I was in my daughter’s elementary school library early this morning when a second grade class came in. Since it is the beginning of the semester, the school librarian was explaining library procedures to the students. She explained that students shouldn’t try to re-shelve books themselves. When she asked the students to explain why that was, one second grade girl said the following: “Books are like animals. They need to be in the right habitat.” Library classification as ecosystem. I like it.

the pinakes: File under ‘cute’

I like it, too. Maybe I’ll borrow this wording, as I struggle when I’m making this request — um, please don’t have your very young kids put books away even though it’s a skill you want to teach them at home.

Our foot traffic is slow enough that shelving after kids doesn’t add much to the work load, either, but I could see this policy being especially important at a school library, where kids outnumber adults/staff. (I’m also trying to perfect how to whisper to parents that the book checkout limit is 50, but I’d recommend they aim a bit lower if they want to find them all again before they come due.)

52 Notes/ Hide

  1. librarianwithoutalibrary reblogged this from thepinakes
  2. catchingthetradewinds reblogged this from thepinakes
  3. melancholycat reblogged this from thecardiganlibrarian
  4. injoketaken reblogged this from thejessbeast
  5. missmosnarylime reblogged this from thepinakes and added:
    I LOVE THIS.
  6. stacksandracks reblogged this from thepinakes
  7. thejessbeast reblogged this from thepierglass
  8. counterpunches reblogged this from thecardiganlibrarian
  9. pocketcontents reblogged this from thepinakes and added:
    I love this.
  10. thepierglass reblogged this from thepinakes and added:
    Brilliant— but what’s the version I could use to explain the problem to MBAs?
  11. thecardiganlibrarian reblogged this from thepinakes
  12. cobaltlove reblogged this from thepinakes
  13. runjuliet reblogged this from thepinakes