Q&A: School Visits

At the end of the year, many teachers at the elementary school in walking distance of the library contact me about bringing their classes down for a tour and to check out a couple items. I love these visits, and am still working to create, tweak, and perfect a fun "field trip experience" inspired by pretty much everything Sara does on Bryce Don't Play.

The problem is, I am one person and am in the throes of last minute summer reading planning. Due to scheduling and culture and all sorts of things, these visits are squarely on my shoulders. If I'm not going to be here, I've been told to not schedule tours.

So. I need a better system. My question to you, wonderfully talented readers, are what have you done to make scheduling visits to your library (when they are in high volume in a short amount of time) more successful? Shorter visit times? More classes at once? Setting a limit and making visits a first come, first serve thing and when the slots are gone, they're gone? Initiating the conversation?

Please comment-- I'd love to hear your thoughts!

CONVERSATION

9 comments :

  1. Thanks for the shout-out! Here's a few things we've done to keep from ridiculous end-of-year requesting.:
    1) We have to say sorry to schools outside of our service area. Day cares are a little different, since parents might work in our city and so might use our library, but in the past few years we've had to field large groups wanting to spend the day in the city, and they end up going to children's museum, riding in a fire truck... and then HAVING to visit the library, and wanting to eat lunch in the Boat.Yes, we do serve patrons from other cities, but the local school should support its local library.

    2) Those groups we don't service are still welcome to visit the library as a group, they just can't expect a guided tour or anything. We make it clear they will be held to the expectations of the library, such as no running and noise level, and we can ask them to leave. When these groups come in it's nice to introduce yourself and address the kids with some guidelines. But that's 2 minutes tops rather than 15+ AND PREP!

    3) If it's a group that's inside our service area, we say, "here's what we can offer you" and let them know about our 20-30 min tour, and say that for the rest of the time kids can peruse the collection. You might be able to offer less dedicated time, and that's okay! They may not like what's being offered, and they want you to do something different. That's too bad because what you're offering is reasonable for this time of year and special requests are not.

    4) Also, make sure the field trip times work with your schedule. It's OKAY to say "no" to a group or a time. I learned the hard way working split shifts my first year of Library Stars!

    If you can't fit them in, or if you can't offer them EXACTLY what they wanted, they might be miffed. BUT IT'S OKAY. Suggest that the teacher call back in the fall and you'll be happy to schedule a back-to-school tour.

    My advice isn't do-all-end-all, but MAN this has been on my mind as I imagine all the disappointed children some teachers have said I'm creating: You might feel like a B at the moment, but be firm. Your schedule will be horrendous otherwise. They'll live!

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    1. So this comment is longer than your post. How embarrassing for me! :)

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    2. But its a great comment! So we'll let that slide this time ;)

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  2. I am also an only librarian. I do some tours in the fall from one elementary school, but my main school visits are in May/June right before school lets out. I go to each of our three elementary schools, they park me in the library with my crates of books, and each grade gets 10-15 minutes. I also do sixth grade at the middle school which is a big longer and more involved, but it's only once or twice a year so I can live with that. I'd love to have them visit the library, but I don't have time and my rule of "no more than 2 classes at once" would make it even more time-consuming!

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    1. Yeah. I also visit the schools to promote summer reading, which is what complicates matters. They always want to visit right around the same time I'm coming to them for a different purpose.

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  3. I just finished up with 53 first graders before reading your post. *Whew.*

    I approached the school first and said, "Here are the days/times that work for me, pick one." I then made goody bags for them with a library card application so they would come back on their own time (hopefully) and get a card with mom/dad/caregiver.

    It's definitely okay to say no if library visits stress you out. ESPECIALLY in May, when we're all running around like crazy people, chin deep in program planning. Maybe have the kids visit in the fall after summer reading is over?

    Or not. Or not at all. And that's okay too. :)

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    1. I'm thinking that next fall I'll send out an email or letter to all the teachers and open the communication first, so I can help them make choices that work for them. Its tough, especially after a winter like this, because they just want to get out of the classroom now, but its just a lot.

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  4. I am all for reaching out to these teachers at nearby schools who can walk over and telling them how insane May is for you with SLP prep; school visits and often staff using this opportunity to schedule in a quick vacation before our busiest three months of the year. I would ask if they would consider coming at a slightly colder time in Feb-March (or whenever you could accommodate them more easily) when they could enjoy a field trip adventure and then some subsequent check-out visits without a tour during the warmer weather (when your presence wouldn't be needed.

    I often find that when you let people know the dilemma and offer an alternative, good things happen.

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    1. With boots and hats and mittens and coats, Feb or March might be a hard sell-- but that's their choice. I can offer it up. And then if I do have to say no, or a teacher can't get the date and time that they request in the Spring, I can fall back on "well, I did let you all know several times what I could offer."

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