Crown Point Community School corporation Provides a

"WOW FACTOR"

by Carol McMichael

  Opening a new school library media center is always a daunting task.  With so many economic variables and unpredictable outcomes, we could only work and hope for the best for our new library media center at Col. John Wheeler Middle School. Knowing that our Crown Point Community School Corporation was willing to ensure that our enrollment of 800 plus sixth through eighth grade students would have an excellent school library was especially encouraging.

      As we began planning, we received the outstanding news that all the books would be new with no discards from other schools. The usual norm is to divide library collections from other schools or solicit donations from parents and community members.  Next, after meeting with several book vendors to consider their proposals, we selected Follett Library Resources. We then scheduled meetings with their representatives to formalize our needs regarding the middle school subject areas and the Accelerated Reader program as part of our school curriculum.  The last area was money. In the library realm, there never seems to be enough of it. Several negotiations with the school corporation’s business office yielded a final figure of $100,000.00.  This amount gave us enough money to purchase nearly 8,000 books for our students.  Seeing these brand new books on the shelves and in displays created a “Wow Factor” that still never fails to astound.

      At the building dedication, our parents and students could not believe that each and every book was new, never checked out, never used.  Granted, we have a long way to go, but the Crown Point Community School Corporation saw the need to provide an adequate, indeed excellent, school library media center book collection for Col. John Wheeler Middle School to support the curriculum as well as independent reading.  Endless kudos to the school corporation for its vision, dedication, and continued support!