Kids Flock to Maryland Library Program
Innovative project gets Essex middle schoolers excited about the public library
By Kathy Ishizuka -- School Library Journal, 12/1/2003
It all started in October, when about 250 sixth graders from Deep Creek Middle School in Essex, MD, spent three weeks traveling to the local library to research pre-Columbian civilizations. "Kids were amazed at all the things available at the library," says Don Whitby, Deep Creek's library media specialist, adding that small groups of students arrived before opening hours to receive print and online research instruction. Everyone received library cards, and almost all checked out a book, many for the first time. In the end, the projects showed "a higher level of critical thinking," Whitby says. And now more new and repeat youngsters visit the branch than ever before.
Working together, public librarians and Deep Creek's social studies teachers ordered extra books and identified Web sites and other resources related to the project. Meanwhile, Whitby helped gather more research materials and taught students how to use PowerPoint and other software programs to bolster their projects, which were eventually presented to librarians, teachers, and parents.
Assistant library director Lynn Lockwood devised the collaborative program along with Baltimore County's schools to boost student attendance, and $2,800 was secured from state education grants to fund bus service to the library. Lockwood says the school system wants to fund a similar program next year at Woodlawn Middle School, another low-income community with an underutilized library branch.
