Assignment Alert

I've been looking the websites of lots of different libraries to see the different Assignment Alert forms that are used. Most of the forms that I've found can be submitted over the internet. Other forms are designed to be printed out and then faxed to the library. I think that the most effective way would be an online form. Now the issue is figuring out how to get the form onto our library website. Our library is currently in the process of hiring a technology person who would be responsible for maintaining and updating the website. Until then, I just need to continue researching different forms to decide which form would be most beneficial to our library. Then, once we hire the IT person, I can ask him/her to add the form to the library site.

Staff Meeting

Last week, I brought up the Assignment Alert idea in our monthly library staff meeting. Several years ago (before I was working there), one of the librarians had asked some of the teachers to let the library know what their assignments were going to be so that the library could order more books on that subject or limit books on that subject. She said that she didn't have a single response. I'm afraid that many teachers might not see this as necessary or helpful to them. They might see it as just more work for them to do.

Research

I have been doing some more research on ideas for collaboration between school and public libraries. One idea that I have found which I think would be helpful in my library is an Assignment Alert program. This would simply be a way for teachers in the schools to inform the public library of upcoming assignments they will be working on in their classes so that the library can order new books on that subject, display books that are already owned on that subject, or even create a pathfinder.

Action Research Thoughts

I am going to do my action research project on the relationship between school libraries and public libraries. I have done some research on the internet about activities that other libraries have done to increase the cooperation between these types of libraries. One thing that I am worried about is that our children's librarian will feel like I am trying to do her job if I do a project with the schools. Hopefully, she will understand that the project is for a class. Right now, the idea I am thinking about is to somehow get the school libraries to put a link to the county library website on their online catalogs so that kids could see what is available at all libraries in the county when they are searching for something in their school library.