We have many unexpected items /services we provide at our library. Karen, the Library Director, is very crafty and has been found fixing broken flip flops and backpacks. We also store big projects that do not fit in student lockers in my office - not to mention the snacks and birthday cakes (oh the temptation!).
Besides the regular office supplies, the students ask for a variety of objects that we usually have! I do love teaching 16-year-olds about office supplies however. They never know the name of the staple remover, and they love learning how to get paper clips out of the dispenser.
A side note - when our stapler is out of staples, we have noticed our boys ask for a new stapler, and the girls ask for staples to load the current one. Hmm.. what can gender studies specialists say about that?
We have safety pins, stamps, lint removers, markers, and wrapping paper.
We have math supplies,
we have old technologies,
we have items to take care of students when they are hurt,
and of course, I could do a whole other post on what we have put in the lost and found (underwear?)!
What unique and handy services do you provide (that are not library-related)? What useful items do you have that the students sometimes need?
Needle and thread for sewing on buttons (I don't do it for them, but I show them how). Toys -- little manipulative puzzles at the counter -- they love them. Sometimes a growing animal in a big jar of water; we grew a crab earlier, and now we're growing a pirate. These high school boys love this stuff, and one actually took home the crab over a break,,,, Chess sets. Calvin and Hobbes books brought from my housre. So far, Bloom County seems too weird for them.
ReplyDeletewe have a spool of thin rope. Max used it to macrame a belt for a kid who lost the elastic in his pants..don't ask how that one happened! lots and lots of toys..a business card cutter...sticker maker...for some reason, lots and lots of ribbon
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