Access

The concept of access in a school library is fascinating because there are so many levels of access; for example physical access to books, access to a variety of books for all levels and access to books that challenge and keep up with modern society.

I am constantly working on making sure that the physical space in the library is workable for everyone.  Right now we have many books and many sections (including baskets...many baskets) and my volunteers have a hard time keeping up with putting books away.   My goal by the end of the school year is to organize some system to make sure it is clear to the volunteers which books go where. We also have many tall shelves that are hard to get to, especially by the younger students.  Unfortunately, in order to be able to clear the top of the bookshelves a massive weed will have to be completed.  Right now even in the middle of the school year the shelves are full.

Another issue that comes up in our school is what is appropriate books for an elementary school.  Is 'The Hunger Games' too violent? Is two boys kissing on a stage in 'Drama' too much for younger students to understand?  There are many opinions to consider when stocking a library with materials for all reading levels and a variety of interests.

Access is one of the most interesting and challenging aspects of working in the library (considering the Library is the first to suffer cuts every year!).  It is really central to everything a TL works towards.

Descriptive Cataloging

This class is by far the most technical that I have taken so far in my LIBE diploma.  This lesson was definitely when I started to realize that properly described cataloging is vital to any library.

Metadata

Metadata was a bit scary to me at first until I realized that is just information that describes resources.  However, it is still confusing to think that metadata is not really used all the time with internet resources.  If metadata was used regularly then searching the internet would be far more accurate, and maybe it would be easier to distinguish between reliable resources and resources created by amateurs (like students).