A Really Good Problem

This question often comes up in librarian circles in the spring: there's money left in the budget, and suddenly, it's yours. You have a week to say how you'd like to spend it. What do you choose?

Of course the answer depends on so many factors - what is the current age and condition of the library, who are the primary users, what programming is most common or has the greatest need, and so forth. But for new librarians in new circumstances, here is a place to start.

You can't go wrong with books

Books are the obvious first choice. This extra money offer has happened to me three times in five years, and every time I had to decide quickly, and every time I was so fortunate I had done one important preparatory step: always have a book list ready. You can keep this in an Excel spreadsheet, or within your book vendor's shopping list (Mackin or Follett, for example), so that you have a list of titles, authors, and prices ready to go. You can pick up titles from blog posts, publishing releases, authors' social media posts, and vet them by reading reviews (from Kirkus, Booklist, or School Library Journal, for example) and then comparing titles to what's already in the collection before adding them to your list. A helpful tip is to keep a tab open with the catalog of another local library with a librarian you respect and a similar demographic, and as you search for potential books, you can use that catalog both to discover new titles to research and cross-check whether that librarian chose it for that location.

This is so much harder when you are new to a campus, because you don't know exactly what's most in use or what's needed - I remember walking into a new library in August wondering why we could possibly need that many Pokemon titles - an entire bookcase was jam-packed with them - and after the first week of library classes, that shelf was completely empty. As much as possible, be hands-on about check-outs and the book advisory process, as well as weeding and inventory, even if you have volunteers and assistants and a million other things to do, because that will really help you know your collection and what your patrons are asking for.

World Language Books
Remember to consider books in languages other than English for your population. Your school registrar and English Language Learning specialist will be great resources to help you know which languages would be most beneficial. Unfortunately, outside of Spanish and English, books in other languages tend to be extra expensive, or only available in paperback, or time-consuming to catalog, or what is available doesn't match the interest of the reader who speaks that language at home. For example, it might be really welcoming to a student to see an illustrated beginning dictionary in his home language, but if he is literate in that language, he doesn't need that book (although his new friends might).

These books take a lot of time to research and locate, but they are great to have available, and they can support parents of your students if they are learning English, too. Remember that graphic novels can be incredibly helpful, because they are socially similar to interests of many English-speaking students, and because they offer pictorial support to understand the text. Additionally, as a Spanish language learner myself, I appreciate reading a familiar story - including graphic novels - in Spanish to build my skills, so if your students take Spanish or Mandarin or French courses, for example, offering these books can also be helpful study tools.

Nonfiction Books tend to be more expensive, so unexpected money can be a huge help to update these titles. In my elementary school library, any animal book with adorable photos was incredibly popular, while many complex texts (even with compelling infographics and illustrations) sat on the shelves. In my middle school library, WWII books and true crime stories are hugely popular, but how-to-draw books and cookbooks are barely touched - students use digital resources for those topics. Again, knowing the collection and the population is key.

Many libraries subscribe to online databases that are hugely beneficial for research purposes, and much faster to update than nonfiction books. However, nonfiction is absolutely valuable to read for pleasure, and should be available to readers. The distinction I make is that it's unwise to buy nonfiction books about things like coding games or artificial intelligence that were published even two years ago because those fields are changing so rapidly. The same is true for popular athletes or performers, whose biographies are outdated with each new championship or achievement. In contrast, a book about optical illusions or deadly fashion or tornadoes or orca intelligence might age over time, but have a longer shelf life. When you remove the outdated titles, readers can consider the appeal of the remaining possibilities - even things they wouldn't have thought to search for.

Furniture

I would never want to make this purchase in a hurry, so unless you have an exact list with perfect amounts and measurements and have thought everything through in extreme detail, I would proceed with caution. There is so much to consider that this topic should really be its own blog post, but I will say that having sufficient outlets, work space, storage space, and shelving space, in addition to elements that create an inviting space is always the dream.

Library Supplies and Equipment

If you are a brand-new librarian, there will be a lot of things about your work preferences that you don't know yet, and you may likely discover a bunch of tools and supplies in closets and cabinets if you haven't searched thoroughly before buying new items. However, here are a lot of things school librarians might use regularly:

• A Label Printer for creating individual spine labels (such as Dymo)
• Rolls of Labels for spines (maybe 1.5 x 1 inch, white)
• Rolls of clear label and barcode covers (maybe 1 x 3 inches) - you will need a lot of these if you process any of your own books
• Genre label stickers, if you use them (Demco has several different styles)
• Blank white mailing address labels, for covering old barcodes or labeling assorted folders and items
• A hand-held label printer for labeling cabinets and bins
• A good collection of office supplies (lots of scissors, tape, sticky notes, etc.) It is really smart to have a couple of office supply bins you can leave out for other groups to use the library space for meetings - fill it with sticky notes, pens, dry erase or easel markers, a pair of scissors, and anything else they might otherwise be tempted to borrow from your desk)
• A good basic toolkit (replacing batteries, assembling furniture, makerspace projects)
• A small vacuum
• A stamp with the school name and address, or pre-printed labels with the school name and address (for inside library books and other library resources)
• Canvas courier bags with zippers and clear window pockets for sending large books through inter-office mail
• Library passes, for students visiting outside of class time
• Keypads, for students to enter ID numbers at checkout instead of repeating their names over and over too softly or for a volunteer who doesn't spell it correctly and can't find them in the system
• Storage bins of all sizes, and quart, gallon, and 3-gallon zippered storage bags (for games, makerspace materials, learning stations, and activities)
• Acrylic display stands for standard size paper, in portrait and landscape orientations (I like the kind without the slant, and without the extra base piece)
• Plastic Sheet Protectors - store your display signs in these to protect them in the hallways and on walls, and store seasonal display signs inside them when they're not in the acrylic stands to protect them from being wrinkled so they can be used the next year
• A plethora of Sharpies in various sizes, and a set of markers only for your use
• Kapco book covers and Demco rolls of mylar covering - even if you never need to cover paperback books, if you ever process your own hardcovers, and the hardcover does not match the paper book jacket, you will need to apply a plastic cover on top of the existing book jacket so it stays attached to the book (or else design your own book cover so you can see the book's title every time it's used)
• A plethora of carts - the Demco book trucks that have double-sided shelving, and the Demco ones in different colors and different lengths are great. You will also need flat-topped rolling carts for all kinds of things - lessons, activities, setting up supplies in advance, book repair, and so forth. Remember that the bottom shelf is annoying to reach (especially as you get older), so set up your return carts so the most popular, most-used things go toward the top
  

Here are some library supplies and equipment that you might not really need, or they might be your favorite tools ever:

• A laser pointer, to point out something on a large screen, or to indicate where a book section is if you are at the circulation desk and can't go there with a patron yourself
• A plug-in doorbell with different sounds and a remote you keep at the circulation desk - use one chime as a signal that voices are too loud (so you don't have to yell that it's loud), and another signal that it's time for the class to line up and depart (for example.
• A set of LED lights in the door or window of the library with a remote control and a sign - I set mine to say, "If the lights are green, please come in. If the lights are blue, you may enter, but be very quiet - there's a class in progress. If the lights are yellow, only people participating in the special event should enter. If the lights are red, please come back another time." You don't need this at all if it's always green, but the first time you need one of the other signals, you'll be glad you trained your community to check the lights.
• A Cricut or vinyl cutter for signage, displays, team shirts, prizes, and more
• A musical playlist and speaker to set the mood for events
• Special lighting (for events, or cloudy days, or nooks)
• A Cover One book repair machine
• A portable easel for event and announcement signage (please use other door for X event, book fair open tonight from 5:00 - 7:00, contest deadline this Friday, etc.)
• A mounted whiteboard in your office area to manage different projects and to-do lists
• iPad kiosk stands - these can be set to the library catalog for quick searches, or used for Google Form registrations, volunteer sign-ups, and surveys
• Sit-spot dots that Velcro to the carpet to mark where young students sit during library classes, or where to line up for check-out or dismissal
• Clear shoebox size bins for series books - orient sideways on a shelf for larger picture books, and orient with short side facing front for chapter books. You can add a title graphic and a list of titles in order on the front of the bin - if the bin is empty, readers know all the books in that series are currently out.
• Demco makes some incredibly expensive clear front-facing display acrylic "browsing bins" - they are $150 and only 31 inches wide, but the buzz seems to be really positive among elementary librarians who use them.
  

Makerspace Supplies

This category, like books, is full of fun possibilities. These supplies are often costly, and the only thing worse than having them carelessly destroyed by users would be to have them sitting unused on some back room shelves, so as with all of this, choose what works for your situation. I also wrote about how to incorporate maker activities in the middle school library, if you're looking for ideas about scheduling and management.

Board Games & Stations
For primary students: Connect Four, Cups (for stacking), Legos, large-piece puzzles, Magna-Tiles or Picasa Tiles, Jenga.

For third - eighth grade: Uno, Apples to Apples, Chess, Mancala, Marble Mazes, Keva Planks, Rubik's Cubes, Legos, magnetic tile sets, Jenga.

My students all really wanted to play Battleship, but the small pieces were a nightmare no matter how I tried to store them (students faithfully poured the pegs into those tiny gameboard trays and struggled to clean them at the last minute  every time, instead of just accessing them from a bag or container). I ended up not putting this out for younger students.

I also liked the game Guess Who, but the cards fall out of the holders, and the flip-up holders themselves are pretty flimsy in young hands. We tried to solve the cards part by hot-gluing the cards inside the frames, but the frames still flop over too easily if a young player knocks into the game board - it was not the win I'd hoped for.

Keva Planks are expensive, and deceptively simple. It is amazing what students can build using simple wood planks - it's incredible. They are definitely worth the price, and one large set can be divided into multiple containers for different student stations. They are great for structural challenges and beginning stop motion videos. If you have $8,000 in grant money, you can buy 30 complete class sets, with 500 planks and a clear storage container (as well as lightweight balls for mazes and laminated building idea cards).

Electronics

An iPad cart is really helpful, just for short videos and photos of student work, stop motion, green screen, Dash and Dot, iMovie, and GarageBand. The drawback for me has been that my schools have been Google account based, so it was a challenge for students to create things on the iPad and then save them in Google to share with me (once you sign in to your Google account on an iPad, it's a lot of steps to remove that account, so seven different classes a day quickly adds up to a lot of accounts sitting on a single iPad). You also don't want to be responsible for going through each iPad and air dropping your best examples - it's very time-consuming. However, the creation process is valuable and engaging, even if it's difficult to pull products from the iPad to showcase elsewhere.

Indi Spheros are fantastic coding tools. They are heavy-duty little cars, and when they drive over a certain color pad (included with the kit), they perform a different action - right turn, forward, spin, 45 degree angle, reverse, and so forth. They are excellent for the cause and effect concept of coding, and very young children can quickly learn to revise and edit their code (color pad layout) to achieve desired effects. Even older students and adults can be tempted into a 30-minute activity with these tools.

No Fear Coding Bee Bots and Learning Resources Code & Go Robot Mouse
These are slightly larger than Indi Spheros, and again, very sturdy code-able robots. Students can press buttons on top (forward, right, left, reverse) to make the robot go in different directions. You can introduce obstacles and motivators (code the mouse to reach the cheese, avoid the "cat," get the bee to the "hive"). Students press the buttons in a series, then release the robot to run the code on the mat, and it's very reinforcing when they do it correctly, or immediately discover errors to correct.

3D Printing
This is most effective when students are the ones creating the designs, but also most problematic, because as you print errors for students to discover design flaws, you're using filament, printer space, and time. This can be a great vehicle for real-world problem-solving, designing prizes for library contests, or illustrating academic concepts. I have a blog post about 3D printing for beginners here.

Ozobots, Hexbugs, and Brush Bots are fun tools for programming through mazes, which can be themed for concepts (history, science, civics, geometry), or "parade" showcases where students design "outfits" for the bot to represent a historical figure or vocabulary word or era. Because they are small and easy to pocket, these are not good tools to have out at stations without active monitoring.

I really love the Tonor microphones that plug in to a computer with a USB (Macs need converters for lightning ports); priced around $30 each. They are easy to set up, stable on tabletops, and provide a filter over the microphone to cut out background noises and speech noises from close talkers. They don't amplify sound, but they do clarify sound recordings for video narration and podcasting. They are best for one or two voices at a time - they are not multi-directional mics for a stage performance or broader conversation recording.

Crafts
Giant Coloring Posters and coloring bookmarks
Stick Together Posters from Demco
Rubber Band Bracelets
Jewelry Making - bracelets, earrings, necklaces with beads and charms
Origami
Bookmarks and Cards with Washi Tape
Buddha Boards, Lite Brite

Some activities are popular, but take longer than 20 minutes, including design decisions and clean-up. They also might take project follow-up time for you or volunteers, so it's better to schedule these for special workshops and activities instead of having them out at stations on a regular basis.
Crochet projects, amigurumi, knitting
Cross Stitch, Embroidery
Perler Bead Projects - see details here
Shrinky Dinks
Book Folding Projects
Fabric Painting, Rock Painting, Calligraphy & Watercolor Painting
Scrapbook Paper projects and crafts

Supplies might include fabric, origami squares, origami strips, polyfill batting, pompom makers, yarn, jewelry pliers, clay beads, seed beads, spacer beads, charms, earring hooks and backs, jump rings, bead vacuum, jewelry cord, pattern scissors, scrapbook paper, washi tape, markers, calligraphy pens, brush pens, design patterns, flat stones, cardstock, peg boards, glue guns and glue sticks, heat press, different types of vinyl, 3D printer filament, puzzles and a puzzle board with a cover and drawers, embroidery floss, sewing needles, crochet needles, bowls (for water - Buddha boards and watercolor or for beads or small pieces), circular hole punches, button maker and supplies, paper cutter, cutting mat, electric scissors for cutting cardboard, plastic mesh grid for embroidered bookmarks or sewing projects, clear glass ornaments, stickers, bookmarks - and more.

All of these supplies require secure, easy to store and easy to access storage containers.

• I like stackable pencil boxes with latched lids - great for easy station supplies like markers, pencils, scissors, and glue sticks.
• Iris makes some great flat 12 x 12 clear containers with latched lids that stack - they are perfect for storing Perler Bead projects that haven't been ironed, or paper projects with three-dimensional components.
• Sterilite has clear, 15 quart boxes with latching lids that are incredibly useful for craft supplies - you can store batches of yarn and crochet needles, Perler beads and trays, jewelry tools and charms, paper directions inside a plastic sleeve, or whatever else you're using, and simply put that bin on a table to create a station.
• Iris makes clear, square 5.13 x 5.13 x 2 inch boxes (sold in sets of 10) that are great for small items like embroidery floss, loose beads and charms, feathers, and small crafts in progress.

Final Thoughts

Something to keep in mind is that whatever you spend money on, you want to be as sure as possible that it is useful and of good quality - both so it lasts, and so it works well for whatever experience you're designing. Cheap 3D printer filament causes more problems than spending a little more on filament that doesn't break or clog, just as cheap markers run out quickly and need to be replaced right away.

Proper storage for supplies also matters - they should be stored to save space, but also to save time - so they can be brought out and used easily. If you spend hundreds of dollars on Keva planks, but store them all in a bulky container that doesn't roll and is heavy to lift, they're less likely to be used at all. If you have eight tables for library lessons, it makes sense to have eight supply boxes for easy access to pencils and scissors and sticky notes for each table. If most of your classes have 24 students, plan your stations accordingly - have at least six different places for four students each - and that can determine how many robot mats or jewelry tool sets to buy.

If at all possible, visit a library where supplies are in use and ask detailed questions about management, especially if it's a big expense or a big footprint. Before you buy a sensory table, sound dampening panels, or a revolving bookshelf, or install a Lego wall or a book vending machine, you want to know how they clean up spilled sand art or where they store the loose Legos, and how they budget to put more books in the machine.

If you can borrow supplies from a central location once a year instead of purchasing and storing them yourself, that might be a better option. And if you have a specific list in mind, your community might be able to donate some materials in good condition, saving your precious dollars for other expenditures.