Thank you to those that replied to Heidi. It is a clever idea to offer it to “all occasions” club and, especially, to honor a teacher because celebrating a birthday works better for preschool kids. Parents often want to give a teacher a Hanukkah gift. A separate email to parents can go when the school celebrates the Jewish Book Month. Since even $18 hardly cover the cost of most books I will not offer a lower amount. I will suggest to write MINIMUM $18. It is just a thought, Amalia Warshenbrot AJL Immediate past president
From: Heidi Rabinowitz via Hasafran Sent: Wednesday, May 29, 2019 11:42 AM To: [email protected] Subject: [ha-Safran] Collected answers: birthday book clubs Earlier this month I posted on Hasafran “I would like to know how other AJL libraries operate their birthday book programs.” Here are the answers I received, FYI. Thanks to those that responded. – Heidi Rabinowitz Though our Birthday Book Club has been on hiatus the last couple of years, I do plan to bring it back in September, so I’m happy to explain our process. Living in a carton under my desk is a fairly large selection of new books that I’ve Accessioned into the library collection but haven’t fully catalogued. When the Religious School year begins letters are sent out to parents of K-2nd graders a couple of months ahead of the children’s birthdays, offering families the opportunity to make a small donation ($18) to the library so their child can be part of the Birthday Book Club. As members of the BBC the child is invited to come to the library and choose a new book (from my secret stash!) that will be book-plated in their name and become part of the library’s collection. (We used to open this up to K-8th graders but by 3rd grade the children were disinterested. Enthusiasm is still high for K-2 – new readers who are thrilled to have “their” book in the library – so I’m happy to cater to a receptive crowd. Obviously, this isn’t a big moneymaker for the library, but it DOES serve to bond the children with me, the library, and books, and that’s a challenge these days. To my mind, if we don’t connect children with books when they’re young, we lose them to the seductive temptation of the screen. That’s my story – feel free to write back if you have any question. Best, Amy Turim Librarian, Temple Emanuel Kensington, MD We give out books to children 12 and younger once a month at a special Shabbat service (mostly Friday nights, but some Saturday mornings) for young families. Best, Lauren Lauren Marcus Johnson, Director Temple Israel Libraries & Media Center West Bloomfield, MI For several years our Birthday Book Club was successful, but I'm no longer in the library during religious school hours and for now we have discontinued the program. You will need someone, either the librarian or a volunteer, to be in charge of the program to make it work. At the beginning of the school year we sent out a notice telling about the BBC and including a section the parents could fill in and return to the library. We asked for the child's name, birth date, current class and age and parents' contact info. I also spoke to the teachers and explained the program to them. The one thing we were always aware of is that we didn't want any child to feel left out if his parents didn't sign him up. For a certain amount per child (up to you - we started years ago at $10 and raised it to $18), a child could select a new book (I purchased a variety of titles during the summer and prepared them for circ), and sign a special birthday book plate and place it in the front of the book. He/she received a special birthday pencil and was the first person to be able to check out the book. We kept track of the birthdays, listed by month, in a file box. For summer birthdays, we asked the parents if they wanted the presentation to be either before school ended or in the fall. I publicized the BBC in our bulletin and pitched it to grandparents as well as parents. Hope this helps. Paula Fine Librarian Congregation Emanu-El B'ne Jeshurun Milwaukee, WI We have “all occasion books” program which is essentially our old birthday books program jointly run by parents auxiliary and library folks (we are volunteers as there is no budget for hired staff at our small Hebrew day school). The parents auxiliary gave us a chunk of money initially to buy books for program - the books, both Hebrew and English, have $5, $10, $25 stickers on them, kept in a little cupboard in the library that parents can come and choose a book to donate to the library collection. If lib volunteers are not around, the school secretary has access too. There is a form they fill out (also available online) with details of payment and the inscription wanted (to who, from who, occasion). A parent volunteer who is s graphic artist makes the label to be put in front of book. All moneys are handled by office staff; I catalogue the book; the child gets first rights to check out the new book Several times s year the parents auxiliary makes a pitch at a school assembly or activity, for parents to buy books for library in honour of their children for Chanukah, for Purim, Pesach, Rosy hashanah, or as a thank you to teachers at year end. Following these “pitches” the library is open and the books in our “all occasion” inventory are on display. We replenish our supply from moneys gained from books bought for library by parents. Parents at any time can approach the office secretary and get her to help them purchase a book and parents can ask us to choose the book for them or a book on s certain subject matter, with a certain $value they name. The PA periodically will send out letters to all parents as well, and we have been asking them to put it in the community bulletins and newspaper as well, but with less success. Under this program, books have been donated in honour of birthdays, alumni achievements (received degrees, marriages, academic honours, etc), Hanukkah, but also in memory of former teachers and students, and thank you to custodians, office staff, teachers for a great year. Both parents and grandparents participate and we also get occasional others as well. I could send you a copy of our form if you are interested. Not sure what other details you might want. Karen Hering , MLIS, retired academic librarian Volunteer for Edmonton Talmud Torah school Heidi Rabinowitz, Director Feldman Children’s Library & Howard Computer Lab Congregation B’nai Israel 2200 Yamato Road, Boca Raton, FL 33431 (561) 241-8118 ext. 206 [email protected] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- __ 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
