circulation during book fair

[cara delia]

I was wondering if anyone closed circulation during book fair?  I am really struggling with this.  I have NO help either from the book fair, or in the library ad the past two days have killed me.  I had over 50 children in my library this morning while trying to run a register, a circ. desk, find books, count money, find prices, and solve a number of various other issues suh as locked out of A.R. tests, forgotten passwords, and lost money.  My question is how mad do the teachers get when or if you have cut off circulation?  I feel like it is not only a management issue, but a safety issue as well.  There is just no way to crowd control 50+ children, check them out and run a register...two important things that could come back to bite me in the butt if not done the right way because I can't give it some attention.  Is a week really THAT long to go without circulation?  What are some procedures that you have during book fair?  Also, my fair is set up right in the midst of all the shelves...go figure!

 

[Barbara Gogan]

We close circulation during the book fair, but will get books for teachers when we get a chance.  We let students take out an extra book before week-long vacations--it might be a nice idea before week-long book fairs too.

[Steve Russell]

We have a group of parent volunteers that have attended book fair training sessions and they actually run the book fair in the library. That frees me up to run circulation. We're a small district and the parents actually run the fairs at each of our three schools that have a fair. The parents also end up volunteering their time helping us out in the library once they see how much we need the extra help just to do our day to day activities.

[cara delia]

I wish!  I have about 4 parents that show up everytime, and they are pretty good, but NONE of them want the responsibility of the register. I did end up canceling check out in the morning and it worked so much better.  I was far less stressed and the kids still got to check out during the afternoon, when it wasn't as busy. 

[JoAnn Grant]

Hi Cara,

Yes, book fairs and daily operations are definitely a juggling act!  You are righ; t it is a management issue that requires lots of pre-planning and communication.  But well worth it.  I keep the media center running as close to normal as possible.  But I am at a middle school and I have at least two student aides per period that have been through extensive circulation training.  I also have student aides working the book fair to help with extra eyes and hands to keep things straightened up and help with finding prices and bagging.  You must have some sort of help to do it all.  Good Luck.

[June Poissonnier]

At my school, we do close circulation during book fair because the books take up all the space in the library and the children come and choose the books during their regular scheduled library period. Thank goodness we don't have to deal with the money, our accounting department handles that!  Good luck with your fair!!