This summer I posted my free Adopt-A-Shelf program materials (if you haven't downloaded them yet, what are you waiting for?!?). I had high hopes for implementing the program in my own school library. In my mind, this was going to solve many of my messy shelf problems.
If you're new around here, you may not know that like many of you, I have no library assistant. When I became a librarian over 5 years ago, I thought shelf markers were the answer to my messy shelf woes. Wrong (although they do help and I still recommend them). So what about Adopt-A-Shelf? Would I recommend it? Let's analyze it.
Pros of Adopt-A-Shelf
- Students are finding books they've never seen before, and they're checking them out.
- Many of the students are taking their shelf straightening job seriously.
- Parts of the library do look neater.
- Some students seem to understand why it's important to make sure each book is in its correct place on the shelf.
- Books are being repaired as students find them in disrepair instead of waiting until I have time to do it.
- There's a general sense of excitement about Adopt-A-Shelf. The students want to participate, even if they don't fully understand what to do.
- The program reinforces many of the library skills we've learned over the years.
Cons of Adopt-A-Shelf
- Some students just don't get it. Despite my best efforts of explaining everything to both the whole group and each individual, I still have some kids trying to arrange the books from shortest to tallest, or by colors. I even had one student who was trying to display every book on his shelf cover out instead of spine out... This one is especially frustrating because it tells me I have not taught these skills as well as I'd hoped.
- It's a very time consuming activity. I've already spent 3 weeks introducing the program, letting students pick their shelves, then "grading" each person's shelf one-on-one to help them understand what I'm looking for. I could probably spend at least another 2 weeks reinforcing what I'm looking for (but we're moving on).
- It's not keeping the reshelving carts as empty as I'd hoped, and the carts look TERRIBLE after students search through them for books that belong on their shelf.
- While some necessary repairs are being done, I also have an equal number of students wanting to repair tiny issues that I wouldn't normally repair at that time.
- For every shelf that looks great, there's one (or more) beside it that does not look so great. They are very inconsistent.
The bottom line: Do I recommend Adopt-A-Shelf?
The jury's still out, but I'm going to stick with it. I'm hoping that as students progress through the grade levels, they'll improve each year. The biggest challenge for me is time. I only see my students for 35 minutes of library skills time. I think I could spend every class period from now until the end of the year on correct shelving procedures, but then I wouldn't get to cover the rest of my curriculum.
I realize that elementary children are not going to understand shelving like I do, and I also realize that they're not losing any sleep about whether or not our library looks as neat and tidy as I think it should. 😉 I'm going to be happy with the small improvements that I've seen and try not to concentrate on the negative aspects.
Have you started using Adopt-A-Shelf? What challenges are you facing so far? Share with us in the comments!
Newbie Librarian says
Has anyone implemented Adopt-a-Shelf with parent volunteers instead of students?
Patti says
I used Adopt-A-Shelf this past year only with 5th graders and only with fiction. 25 kids signed up, 15 stuck with it. I will do it again as the kids who stuck with it needed the extra connection and praise. Last year every shelf had a small frame with the student's name and a book display holder for their shelf recommendation. This year I'm going to teach this team about QR codes and they can create a text/audio or book trailer.
Dorothy says
I will use Adopt-a-Shelf this year. I think it will give students a sense of responsibilty.I am using shelf markers, too.
I believe I will start small, only because I totally "remodeled" the library this summer and books just made it of the boxes...no shelf labels yet :(- . I thought that shelf elf was too "baby" for my 5th graders, so I am calling them the "Guardians".
A thought on the book cart being messy-- let one of the shelf helpers adopt it. They can restack the books on labeled shelves of the cart -- a least nonfiction and fiction. I find that when the books are divided and stacked this way I can alway grab a handful and put them away myself. Also, a friend of mine said she has made a shelf of the "popular" books--you know those that are always going right back out.
Lisa says
Dorothy~
The popular books that surprisingly do not have a hold on them, I simply showcase standing up on our long lower shelf or on one of the library tables ~ only then if it doesn't get taken out by the end of the day, it gets re-shelved. Not many of those books are left standing at the end of the day. And if I know one or more of those books will probably go out tomorrow, I usually let them spend the night and then they are gone by the next afternoon....