{"id":257,"date":"2022-07-18T14:43:00","date_gmt":"2022-07-18T14:43:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/mlis-snaga003\/?p=257"},"modified":"2022-07-19T23:37:47","modified_gmt":"2022-07-19T23:37:47","slug":"school-library-visit-bennett-elementary-school-manassas-va","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/mlis-snaga003\/2022\/07\/18\/school-library-visit-bennett-elementary-school-manassas-va\/","title":{"rendered":"School Library Visit \u2013 Bennett Elementary School, Manassas, VA"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As you can see from the picture, Bennett Elementary School Library is a welcoming place. This school is in Manassas, Virginia, and is in a struggling economic area. When looking at the website<\/a>, the first thing that you notice is the vision statement which states the desire to create a safe, welcoming place for all students and to provide a variety of literary choices. It is clear from the library’s website and calendar events that they go the extra mile to make this library a wonderful experience for the children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Bennett Library, Bennett Elementary School, Manassas, Virginia (Bennett, 2022) <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In the physical space, all the books are at the children’s eye level and neatly organized in solid shelving units. The seating area was made up of wood tables and chairs which is traditional & practical. In other school libraries, you might see bean bags and comfort, but this library makes up for that in their extra services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One extra nice service that the librarians offer is Bennett Birthday Books. The effort was designed with the idea that the students can always open a book over and over like a present keeping it forever. This activity asks for the community and parents to donate money to be able to purchase books. One year they raised over $1000! What an accomplishment!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Most other activities try to encourage these young readers to grow into books and gain a love of reading. The library also offers encore services, Battle of the books, and participates in Virginia’s Reader’s Choice Awards. But another most amazing effort spearheaded by the librarians was the dedication of a free library at the bus loop. It is understood that the children can check out a book during the school year but to have a free library with books available for summer reading is incredible. The first and third graders are the stewards of the free library, and the hope is that they will grow with it.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

One thing that I did find surprising was that in their collection, they had implemented a system called Red Dot books. You will find a red dot next to the barcode on some of the books. This indicates a book is unsuitable for younger readers who may read above their grade level. They state that the content might not be appropriate or interesting for young, advanced readers. There is an option for a parent to write a note granting permission for the student to check out Red Dot books. Most of us familiar with the ALA’s Bill of Rights automatically think of an infringement and the interpretation titled “Access to Library Resources and Services for Minors” (ALA 2019b). Rubin & Rubin further elaborate ” that the needs of library users vary and that access to information, library materials, services, and facilities are not to be restricted based on a user’s age (2020, p. 636). \u00a0\u00a0Unique to Virginia is the law which gives parents access to library records of their children, which I am sure has played a part in implementing the red dot books (Virginia Freedom of Information Act, 2022, par. 3).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clearly, there must be a bigger story about what has transpired at this elementary school library.\u00a0 To be professional, I hold judgment since I do not know the whole story.\u00a0 Since it is summer and the school library was not staffed, I hopefully will schedule a visit during the school year to see the struggle this librarian is facing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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References:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

American Library Association. (2019, November 27). Access to library resources and services for minors: An interpretation of the library bill of rights. https:\/\/www.ala.org\/advocacy\/intfreedom\/librarybill\/interpretations\/minors<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rubin, R. E., & Rubin, R. G. (2020). Foundations of library and information science (5th ed.). ALA Neal-Schuman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Virginia Freedom of Information Act. \u00a7 2.2-3705.7. Exclusions to application of chapter; records of specific public bodies and certain other limited exclusions. (2022). https:\/\/law.lis.virginia.gov\/vacode\/title2.2\/chapter37\/section2.2-3705.7\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As you can see from the picture, Bennett Elementary School Library is a welcoming place. This school is in Manassas, Virginia, and is in a struggling economic area. When looking Continue Reading →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24122,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","wds_primary_category":0},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/mlis-snaga003\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/mlis-snaga003\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/mlis-snaga003\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/mlis-snaga003\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24122"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/mlis-snaga003\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=257"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/mlis-snaga003\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":306,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/mlis-snaga003\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257\/revisions\/306"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/mlis-snaga003\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=257"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/mlis-snaga003\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=257"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/mlis-snaga003\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=257"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}