The Roaming Librarian: Books a la Carte
One of the most successful programs (and one of the most enjoyable) I have done here at Livingston High School is Books a la Carte. As a high school librarian it is often hard to get time to do book talks but they are one of the best ways to get kids to read. Our school has a daily Sustained Silent Reading period of 18 minutes at the begining of third period. Lots of teachers love it but quite a few complain about discipline problems and kids not reading, etc., etc. The kids, of course, have a ton of excuses: I lost my ID, I don't have time to go to the library, I can't find any good books...
So I began offering a library on wheels service. I bring a cart of books to the classroom and do 20-30 quick book talks. I always bring multiple copies of the more popular titles and I checkout the books right in the classroom. I actually have the teacher do the checkouts on paper (on a form I created) so he or she can confirm the kids names even if they don't have their IDs. After my book talks I let the kids rummage through the cart. It is an important step because a lot of kids won't raise their hand and ask for a title I am book talking. I usually get 60%-90% of the kids in any class to take a book. The teachers report that discipline problems during SSR go way down after one of my visits. And since I have started it I have many more kids coming to ask me for recommendations for books.
Submitted by:
Tony Doyle, Library Media Teacher
Livingston High School
Livingston, CA