Book Room Blues.

First let me say, we have a great book room at my school.  It contains leveled readers, big books, books on tape, materials for our gifted program, teacher resources, teacher books, and a collection of old materials.  It is a full-sized classroom turned into a teacher resource room.

But, oh my, there are issues. Unfortunately, this has become a dumping ground for resources old and new.

book room Problem #1 – Book Order

Last summer, my first summer as a reading specialist in this school, wasn’t the summer to tackle the book room.  I decided it would best to see HOW the book room worked for the teachers.

Unfortunately, there are problems.  The clothespin method is used for check-out.  Then, when the teacher returns the books, she finds her clothespin, replaces the books and returns her clothespins to the box with her name.

In my mind, the first problem with the book room is the order of the books.  The books are in order from right to left, even though the door is on the left side.

Check out a close-up of the picture above to see the problem.  Not a big problem, but it’s odd to me.  We also have gifted materials along the back wall AND on a book shelf on the right side of the book room.

We have math materials on the back wall and on a shelf area after the leveled readers.  We have teacher materials for centers, remediation, and enrichment any where you look in the book room.

book room Problem #2 – Labels

The next problem are the actual book boxes.  The book boxes contain labels for box contents.  They are peeling and missing.  This makes returning the books especially hard.

Alphabetical order is tricky…as you can see in the picture.

Problem #3 – Old Materials

Another problem is the extra “stuff” in the book room that isn’t used…EVER.  Notice the SRA box – there are 5 more.

We also have several samples from textbook adoptions of the past (1 social studies kit, 1 math kit, and old materials from our reading adoption).

From the looks of the dust, they are just taking up space.

Problem #4 and #5 – Books on Tape and Big Books

Finally, we have probably 100 books on tape and probably 200 big books that are used sporadically.  The books on tape are in a rack with several buckets.

They are on top of each other and not easily accessible.  The big books (14 racks full) are down the left side of the room on top of bookshelves, in the front of the room at the beginning of the rows of leveled readers, and half-way down the right side of the room.

Thankfully a past reading specialist alphabetized the books and sorted them as fiction or non-fiction.

A Summer Makeover

This summer I am tacking the book room.  I’ll take you through the process with me.

I am switching from the clothespin method to an index card method.  I’m going to try and rearrange the book room to move similar materials in the same area to help the teachers see all the materials available to them in one spot.

I’ve been trying to get ideas. If you have ideas about the book room, let me know.