They always come back - the popularity of student created books

The Children's School of Rochester maintains a collection of over two hundred books published by our elementary students as part of an annual school project. The ever-changing collection reflects books that were donated to the library by our students, and are then returned to the students with our thanks as they leave our school. Autobiographies, fantasy, historical fiction and superheroes are just a few of the creative ways children share their own stories and dreams. The student body is balanced between refugees and native-born students making student published books the first English language books that many of our students read. These books are circulated to other schools in our large urban district and are some of the most popular in the library. An unexpected result is that we find students respect these books more than any other type of library material, allowing for an unprecedented return rate. A new addition to the project this year is to have students create video book reviews of these and other books that are then being uploaded to our District library catalog. This has, so far, been found to not only encourage use of the online catalog, it is helping teach students skills such as public speaking and positive uses of social media technology. Both projects are easier to implement and more cost effective than first considered. They are a benefit to any school or public library.

罗切斯特儿童学校（Children's School of Rochester）馆藏有200余本由本校小学生作为年度校园项目成果创作出版的书籍。这套持续更新的馆藏既包含学生捐赠至图书馆的作品，也会在学生毕业离校时，伴随校方的谢意返还至学生手中。自传体作品、奇幻题材、历史小说与超级英雄故事等，仅是孩子们分享自身故事与梦想的数种创意创作形式。本校学生群体由难民学生与本土出生学生均衡构成，因此学生自主出版的书籍，是诸多学生接触的首部英语读物。这些书籍会在本大型城区学区内的其他学校间流通，亦是图书馆中最受青睐的馆藏之一。一个意料之外的成果是，学生们对这些书籍的珍视程度远超其他馆藏文献，由此实现了前所未有的图书归还率。今年项目新增的环节为：组织学生为这些书籍及其他读物制作视频书评，并上传至本校学区图书馆目录。截至目前，该举措不仅推动了在线目录的使用，还助力学生掌握公共演讲、合理运用社交媒体技术等实用技能。两项项目的实施难度与投入成本均低于最初预期，可为任意学校或公共图书馆带来积极效益。