CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The school year for the Corpus Christi Independent School District will soon come to an end but librarians with the district are doing their best to collect their books back.
“Normally, our students come in and we chase them down in the hallway we talk to them individually what’s going on with your books but we don’t have that chance now,”said Nancy Maldonado, a librarian at Hamlin Middle School.
Yet, because of the coronavirus pandemic, 2020 has been a challenging year for CCISD librarians to get their books back.
Books within the district are estimated at around $20 each and at Hamlin Middle School, the campus is missing more than 400 books.
If these books do not return to the shelves, that can cost CCISD thousands of dollars.
“Because I know this problem exists throughout the district," said Maldonado, who has been a school librarian for 24 years. "All of the librarians are trying to get our books back from elementary to high school and it’s going to be a financial impact on all of our libraries across the district so I’m willing to accept any library book and it’s easy enough for me to process it in and send it to the proper school,”
Librarians across the district realize during the COVID-19 pandemic, returning library books is not exactly on top of the priority list for many homebound students.
However, the district says they are willing to work with parents and students even if the child attended a different campus within CCISD.
“Once they leave our district, it’s hard to get our books back, but again you know, just drop it off at any CCISD school and we will help each other out,” said Maldonado.
Since most middle school students cannot drive to the campus to drop their books off, parents are encouraged to leave books in the school's collection basket located in the parking lot.
