Finalizing the Library

After 2 months of organizing, the Warren Street Library was shaping up! The education director Gloria Martinez had ordered book bins for me to use for the final step of the organization process. Using the bins was an idea I had gotten from an observation I did at an elementary school in Babylon, NY. The librarian there showed me how she organized her books for the K-2nd grade students. She found that books bins labeled by topic such as "seasons" or "sports" was a helpful way for her students to find books without feeling overwhelmed. I thought this was of organizing the books was comprehensive and non-intimidating. I will also have the books labeled with color-coded stickers that will associate with the book category. This way, if a book is in a classroom and needs to be put back in the library, the colored stickers can be another way to help the students find the correct bins to put them back in.

       

The final stages of the WSLC organization. Book bins are in place! The next and final step is to label the bins accordingly and put the color-coded labels on each book category.

Slowly Making Progress

After a few weeks of digging into the organization process, I was able to make temporary piles by organizing the books into several categories. At first, I started with general categories such as: paperback picture books, hardcover picture books, Disney books, beginning readers, and level 2 readers, just to name a few. I was very fortunate to have several volunteers from NY Cares help me form the piles of books. I made makeshift paper labels to identify each pile for the time being. Although this took several days to organize and the process was strenuous at times, the progress we made was noticeable and rewarding. One of the speech therapists at the center came in and told me she had noticed the wonderful work being done in the library and was so grateful to me for organizing it for the kids to use. Her compliment was so genuine and sincere! It was the motivation boost I needed to keep going....

                                             
This picture shows the piles formed midway through the organization process. Paper labels were made to keep the organization in place until book bins were ordered.

About the Warren Street Learning Center Library Project

The Warren Street Center for Children and Families, located in the Carroll Gardens neighborhood in Brooklyn, offers after-school and summer camp programs that engage elementary school children ranging in age from 5 to 12 years. Teachers engage children in enhanced art, drama and other creative educational opportunities, academic tutoring, math and science enrichment activities and technology instruction in the center's computer lab.

I was fortunate to have the opportunity to volunteer through my graduate school and create an organized lending library system for the learning center. 

On my first day at Warren Street, I was overwhelmed by the amount of books the library held.  The Center's Education Director Gloria Elena Martinez explained to me that many of the books were donated by the community. This was undoubtedly, a wonderful gift from the community; however, the fact that a lending library system had not been put in place was preventing the library from being utilized to its fullest potential. This is when I stepped in to use my knowledge from my studies in library information science and formulate a system that would benefit the students, teachers, and parents.

A before picture of the library book shelves. This picture shows the books in desperate need of some organizing TLC.