https://powelles.fcps.edu/library
The library is located inside the building and I wasn’t able to find many pictures of the library on the website. I have visited the school a couple of times as my sister is working as a teacher there. However, I was unable to visit the library itself. There are two floors in the building and the library is located on the first floor. A bathroom is available right in front of the library entrance. Also, there is an elevator on the side of the library. When entering the library, there is a counter where students check out books on the left. On the right, there’s a bulletin board that has updates and information about future events. There is a group of round tables in the middle of the library with a big projector screen where the librarian teaches the students. If you go further inside there are children-sized bookshelves filled with books for students to pick out books.
The first thing that I thought about when I went into their website was being surprised by how much translation was provided to the website itself. There were about 80 languages that were provided. I wasn’t quite sure if the translation was accurate so I tried putting the translation in Korean (as I know how to read Korean) and thought that the translation did a good job in translating the important information.
There was two library staff that were shown on the website. One was a Librarian and an Office Assistant. If you click on their name, you go to a site where you simply provide your name, email, and message.
The library media center is open to students during school hours for class lessons, independent and group research, and media activities. Classes in grades K-2 have a weekly scheduled library time for a lesson or story with Mrs. Smith and will be able to select books to take home. Grade 3 has a lesson and check out every other week. Classes in grades 4-6 have a bi-weekly time to return and check out books and lessons are scheduled as needed. Students have access to the library during school hours with teacher permission.
The students have book check-out limits based on their grades. Kindergarteners can check out 2, grades 1-2 can check out 4, and grades 3-6 can check out an unlimited number of books. There wasn’t much more information other than that. Of course, only the students can check out the book. Outside the library, there is a small red mailbox-looking box where books are left in there. Students are free to take the books out and put new books inside.
On the website, you can click to use the Colin Powell Elementary School Library Catalog and the Fairfax County Public School Databases and eBooks. I thought that the website might be a bit challenging to navigate for the younger levels, but I’m sure grades 4-6 can handle simple things like searching for the author or title of the book. There is also a link where you can visit TumbleBooks. TumbleBooks is a system that Colin Powell uses to search storybooks, read along, videos, nonfiction, math stories, puzzle games, and more. It does mention seeing your teacher for a username/password.
By seeing how this library is served, I would definitely say the students in the school. The books that are available are all elementary-level books for students to read. I wouldn’t see students using the website as much as they would visit the library itself though.
Overall, there wasn’t a lot of information on the website itself and it would have been best for me to physically visit the library to get a better grasp of how the library works. Unfortunately, I was unable to go in physically but I have heard from my sister who is a teacher there briefly about it. Also, for my interview assignment, I have interviewed Patty who is a school librarian at Colin Powell Elementary School. My sister is a teacher that is part of the Korean Immersion Program. This means that she teaches almost everything in Korean. Patty also mentioned that the majority of the students were Korean. My sister did mention that there was a section where Korean books were available for the students to check out. The Korean Immersion Program takes a big part of the school education, so I wasn’t surprised to find some Korean books available.
Rubin & Rubin (2020) states, “There is a significant variation in the degree to which they engage in providing informational or recreational services and in how their patrons interact with library services, collections, and staff”. A school library’s audience clearly differs from a public library’s audience. A school library is built solely to provide their students with more books related to their age-level or learning curriculum. I thought that Colin Powell did a great job in giving access to students to many kinds of books.
References
Rubin, R. E., & Rubin, R. G. (2020). Foundations of library and information science. American Library Association.
April 3, 2022 at 2:36 am
It sounds like this library does a great job of making things accessible for its diverse student body! It is nice to see that the website can be translated into multiple languages and that there are foreign language books made available to the kids as well. I was also happy to read about the take-a-book leave-a-book setup that the kids can take part in. It seems like a great way to help kids get more involved with reading.
April 4, 2022 at 12:20 am
I really loved the take-a-book, leave a book setup kids can participate in. It was actually the first thing I noticed when I quickly visited the school to pick up my sister. I was quite surprised as to how many languages the website was available. Not sure if the translations were 100% correct, but it’s really better than nothing and giving as many choices possible to the public to have access.
April 3, 2022 at 12:36 pm
Having books in the Korean language seems like an important criteria to be included in the library with a Korean Immersion program in the school. I wonder how hard it is to find those types of books for their collection. I surprised by the unlimited number of books that 3-6 graders could check out! I know my public library doesn’t even allow that. Thanks for sharing!
April 4, 2022 at 12:22 am
I was surprised by the fact that this school had a Korean Immersion program in the first place but was further surprised that they had some Korean books available for the students.
April 3, 2022 at 7:33 pm
The translation feature is wonderful, that’s something I appreciated about the website for the school library that I chose as well. It also speaks to the diversity of the school system. I was also surprised by the unlimited number of books 3-6th graders can check out! I know our public library doesn’t limit checkouts on books, we always tell people the limit is as many as you can keep up with, but this may be the first school I’ve heard of allowing unlimited checkouts, at least in terms of elementary schools. But it’s nice to read about your personal connection to this library!
April 4, 2022 at 12:23 am
It was cool to see that they let the 3-6th graders check out an unlimited number of books! I actually didn’t know that was uncommon. I would love to visit this library in person if I do get a chance to.
April 3, 2022 at 8:21 pm
Wow, that is so awesome to have that translation feature. It is also great that the school recognizes the surrounding demographics of the school and has an immersion program. A bi-weekly timeframe for book checkout for the older grades may be due to the type of books they are reading. I guess a child that loves to read can get teacher permission to return and get books more often. Thank you for sharing!
April 4, 2022 at 12:25 am
Yeah, having about 80 languages (yes, I counted them all, haha) available surprised me lots! I would love to see this more in other libraries as well.
April 4, 2022 at 12:10 am
Hi Joyce, I’m so impressed by CPE’s efforts to make the library accessible to its diverse readers! Like you, I was unable to go in to physically visit a school library, and also like you, I gather that students tend to interact much more with the physical space than its online presence — mostly by dint of being in person. I suspect that starts to change by high school. Still, it’s amazing how much information we are able to glean about a library’s commitments to its patrons just from spending some time with its digital offerings. Thanks for sharing!
April 4, 2022 at 12:26 am
It seems like the students go to the library quite a lot, but as you said, that starts to change by high school. I remember going to the school library during my younger years. It’s great that they had many languages available on the website.