Libraries

Field Trips for Students of All Ages

Any age group of students is welcome to visit The Valley Library when the learning goals for the students would be served by such a visit. Tours may be conducted by the school's media specialist, a classroom teacher or a parent volunteer. The Valley Library will provide orientation and handouts to the school's designated tour guide(s) in advance of the tour. In some cases the tours may be given by Valley Library staff.

For field trips, one adult should be present for every 10 students, and there should be no more than 25 students per tour group. The arrangements for field trip tours should be made at least two weeks in advance.

High School Class Projects

The Valley Library welcomes visits from high school groups when academic library resources are appropriate for the students' projects. This will more often be the case for students in Grades 11 - 12 than for those in lower grades. Before contacting The Valley Library, the classroom teacher(s) and the school's media specialist should determine that the resources of OSU's library are appropriate for the project. A consultation with one of OSU's subject librarians is recommended. The OSU librarian may collaborate with the school teacher and/or media specialist as a co-instructor in some cases.

Prerequisite Skills

Students must have prior library experience, and:

• Know that materials are organized according to a classification system
• Know the difference between information found in books and in articles
• Know the difference between a library's catalog and a periodical index
• Have used an online catalog to identify books on a subject
• Have used an electronic periodical index to identify articles

Students should have done substantial research on their topics before the visit. This should include research using the OSU Libraries Catalog.

Teacher and Media Specialist Collaboration with OSU Librarians

During the visit, instruction and research assistance for the students is to be provided by the classroom teacher(s) and/or school media specialist(s) who have consulted and/or are collaborating with an OSU librarian.

Forms:

• Please submit a copy of the Requests for Library Visits by School Groups form.
• Checking out books - Students visiting The Valley Library in school groups should submit library card applications a week prior to their visit. Students visiting the library independently may submit the application on their day of their first visit. Students under 18 must include a parent signature on the library card application.