Libr 261a: Implementing Advocacy



                                                                                    Katrina Deliramich
                                                                                    Libr 261A Spring 2011
                                                                                    April 9, 2011
                                   
                                        Implementing Advocacy
I chose to visit Ukiah High School for this assignment. Ukiah High School is located in Ukiah, CA. The town is very small with a population of 17,000. The High School caters to teens from the nearby town of Hopland as well. Although there is a public library in Ukiah, the teen section is extremely limited and most teens tend to use the high school library.
            The community in Ukiah voted a few years ago to build a brand new high school library. The library is quite large and very modern. The kids even have a spot that will be turned into a café eventually. Thirty computers are available in a computer lab with a computer for the teacher that allows them to view what is going on for each computer.
            There are approximately 1,600 teens at Ukiah High School.  On an average day over 300 teens visit the school library. The high school consists of four grades, 9-12. Study hall is held each period in the library with anywhere from 10-20 regular students and approximately 5-20 students allowed to visit from their regular classes.
            I interviewed the Librarian, Charlene Holbrook about the high school library (C. Holbrook, personal communication, March 14, 2011). She stated that the budget for the high school is $7,000 a year. However, with budget cuts and the impact of the economy, the $7,000 is not all spent on the library anymore. The $7,000 used to be given to the library to purchase books, DVD’s and any computer equipment they needed. All other supplies like paper for the copy machine used by teachers and students alike were from a different fund. The library is now responsible for providing paper, overhead projectors, bulbs, ink for all printers and many other items out of their fund. Charlene said this leaves the library with less than $1,000 to use on buying new books.
            I wanted to get a comparison on the money the high school gets over the elementary schools in the district. Charlene was nice enough to contact a few elementary schools to see how their budgets have changed. Originally each school received $2,000 from the district. However they no longer receive any money since budget cuts. Fundraisers and the principal decide what to allocate to the library from their funds. One elementary school had over $5,000 to spend whereas another did not even have a printer or any new supplies. There is no unity when it comes to funding for the schools.
            The high school has a staff of three people who work in the library. Two are full time and one is part time. The high school is the only school in the district to have an actual librarian, everyone else has only one library tech.
There are approx. 3,300 children in the community under the age of fourteen. There are six elementary schools in the district and there are two middle schools in the district. There are approx. 11,000 adults in the community and there is a community college as well. Teens ranging from ages 15-19 have a population of approx 1,200. The high school has 1,700 kids attending, which allows for approx. 500 kids from the neighboring town of Hopland.
            Since the library is a high school library no money is spent on children or adults. However, events are held in the library space for children when the elementary schools are not large enough to work. This costs no money for either party. There is no staff at the library for adults or children. The librarian helps teachers if they need to find a books or movie. The librarian also collaborates with the teachers on curriculum, but there are no services specifically for adults.
            The high school has the most amount of kids in the district, yet some elementary schools have more funds than the high school. These funds are not comparable in the least and some schools have principles that care about the library while others have no support. The district should be in charge of all libraries getting the right amount of funding. I feel staffing at the high school is adequate compared to staffing at the middle school. One library tech for hundreds of kids does not seem adequate and there are no training requirements for any of the techs at the elementary schools. Children are just being handed books without their grade and reading levels being taken into consideration. However, with the way budget cuts are the libraries are lucky to have any staffing.
The high school library offers teens many services. The most used and requested service is the computer area. Thirty computers can be accessed all day long (as long as students have permission to be out of class from their teachers). The library opens a half hour before school starts and closes one and a half to two and a half hours after school is over. This allows teens to get help on homework, read books and magazines and use the computer. The library webpage is accessible and provides reading lists so kids can come from class, look up a list and the staff can help them find a book that meets their reading level.
            During lunch the library is open to everyone to play games such as chess and cards, surf the web, relax in comfy chairs or do homework. The library is a very social place that is extremely crowded on cold and very hot days. Air conditioning and a heater make the library an ideal place to meet up with friends.
            The copy machine and printer are a large draw to those kids who cannot get access anywhere else. The librarian and staff allow teens to copy their work for 10cents a copy and they can print any school related items for free. USB drives are available for loan if a computer or printer is having an issue. Teens can always find the help that they need.
            Flyers are distributed to every class room every few months to let teens know what is new in the library. Large posters hang on the library doors to entice teens to enter the library and see what is going on for themselves. The high school website has links ad bulletins that state any new books, services that the library is offering at the moment. For example Charlene told me about a program being offered a few days a week at lunch to help teens learn how to cite their sources. A senior project is coming up and they need ten sources each to turn in. This is a good service but as Charlene pointed out, the library webpage has links and step-by-step directions on how to cite your sources as well. This feature can be accessed from home if a teen gets stuck at any point.
            Facebook is a big hit at the high school. Teachers use Facebook games and blogs to get teens interested in assignments. Although Charlene is not a fan of Facebook she sees the potential that it offers. The library has a Facebook page that is just getting started. Teens are helping her design a site that will make the students interested in the library. Charlene says she will try to post a blog each week to let students know what is being offered for homework help, tutoring and any fun games or events.
            Programming at the library is limited only because the majority of the day’s teens are in class and do not access the library. When special events come up such as holidays, graduation, homecoming and so on the library will hold contests. A word search is held as a fun treat to get kids into the library and keep them occupied when they are all excited for homecoming. A contest to guess how many jellybeans are in a jar is held at Easter time and the winner gets a prize, anything from candy to a book.
            One regular program that is provided is homework help. The librarian and staff help kids write thesis statements, cite their work and any other issues they have. A tutoring session is held in the library by volunteers. There are also meetings for English as a second language that is held by the Spanish teachers in the library. College help is a big draw for teens. They can get help on applications, scholarships and essays.
            According to Charlene, the librarian, teens play a very important role in the library programs and services. Attendance is the easiest way for her to tell if a program is helpful or not. She had many requests for more help with homework so she added more days of homework help. Teens can receive help at anytime, but having a specified times trends to bring teens in with their friends for study groups and allows Charlene to focus on all the kids needing help at once. She mentioned that a few kids came up with the idea of the candy contest and they even created the rules. As long as it does not cost too much she is open to trying any idea a teen has.
            I asked Charlene if the library partnered with any other agencies. They do get help from a bookstore in town that takes donations for the library. The other schools get together with the high school for a book sale event every year. Besides those few events there is not much community involvement in the library.
            According to Charlene the greatest challenge to providing programming in a school library is the budget. She feels the district is not on board with what the libraries have to offer and she is left behind a lot. The elementary schools are looked on as shaping the child’s future but they seem to feel the high school is a lost cause. Besides money she also said that the faculty is not all behind the library, they do not bring their kinds in to learn how to access the books and do research. There is too much focus on the no child left behind, then real research and library use.
            I live in a very small town far away from any other real library. The Ukiah Public Library provides hardly any services for teens. I chose to look at a public library a few hours away (I could not visit a school because of work commitments). I visited Castro Valley library, which I used for the teen space assignment.
            Compared to the Ukiah high school library, the Castro Valley teen space is relatively small. The Ukiah library has over 16,000 books compared to a few thousand at Castro Valley. However, the Castro Valley library has a few more programs than the Ukiah High School Library. I did some research and homework/tutoring seems to be available at every library, although the public libraries focus on all age groups. There is a special class for driving and SAT help available at the Castro Valley library. Game night is a popular event I saw at multiple libraries but of course that is not fitting for a high school library. I talked to the teen librarian at Castro Valley; his name is Nathan Silva (N. Silva, personal communication, March 30, 2011). He said they used to have a budget of around 1,200 a year for the teen room. However with budget cuts the teen area does not get their own budget. It is up to the main library to purchase books for the teen space and the Friends of the Library provide funding for any special events. The websites for both locations provide information for teens. The high school library website has specific teacher webpage’s to allow teens access to booklists, homework assignments, examples and blogs. The Castro Valley library website had a blog as well and links to cites that can help. Both provided easy access to information and access to the libraries catalogs.
            One study I looked at was the National Center for Education Services. According to their study overtime library attendance dropped but circulation picked up. This could be attributed to librarians allowing more materials to be checked out per child. From what statistics I saw at the Ukiah library their circulation has risen as well, but their attendance is down from the previous year. The librarian attributed this to a lack of funding and new books which had teens not coming back frequently to the library.
            After visiting the library I would recommend more programs for teens. The library might be in a high school but there are certain events, such as the Sat help that the public library had that could be beneficial as well. Maybe if a game day event at lunch was held or more interactive events like chess tournaments were held teens would visit the library. The community should be involved especially the public library. They could share books or hold a joint event at the library to get teens with library cards. If the teens learn to use the public library as well then they can get help and do research when the school library is closed. I realize at this time there is not much that can be done for the budget except maybe applying for more grants. Teens can even get involved with some of the grant and contests available online.









                                                   Works Cited


Area Connect (2011). Retrieved on April 4, 2011 from HYPERLINK  “http://ukiah.areaconnect.com/statistics.htm” http://ukiah.areaconnect.com/statistics.htm

Castro Valley Public Library (2011). Retrieved on March 29, 2011 from HYPERLINK “http://www.aclibrary.org/branches/csv/default.asp?topic=CastroValley&cat=CSVHome”http://www.aclibrary.org/branches/csv/default.asp?topic=CastroValley&cat=CSVHome

Jones, P. (2002). New directions for library service to young adults. Chicago: American Library Association.

Jones, P., & Shoemaker, J. (2001). Do it right! Best practices for serving young adults in school and public libraries. New York: Neal-Schuman.

Ukiah High School Library (2010). Retrieved on March 16, 2011 from HYPERLINK “http://ukiahi.com/uws/library/index.php” http://ukiahi.com/uws/library/index.php

Vaillancourt, R. J. (2000). Bare bones young adult services: Tips for public library generalists. Chicago: American Library Association.

Williams, J. (1993-1994). National center for education statistics: School library media centers 1993-1994. Washington, D.C: Westat.


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