Pondering Self-Checkout

 

I’ve been interested in the idea of implementing a self-checkout system for the students for quite some time. I know there are lots of elementary librarians who do this very successfully. It’s definitely something that is born out of the necessity of getting away from the circulation desk. As the only staff member in the library, I often feel like I am tied to the library and to the desk. I have awesome volunteers and student helpers that make it less painful, but I’m still tied to the desk to some degree. Everything about the idea of self-checkout appeals to me, except having to set it up, get the procedure in place, and train the students.

As I’ve started to start to seriously consider this idea, the first place I go for some honest feedback is my fabulous PLN. Anyone who questions the power of Twitter just needs to see an example like this to see how mind-blowing it is to be able to tap into the resources available from so many awesome library friends! Thanks to everyone who responded with suggestions, ideas, and photos of how they’re making self-checkout work for them!

Self-CO1 Self-CO

 

My thoughts/pondering at this point:

  • What set-up of PC/monitor/laptop/netbook/scanner/mouse/keyboard/etc. will work best for us? This one is leaving me scratching my head since I don’t want a cluttered looking space. Not wanting to spend a ton of money on this for now.
  • What about using an iPod touch or iPad and the Destiny app? BUT it doesn’t have sound, and I associate sound with check-in/check-out…as irrational as that may be.
  • Do I need to set up two stations? One for checking in and one for checking out?
  • Where am I going to put all of this stuff? The layout of my circulation desk is…not conducive to, well, any of this.
  • What am I missing here? What do I need to think about/ponder more?

Spring Book Challenge

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We had so much fun with our January & February Book Challenge, that we’re having another one!

First, my reflection on the January & February Challenge. I was blown away by how intensely some of our students got into reading for this challenge. There were a total of 15 tasks in the challenge for a total of 15 books, and we had 5 students complete the entire thing and a number of other students come very close! About 40 students turned in their logs to me at the end of the challenge, but I know more participated. We had a total of 39 join the group on Schoology.

I could have done a better job in a few areas. First, I should have made more announcements/reminders to keep pushing students along. The ones who did participate were very much self-motivated. I didn’t even post the updates on Schoology as regularly as I should have. I’ll definitely be better about this next round. I also planned to do some type of leader board. That didn’t happen at all. The points and such were too difficult to keep up with and organize on a larger scale.

I’ve had questions from my blog and Twitter followers about a few things. First, I said I was going to do prizes. I ended up nixing the prizes. I’m not much of a prize person because I want them to be intrinsically motivated, and these kids really were. Instead, I opted to do an “event” at the end of the challenge. We had nachos, discussions, and activities including make your own bookmark. Once again, my communication skills were a bit lacking (and I had to reschedule it). I only had 7 students show up for the after school event, but we had SO MUCH FUN that it was completely and totally worth it. I have no doubt that I’ll have more show up next time. And they felt that the event was plenty enough “reward” for them.

I also had the question of how I was going to verify if they actually read the books or not. This is another reason I went away from the original idea of prizes. I wanted this to be completely on the honors system (with a little help/monitoring from their ELA teachers).  For the most part, I think the students were pretty honest about what they read. Like I said earlier, the students who truly participated in this were self-motivated and pushing themselves to read more. And WOW, did they ever!

SO, I’m very excited that today was the start of the Spring Book Challenge!

Spring Book Challenge by librariantiff

After getting feedback and seeing how things went, I made a few changes. First, I did away with the “points” for different categories. I also went from 15 tasks to 10 tasks. And we cut down the time frame from two months to one month. Some students felt overwhelmed by the length of the first challenge, so this one is pared down a bit.

I’m excited to get this new challenge started! And I love the graphic I created! And I love the 10 tasks! Yay! So, as always, feel free to take this and make it your own! I’m excited to share something that my students and I are enjoying so much.