It’s a lot easier going to the classroom and scanning then having the students bring the books to you. I had to do that for a couple of first grade classes as the teachers were out when I was scanning and it was crazy in comparison. Laptop and scanner in the classroom is the easiest. 20 – 30 minutes if all works well for a class of 35 students that’s moving it. It depends if the books are in the system. When you have to add copies or barcodes for any reason then it slows down a bit but I didn’t have too many issues with that. ||
 * QUESTIONS & COMMENTS:**
 * We struggle to find storage space at our site for books which are not to be checked out at the beginning of the year, such as Volume 2s and later anthologies. Is there any possibility of the warehouse storing the books until needed?
 * When subsequent orders are placed, we often receive an insufficient number OR a huge excess of books, which in the latter case requires us to repack and move the boxes of books ||
 * College Park || Julie Hicks || At the end of the year I went into each classroom and scanned books in and then into the storage rooms and scanned all workbooks and textbooks. This took at least the last week of school to get through everything. By me doing that I Knew everything that was on site. One of the problems I noticed in elementary is every year teachers change grade levels or leave the school and new teachers don’t look in storage closets and no one looks to see what is on hand.
 * Brywood || Sarah Sukhov || Here’s what we did: Before the first day of school:
 * The custodian took all the consumable books out of the boxes and placed them on the appropriate grade level hallway counters
 * The principal counted them and I took away any consumables that were over the grade level size
 * I then checked out the correct number of consumables to each grade level (this is different than the present system, I got permission from Alan to try something different) I am not sure if checking out the consumables to the grade level is what I want to do again. It was an extra step which took days.
 * I then checked out the correct number of consumables to each grade level (this is different than the present system, I got permission from Alan to try something different) I am not sure if checking out the consumables to the grade level is what I want to do again. It was an extra step which took days.

The first week of school:
 * We went to the upper grade hallways with a laptop cart to check out textbooks to the students. They brought their books out to hallway, placed it on a counter and I scanned. They picked up the books and went back to class. This was efficient and went quickly. 10 student came to us at a time while the rest were working on class work.
 * The lower grades don’t take their books home so we checked out the textbooks to the classroom. We went to their hallway and found their textbooks and scanned them out to the classroom. Most of these books were still in cupboards. If we had waited a few days more, the books would have been in the student desks. Doing it early seemed to be easier and faster than disrupting the classroom. However, we could have had students bring their textbooks out to us, just like the upper graders.

As efficient as this sounds (now) it consumed both the week before and the week school started. It was just a tremendous amount of work. Next year we discussed getting help the week before school starts to help with the consumables. || Semara West-Simon || * **Background: At Santiago Hills the library staff have always started work the week before school starts to inventory and count out textbooks, consumables, and other instructional materials to make available to the classroom teachers before the first day of school. The students have their textbooks when they walk into class on the first day. This is our site culture.**
 * Santiago Hills || Anne Fitzgerald
 * At the beginning of the year the library staff is wholely responsible for:


 * 1) unloading **__pallets and pallets__** of boxes
 * 2) organizing the materials after they are unpacked
 * 3) **(easier said than done as there was no rhyme or reason to the order of the boxes stacked all over the library)**
 * 4) counting out the materials for each classroom
 * 5) checking out all materials

a) can/should this process be standardized b) how much help (i.e. custodial) should be made available to library staff, if any c) when should media staff return to work at the start of school - different at each site or standardized d) how should library staff be compensated for returning to work before the first day of school ||
 * Without researching our site I will use Northwood's data and assume too that we **unpacked, stacked, counted, swiped, distributed over 7000 materials**. Textbook and consumable - **not** library materials.
 * Extra materials were then stored or boxed up to return to the district textbook warehouse.
 * Since the students were already given their textbooks on the first day of school we then asked the upper grade classroom teachers to bring their class to the library within the first week of school. Each student carried his/her own books. Five students would come to the circulation desk at a time to check out their textbooks and consumables while the others waited at the tables. We had reading material available to them.
 * We found this to be easier than going into the classrooms with a cart and a laptop; it was more efficient for the library staff, the teachers were on board, and frankly it was easier than us going around to all the classrooms with a cart and a laptop, cruising around desks and junk all over the floor, having to fish books out of desks when they forgot to put one on the top - **__they can come to us__...**
 * We spent a lot of woman hours on this project.
 * Things to consider district wide: