I'm ba-ack! This past semester has been a wild ride with completing my MLIS degree at the University of South Carolina, catching up on some travel with my family, and then dealing with a round of COVID infections in the family to cap off the school year. I'm looking forward to a summer of travel and rest!
That said, I'm also thinking about how this school year as gone. As I reflect back on the past school year, I think about what has worked, what hasn't worked, what I want to change or do better going forward. I thought I'd share one of my favorite things that worked: highlighting quick reads!
Like many libraries, my middle school library collection includes "hi-lo" books - books that are written on high interest topics for readers of a certain age but with lower reading comprehension requirements. For my students, this means the books cover topics of interest to tweens and early teens in a pretty compact format with less complex vocabulary and syntax. Not surprisingly, students aren't really drawn in by the "hi-lo" label, and I found that most of the hi-lo titles in my collection had circulated ... well ... never!
Which is a disservice because hi-lo does not equal low quality or boring. My solution: rebranding! Hi-lo books may not get any love, but "quick reads" definitely do.
Back in December when students were getting close to finals, I pulled all hi-lo books from the stacks and created a special display cart. Fiction in our library is genre-labeled, so each genre got its own bin. While it's not pictured here, I later added a bin for nonfiction quick read titles, as well.
I am looking forward to running the circulation numbers again when I complete inventory, but based on my observations of students in action, this display has been a huge success. The cart attracts English language learners looking for a book that isn't "baby-ish" but also isn't too difficult to understand, developing readers who are working on fluency and vocabulary acquisition, and on-level or advanced readers just looking for something quick to read when they finish classwork.
Just the other day, two students came in to work collaboratively on a book project that was due the next day. One of the students had forgotten about the project and needed a book they could ready quickly to complete the project. The other student - an avid library user - was along to offer support with finding a book. When the students asked for a book that would allow quick completion of the project, I directed them to the quick reads cart as just the thing they were looking for. The students selected an action & adventure title, sat down and read the book together, then brainstormed book project ideas that could be completed quickly. I loved watching them in action!
Looking to grow your hi-low circulation? Give this concept a try!
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