Brandon Twp.-Two years ago the township library obtained a $45,000 federal grant to develop a Homework Center.
The LSTA (Library Services and Technology Act) grant money was used to purchase 25 laptop wireless computers for kids to do homework on in the library.
Zoe Pearson, public relations director, says the funds were to be used for the equipment and technology.
The library committed funds to provide staffing says Pearson.
‘They (students) are to do their homework and then they can use it to play filtered games after they finish their homework,? she said.
Currently, a full-time librarian with a master’s degree and an after-school monitor are both in the homework center after school.
But now some library staff are now questioning the effectiveness and administration of the center.
Librarian Dan Hutchins said for the most part the kids aren’t using the computers for homework.
‘It was either circle the room and be mean and enforce or remind them every once in a while,? said Hutchins. ‘Now it’s an arcade.?
The staff came to the realization about two months ago that they were having difficulty monitoring the kids in the homework center, says Paula Gauthier, adult services librarian. She adds that they decided to do a two-month trial period allowing kids to use the computers for entertainment purposes if they didn’t have homework.
‘We wanted to see if we could offer the homework center in a different way, because we were finding it difficult to monitor for the 45-minute period,? Gauthier said. ‘Over the two-month period we found that very few kids come in and ask for homework help. So we are going to reassess our decision. It was an experimental period and given the opportunity, they don’t choose to do homework.?
Gauthier asserts the computers are still primarily for homework and says the library will reassess the use of the homework center at the next department staff meeting at 2 p.m. March 31 in the library conference room.