We have a circulating children's library but have run into difficulties because our children's library also doubles as a Religious School classroom, which limits access. To remedy this, we have created a "satellite" library in the synagogue's lobby, with a selection of books for all ages with themes that rotate monthly. As books are checked out, I replenish the satellite with additional books. So theoretically, parents and children always have access to children's books to check out during Religious School hours, plus they can always visit the library any time the synagogue is open. Even so, some of our Religious School parents feel that being able to check books out during Religious School hours through their classroom should be part of the Religious School experience. I would concur, but I have yet to figure out an adequate control system. Inevitably books their teachers help students check out either a) never make it out of the library or classroom to the home, b) are left somewhere on the grounds of the synagogue or c) are never returned, or are returned damaged. It seems to be a very individual thing--some families are amazingly good about returning books. Other families it's like pulling teeth to get them to return things. People also seem to have the attitude that because they're members of the synagogue, that the library books are somehow "theirs" and they don't need to be terribly responsible about them. I did a library introduction at our most recent Religious School "Back to Shul" night, making the suggestion that people new to the library check out one book to start, return it within one month, then they could check out as many books as they wanted (within reason, so they they don't completely deplete a limited section, such as Rosh Hashanah books). I got a lot of flak for that--parents complained to the Board that I "didn't want" children to check out books. :-( Our library is not staffed; we use a book card check out system; we're on the honor system so unless a parent offers to replace a lost or damaged book we have no way to recoup losses. We also don't have a budget (all children's library purchases are through fundraising), so I can't afford a loss of "a few dozen books" a year as the cost of doing business. :-(I welcome any ideas/suggestions! Judy PetersenCongregation Har ShalomFort Collins, CO
-----Original Message----- From: Aileen Grossberg via Hasafran <[email protected]> To: rkamin <[email protected]>; leejaffe54 <[email protected]>; Hasafran <[email protected]> Sent: Mon, Oct 22, 2018 7:45 am Subject: Re: [ha-Safran] Younger Borrowers Well said, Rachel. I do basically the same with a letter home, but I do make it clear that the parent is responsible for lost items. The Library can bill the parents as part of the regular billing procedure. Because the library is not staffed a good part of the time, the preschool is the only part of the school that has regular check-out time. Everyone else is on the honor system. I must say that the little kids -and their parents- are much more responsible about returning items than the grown-ups are. Aileen GrossbergLampert LibraryCongregation Shomrei EmunahMontclair, NJ -----Original Message----- From: Rachel Kamin via Hasafran <[email protected]> To: Lee Jaffe <[email protected]>; <[email protected]> <[email protected]> Sent: Sun, Oct 21, 2018 2:19 pm Subject: Re: [ha-Safran] Younger Borrowers #yiv4465432051 -- filtered {panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;}#yiv4465432051 filtered {font-family:Calibri;panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;}#yiv4465432051 filtered {font-family:Tahoma;panose-1:2 11 6 4 3 5 4 4 2 4;}#yiv4465432051 filtered {panose-1:2 11 5 4 2 0 0 0 0 3;}#yiv4465432051 p.yiv4465432051MsoNormal, #yiv4465432051 li.yiv4465432051MsoNormal, #yiv4465432051 div.yiv4465432051MsoNormal {margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;font-size:12.0pt;font-family:New serif;}#yiv4465432051 a:link, #yiv4465432051 span.yiv4465432051MsoHyperlink {color:blue;text-decoration:underline;}#yiv4465432051 a:visited, #yiv4465432051 span.yiv4465432051MsoHyperlinkFollowed {color:purple;text-decoration:underline;}#yiv4465432051 span.yiv4465432051EmailStyle17 {font-family:sans-serif;color:#1F497D;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;text-decoration:none none;}#yiv4465432051 .yiv4465432051MsoChpDefault {font-family:sans-serif;}#yiv4465432051 filtered {margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in;}#yiv4465432051 div.yiv4465432051WordSection1 {}#yiv4465432051 I’m struggling to fathom why any school, synagogue or community center library that maintains a circulating children’s collection would create obstacles that would prevent children from checking out books. Why do you need an OK from a responsible adult? My children check out library books from their public school library and I have never been asked to provide consent. It is part of the curriculum. I would doubt that day school librarians require parental consent to use the school library. I’m not sure why a supplemental Hebrew School ay a synagogue (or JCC) should be viewed any differently. As I wrote to Lee privately, children at our synagogue begin checking out books from the Library starting with the 3-year-old preschool classes and continuing with all of the religious school classes PK-7th grade. At the beginning of the school year we enter all of the students into our system. We also send home a letter to the parents, letting them know their children will be checking out books, explaining the library program, and inviting them to visit with their children to check out even more books. During the 2017-2018 school year, religious school students checked out 540 items and our preschool students checked out 911 items. Over 98% were returned before the summer. Close to 1500 hundred Jewish books went into Jewish homes – this is what we are all about. I consider the loss of a couple dozen books each year the cost of doing business. Moreover, most of the missing books are eventually found or returned. (I also look at it as natural weeding!). I really discourage you from creating lots of rules and policies. It will just make more work for you and make the library less inviting, less accessible, and less used! Feel free to contact me if anyone has any questions or wants to discuss further. I am also happy to share our circulation policies. Rachel Kamin, Director The Joseph and Mae Gray Cultural & Learning Center North Suburban Synagogue Beth El 847/926-7902 [email protected] Office Hours: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday & Friday 9am-2pm and Wednesday 4-6 pm & Sunday 9am-12pm (when school is in session) From: Hasafran [mailto:[email protected]]On Behalf Of Lee Jaffe via Hasafran Sent: Saturday, October 20, 2018 6:56 PM To: <[email protected]> <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [ha-Safran] Younger Borrowers Per my earlier note to this list (copied below) I promised to summarize responses I received. I heard from three colleagues, reporting their experience and opinions about adding younger borrowers to our temple library's lending service. The responses were unanimous that we needed the ok of a responsible adult for accountability. Regarding a cut-off age for lending, their as a wide range of opinion. One library allows children as young as preschoolers to borrow books, while the others suggested 13 as the minimum age. In retrospect, I can see how libraries might differ on such points depending on their circumstances. Since our library is unstaffed most hours and we use a self-check system, we cannot expect younger children to manage the process on their own. Next, I plan to bring our proposal to the Temple school staff to initiate the process. Thanks for the help. Lee On Oct 11, 2018 1:00 PM, "Lee Jaffe" <[email protected]> wrote: I'm seeking the "wisdom of crowds" in order to plan how to expand lending privileges to young adults in our congregation. Currently only adult members are enrolled in our online borrowing system but we've reached a point that we feel we can expand the borrower base to include young adults. I have no experience with school or children's libraries and am hoping members of the list can answer some questions and/or share insights about points I've missed. - Do we need adult sign-on a) for permission to add minors to the lending system and/or b) to establish responsibility for items borrowed? - How do you determine eligibility? Hebrew high students? Post-B'nai Mitzvah? Anyone over 13? Any other considerations? I should mention here that our lending system uses email address as the key field. This means that each enrolled member must furnish a unique email address. Young adults would need to provide their own email address to be added to the system with their own account, or they could borrow items on their parents' accounts. In other words, not enrolling them separately does not deny them access to the collection. But they have more autonomy if they have their own account. Last, I plan to confer with the rabbi and staff who oversee the Temple school to coordinate this initiative. I hope to hold an introductory class session in the library as part of the enrollment process. But I'd like to have a plan – one that benefits from this list's collective experience – before broaching the topic. I appreciate whatever you are able to share. If you want to reply directly to me, I can try to summarize responses for the list. Thank you, Lee Jaffe Temple Beth El, Aptos __ Messages and opinions expressed on Hasafran are those of the individual author and are not necessarily endorsed by the Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL) ================================== Submissions for Ha-Safran, send to: [email protected] To join Ha-Safran, update or change your subscription, etc. - click here: https://lists.service.ohio-state.edu/mailman/listinfo/hasafran Questions, problems, complaints, compliments send to: [email protected] Ha-Safran Archives: Current: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.service.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html Earlier Listserver: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html AJL HomePage http://www.JewishLibraries.org -- Hasafran mailing list [email protected] https://lists.osu.edu/mailman/listinfo/hasafran __ Messages and opinions expressed on Hasafran are those of the individual author and are not necessarily endorsed by the Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL) ================================== Submissions for Ha-Safran, send to: [email protected] To join Ha-Safran, update or change your subscription, etc. - click here: https://lists.service.ohio-state.edu/mailman/listinfo/hasafran Questions, problems, complaints, compliments send to: [email protected] Ha-Safran Archives: Current: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.service.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html Earlier Listserver: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html AJL HomePage http://www.JewishLibraries.org -- Hasafran mailing list [email protected] https://lists.osu.edu/mailman/listinfo/hasafran
__ Messages and opinions expressed on Hasafran are those of the individual author and are not necessarily endorsed by the Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL) ================================== Submissions for Ha-Safran, send to: [email protected] To join Ha-Safran, update or change your subscription, etc. - click here: https://lists.service.ohio-state.edu/mailman/listinfo/hasafran Questions, problems, complaints, compliments send to: [email protected] Ha-Safran Archives: Current: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.service.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html Earlier Listserver: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html AJL HomePage http://www.JewishLibraries.org -- Hasafran mailing list [email protected] https://lists.osu.edu/mailman/listinfo/hasafran
