This is my first year in LA...I have a large classroom library and want to be able to keep up with my books. How do students check out the books in your classroom library?
I use the procedure outlined by Nancie Atwell in The Reading Zone. It worked pretty well last year. I always end up losing books, but I lost fewer this year. Basically, each student has a packet of three index cards stapled together with his/her name on the top. These are kept in small baskets by class period. When as student checks out a book, he/she writes the title on the card. When s/he is ready to return the book, s/he brings the book and card to me, and I cross off and initial the card, so that I SEE the book is returned.
I've worked in libraries for six years so I know what I like. My students run the check-out portion of our classroom library by themselves. Each book has a laminated index card and each student has their own laminated index card. To check out a book, the student takes the index card out of the book, paper clips it to their index card and places it back in the index card box. When they want to return a book, they take the book index card back out of the index card box, place it in the book and then I have select students who reshelve our books. It sounds confusing, but I promise it is not!
