Meeting Mrs. Purefoy

I enjoyed a special visit today from Mrs. Debra Purefoy, our school namesake.  I showed her a few pictures of the school building under construction and we chatted a bit about her life and my vision for the library.

Mrs. Purefoy has been a teacher for over 30 years, mostly as a high school Spanish teacher with a few years as an elementary teacher too.  She loves to read and learn and especially enjoys books that are funny or sweet - like Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren.

Mr. and Mrs. Purefoy are already planning to help out a bit at our new school next year - keep an eye out for her next year in the Purefoy Library.  Thanks so much for visting Mrs. Purefoy!

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More about the Purefoys... 

From: http://www.friscoisd.org/community/FEF/NewschoolnamesDec09.htm

Debra Purefoy has taught for 33 years and 21 of those in FISD. Her passion for teaching and for reaching out to her students is a gift. She believes each student is placed in her classroom for a reason and makes herself available to make a difference in their lives. For her, the content of her Spanish lessons are important, but the character lessons by quiet example are just as meaningful. She and her husband make a formidable “dream team,” in benefiting the students of FISD. The only city manager of Frisco, George Purefoy has been working for the city and our youth since 1987. His efforts on behalf of Frisco ISD have been unmatched. He has insisted on collaboration and joint ventures that have saved taxpayer dollars and effectively created unique partnerships to stimulate the economy and provide great opportunities for the young people of FISD.

Library Sneak Peek!

I was lucky enough to get a quick little tour of our new school back in April.  It was fun seeing the building under construction, workers were busy buzzing around getting everything ready.

Purefoy in Progress...

This is the current view of our school from Teel Parkway:

Welcome to the Library!

Here I am in the middle of the library imagining what the finished space will look like.

Research Area: 

Tables will be in this center area for reading and research.

Don't you think a mural or contrasting paint color would look great on the recessed area of the ceiling?

Story Area:

This is where we will read stories and conduct class lessons. 
Trees have already been planted outside these beautiful windows.

Tables and Stacks:
Tall bookshelves will line the far walls and shelves will fill the rest of this area.
The library is right in the middle of the school, the main entrance and office is right across from the blue windows.

Circulation Area: 

The self-checkout area, information desk, and shelving carts will be here.

Library Workroom:

This is the office behind the circulation desk.
In here we will process new books, work on book repairs, place orders for library materials, and store supplies in the cabinets.

Thanks for the tour Mrs. Cypert. 

I can't wait to see the finished building - only a few more months!

What do you think of our new space?  
Leave a comment to share your thoughts.

New Books for a New School

Do you know where library books come from?

Ever wonder how books are selected for new schools?

Here in Frisco each book is individually selected for a spot in each school library. Every time a new school opens (which happens often here!) the district librarians work together to choose thousands of books for each library's opening day collection. It's a big job choosing all those books, magazines, audio books and reference materials, but it's lots of fun too.

Steps to a New School Library:

1. The library collection areas (nonfiction, reference, easy, etc.) are divided up and the New School Committee decides how much money should be spent on each area. We use collection development guidelines and look at the total book budget amount to decide how much to spend on each area, for example: budget 6.50% for biographies, 18% for fiction, 2.4% for the 800 section.
2. Librarians volunteer to select materials for each section of the library. This involves reading lots of book reviews and looking at library standards, TEKS, and the district's curriculum to decide what should be on the library shelves.  Some of our favorite selection tools include Booklist, Horn Book and School Library Journal - these are professional journals with special sections of book reviews written by qualified reviewers.
3. Librarians send their book choices to the New School Committee Chair (that's me) to be sorted, compiled, and finalized.
4. The New School Selection Committee meets in April to look over the lists and check for errors, such as books with outdated material, older copyright dates, titles in paperback instead of library binding, etc.
5. Changes are made to the collection and it is ready to be ordered from a library book vendor. The vendors will prepare our order by adding barcodes, spine labels, and sending records for each item to be uploaded into the library catalog. Both new elementary schools (Purefoy and Sonntag) receive the same opening day materials.

Up Next:

Books will be delivered over the summer and placed on library shelves.
Computers and technology will be installed so we can access our circulation software system, we use Horizon in Frisco ISD.
We should be ready for checkouts on the very first day of school!

Hopefully, all your favorite books are on the way.

Do you have an idea for a book we should have in the library?

Let me know by completing our new Suggestion Form.

Coming Soon...

Welcome to the new blog for the library at Purefoy Elementary.  

Look for updates beginning this summer.