1jwindisch
I came here initially to catalog my classroom library (1,000+ books) to show that I am in compliance with Idaho Code 18-1517B. Since I entered my books, I am very excited about how tags and lists of book awards can help me better help students find books they want to read.
My concern is that I don't have a checkout system because I want to make borrowing as easy as possible. Each year I lose and replace books. How have other educators managed to keep track of what is in your library as books go missing? Is it worth using TinyCat or something of that nature, or does that hamper student checkouts? I work with groups of students in grades 3-5, so there are 50 or more students who come through my classroom each day.
Thanks! I'm excited to connect with other teachers who LibraryThing.
My concern is that I don't have a checkout system because I want to make borrowing as easy as possible. Each year I lose and replace books. How have other educators managed to keep track of what is in your library as books go missing? Is it worth using TinyCat or something of that nature, or does that hamper student checkouts? I work with groups of students in grades 3-5, so there are 50 or more students who come through my classroom each day.
Thanks! I'm excited to connect with other teachers who LibraryThing.
2GraceCollection
Hi there! Welcome to LT! I have to admit I'm not a teacher myself, but I manage a local resource library for parents and educators.
If you don't want to use TinyCat, there is an 'inventory' field that you can add to any of your 'Your Books' views. The 'inventory' is super easy to use: the circle that represents your inventory starts out grey, you can click to cycle through grey, green, for 'present' in your inventory and red, for 'unavailable' or 'checked out.' You can also find the 'take inventory' button in the dropdown menu next to 'tags,' which will bring up this feature temporarily for you to take inventory of your books. In my opinion, this is the simplest method. If I were using this method in a classroom, I might have a 'check-in, check-out' sheet that I had my students physically write on in the classroom when they borrowed a book, so that when a book left the shelves, I knew where it went.
There is also a 'lending' feature, which is more complex than 'inventory' but does not require TinyCat. I believe it is a default in view B, but you can add it to any view. While logged in, simply double-click the box for 'lending' next to the book being checked out, and you can put in the name of the student, any due date you like (or none at all), or change the circulation status — by default, statuses include 'available,' 'missing,' 'returned,' 'on hold,' etc., but you can add your own, for example 'removed for repairs.'
I haven't used TinyCat before, so I can't offer my opinion on it, but I believe it requires patrons to have their own email addresses, to 'sign up' for your library, and to 'sign in' to check books out. Depending on the age of your students, how your district uses technology, and how you feel about technology in the classroom, would all affect whether TinyCat is worth looking into in your particular case.
If you don't want to use TinyCat, there is an 'inventory' field that you can add to any of your 'Your Books' views. The 'inventory' is super easy to use: the circle that represents your inventory starts out grey, you can click to cycle through grey, green, for 'present' in your inventory and red, for 'unavailable' or 'checked out.' You can also find the 'take inventory' button in the dropdown menu next to 'tags,' which will bring up this feature temporarily for you to take inventory of your books. In my opinion, this is the simplest method. If I were using this method in a classroom, I might have a 'check-in, check-out' sheet that I had my students physically write on in the classroom when they borrowed a book, so that when a book left the shelves, I knew where it went.
There is also a 'lending' feature, which is more complex than 'inventory' but does not require TinyCat. I believe it is a default in view B, but you can add it to any view. While logged in, simply double-click the box for 'lending' next to the book being checked out, and you can put in the name of the student, any due date you like (or none at all), or change the circulation status — by default, statuses include 'available,' 'missing,' 'returned,' 'on hold,' etc., but you can add your own, for example 'removed for repairs.'
I haven't used TinyCat before, so I can't offer my opinion on it, but I believe it requires patrons to have their own email addresses, to 'sign up' for your library, and to 'sign in' to check books out. Depending on the age of your students, how your district uses technology, and how you feel about technology in the classroom, would all affect whether TinyCat is worth looking into in your particular case.
3jwindisch
>2 GraceCollection: Thank you! I hadn't noticed the inventory or lending features yet. I will check them out to see if they are helpful. I did put out a notebook this year for students to write their name and borrowed book titles to help manage checkout. I'll try using that to make adjustments to inventory or lending a couple times a week and see if that helps me keep on top of it.
Having my books entered and searchable in LibraryThing seems like it will be a great thing for my class. I just need to get some systems in place so I can keep it current.
Having my books entered and searchable in LibraryThing seems like it will be a great thing for my class. I just need to get some systems in place so I can keep it current.
