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.
No comments:
Post a Comment