Best Practices in Tough Times

Current Budgets

Tue, 10 Feb 2026 16:04:18 GMT

Good morning,

We are looking at our school library budgets and a possible proposal to the powers that be on getting increases. It would be helpful to be able to compare ours to those of other districts in MO. Could you please provide any of the following information?

1. What is your library budget?

2. How many students and/or staff do you serve? What grade level do you serve?

3. Do you pay for databases or are they provided with other funding? If other funding, where does the funding come from?

4. Do you purchase electronic resources?

5. What types of items do you purchase with your budget?

6. Has your budget increased or decreased in the last 5 years? If so, how much.

7. Any additional information that you think would be helpful.

8. Are you responding for one building or an entire district?

Thank you so much for any information you can supply us!

Patty Schweitzer

patty.schweitzer@jcschools.us

573/691-6202

Destiny and Focus

Mon, 28 Oct 2024 14:18:53 GMT

If you have Destiny and use Focus as your SIS and they "talk" to each other, can you please let me know what district you are in? At MASL Fall PD over the weekend, someone mentioned that Destiny and Focus can talk to each other and I didn't get a chance to ask what district that person was in. I want to see if my district will work on this.

Thanks!

Paula

desk printer

Mon, 14 Oct 2024 21:29:49 GMT

Question:

Update : Attending the Fall Conference answered my question. :) :) Dymo Label Writer

Thank you St. James Librarian! :))

The online reviews are on the negative side. Just ignore it because it works for many of you all?

What kind of desk printer are you using for printing labels and or due slips? Anyone using similar Dell Intel CORE i5 9th Gen and Follett Destiny? I would prefer one that can print only black and white or print without having to load color ink for standby. Color seems to invite users to print up their own personal print projects. lol. Is the (AASL) forum a better place for this type question? Is there a Facebook group or a Reddit group of Librarians the best place to ask.

I had an old school office printer that was black and white print only. I thought no one would want it since the office updated their printer but it was moved elsewhere. :( They should of bought a new printer instead.

Thank you

Virginia Tucker @ MSD Missouri School for the Deaf

Reader award spine label sticker question

Fri, 5 May 2023 14:01:24 GMT

So, I wondered if there was any way to get the image used for the different reader awards to make our own spine labels? I'd prefer to buy them, but the ones that come from the store are kind of big and I hate taking up so much of the spine when I also have genre labels on the side too. I really want the kids to be able to read the title, so I've just been making my own that just say the year and the name of the award. Any thoughts on if it would be possible to get the image say for the Dogwood or Gateway stickers to make our own? I also know sometimes the stickers sell out later in the year. If that's completely not something we can do, I understand! But wanted to at least ask.

Library and Field Trips

Wed, 17 Jan 2018 22:03:16 GMT

I would like to hear from other librarians about their process for planning field trips. What field trips interests them? How do they get their funding? Etc. We have some unique challenges in planning field trips because of our schedules and large number of students and I would like some ideas on what other librarians are doing. Thanks!

Nicole Bueno

Periodical service

Mon, 2 May 2011 18:37:30 GMT

I am thinking of switching periodical services. How satisfied are those of you who currently use Ebsco Subscription Service? I have used Demco for years and been satisfied with their customer support but Ebsco is giving me a lower bid.

Thanks for any suggestions!

Pat Nelson

Nell Holcomb School District

Grades in the Library?

Fri, 16 Oct 2015 13:58:49 GMT

Good Morning,

I am just wondering if any of your districts assign grades to students in the library? This has never been an expectation in our district, but now the elementary level is being asked to assign grades to all 500 students. If you do assign grades, what are they based on and do you also collect data from assessment information as well?

Thanks for any insight!

B Wyatt

The Challenge of Providing school Library Resources on a Shrinking Budget

Wed, 25 Feb 2015 14:11:37 GMT

Invitation to Participate in a Survey.

I am writing to request your participation in a brief survey. I am working on my Education Specialist Degree in Human Services/Learning Resources. I am currently working on my thesis which is titled “The Challenge of Providing School Library Resources of a Shrinking Budget.” Your responses to this survey will help me determine the ways school librarians are continuing to provide resources for their students, how school librarians advocate for their programs, and how much budget cuts have affected school library programs in Missouri. If you have already taken this survey, please ignore this invitation.

The survey will take approximately 10 minutes to complete. Please click the link below to go to the survey Website (or copy and paste the link into your Internet browser).

Your participation in the survey is completely voluntary and all of your responses will be kept confidential. No personally identifiable information will be associated with your responses to any reports of these data. The UCM Institutional Review Board has approved this survey. If you have any questions about your rights as a research participant, please contact the university's Human Subjects Protection Program by email at humansubjects@ucmo.edu or by phone at (660) 543-4621.The results of this survey will be published in my thesis. Should you have any comments or questions, please feel free to contact me at rsh63250@ucmo.edu or 660‐621‐2117.

Here is survey link

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1N-QXO0GlCOTmAnWAFPIGJzE3SM7ZMXywfFzGd63t67M/viewform?usp=send_form

Thank you very much for your time and cooperation.

Sincerely,

Renee Hand

Scheduling

Thu, 21 Mar 2013 17:17:59 GMT

I'm the librarian at MRH Elementary and next year our library is going to serve a dual purpose,library and writing center. Our building serves about 400 students in grades 2-6. Is there anyone out there in a similar situation? If so, how do you manage the schedule? Right now we follow a flexible schedule, but I'm not sure what that will look like with the new set up. I would appreciate any suggestions.

Elementary Library Schedules

Tue, 2 Apr 2013 14:31:16 GMT

We are trying to find a better elementary library schedule for schools that only have a half-time librarian. We have 5 elementary schools, 450 - 550 students each, with a librarian that is there only 2 1/2 days per week. We do have part-time assistants, but they are often gone for other duties, too. For many years, we tried alternating days, 30 minute periods - including checkout time, but this schedule didn't allow for very "productive" lessons. With more students and an increased emphasis on the use of technology and in quantitative results, this wasn't working as well as before.

This year we tried alternating quarters with the librarians seeing K-2 or 3-5th grades for one quarter, 40 minute periods including checkout, with the other group seeing the library assistant for the quarter with 30 minute periods for checkout. The lessons seemed more productive, but the teachers are complaining that they don't see the librarians often enough, and some quarters ended up being shorter or with more days that the library was being used for other things, meaning less librarian-time, too.

We are interested in exploring options. What other schedules are being used that work for you?

All suggestions will be appreciated.

Twitter Hashtag for MO Educators

Fri, 8 Feb 2013 12:38:41 GMT

Are you a Twitter user? Missouri Educators are using #moedchat to have live chats every Thursday at 9:00 p.m. CST. They also have created a Google doc listing MO educators on Twitter. You can add your name to the list at https://t.co/63M79Dfd.

E-books and downloads

Wed, 23 Jan 2013 14:53:42 GMT

As we continue the battle to keep up with our student needs, I am wondering if there is a source that anyone has used to give students access to e-books on their own devices. In my middle school media center, I have 20 kindles or nooks that I check out to students. However, so many in our population of students now have their own devices that we are noticing a huge decline in materials checked out as well as a decline in checking out the e-readers. Is there a source we can use, like the public library, where a student can bring in their own device and download books from my library? I am losing so many students to the free downloads that MCPL offers and want to be a primary source for our kids too. Any thoughts?

Library software programs

Tue, 25 Sep 2012 17:55:27 GMT

I have a K-8 parochial school in my district asking for advice. They are looking to automate for the first time but have very limited funds. We have Destiny and it's the only program I've worked with extensively.

She is asking about PRIMASOFT -SCHOOL LIBRARY ORGANIZER PRO THE PRICE IS 245.00.

It sounds like a software they can load into the existing computer, and can use a keyboard to type in the barcode. This would save from having to instal a scaner wand and would still allow the info to be on a software that printed barcodes.

Does anyone know anything about this program ? www.primasoft.com

Or is there any other economical program I could steer her towards. thanks

One district's situation

Fri, 27 Aug 2010 17:21:53 GMT

Floyd Pentlin and I visited with a group of elementary school librarians earlier this month, and they shared with us some of the recent decisions affecting their work:

Library aides are gone
Librarians will teach technology courses in computer labs
Teachers will check out books when librarians are not available
Librarians will have fixed schedules to accommodate their new teaching duties
Librarians will have very limited time for planning, managing library program, managing collections, purchasing new materials, collaborating with teachers.

These decisions are driven by budget constraints. Already these librarians are thinking about how to manage when they have very little hands-on time in their library. One librarian had already created signs to post on book trucks near the circulation desk to help teachers sort books as they check them in. They have written up clear step-by-step instructions to help those teachers with the check-out process. They have created new signs for bookshelves to help teachers and students browse for books of interest.

We all recognize that this is not an ideal situation. It seriously limits the time available to teach information literacy skills, to read to the younger children, to reinforce classroom learning with library-based activities, to host reading promotion projects--at least in the ways we've always done them in the past.

If you face a similar situation this year and you have developed ways to support your students and teachers anyhow, share your ideas with us. If you have created resources, you can attach that document to your message. If you have created a web site, please include the link in your message. Let's help each other through these tough times!

Sincerely,

Pat Antrim

MASL President

curriculum development k-8

Wed, 28 Mar 2012 17:25:49 GMT

Hi,

I am starting a curriculum development plan for our library and I'm using the Standards for Missouri School Library Media Centers and their Quantity tables. I'm wondering if anyone has experience as a K-8 school? I'm not sure if I should use the number from PreK-6 or the number for Middle/Jr. High since that is higher or some combo of the two.

Any suggestions?

Amanda

Furniture Companies? Need Bookcases, Tables, Chairs

Fri, 21 Oct 2011 20:37:52 GMT

My superintendent would like me to put together a proposal regarding new furniture for the library. This would involve getting information on what it would cost to get all new wooden bookcases, tables for both high school and elementary sections with matching chairs, and comfortable seating for the high school section. Of course he wants us to do this as economically as possible. I am in my second year as an LMS and would love some advice! If anyone can recommend a company they have worked with in the past or know of a company that would be good to get a quote or pricing structure from that would be very helpful. Companies who are not extremely expensive would be very very helpful! Thanks for your comments!

online testing program

Thu, 26 May 2011 14:31:02 GMT

I had Reading Counts for all the fourth grade students in my school last year to use with my Mark Twain Reading program. This was fairly costly considering that only about 1/4 of the students actually participated in the program. Also, although they were welcome to use the program for their own purposes, the teachers didn't use the Reading Counts tests. For this reason I am interested in some type of online program which would allow me to create my own questions for the MT nominees. Then students could take a test online in some kind of program similar to Reading Counts. Is there anything out there that anyone could recommend? Free would be great, but I am also willing to pay a reasonable amount for this service.

Save the date for a FREE Back-To-School Workshop

Fri, 13 May 2011 16:05:45 GMT

Schedule your FREE eThemes/Newsy/This Week in Newsy workshop for a "back to school" kick-off. Your teachers will appreciate learning about the new eThemes, websites, and lessons. Learn to integrate eThemes and Newsy into your planning! You will save time and have quick access to numerous high-quality safe resources such as readwritethink endorsed by International Reading Association, Thinkfinity funded by Verizon Foundation, Library of Congress, and American Library Association’s Great Websites for Kids. Conveniently organized in alphabetical order, by subject and standard, educators and families can locate current information, play an interactive game, and acquire a lesson plan in two to three clicks of a mouse. Newsy provides video clips of eight areas of current events in an engaging and diverse manner. Imagine discussions you can generate with your students after viewing a Newsy clip on politics by such news sources as The Huffington Post, BBC, Bloomberg, POLITICO and PBS News Hour. This Week in Newsy provides expanded lesson plans for teachers using Newsy video clips. Call or email Nancy Baumann, an experienced and award-winning school librarian and classroom teacher, for a FREE workshop on your campus or building. She can present a workshop tailored to your faculty and work collaboratively with teachers, librarians, and students on projects integrating eThemes, Newsy, and Web 2.0 tools. All projects will be aligned with American Association of School Librarians (AASL) Standards for the 21st-Century Learner. Contact Nancy Baumann at baumannn@missouri.edu or 307-399-0708

Spending the few $$

Fri, 10 Sep 2010 00:06:34 GMT

Something my colleague and I have decided for this year is to spend our budget dollars, when possible, with vendors that exhibit at MASL. We discussed it and decided that it would be best for us to support those who are helping to support MASL. We will also only make appointments with sales reps from those companies. We are spending less of our time on sales appointments. Not sure this fits in the category of "best" practice - but it is something we are doing.

Book sets for new readers

Wed, 19 Jan 2011 16:28:35 GMT

Hello, I need help finding book sets for young readers. I would like to purchase a collection or bundle of books that would be appropriate for K-2 readers. Examples of books we already have for this age group are Clifford, Margaret Hillert, Real Kids Readers, Biscuit, etc. We use Scholastic Reading Counts, so it is a must that these books have RC tests. Also, who do you use as vendors? I think Follett is too expensive! Thank you, Grace Rhodes.