Weeding Books: Getting Your Hands Dirty in the Name of Progress

Before you panic- this is NOT a picture from HHS!

Any good library will update its book collection periodically. We call this weeding. Here at HHS we are beginning the lengthy process of weeding the Non-Fiction section. There are a variety of reasons we take books out of the collection-

• Outdated (happens often in Science & Technology sections)
• Damage beyond repair (sad but true, backpacks are often unkind to books)
• Low circulation (due largely to curriculum changes over the years)

As an avid reader and writer, it pains me to see books go, but when we clear space, the good materials we have remaining get more use.

Libraries are still fighting against the image of our services and offerings as being out-dated and unnecessary in the digital age.  To talk about weeding books appears, on the surface, to only perpetuate that image. Dynamic environments are in constant states of evaluation and adaptation. These processes move with more accuracy and speed when they're directed by trained and dedicated library staff. (I could name a couple people off the top of my head.)   

Even with budget cuts, I honestly believe this is an exciting time to work in a library.  Here at HHS, we're expanding our collection to include e-books for the first time. Our fiction section is the most current in the district and will be growing when our Spring book order arrives.  By far the most exciting news is that our reading-for-pleasure population continues to grow.

In addition to improving our collection, we're redecorating the LMC. The first wave of new furniture has arrived and hopefully by the end of February we'll be done with our beautification process. Please come by and visit us!

All of this just goes to show you, if you build it with teens in mind, they will come!

Tales From A Reluctant E-Reader

I have bonded with my iPad Mini and thus have begun bonding with the Kindle app and e-reading. As I've said before, I'm not an e-reading hater, I've just always preferred real books. I still do. But the time has come for me to venture a bit further out of my comfort zone for two reasons- access and portability.

In terms of access, more authors are releasing e-content. Short stories and novellas are making a comeback. Authors are enjoying writing short pieces, readers are thrilled to get new content of any length between book releases, so it's a win/win. I'm also noticing e-content for tie-ins to movie and TV shows. This year marks the 50th. Anniversary of Doctor Who and to help celebrate, the BBC has commissioned popular YA authors to pen stories about each of the eleven doctors. A new story is e-published each month until November when the entire collection will be offered in  book form. E-content makes giving readers samples or early access cost effective and simple for authors and publishers.

Before Spring Break I was forced to purchase an e-book from one of my favorite authors because Barnes and Noble ordered such a small quantity of her new release,  it was sold out when I went to buy it. My heart was set on starting the book that night, so I downloaded it. Did I enjoy the book more or less? Not really, but I can't say that I feel like I own it. If I can't grab it off a shelf  or have it autographed is it really a book?

I am the type of reader who travels with books. For a vacation longer than seven days I will take at least five books with me and likely purchase one or two if I happen upon a bookstore. With airfare baggage charges and weight limits, I realize e-books make traveling much easier.

As I add to my e-book collection I have decided to purchase some favorite books that I enjoy rereading more than once- everything by Jane Austen for example. I know I want to reread the entire Harry Potter series as well as the Game of Thrones series. These books are huge and heavy and seem perfect for e-reading except for one catch- I'd need to repurchase them. I own two of all the Harry Potter books already and all of the Game of Thrones titles. E-copies would set me back about $120 total. To be honest, I'd rather spend that money on new books.

Remember how we all had to replace records with CDs and then CDs with digital downloads? Tough choices!

The one aspect of e-reading that still concerns me is how it affects the discovery process. Avid readers love to walk through the stacks at a bookstore or library. If you've reduced your entire reading existence to what you download from a recliner in your family room, I guarantee you'll be missing out on discovering a new author despite Amazon's "readers who bought this, also bought-" feature.

Reading is still a multi-sensory  experience. I've seen students who got e-readers for Christmas spend less time looking at books in the LMC because they now just shop in the Kindle store. Yes they're finding some good books, but that seems like such a passive way to treasure hunt. Book covers and titles are designed to be enticing. A flat screen doesn't capture that in quite the same way in my opinion.

I know reading isn't dying but I can't help but feel that small parts of it are nearing THE END.

 

Let There Be Books!

Our first ever Horizon Scholastic Book Fair was held February 9-14 here in the Media Center. On Monday, February 13, we moved the fair down to the gym lobby for the shopping convenience of our parents who attended Parent/Teacher conferences that evening. I'm happy to report that the event was a great success for us.

Why a book fair? Why now?

The real real question is, why not? As I've reported, we have avid readers here at Horizon. Given the economic situation in the district and the country, funding for new materials is challenging. A book fair is a great way to provide a service to our school community and earn free books for the library. Scholastic makes it easy to participate as well. In fact, Scholastic went above and beyond to work with us. Not only did they support our mission, to offer great books to our students, with fundraising as a secondary goal, they customized the books in the cases for our community. Our Scholastic team- Paige, Kristy and Rhonda, answered my questions, offered tips and advice and encouraged our efforts from start to finish.

Here's a brief look at the impact of the Book Fair-

Big Smiles- The typical response of students when they saw the Book Fair was one of elation. I heard some squeals, a few "Oh Boys!" and more than a handful of kids jumped up and down. Both girls and boys responded that way. Almost everyone reminisced about the book fairs they attended in grade school. Everyone has asked if it will be back next year. (Yes!)

Lookie-Loos- Foot traffic in the Media Center increased because of the Book Fair. I saw many first timers in the LMC, both as students and staff. One of our goals is to increase awareness that we are here. The Book Fair provided a wonderful opportunity to showcase what the LMC has to offer. The perception today is that kids don't read and libraries are an antiquated institutions. While I don't agree with that at all, I do believe it's part of my job to change that perception. The visibility the Book Fair brought to the LMC was invaluable.

Let's Talk About- Books, favorite authors and series oh my! The students loved lingering through the book cases and discussing all the titles. They would talk to me, their friends and other shoppers with enthusiasm.  One of the main reasons I wanted the fair was for this kind of free exchange with my student patrons. There are dozens of sites I can go on to research what teenagers want to read, but those are a poor substitute for a live book experience. I witnessed first hand the choices the kids made, which authors they sought first and whom they didn't. I took notes on genre trends (realistic fiction is a welcome respite from the intensity of all the dsytopian fare). When it came time to pick titles for the LMC, I knew exactly which ones would be gobbled up by the students. Only through browsing with real books can this kind of interaction occur. 

Houston, We Have Readers!- Our Book Fair customers were evenly divided between boys and girls. This didn't surprise me since I check books out to our students all day, but I want to point this statistic out to those who insist that boys mainly play video games. In fact, the boy gaming crowd who uses the Wii before/after school and during lunch are all among my regular readers. Also split almost evenly, the purchases of realistic and genre fiction, with fantasy/dystopian slightly ahead of the realistic titles.

What Now?- In terms of sales by traditional Scholastic standards, our sales were meager. However, through Scholastic's generous reward and incentive program we earned about forty-five new books for the LMC. Ms. Orest and I consider the Book Fair a huge success and we're thrilled that Scholastic is willing to work with us again next year.

What I want everyone to take away from our Book Fair Experience is this- reading is alive and well here on the Horizon campus and if you host a Scholastic Book Fair, they will come!

All Dressed Up With Somewhere To Go!

Last Friday I attended a Library conference on Young Adult Literature thanks to a generous grant from PAWS, our wonderful parent organization.

I spent an entire day discussing books, participating in book activities and buying new books for the Media Center. The conference centered on new 2012 titles and 2011 paperback releases. I was able to learn more about some of the books currently in our collection that I haven't read yet and make a wish list (one of my favorite tasks) for our Spring order.

Most adults agree that they'd never want to go back in time to their high school years, but as a reader I sure wish I was a teen again. The Young Adult market is exploding right now and the titles, themes and subjects are vast and varied. Paranormal (like the Twilight series) and Dystopian (like The Hunger Games) are still the big trends in the YA market, but I was pleased to see many books about families, relationships and non-apocalyptic events (not that I don't love a good zombie apocalypse novel).

Here's a sneak peek at some titles I'll be purchasing for our students-

Doggirl- by Robin Brande (who hails from Tucson)- Riley is a 9th grader who prefers her dogs over people until she meets a young man involved with the drama department. It's like Glee meets Animal Planet.

Trapped- by Michael Northrope- A group of teens get trapped on their high school campus in a blizzard. High stakes survival at its best!

Running Dream- by Wendelin Van Draanen- Star runner Jessica is in an accident that leaves her body forever altered when her leg is amputated. This is the story of how her friends from the track team help her to accept and enjoy her new life.

Since our big Fall book order arrived three weeks ago, books have been flying off our shelves. Please don't let anyone try and convince you that libraries aren't relevant to today's teens. Our Horizon students have figured out that fresh, new fiction is on campus and they often will check here before heading to Barnes and Noble or the public library. As our collection continues to grow (thanks to your support) I'm able to say "yes we have that" more often than ever before.

Happy Reading!