Hot Fun in the Summertime

Well, no, it isn't fun, but it is important, and you can work up a sweat doing it. The summer semester is when we conduct our yearly inventory.  This is not simply a matter of checking off what we have, like looking through your pantry before going shopping. We need to check what is on our shelves with what our catalog says is supposed to be there and make sure it is in the correct order so that we can find things when we need them. We do this every year to make sure our collection is in tip top shape and that the finding aid (catalog) accurately reflects what we have in our possession.

We begin by shelf reading, which is a long, tedious process of checking that the call numbers are in the correct order.  We also have to check that items are shelved in the correct location. Juvenile and Young Adult titles frequently get shelved in each other's section by mistake for example. Then we have to prepare the catalog and finally begin scanning.  There are a multitude of reports that get run after each section is scanned and then any issues that are discovered have to be resolved. You also run into damaged items that had been overlooked, faded spine labels that need to be replaced, and every once in a while something alarming such as a broken shelf, or a large spider with an egg sac (this was years ago and I had the exterminator come immediately).

The library is still open for business during this time.  You can use the computers and check items out. However, you will more than likely hear the persistent beep beep beep from the inventory scanner, or the mutterings of the Collection Development librarian as she hunts for items that should be on the shelf but didn't get scanned over the next few weeks.

The Summer Slide is not a Fun Ride

Hello everyone! Some of you may be familiar with the term "summer slide." For those of you who are not it is not referring to a fun summer activity.  Rather, it refers to the substantial loss of academic skills, specifically in reading, that occurs over the summer when children do not have access to books to read. Over time this loss becomes cumulative, until the students are reading below grade level. In her article, Slowing the Summer Slide, Lorna Smith quotes the findings of researchers from Johns Hopkins on this issue as follows:

"Although low-income children in the study made as much progress in reading during the academic year as middle-income children did, the poorer children's reading skills slipped away during the summer months. The researchers concluded that two-thirds of the 9th grade reading achievement gap can be explained by unequal access to summer learning opportunities during elementary school."

Why do I bring this up on a college library's blog? There are a number of reasons.  First of all, literacy is important to everyone, not just for young children.  Furthermore, it is an amazingly complex skill to learn and master.  (For more information on why that is check out Learning to Read is Hard.) We all need to continually practice reading throughout our lifetimes in order to keep the comprehension and analytical skills required sharp.  Secondly, modeling the behavior we want our children to emulate is also necessary.  Why should a child take the time to read if their parents never do? Thirdly, reading out loud to your child past the age when they can already read for themselves has been proven to have long term benefits.  (See a previous posting on this blog about that).  Your child will get to hear words pronounced that he or she has never heard before and thus will not grow up thinking that the word Potpourri, for example, is pronounce Pot-poury. Finally, we have a large collection of children's materials for multiple reading levels available.  These collections exist to support our Early Childhood Education program and the Early College High School.  These items are not restricted to students enrolled in these programs.

We encourage you to make use of these collections for the reasons listed above. We could encourage you to use the public library, and you should.  However, there may be reasons you would prefer to use our library instead. We may be closer to your home than one of the public library branches. (Incidentally, if you live in Cleveland County and are not a student at CCC then you may apply for a community user card which will enable you to check out three books at a time.) You may already be coming here for summer classes and it will save you a trip.  You may find our hours work better for your schedule. Whatever reason you chose, if you chose to come to our library looking for recreational reading for yourself or your child we will welcome you with open arms and help you find a book that fits.