The visit to the R.S. Payne Elementary School Library was a virtual visit due to volunteer restrictions at the time of the writing of this blog. My children attended this school when we first moved to Lynchburg in 2013, and I volunteered in the library reading to kindergarteners. The school has a new librarian, but the library looks basically the same. The website for the library is: https://sites.google.com/lcsedu.net/rsplibrary/home?authuser=0. There are pictures of the inside of the library on the homepage of the website.
(https://www.lcsedu.net/schools/rsp/about)
The Space and Physical Access
The library is located on the lower level of the school. There is an elevator for those with accessibility issues. The school is an older brick 3-story school building built in 1925 and now has 470 students and the library serves the student and teacher population of the school. The school is considered an urban school since it is located in the downtown area of Lynchburg on 12th street (1201 Floyd Street). The area around the school is predominately African American. There is a lot of urban renewal going on in the neighborhood and old buildings are being turned into lofts and many people are moving back downtown to live. The school also houses the “GO” Center for 3rd-5th grades, which is the gifted program for the Lynchburg City School system.
The library has chairs and tables for students, but no other comfortable seating other than the carpet. I do remember struggling to sit in the low hard wooden seats when I volunteered at the school. I know students spent less than 30 minutes in the library so comfort may have not been an issue. The library was decorated with posters. I remembered the time going by very quickly and the students were still checking out books when the teacher came back to pick up their classes from the library. The aide would check out the books for the students and the desk was located near the door to main library room. I also recall that students who had not brought back their books could not check out another book.
Digital Access and Staff
The website is easy to navigate for an elementary school library. The home page shows an avatar of the school librarian and her name. The school website has the name and contact information listed for the librarian and the aide. The library homepage has announcements, one of which being the Spring Book Fair. I like the “ewallet” option for the book fair and would have liked that feature when my children attended the school. One can also pay for a lost book online as well as access the online catalogue, database (the link didn’t work) and encyclopedia. There are “At home resources” such as: Epic, Unite for Literacy, Open e-books, Storyline Online, Audible, Digital Escape Rooms. Students can also sign up for a library card for Lynchburg Public Library online through the school website. There is also a free library stand with free books sponsored by Chili’s. Another feature is the seasonal activities which look like computer games. The homepage also has links to sources like Zoom, Google classroom, PBS, and National Geographic among many others.
Collections
There were 5 collections available online through the online catalogue: African American Biographies, Books and Stories, Characters of Color, Social Emotional Learning, and Back to School. I clicked on one book to see if I could actually see a book. I was able to see a book, see the call number, the AR level and where the book was located. The book I chose was available at another elementary school. It even had the APA citation available. Students would need to log in the Follet account to access to reserve the book. I clicked on another book and that one was located in the R.S. Payne library. It was easy to tell if a book was available for checkout. These collections reflected the demographics of the surrounding community. As Rubin and Rubin (2020) write in Chapter 3, “Education in the twenty-first century will be learner-centered, with personalized learning tailored to the needs of each student, and responsive to cultural differences in a real-world context” (p. 152). The catalogue was very diverse and included “recently added,” “popular,” topics,” “ebooks,” and “interactive ebooks.” and used the Library of Congress Control Number to organize the books.
I really enjoyed my virtual visit to the library and was very impressed with the catalogue.
R. S. Payne Elementary School (n.d.) R.S. Payne School Library. https://www.lcsedu.net/schools/rsp/
Rubin, R. E. and Rubin, R. G. (2020). Foundations of library and information science (5th ed.).
ALA Neal-Schuman.
Hi Shawnne! I enjoyed the link to the library. I thought that it was very kid-friendly with many different apps to choose from to experience different avenues of books online. It seems that the librarian at RSP is pretty tech savvy. 🙂 Thanks for the post!
Yes, she seems to be tech savvy. The website has improved a lot since my children attended there in 2013. The children and parents could easily see available books and see any library announcements.
The ewallet feature sound so convenient, especially if a parent had forgotten to send money with their kid to school for the book fair. With an ewallet they could send money almost instantly so their kid could still purchase a book. Online payment options in general just make things much easier, I wish our public libraries had an online payment feature for printing and fines. Another feature I really like that you’ve mentioned is the ability for students to sign up for a public library card through the school website. It’s also another feature I wish we could have here in Roanoke. It really does open up opportunities for students to have access to more books and resources! Including ebooks and audiobooks.
The e-wallet definitely prevents lost money. You are right about paying fines in the public library. I know here it has to be done in person and there isn’t an online option. When I have printed at the library, you have to make sure you have cash because the is a $5.00 minimum for debit card use. I know many libraries are moving away from fines.
Hi Shawnne! It sounds like the students have a lot of digital resources they can use. The ewallet sounds like a very convenient way to pay during book fairs! I also like that any lost books can also be paid for online. The online collections that the library has are interesting as well. It is like a digital version of a display. After reading many school library visits I am still blown away by all that the students can access online through the library as it is so different from when I was a kid. Thank you for sharing!
It is definitely a different experience from when I was a kid which was pre-internet. It is still very different from when my children were in elementary school 10 years ago. I don’t remember e-books being an option for them as they are now. I do like the online option to pay for lost books online so parents can make sure the library gets the money.
I was surprised to see the option for an “ewallet” to use for the book fair. I would’ve loved to have that kind of feature when I used to go to school! Also, paying for a lost book online and having access to the online catalog is great, especially for this day and age.
Yes, Joyce, I was pleasantly surprised by the online options for the school library. it is very user friendly and I am sure the parents appreciate the online option.
Hi Shawnne, it’s great to read your observations of the R.S. Payne Elementary School Library gathered from not only your recent virtual “tour,” but also from your recollections of the library from your children’s time there, as well as your time as a volunteer. That’s a lot of layers of interaction! The photos of the library on its website make it look like such an inviting, kid-friendly space. Your remark about how different the library is just in the time since your own kids were in school there make me wonder how it might evolve in another 8-10 years, and another 8-10 years after that. Thanks for sharing!
Yes, Sarah, I was surprised that the website really had been updated and had all of those features. The school library is a kid friendly space and I have to remember the students don’t really spend a lot of time there during the day so pillows and other comfortable seating wouldn’t be necessary.