While my high school is in remote learning, Courtney Grimaldi, librarian, and I wanted to promote our library books and get the books to students quickly. Many classes were also starting independent reading activities, so we planned to book talk with several classes via Zoom during class time.
How would we get books to the students?
How do we display multiple books to gain interest in checking out?
To organize this process, we thought about how we did things before March 2020 and how we can make the process work today.
Before
We would pull books to a cart for students to browse along with browsing our shelves.
Now
We created a Google Slides of book covers and summaries. When a student selects a book, we are able to take the book off the slideshow. We also designed videos and demonstrations about using our library catalog.
Before
Students would go to the circulation desk to check out a book.
Now
Students place a hold in our library system through a Google Form. Other libraries are also using Google Forms for placing holds. Students enter their first and last names along with the book title in the form. The library staff can view the spreadsheet of requests. That book is checked out to the student and placed in the front doors of our building for pick up. Each book has a sheet of paper wrapped around the book that includes the student’s name on the side.
Before
Students ask school librarians questions about books while in the library during class, before or after school. School librarians help students find the best book for their needs by browsing the shelves and showing the students specific books from the collection.
Now
The student has time to ask questions during the classroom teacher’s Zoom class after book talking several books. We also have a chat service on our website available for students to ask questions at any time during the school day. See an earlier post about chat options for our library.
The process continues to evolve, but students enjoy that they can put a hold on a book and receive the book within two days.
What is your process to get books to students when remote learning?
Author: Becca Munson
Becca Munson, Librarian, is a National Board Certified Teacher with over 24 years of experience in education. Becca is the Coordinator for Library Systems in the Blue Valley School District. Previously, she was school librarian at Blue Valley West High School. She opened two buildings in Blue Valley and spent some time as an Ed Tech Specialist before returning to libraries. Becca supports over 45 librarians and support staff as they work to fulfill the mission of flexible scheduling, collaboration, and literacy.
Categories: Blog Topics, Student Engagement/ Teaching Models
Hi,
I’m just wondering what the advantage of using Google Forms is versus just having the kids put the books on hold through Follett Destiny? I work in an elementary school, and allowed kids to put books on hold through Destiny Follett previously, and it seems like that would be easier, as I can just print a report of holds that are ready to pull.
Of course, I didn’t have to notify them that they were ready, as they would just check the hold shelf when their class came into the library (they all visited once a week) or after school, if they didn’t want to wait. We have very limited copies of books, so just because a student puts a book on hold doesn’t mean he/she will get it in a timely manner. Sometimes kids had to wait 6 weeks for a popular book. So I’m not sure how to make that part work effectively, as parents won’t want to show up to pick up books only to discover they’re not ready. I could ask students to put up to six books on hold, I guess, in the hopes that at least two would be ready for them…
This is a great process! Thank you for sharing. How are you handling the waiting period after a book is returned? Do you “clean” the books in any way?
Hi Kara. We also use our library catalog system to place holds. For specific classes, a Google Form works because we can set up a Form Limiter add-on. Once the book has a hold on it, it doesn’t appear on the form anymore. Usually the books we book talk are taken quickly. Once a book is ready to be picked up, we reach out to our students via Canvas, our LMS, to let them know it is ready.
Hi H. Kay! The book is in quarantine for 6 days. We have shelves in the library organized by dates the books are returned (Monday, Tuesday, etc.). When Monday rolls around, we grab the books off the Monday shelf and check-in to shelve. Hope that helps. Let me know if you have any other questions.
Hi Becca, thank you so much for responding! This is so helpful.
Hello again,
I’m getting all the nitty gritty details now for the final plan to present to our board, and while at the moment I plan to have students just put holds on books through Destiny, I think there might be some LMS in our district who would prefer the Google Form idea, so I would like to include that as an option in the plan.
Is it possible to see a copy of your Google Form or get more details about it? I know you said that you add a Form Limiter add-on so that once the book has a hold on it, it doesn’t appear on the form anymore. Does that mean that the Google Form lists specific titles for the kids to choose from? Or do they type in whatever title they want? And if they type in whatever title they want, would the form limiter add-on still work if two students type in the same title, but leave off a word or two? I’m not sure I’ve wrapped my head around how a Google Form limiter works as I’ve never done that before.
Thank you!