To Rachel, et al., I was stunned by the tone of approbation used in answer to my message. As I said in my summary, I can see how other libraries may design their services differently depending on their circumstances. I'd expect colleagues to extend the same understanding and professional courtesy to me.
My purpose in initiating this thread was in seeking practical advice from colleagues in extending borrowing to minors. I received responses – eventually – from only 5 members of the list. Two addressed my question about requiring adult sign-off before registering minors. The others responses took me to task for our decision to set an age limit and, in one case, was especially harsh in misunderstanding our proposal. Not only did I receive far less help than I hoped, but found myself attacked and held up for ridicule for something I didn't say. We are all struggling to provide important services with limited resources, often without the understanding of the ins-and-outs of library concerns from our home institutions. That is why organizations like AJL and lists like this are so important; they give us a venue to share and seek support. And that is why exchanges like this are so discouraging. I'd like to ask – even beg – that if any of you find yourself "struggling to fathom" why another library does things differently than you do, that you first give your colleagues the benefit of the doubt and presume that they have their reasons, even if they are not clear to you. Perhaps a more careful reading, with a generous spirit, will reveal something that resolves that struggle. However, if the sense of struggle persists, or even feels urgent, you can always ask for clarification and try to understand how their situation determines a different solution than your own. Lee Jaffe Temple Beth El, Aptos On Oct 21, 2018 12:39 PM, "Andrea Rapp" <anrapp2...@yahoo.com> wrote: What Rachel said. We do exactly the same. Children are entered into our system along w their parents names and contact info, and that’s all we need if a book is long past due. Grades 1-6 come to library time with their class and of course we encourage them to check out books. There are reading incentive programs for each grade. That’s how to get circulation in religious school. I probably got some of these program ideas from a Rachel, have been doing them for years. Andrea Rapp, Wise Temple, Cincinnati. Sent from my iPad On Oct 21, 2018, at 1:47 PM, Rachel Kamin via Hasafran < hasafran@lists.osu.edu> wrote: I’m struggling to fathom why any school, synagogue or community center library that maintains a circulating children’s collection would create obstacles that would prevent children from checking out books. Why do you need an OK from a responsible adult? My children check out library books from their public school library and I have never been asked to provide consent. It is part of the curriculum. I would doubt that day school librarians require parental consent to use the school library. I’m not sure why a supplemental Hebrew School ay a synagogue (or JCC) should be viewed any differently. As I wrote to Lee privately, children at our synagogue begin checking out books from the Library starting with the 3-year-old preschool classes and continuing with all of the religious school classes PK-7th grade. At the beginning of the school year we enter all of the students into our system. We also send home a letter to the parents, letting them know their children will be checking out books, explaining the library program, and inviting them to visit with their children to check out even more books. During the 2017-2018 school year, religious school students checked out 540 items and our preschool students checked out 911 items. Over 98% were returned before the summer. Close to 1500 hundred Jewish books went into Jewish homes – this is what we are all about. I consider the loss of a couple dozen books each year the cost of doing business. Moreover, most of the missing books are eventually found or returned. (I also look at it as natural weeding!). I really discourage you from creating lots of rules and policies. It will just make more work for you and make the library less inviting, less accessible, and less used! Feel free to contact me if anyone has any questions or wants to discuss further. I am also happy to share our circulation policies. Rachel Kamin, Director The Joseph and Mae Gray Cultural & Learning Center North Suburban Synagogue Beth El 847/926-7902 or rka...@nssbethel.org *Office Hours:* Monday, Tuesday, Thursday & Friday 9am-2pm and Wednesday 4-6 pm & Sunday 9am-12pm (when school is in session) *From:* Hasafran [mailto:hasafran-bounces+rkamin=nssbethel....@lists.osu.edu <hasafran-bounces+rkamin=nssbethel....@lists.osu.edu>] *On Behalf Of *Lee Jaffe via Hasafran *Sent:* Saturday, October 20, 2018 6:56 PM *To:* <hasaf...@lists.service.ohio-state.edu> < hasaf...@lists.service.ohio-state.edu> *Subject:* Re: [ha-Safran] Younger Borrowers Per my earlier note to this list (copied below) I promised to summarize responses I received. I heard from three colleagues, reporting their experience and opinions about adding younger borrowers to our temple library's lending service. The responses were unanimous that we needed the ok of a responsible adult for accountability. Regarding a cut-off age for lending, their as a wide range of opinion. One library allows children as young as preschoolers to borrow books, while the others suggested 13 as the minimum age. In retrospect, I can see how libraries might differ on such points depending on their circumstances. Since our library is unstaffed most hours and we use a self-check system, we cannot expect younger children to manage the process on their own. Next, I plan to bring our proposal to the Temple school staff to initiate the process. Thanks for the help. Lee On Oct 11, 2018 1:00 PM, "Lee Jaffe" <leejaff...@gmail.com> wrote: I'm seeking the "wisdom of crowds" in order to plan how to expand lending privileges to young adults in our congregation. Currently only adult members are enrolled in our online borrowing system but we've reached a point that we feel we can expand the borrower base to include young adults. I have no experience with school or children's libraries and am hoping members of the list can answer some questions and/or share insights about points I've missed. - Do we need adult sign-on a) for permission to add minors to the lending system and/or b) to establish responsibility for items borrowed? - How do you determine eligibility? Hebrew high students? Post-B'nai Mitzvah? Anyone over 13? Any other considerations? I should mention here that our lending system uses email address as the key field. This means that each enrolled member must furnish a unique email address. Young adults would need to provide their own email address to be added to the system with their own account, or they could borrow items on their parents' accounts. In other words, not enrolling them separately does not deny them access to the collection. But they have more autonomy if they have their own account. Last, I plan to confer with the rabbi and staff who oversee the Temple school to coordinate this initiative. I hope to hold an introductory class session in the library as part of the enrollment process. But I'd like to have a plan – one that benefits from this list's collective experience – before broaching the topic. I appreciate whatever you are able to share. If you want to reply directly to me, I can try to summarize responses for the list. Thank you, Lee Jaffe Temple Beth El, Aptos __ Messages and opinions expressed on Hasafran are those of the individual author and are not necessarily endorsed by the Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL) ================================== Submissions for Ha-Safran, send to: hasaf...@lists.service.ohio-state.edu To join Ha-Safran, update or change your subscription, etc. - click here: https://lists.service.ohio-state.edu/mailman/listinfo/hasafran Questions, problems, complaints, compliments send to: galro...@osu.edu Ha-Safran Archives: Current: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.service.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html Earlier Listserver: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html AJL HomePage http://www.JewishLibraries.org -- Hasafran mailing list Hasafran@lists.osu.edu https://lists.osu.edu/mailman/listinfo/hasafran
__ Messages and opinions expressed on Hasafran are those of the individual author and are not necessarily endorsed by the Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL) ================================== Submissions for Ha-Safran, send to: hasaf...@lists.service.ohio-state.edu To join Ha-Safran, update or change your subscription, etc. - click here: https://lists.service.ohio-state.edu/mailman/listinfo/hasafran Questions, problems, complaints, compliments send to: galro...@osu.edu Ha-Safran Archives: Current: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.service.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html Earlier Listserver: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html AJL HomePage http://www.JewishLibraries.org -- Hasafran mailing list Hasafran@lists.osu.edu https://lists.osu.edu/mailman/listinfo/hasafran
