Middle School Students Help Label Books

During middle school lunch, there are always kids who visit and want to "help." I certainly have lots of jobs that they could do, but because it is so crazy during lunch, it is hard for me to oversee whatever job that I would give them. This past week, I decided to give in to them and get them to help me continue to fulfill my new year's resolution. You may remember that I began the task of labeling all the volumes in a series  with green stickers after we returned from break in January. I got through the authors whose last names begin with an A or B. Then I got kind of bored with the project and standing in the stacks with my stickers, labels and iPad. I realized that if I didn't get some help, I would never finish what I started.

I showed the kids what I was trying to do by labeling the series. I let them go to the stacks and choose a series that looked interesting to them. They brought the books to the circulation desk where they looked up the order of the books in the series. I put the green stickers and labels on the books because I am one of those anal librarians who want the labels put on a certain way. When we finish with each series, the students re-shelve the books for me. It is a win-win for both me and the students. They are doing a job that needs to get done, and I get some help with a job that I found tedious. It really isn't important that the books get labeled in alpha order, just that they all get done. I am hoping that the students won't get bored with this project and continue to work with me. If they do, I can probably enlist others who would help.