closing — school library media centers

don adcock
director of library services
glen ellyn district 41
glen ellyn, illinois

Closing of schools due to declining enrollment and the dismantling of an elementary school library media center take place in a unique emotional environment that makes a difficult task even more difficult. The closing of the school affects not only the staff of the building and the school library media center but the students and their parents. Those experiencing the closing of a school undergo, with just cause, feelings of uncertainty and insecurity to some degree.

It was in this environment that in 1977 the library learning center staff began to explore the dismantling of two library media centers located in buildings housing kindergarten through sixth grade. We realized that this would be an arduous and time-consuming procedure but were uncertain as to how to begin since none of us had ever had any experience with school closings. We decided to search the library and educational literature to see if we could locate any information regarding the closing of school library media centers. We were able to locate only one document, a slim seven-page guide which provided some help but did not answer all of our questions. We had no choice but to plunge in and begin.

By early spring we knew where the members of the library media staff would be reassigned but not where all the teaching staff wouid be assigned. Since the library staff for the entire district would be affected to some degree by the school closings, the entire staff was involved in the decisions regarding procedures for closing the two library media centers.

The first decision to be made was where the materials, furniture, and equipment from the closing centers would be sent. After much discussion, it was decided that, due to the emotional climate in the district, the materials and necessary equipment and furniture would follow the students. It was also decided that teachers who used certain materials in their instructional program could request that this material be sent to the school where they were assigned. Third, it was decided that the schools not receiving transfer students would have last option on materials, equipment, and furniture from the closing schools.

Next, a check sheet was devised which would follow the materials to the new school and would then be returned to the district processing center as the items were added to the collection of the receiving school. When this form arrived in the processing center from the receiving school, missing cards would be made and sent to the school and changes in location would be noted in the union catalog.

The third decision was the most difficult —when to begin the process. No money had been budgeted for extra help to complete the task of closing the centers and transferring materials, equipment, and furniture. This meant that building staff would only be available for two weeks after the last day of the school year; therefore, we would have to begin while classes were still in session. It was decided to begin the process two months before the closing of schools and still try to provide some services to students and staff.

The process of closing the school library media centers was begun by removing all the drawers from the card catalog and placing them on tables. The shelf list was placed at the beginning of the first table, followed by drawers from the card catalog arranged alphabetically, and finally the check sheets. We used parent volunteers and some students to assist the staff in pulling together the sets of cards. The sequence was to take a shelf list card, pull together a set of catalog cards, fill out the check sheet and band the set of cards with the check sheet and place them in a box arranging the sets of cards in shelf list order. Since we were still using the materials in the center, the cards could not be placed with the materials until they were boxed and sent to the receiving school.

It was when we began this process that we discovered one of our first errors in planning. We found it difficult to recruit enough parent volunteers to give us the kind of assistance we needed. We also realized that to some of the students assisting us, speed was of greater importance than accuracy. Far more serious however, was the stress placed on the library media specialist and her aide. They were trying to meet a deadline for closing the center and were attempting to provide good service to students and teachers. Since the card catalog was no longer available, the library media specialist's and her aide's knowledge of the collection provided the only access to the collection for staff and students. During the last two weeks of the school year, we were able to hire some part-time help to work with the library media center aides from the receiving schools.

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For the two weeks following the close of the school year, packets of cards were matched to materials and the materials were placed in boxes with labels indicating type of material, range of Dewey numbers, and the name of the receiving school. Equipment and furniture were also labeled for the move to the receiving schools. The director of library services working with the building and grounds department supervised the dismantling, moving, and setting up of furniture and the moving of materials and equipment during the summer. The central office staff of the library media program recorded transfers of furniture and equipment in the district's inventory. The director also worked with building principals to transfer furniture and equipment that could not be absorbed by the two receiving schools. All other equipment and furniture was placed in "temporary" storage in one of the closed buildings until they were needed.

In the fall the library media staffs of the receiving schools returned to their centers and faced the task of integrating boxes containing materials and equipment into their collections. Our volunteers were extremely helpful in assisting the staff in completing this task by checking catalog cards against the card catalog for duplicates, marking materials with the schools' identification stamp, filing cards, and shelving materials. We were fortunate in having two volunteers who had professional library training and experience and who were willing to donate several days a week to assist us in completing this project. As the materials were integrated into the collections, the check sheets were sent to the district processing center in packets labeled "Transfer Completed" and "Cards Needed." The "Cards Needed" packets were given first priority and the catalog cards were duplicated and sent to the schools. Changes in location were noted in the district's union list. Since the staff could not devote full time to this project in the buildings, it took us nearly two years to complete the entire project even with the volunteer help.

In 1981 the district was again faced with the closing of two more schools. The major difference from the previous school closings the district had experienced was these closings would be coupled with a reorganization of the district. The junior high which had housed seventh and eighth grades would now become a middle school for sixth, seventh, and eighth grades. This meant that all elementary schools would have to examine their collections and decide what materials should be retained and which should be transferred to the new middle school to meet the needs of the sixth grade students who would now be housed in the middle school.

Although we did not look forward to the task, we felt more comfortable dealing with school closings than we had before. Very early we decided to profit from the mistakes we felt we had made during the other school closings. First, we decided that we would use the materials from the closing schools to enrich the collections of the remaining elementary schools and the middle school. Second, we decided that we would not attempt to close a center while providing services to staff and students. This meant we would have to devise some method of doing both within the timeline for closing the centers. Third, we felt that the check sheets had worked well for both building level and district level staff and would continue that process.

To implement these decisions, it was decided that each library media specialist would be given boxes of metal file flags of a different color. The library media specialist would take the shelflist from her building and the shelflist from the closing schools and flag any material in the closing schools shelflist that she would like to have added to her collection. If there were any doubt, the library media specialist would examine the material on the shelf and make a final decision. The members of the middle school staff consulted with the elementary school staffs in determining what materials should be transferred to meet the educational and recreational needs of the sixth grade students that would be arriving at their school in the fail. The staff was encouraged to place their flag on cards in the shelf-lists of the closing schools even if someone else had indicated that they would like to have this item added to their collection. The director of library services would decide who would receive an item that had been requested by two or more buildings. Since this decision was based on the overall strengths of the collections in each of the buildings, the building level staff had no difficulty in accepting this process. The time for completing this task was found during parent-teacher conference days, school recordkeeping days, and before and after the student's school day.

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After this task had been completed, the director of library services resolved any conflicts in choices. On the last day of school, the staff began the same procedures that were used with the previous closings except that the sets of catalog cards were placed in the material as it was boxed to be sent to the receiving school. We were able to hire college students to carry on this task after the staff had left for the summer. These college students worked under the supervision of the director of library services and an aide from the district processing center.

After all the materials had been boxed and sent to the receiving schools, any remaining materials, equipment, and furniture was moved to one of the closed schools which was being used for storage. The director of library services weeded the remaining collection and discarded materials which were of no value. The remaining materials were divided into two groups. Materials such as duplicate copies of Winnie the Pooh and Charlotte's Web which the district would have use for in the future and materials in the latter group were offered for sale to public and nonpublic schools as well as not-for-profit nursery schools in the area. The materials in the first group have remained as a resource to be drawn upon by all the library media specialists in the district. Each piece of equipment sent to storage was examined by the district's maintenance department to determine if it was in proper working order, or if it could be repaired. If it could not be repaired, could it be salvaged for parts needed to repair other pieces of equipment?

Based on our experience with the closing of schools and the dismantling of school library media centers, the following are suggestions for those who will face this challenge:

1.  Plan as carefully as you can with existing information available.

2.  Use the resources from closed facilities to strengthen those that remain open.

3.  Request funds to hire additional help (primarily clerical) to assist with the closing and integration of materials into existing collections.

4.  Do not attempt to have staff carry on a program of services and dismantle a library media center at the same time.

This is a sample of the checklist used to record the transfer of materials from one building to another.

Bibliography

Closing on a Bright Note. American Association of School Librarians. (quiknote Series). Chicago, Illinois.

Hoberman, Judith Sloane. Guidelines for the Consolidation of School Libraries. ERIC Document ED 161-458.

Thompson. Frances. "Closing School Libraries Using the District Dispersal Method." School Library Media Quarterly. (Winner 1982), pp. 169-173.

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