WI 2017-18 - INFO I699-001: Independent Study: Nebinger School :Day 43, :3/22/2018

Nebinger was closed the past two days, due to snow.

Today I worked on a small stash of books I had set aside for further research. The two groups were the Horrible Harry series and the Ramona series. After looking on Follett's website and comparing it to Scholastic's information, I could make the determination that while the Horrible Harry series belongs with the Early Chapter series books, the Ramona Quimby series belongs shelved with the Juvenile (Junior) Fiction. I also came across two books written by the same author, housed side-by-side in the Juvenile (Junior) section that had each other's barcode's on them. I switched the barcodes to their appropriate book. Tomorrow is my last day at Nebinger.

Ramona series properly shelved in JF section:

The mis-labeled books from JF section:

WI 2017-18 - INFO I699-001: Independent Study: Nebinger School :Day 42, :3/19/2018

 I continued confirming the cataloging in the JF section.   I worked on K. I did not find any  uncataloged items, but I did find a few Teen/YA titles and EF titles mixed in. I removed those items and reshelved them in their appropriate sections. I applied dot labels to those books I checked today. 

Unfortunately, the bright blue dots for the JF section ran out. Debbie S. my liason from Nebinger Friends was there aplying dot labels to the JF section. Amy C. was there too today, volunteering her time. I took a moment and showed her that any dot labels that were not adhering could be covered with a clear label tape. Amy showed me that she had just applied a little more pressure to some dot labels and that seemed to do the trick.

Debbie and I took some time to discuss the progress of the library. Debbie is most appreciative of the progress that has been made. I am dissapointed that I was unable to get to the multitude of donated books and get them sorted and potentially added to the collection, but that will have to be the task for a subsequent Drexel MLIS intern. 

WI 2017-18 - INFO I699-001: Independent Study: Nebinger School :Day 41, :3/16/2018

Today my colleague Amey and I continued confirming the cataloging in the JF section.  Amey worked on Et-F while I worked on La-Le. 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. We applied dot labels to those books we checked today. Today was Amey's last day volunteering. I am deeply indebted to her for her assistance. 

JF section with Amey

WI 2017-18 - INFO I699-001: Independent Study: Nebinger School :Day 40, :3/15/2018

No catalog checking got done today. Today I brought over the 30 bookends donated from Penn Libraries. I put them in the places that needed bookends and put the remaining few in one of the closets. These bookends will help stabilize the books on the shelves, thus preserving the integrityof the binding of the books and thereby extending the shelf life of the books in the collection. I am indebted to the group of colleagues at Penn Libraries who coordinated the effort of this donation: Sal, Eva, Peter, Rhada, and Ancil, the Penn Libraries Outreach Librarian, who put those wheels in motion.

Bookends:

Bookends in the JF section:

After that, I was able to finish the shelf section labeling, because earlier in the week Lisa of the Nebinger Friends  provided the needed label material for the P-touch machine. Hopefully this will make it eassier for students to identify the section they need to find a particular book, as well as make re-shelving those books a faster process.

Labeled Book Sections:

Tomorrow: back to cataloging.

WI 2017-18 - INFO I699-001: Independent Study: Nebinger School :Day 38, :3/13/2018

Today I continued working on checking and cataloging the Juvenile Fiction section, Lo-Ly. I also put dot labels on those books I checked. As per usual, I found some Teen/YA fiction (The Giver Quartet by Lois Lowry) and some Easy Chapter and Early Reader books mixed in. They were weeded out and re-shelved in their appropriate sections. No pictures today, more pictures tomorrow.

WI 2017-18 - INFO I699-001: Independent Study: Nebinger School :Day 37, :3/12/2018

Today I finished the catalog-checking the Juvenile Fiction "M" shelf.  After that I spent a little time straightening the Teen/YA section. There was an entire three-shelf bookcase full of titles that had been culled from the other sections. Now that it is straightened, there are two bookcases of Teen/YA Fiction. Since that is the section identified by the administration as the student population that will initially be re-introduced to the library upon re-opening, this is encouraging progress. There is another 3 shelf bookcase full of uncataloged titles to be added to the Teen/YA section. - more potential for growth.

I also straightened the Early Reader  and Easy Chapter sections. I relocated all the uncatalogued books from these sections and it looks much better now.

Teen/YA Fiction:

 

Early Reader and Easy Chapter Fiction:

JF Fiction: M

WI 2017-18 - INFO I699-001: Independent Study: Nebinger School :Day 36, :3/9/2018

Today my colleague Amey and I continued confirming the cataloging in the JF section.  Amey worked on EA-Es while I worked on Ma-Me. 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.

We were joined by Amy C., one of the Nebinger Friends. She was working on the dot label project. She was labeling the Biography section with orange dot labels and the Autobiography section with green dot labels. As a result of her efforts, she discovered that the collection contains only two autobiographical books. Rather than devote an entire section to two books, we decided to give those two books double dots: one orange for Biography and an additioanl green for Autobiography. See if you can spot them in the pictures below. Amy shared that Lisa F. had been there earlier and had already completed the dot labeling of the Reference section. Lisa also delivered replacement labels for the P-Touch machine. 

The Friends of Nebinger are a remarkable group of volunteers. They are organized, each contributing their individual skills towards a shared goal.  Their combined efforts have brought about an admirable accomplishment, the re-opening of a school library after seven years. The staff and students of Nebinger will greatly benefit from the collective work of this fine group of people.

Amey C. and the Biography/Autobiography section:

Lisa F'.'s Reference section:

WI 2017-18 - INFO I699-001: Independent Study: Nebinger School :Day 35, :3/8/2018

There was no school yesterday due to a snowstorm.

Today I heard from the Nebinger Friends group. They are eager to start helping with the dot label application project. This is a plan to apply dot labels to the spine of every book in the Nebinger Library Collection based on their designated section. I identified the following sections designations in Nebinger Library: 

REFERENCE

AUTOBIOGRAPHY

BIOGRAPHY

CULTURAL STUDIES

NON-FICTION

EARLY PICTURE BOOKS

EASY PAPERBACKS

BOARD BOOKS

EARLY FICTION

EASY CHAPTER BOOKS

JUVENILE FICTION

TEEN/YA FICTION

So I came up with a plan that would accomodate everyone's unique availability., as well as the multiplicity of book section designations. 

The plan for the dots is this: There will be a chart posted for the various book categories and their corresponding dot color. I posted that chart  on the bulletin board behind the ciculation desk when I was at Nebinger today. I  also used today to make the section labels for the corresponding bookshelves using the p-touch labeler. Each bookshelf will have a section label and a corresponding colored dot sticker to identify it. (Note: I ran into a little difficulty with the P-Touch labeler. It ran out of label material after the first section label printed, and the replacement label was a different background and font color. Lisa of Nebinger Friends has been notified and is working on the repalcement label tape. In the meantime, I put some temporary paper labels on each section, so volunteers can still get started on the project.)

This should be helpful on several fronts: 

a. For persons coming in to do the dot sticker labeling, they can work as they are available, no need for supervision or cordination of schedules

b. for students as they use the library and look for specific types of books.

c. for anyone shelving books in the future.

Dot Label Color Chart (posted at Circulation Desk)

Bookshelf Section Label and Identifying Section Dot

WI 2017-18 - INFO I699-001: Independent Study: Nebinger School :Day 34, :3/6/2018

Today  I continued confirming the cataloging in the JF section.   I worked on M - MC.  As usual I found some uncataloged items and some Teen/YA titles and EF titles mixed in. I removed those items and reshelved them in their appropriate sections.

The colored dot sticker labels have arrived, as well as Follet barcodes and the new scanner. Now there are two scanners, both work perefctly. This will be a big help in speeding up the cataloging process. Also, the painting of the library is on hold, pending further study by the school district.

Tomorrow the school and library are closed, due to the impending snow storm.

JF: M-Mc

WI 2017-18 - INFO I699-001: Independent Study: Nebinger School :Day 33, :3/5/2018

Today my colleague Amey and I continued confirming the cataloging in the JF section.  Amey worked on Co - Du while I worked on Mc - Mo. 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.

JF: MC-Mo

JF: Co-Du

WI 2017-18 - INFO I699-001: Independent Study: Nebinger School :Day 32, :3/1/2018

I did not get as far as I had hoped today. Since the Friends of Nebinger have plans to order new shelving for the teen/YA section, I spent some time moving two bookcases out of the Teen/YA section and into the Early Reading/Storytelling section, where two bookcases were missing (they had been drafted into service in the non-fiction section some weeks prior.)

Just as I settled in to work on the  JF N-M section, one of the custodial staff, JT, came in with two other persons. The two other persons were the Philadelphia Public School Painting Prep team. A while back two persons stopped in to the library with notepads and took a very careful look at the condition of the walls. They had mentioned there was a plan to repair the walls. Today's crew did that, they scraped some areas of wall in preparation for the next section of their project: painting the school, including the library. I did not hear a specific date for the library painting, but the project begins next Monday. I will need to check in with the Nebinger Friends to make sure that they are aware of this and that there will be plans to protect the newly purchased carpeting and seating.

I also had an opportunity earlier in the day to meet with the Penn Libraries Community Outreach Librarian, Ancil G. We talked a bit about the project, including the plans for donatng some surplus bookends to Nebinger to fill their deficit.

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 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 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 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.