WI 2017-18 - INFO I699-001: Independent Study: Nebinger School :Day 31, :2/28/2018

Today I continued confirming and cataloging Juvenile Fiction. As usual I found some uncataloged, some Early Fiction and some Teen/YA Fiction mixed in, so I pulled those items out and placed them with their appropriate sections. As of today JF O-Pau is complete. It was interesting that both Gary Paulsen and Scott O'Dell had titles for both JF and Teen/YA - those were some of the books that requried a little more research, then got separated into their appropriate sections. Two good things have come from this process: 1. The Teen/YA section is building up and, 2. The JF section is freeing up shelf space - it was pretty tight prior to this project.

I heard back from Debbie of Nebinger Friends and she thinks the idea of dot labels on the different sections of books is a good one, so she has ordered the labels and they should arrive soon. She also gave me the name of another Nebinger Friend volunteer who would be willing to help with the project.

I reached out to the Community Outreach Librarian at Penn Libraries and he (Ancil) thinks there may be surplus bookends available that could be donated to Nebinger. That would be really helpful.

Tomorrow - more checking and cataloging of JF - M's and N's.

WI 2017-18 - INFO I699-001: Independent Study: Nebinger School :Day 30, :2/27/2018

Today I continued confirming and cataloging Juvenile Fiction. As usual I found some uncataloged, some Early Fiction and some Teen/YA Fiction mixed in, so I pulled those items out and placed them with their appropriate sections.

I heard back from my advisor today regarding the Easy Chapter books. She agreed that conflicting information can make cataloging a bit tricky. She suggested that, in order to prevent confusion going forward, I find a line in the catlog record for each item and make a notation, of the discrepancg to keep a record for anyone following after me. I made 3 line items: 1 for Easy Chapter, 1 for grade level and 1 for age level, providing the record does not already have those items as part of its record.

Unfortunately, sorting out the Jigsaw Jones items from yesterday took some time and I did not make as much headway today as I would have liked. I got the JF P's done.

I counted and it appears that the library will need 40 bookends at this time. I am going to ask the Nebinger Friends if they want to add that to the wishlist for purchasing or if they are OK if I ask the Community Outreach Librarian if Penn Libraries could donate some.

Also, I am going to suggest Avery or Demco colored dots on the spines to denote the different sections; Reference, Non-Fiction, Early Picturebooks, Easy Fiction, Easy Chapter Fiction, Juvenile Fiction, Teen/YA Fiction, Autobiographies, Biographies and Cultural Studies, to make re-shelving easier and prevent misshelving.

No pictures today, the shelves look very messy.

WI 2017-18 - INFO I699-001: Independent Study: Nebinger School :Day 29:2/26/2018

Today I continued confirming the cataloging in the Juvenile Fiction section. Today I worked on Pa - Sc. As usual I found some Early and Teen/YA fiction titles mixed in, as well as some uncataloged titles. I pulled those titles out and reshelved them in their appropriate places.

The knottier problem I encountered was the matter of a discrepancy in the purported reading level of a series currently housed in the Juvenile Fiction section. Follett Destiny lists the Jigsaw Jones series as reading level 3rd-5th grade and reading interest level at the same ages. However, the Jigsaw Jones series has short chpaters, large text and pictures, which are hallmarks of the Early Chapter books, which are housed with the Easy Fiction (grades K-2). I checked the Scholastic website and they list the series as K-2 and 3-5. How they can justify categorizing the same book in two separate and unequal categories is a mystery.

At any rate, the rule of thumb is to place the book with the lowest level assigned, which in this case would be the Easy Chapter books, grades K-2. Thje problem is that Nebinger, and indeed the Philadelphia Schoold District, have agreed to follow the Follett system of categorizing. When I looked to see what other schools had done, there was no easy answer. This titles is variously catalogued as Early Fiction, Easy Chapter and Juvenile Fiction, depending on which school catalog you consult. I am only a temporary volunteer, not the permanent librarian. I do not wish to cause confusion for the person who ultimately holds this postion. In the meantime, I have consulted with my advisor for her considered opinion on this matter.

Another troublesome issue popped up. One of the books I found cataloged and housed in the Juvenile Fiction section is a book that is an Adult level book. It has adult situations and offensive language. I will need to bring this to the attention of the Friends and possibly the administration and have this book removed from this collection. It is inappropriate reading material for an elementary public school library and I am surprised to find that it was ever deemed appropriate to add to the collection.

On a brighter note, more funishings have arrived. The carpeting for the Early and Juvenile Fiction sections, as well as the seating and a display unit have arrived. Lisa from Nebinger Friends was in today and her efforts have made the library look cheerful and welcoming. Kudos to the Nebinger Friends!

The Juveile Fiction Pa-Sc:

The Early Fiction section:

The Juvenile Fiction section: 

WI 2017-18 - INFO I699-001: Independent Study: Nebinger School :Day 28:2/23/2018

Today my colleague Amey and I continued confirming the c cataloging in the JF section.  Amey worked on By-Co while I worked on Ra-Sc. As usual, we found some uncataloged items and some Teen/YA titles and EF titles mixed in. We removed those items and reshelved them in their appropriate sections. It was very exciting to see the new delivery packages: white board, carpet and two new chairs for the circulation desk.  Also, today both book carts were assembled. We immediately put those to use, and they made the transporting of books from shelves to circulation desk so much easier.

Juvenile Fiction By - Co:

Juvenile Fiction By-Co (cont'd):

Juvenile Fiction Ra - Sc

New furnishings:

WI 2017-18 - INFO I699-001: Independent Study: Nebinger School :Day 27: 2/22/2018

Today I continued confirming cataloging and shelf-reading in the Juvenile Fiction section. I completed Sa-So. As usual, I found a few Early and Teen/YA titles misshelved, which I reshelved in their respective sections.

WI 2017-18 - INFO I699-001: Independent Study: Nebinger School :Day 26: 2/20/2018

(School was closed on Mon., 2/19/18, due to President's Day)

Today I continued working on checking the Juvenile Fiction cataloging. I worked on SPI-TW.  As with previous days, I found uncataloged titles and mis-shelved Early and Teen Fiction. Again, I pulled out the uncataloged titles for adding to the collection at a later date and re-shelved the Early and Teen fiction titles with their respective sections.

Juvenile Fiction: S-Z

Also, Lisa, from the Nebinger Friends group was there today and she put together the first of two library carts. This will really be a big help as I can load up larger batches of books from a section of shelving and bring them over to the circulation computer for checking. Thank you Lisa!

New Library Cart:

WI 2017-18 - INFO I699-001: Independent Study: Nebinger School :Day 25: 2/16/2018

Today, with my colleague Amey, we worked on checking the cataloging in Juvenile Fiction. Amey worked on A-C, I worked on W-Z. It was really helpful to have the scanner, we made better progress with it. We found more Teen and Easy Fiction titles shelved in with the Juvenile Fiction, which we re-shelved in their appropriate sections. We also found more uncatalogued titles shelved with the collection, we pulled those out for cataloging and adding to the collection at a future date.

 JF: W-Z

JF: A-C

WI 2017-18 - INFO I699-001: Independent Study: Nebinger School :Day 24: 2/15/2018

Today was a lot of fun.

Caroline, a member of the Nebinger Friends came to help and brought her two children, Charlotte (age 10) and Adam (age 5).

Caroline assisted with the inventory checking and sorting. Thanks to her efforts the Early Chapter section is now completed.

Charlotte assisted by sorting some Teen/YA fiction, shelving some Classroom set titles .She is a voracious reader and a sharp eye, she quickly identified some titles that did not belong in the Teen/YA section. We  had a lively discussion on the Harry Potter series and the difficulty in assigning the entire series to a single reading level/section. She shared which titles she found most appealing in the collection and gave some suggestions for future additions.

Adam was really helpful. He sorted out the Teen Fiction that was cataloged (had spine labels) and put them on a separate bookcase. Then he helped me shelf read that collection by author. He has an excellent grasp of the alphabet, as evidenced by his ability to sort the books based on the beginning letter of each author's last name. Thanks to Adam's assistance the Teen/YA cataloged collection is now shelf-read and sorted. There may be additions to this section, because the Juvenile Fiction section is still not completely shelf-read or sorted. I just wish I had a smidgen of his energy and enthusiasm.

Adam and Charlotte Helping  Organize the Collection: 

Another exciting development is the laser printer. It arrived earlier this week and Lisa, another Nebinger Friend installed it on Tuesday and had it programmed and running today. Once the labels arrive I will be able to start cataloging some of the new additions to the collection.

Tomorrow I plan to focus on the Juvenile Fiction section.

WI 2017-18 - INFO I699-001: Independent Study: Nebinger School :Day 23: 2/14/2018

Today I worked on confirming the cataloging for the Easy Chapter Series books and the Early Reader Paperbacks.

The Early Chapter Series were problematic because they had different reading levels in the same section and on the same bookshelf. Some individual paperback titles had the same issue. I left the chapter series books for ages 6-9 ( grades 1-2) in place on the existing bookcase (examples: Junie B. Jones and Magic TreeHouse series), but  I moved the Juvenile Chapter Series over to the appropriate section. These titles (Ramona Quimby for example) will need new spine labels with the correct call numbers (JF:...)

The second issue I encountered was that a significant number of uncataloged books have been shelved in with the cataloged collection. Apparently additional titles of the same series (Junie B. Jones, Magic TreeHouse, etc.) have been acquired over time. I have pulled out the uncataloged titles and set them aside for cataloging as soon as the spine label and barcode labels are available.

Tomorrow I plan to start work on the Juvenile Fiction section with the aid of the Follett Destiny system to sort out the books and ensure they are shelved in the section appropriate to their reading level. This will easily take the rest of the week, as this section has a significant number of titles in it.

WI 2017-18 - INFO I699-001: Independent Study: Nebinger School :Day 22: 2/13/2018

Today was a repeat of yesterday. I continued confirming the Early Reader Fiction titles against the Nebinger  Follett/Destiny online catalog.

Here is what I found:

1.  Easy Paperbacks mixed in with the Early Reader Fiction.
2. A significant number of Dr. Seuss titles were not cataloged or labeled, but were shelved with the circulating collection.
3. Two books were catalogued but not labeled: no spine label, no bar code.
4. Several sets of multiple copies of the same title, they may be part of classroom sets. I pulled them out and placed them on the top of the shelves.

 I completed the Early Reader Fiction section today. Tomorrow I will work on the Early Chapter book section.

WI 2017-18 - INFO I699-001: Independent Study: Nebinger School :Day 21: 2/12/2018

Today was a good day:

1. The scanner worked.
2. I had access to the Public School website
3. I had access to the Follett Destiny website.

So today I was able to start Phase 2: Cataloging. I started with the Early Reader Fiction section. At this point I am just verifying the books that already have barcodes and spine labels. So far, those with authors A-K all appear on the Nebinger Follett Destiny inventory.

I did find some books in this section that are misshelved, specifically there were a handful of Early Paperback books that had been shelved in this section. Also, I found a few books that are not part of the Nebinger collection: no barcode, no spine label and they do not appear on the Nebinger Follett Destiny inventory. I have put those books aside for adding to the collection at a later date.

I also heard back from Kathy, the former Nebinger librarian. She has very kindly offered to give me some insight into the way things were set up originally. This will be very helpful in creating a plan for the future.

Early Fiction: A-K

WI 2017-18 - INFO I699-001: Independent Study: Nebinger School :Day 20: 2/9/2018

Today was an exercise in frustration.

Debbie S., the Nebinger Friends liaison, delivered the scanner and printer to Nebinger today.

Bruce K. the Nebinger Friends technical guru, stopped by and connected the scanner.

I missed Bruce by minutes. The PC was already logged out when I got there.

I have the Follett Destiny passwords, but not the Philadelphia Public School passwords. I tried using the one from Wednesday's training, but it did not work. I tried multiple times, upper case, lower case. no luck. So I went back to using my phone. As luck would have it, my phone had no connectivity either. So I shelf read the remainder of the Juvenile Fiction section D-S, but I could not check reading levels.

Another question I have is the matter of books that are labeled Reading level 2.1 - 2.7. technically Early Fiction is Pre-K - 2nd grade, so it encompasses Easy Chapter books up to Grade 2, but does that include 2.+? I will check in with my advisor and find out.

Another unanswered question was frustrating because I saw that two series in particular, Harry Potter and the Percy Jackson series, are housed in both Juvenile and Teen/YA. I would like to know if that was a deliberate choice on the part of the previous librarian or the school administration, or are they just mis-shelved.

I was able to identify some Early Fiction  that was mis-shelved in the Juvenile Fiction section, because some have the reading level printed on the book, and some spine labels from the previous librarian have reading levels as part of the spine lable. So I pulled those out for re-shelving.

I also ran short of book ends, so thing are shelf-read, but it looks a bit disheveled. I need to take a bit of time and re-space the JF books to allow for space at the end of each shelf, but without bookends they won't stand up straight, and will tend to fall over.

Hopefully the Philadelphia Public School password issue will be ironed out next week, so that scanning and cataloging can begin. With 6000 titles in the collection, and half the term over, time is of the essence.

Juvenile Fiction:

WI 2017-18 - INFO I699-001: Independent Study: Nebinger School :Day 19: 2/7/2018

Today was the Follett Destiny Training Webinar at Nebinger Library. Representatives from Nebinger Friends and HSA attended. It was ably facilitated by Ann B., the Follett Destiny trainer. She covered many aspects of the program, including but not limited to; cataloging, circulation, patrons, and reports. We met from 9 AM - 12:30 PM, with one brief break and the time flew by.

I will not be in tomorrow. All Philadelphia schools are closed due to the SuperBowl Parade.

WI 2017-18 - INFO I699-001: Independent Study: Nebinger School :Day 18: 2/6/2018

Today I continued shelf-reading and sorting the Juvenile non-fiction. Today I got through T-Z. I found more Early Fiction, Easy Chapter and Teen/YA books mixed in, so I pulled those out and returned them to the appropriate sections.

I would have liked to make more progress, but each title has to be checked for reading level and I am looking up each title on my cell phone because there is no access to the public school wireless yet.

JF T-Z

Tomorrow is the Follett Destiny webinar training with the Friends of Nebinger.

WI 2017-18 - INFO I699-001: Independent Study: Nebinger School :Day 17: 2/2/2018

Today my colleague Amey H. and I continued working on shelf-reading the Juvenile Fiction section. We had access to the internet, so we compared the titles to Worldcat, the NY Public Library and my local library holdings, to make sure that the books were in the appropriate fiction section:Early, Juvenile or Teen. Amey worked with the A's and B's. She found the Lloyd Alexander titles in the Juvenile section and sorted them alphabetically.  I worked in the W-Z section. I was suprised to find some picture books that are correctly cataloged as being Juvenile Fiction.

We were able to free up more space for the Juvenile Fiction section and we discovered more Teen Fiction titles, which will get organized next week.

Also, the Nebinger Friends have scheduled the Follett Destiny webinar training for the cataloging/circulation program. That will be on Wednesday of next week, at Nebinger.

The lowest shelf is all of the Teen titles discovered today

The A-B section of Juvenile Fiction 

WI 2017-18 - INFO I699-001: Independent Study: Nebinger School :Day 16: 2/1/2018

Today I started shelf-reading the Juvenile Fiction section.

The section  is arranged alphabetically by author. I am finding that books have been misshelved over the years. Within the Juvenile Fiction section I found some Early Chapter books (The Zack Files, for example), as well as some Teen Fiction (The Inkspell series, for example). This is actually good news for two reasons:

1.Ultimately it will result in more shelf space in a section that had packed bookshelves with no space for growing the collection, and

2. The Teen Collection, which was extremely sparse, is growing on its own, just by relocating titles to their correct section.

Today I got as far as the G's, tomorrow, I will continue in this section.

P.S. Last night there was an Open House for prospective students and their parents. There were  some books taken from the shelves and strewn around in a few places, non-fiction as well as fiction. It looks like people are finding the books and enjoying them. Success!

Juvenile Fiction: A-G