The End of the Year in a School Library

Ah yes--the end of the school year is such an interesting time in a school library.

1. Librarians run and run and print and print reports that present the grim statistics about the horrific number of books STILL checked out to students even though the end of school is just a few days away.
   
   
2. Librarians send out MORE reminders and requests for the return of missing books.
   
   
3. Librarians cheerfully call home phone numbers and leave messages requesting any kind of response or acknowledgment of the lost school library books.
   
   
4. Librarians cheerfully walk to the shelves with students to look for the book that the student is positive he/she already returned or never checked-out in the first place, "no doubt about it, honest, they remember."
   
   
5. Librarians cheerfully point out that the book is NOT on the shelf, therefore, it will be necessary for the student to look again.
   
   
6. Librarians cheerfully suggest places the child can look for their library book.
   
   
7. Librarians cheerfully invite book characters like, say, Viola Swamp, to go on the morning announcements to request the return of library books. Viola infers she will be roaming the hallways and looking into classrooms for library books
   
   
8. The librarian's child, who is watching those morning announcements in horror, from her classroom, SWEARS her mother is NOT at school that day when her classmates suggest Viola bears a resemblance to her!
   
   
9. Librarians cheerfully roll book carts down to 5th grade and request that everyone clean out their desks in the hope that lost library books will materialize.
   
   
10. Librarians cheerfully roll book carts back to the library having netted at least twenty missing books that suddenly appeared in desks, on classroom counters and mixed in with classroom libraries.
    
    
11. Librarians cheer and clap as the student, who was sure that he/she had already returned or had never checked out that book in the first place, "no doubt about it, honest, they remember," comes running in, beaming with joy announcing, "I found it, I found it!"
    
    
12. Librarians cheerfully listen to teachers who explain they never checked out those materials for their classroom "no doubt about it, honest, they remember."
    
    
13. Librarians gulp hard and hug children who present them with flowers, cookies, picture frames, and precious thank-you notes for a year that was full of reading and imagination.
    
    

School librarians, you've worked so hard all year.

Thank you.

Have a wonderful summer and try not to think about your library every day this summer.

The Danger Season

Well, here we are at the end of another school year.
Awards are being awarded. Kids are auditioning for placement in bands, orchestras, choirs and gifted and talented classes. There are cheers and tears as the results are posted.

Parents are settling in for poignant "end of the year" videos at graduations and banquets and counting up how many times THEIR child appears or, more tragically, does NOT appear at all.
There are some kids who just seem to have a gift for getting themselves into photos but it is really so sad when someone has been in band or theater or 5th grade all year and there is no record of them in the end of year slide show.

Many deserving are receiving plaques for "most improved" or "Best [insert activity here]" and there is great rejoicing or another round of teeth gnashing by students (and the people who love them) who are not recognized. My very wise principal used to tell her teachers, "Don't be stingy with a piece of paper."

Teachers are perceived as brilliant nurturers of talent or sad excuses for educators who never knew [insert name of student here] was in the room.

Librarians are not immune from the danger of "awards season."

As I reflect on this time of year, I recall one year when I totally and utterly, blew it at rewards ceremony time. One of the year end recognitions at my campus was for reading the Texas Bluebonnet books for that year. I made up little certificates and the kids got to come up at the big award ceremony to receive them.

One year, I left the names of two kids off the list.
I don't know how it happened.
I was in a rush, as usual, and somehow, their names became invisible as I checked and double checked the list.

What I did not know, was that one of the kids had read ALL twenty books because their GRANDMOTHER had PURCHASED all twenty, at OUR book fair, with the expectation that they would watch their grandchild march up in front of the entire grade level to receive their well deserved applause.

I did not read the child's name.

Oh, I tried to make amends the next day on the morning announcements, but it was not the same.

I apologized over and over again. I felt terrible. just terrible.
My library aide had to keep sharp objects away from me for the remaining weeks of the school year.
The memory of that child still haunts me this time of year. I can imagine the family's excitement that finally they would see their child receive their due...and I forgot them.


Not long after that I began having trouble with my left knee. I have always attributed it to the time I fell off my bike in college. Now, that I reflect, I daresay, it was that grandmother jabbing pins into an effigy of me as retribution.

You do the best you can but this time of year is really a danger-filled season for teachers.