Hoping for a happy ending: WMS library seeks funding to update collection

Published 10:21 am Monday, March 9, 2015

Some of the shelves of Woodward Middle School library are looking pretty bare these days.

Where once hardcover and perfect bound books sat on the shelves, dust now collects. That’s due to a major “weeding out” of some 1,500 books that no longer hold relevance for today’s students.

“I know they love to read books. I want to get them the most current and exciting materials I can,” said Ian Patrick, Woodward’s teacher librarian. “You have to keep a library current.”

In hopes of getting new books back in the library sooner, Patrick has signed up for a unique online fundraiser called Mackin’s Funds4Books. It’s a way for districts, schools, libraries and classrooms to fundraise in a way that 100 percent of the funds go back to the beneficiary. It’s the way Patrick and library staff hope to update the non-fiction collection specifically.

Patrick has used the program before, and he said it’s so easy that there’s no reason he shouldn’t do it. The online donation program also processes and ships the ready-for-shelves books for free as well.

“This is hardly any effort on my part,” he admitted, but said the benefits for students are still tremendous.

While most libraries try to constantly remove old books to be replaced with the new, it is a task that often falls on the back burner due to lack of funding and time, Patrick said.

The new books — physical and ebooks — will include reference, biographies and more. Patrick expects that he can purchase about 120 books if the fundraiser meets the $2,000 goal. It costs $17 to purchase a book that is library-ready, meaning the cover protector and barcodes are on the book.

Each year, Patrick gets between $1,400 and $1,500 to spend on library materials from the school district. That equates to perhaps three big book orders, he said, which isn’t much when considering an entire school body uses the library.

Daily, students drop everything they are doing to read for 20 minutes, which means many are often looking for a new book.

While there’s 25,000 books in the library, students always like seeing the newest releases as soon as possible, said Janet Shankland, library para-educator and building tech support.

With the popularity of some books — such as young adult trilogies like “The Hunger Games” — it makes it tough for kids who have to wait for the few copies there are to return to the shelves.

“When there’s a series that comes out that they really like, they come in that next day,” said Shankland. “The kids want to read the good stuff.”

Fiction books are what circulate the most, according to library staff.

The outdated books, some from the early ‘90s, are already boxed up and waiting for a district surplus sale. Several boxes are sitting in a back room in the library, including collections that likely cost hundreds of dollars during the time of purchase, Patrick said.

As a book lover, it’s hard to toss away books that were once appreciated, he said.

“Once you get something, you don’t want to give it up,” he said of library materials. “It’s hard. You feel bad. Plus, this was a lot of money. But, it’s a resource that’s not used.”

So far, $350 of the $2,000 goal for Woodward has been raised through Mackin Educational Resources. The fundraiser runs through April 30. Donors can choose to be named or give anonymously. The minimum online donation is $10.

The company has donated more than 27,000 books to 734 schools across the nation since its inception.

For more information on how to make a tax-deductible donation, visit www.funds4books.com and search for Woodward Middle School.

Donors may also drop off checks to Woodward Middle School library at 9125 Sportsman Club Road NE.