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| Bement School District Library |
2009 no. 16
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| Library Profile |
| Library Name: Bement School District Library Location: 201 S. Champaign Street, Bement, IL 61813 Type: School Mission: To serve both the curricular and leisure needs of our patrons. Website: http://www.bement.k12.il.us/library.html LTLS Directory Page: http://www.lincolntrail.info/ybn.html LTLS Member Since: 1981 |
An interview with Librarian, Sheryl McKibben.
| What is unique about your library?
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I serve patrons from pre-K through 12th grade. This gives me
a very wide age range of patrons, which proves challenging and exciting. Since
the district is small, I tend to know most of the students personally and
really get to know them as community members, as well as patrons. The library
also has a very strong career section due to a grant from several years ago. |
| What are the primary goals and objectives of your library? |
Like most libraries that have answered this question, my
number one goal is to serve my patrons’ informational needs. I want to provide
the students with materials that fulfill their curricular needs and also make
sure to meet their recreational needs. It is always important to me to keep up
with collection development so that the collection has up to date materials, in
both print and digital formats. I am also trying to incorporate technology more
into the library. |
| What cooperative efforts are you currently doing? |
| I am currently working with the librarian at Atwood-Hammond School Library on an idea for spring. We are hoping to put together a reading contest between the students at the two schools. Also, being an online member of LTLS has really benefitted my students. I am so grateful that the students can interlibrary loan the materials that we cannot buy. |
| Tell us a story about your library. |
On Halloween, I was giving out candy. Living in a small
community, I had seen many of my students that night. One of my elementary
students realized I was the librarian and instead of saying trick or treat he
asked if the book he requested had come in. Another time, a librarian in
Montana contacted me because we had a history book that she was looking for.
She wanted to know if I would send it to her, because we were the closest
library that owned it. When I called her back she had already found a copy
elsewhere, but I found it very interesting that our library had something that
rare. |
| If money were no object, what services would you add? |
The first thing I would really like to do is set up the
library so that it was more friendly and welcoming to high school students.
Right now, it’s just tables and chairs and I would like to have comfortable
furniture that better promotes reading and is more attractive. I would love to
add more electronic materials to the collection. Right now we have one public
terminal in the library, but the students have access to computer labs where I
could instruct them on the different databases. As far as the print collection
is concerned, it would be great to have an in-house graphic novel collection for
my students.
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| What is popular in your library? |
The high school students are really into the Twilight series
and books by Dave Pelzer. The elementary students love the My Weird School
series by Dan Gutman. |
| How does your library use online tools to connect to your users? |
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I have recently started a blog and
a wiki for my
students. I am using it as a way to do book recommendations and so that
students can see what their peers are reading. I have done a lot of instruction
on how to use LINC so that students can request books on their own from home. |
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Request a visit to your library If you would like to set up a special date for us to visit your library contact LTLS Consultant Michelle Ralston. Library of the Week is published by Lincoln Trail Libraries System, 1704 W. Interstate Dr., Champaign, IL 61822 217-352-0047 - ltls@lincolntrail.info Executive Director: Jan Ison, Editorial and Design Team: Michelle Ralston and David Lottes |
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