Learn how to manage all your ministry resources better using your Nspire product. Dave tells us how he keeps all his Music, books, CD’s, Recreational Equipment and more from going missing. Check it out.
In my ministry I have resources that get borrowed a lot. I’m sure anyone out there in the trenches like me has the same scenario. The problem I had for quite some time was finding a system that worked. I did card files, lists, and a whole bunch of other methods, but none really worked for me — I couldn’t follow-up easily. Then, about 7-8 years ago, I had a student enter all of my resources into the Nspire library.
We now track board games, recreation equipment and Cd’s, as well as books and magazines from my personal library. For the last 12 years, I have been a subscriber to Interlinc. They send a shipment of music to my church once a quarter (usually there are a dozen Cd’s in each shipment). We literally have HUNDREDS of Cd’s in our music library, students are constantly wanting to borrow them.
The library function works very well for us and allows us to track our resources. As soon as I get a new shipment, I give the box to a volunteer who writes a call number on the Cd and Jacket with a permanent marker. She does the same for new board games, or other resources we acquire. If a student wants to borrow a Cd, they simply find one of my volunteers and we check it out for them.
I also used to have problems with students getting board games out, but they would often “forget” to put them away. (Anyone else out there share this problem? Can I get a witness?!?) There is now some accountability built into borrowing a game — if it is left out, all we have to do is check who signed out the game! All of a sudden, this “problem” went away! The same scenario has played out with cue sticks, ping-pong paddles and any other loose items (like video game control paddles, game disks or cartridges, etc.).
How did we do it? We created several categories: Recreation Equipment, Music, Books, Magazines. Then we gave each item a call number, Cd’s currently have a 5 digit number starting with Cd (ex: CD001), we can easily look up the item, then click on check out, find the student’s name and viola! It’s done! Their name shows up in a column to the right of the resource, along with their phone number.
We don’t have nearly as many problems with missing resources — all we need to do is make a phone call, or send an email and our resources find their way back home! When we notice that a bunch of resources are out, we’ll do a contact blitz and ask that our resources come back home to our Teen Center. I’ve been very pleased with this system because it allows me to share our resources with our students without the worry of them never coming back. Yes, occasionally something will get lost or damaged, but with the ability to follow-up, we don’t lose nearly as many resources as we did prior to initiating this system. My limited ministry dollars are no longer spent on replacing missing items!
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2 Responses
Dave,
What a great idea! I want to do the same thing with our resources as well. Do you mind giving me some more specifics? What area of NSpire did you enter the resources? How did you assign a resource to a student once they checked it out? More info would be great!
Thanks!
Thanks for the kudos!
OK — so here’s how we did it:
Go to the Library — it’s over in the left-hand navigation column, close to the bottom of the list.
Once the library opens, you go to the bottom right corner and INSERT the resource. Once you select INSERT, a data entry box opens up. It will ask for:
Category
Title
Call Number
Author
Subject
We use all but the last field for CDs, all but the last two for recreation equipment. This is what a couple of our entries look like:
CDs:
Category — Music
Title — CD Kutless – To Know That You’re Alive
Call Number — CD216
Author — Kutless
Subject
Recreation Equipment:
Category — Recreation Equipment
Title — Air Hockey Basket
Call Number — 009
Author
Subject
In the Air Hockey Basket you find 2 paddles and a puck. We used to do Ping-Pong Basket, but now the paddles just sit at the table, we have a coin-operated ball dispenser (it cut WAY down on smashed balls — AMAZING how much better the kids treat them when they cost 25 cents!)
We did the CD111 call number to keep CDs together in the database, you can sort by Title, Call Number, Category, Author, Subject. I like to sort by Call Number because we enter the call number to look up the item (because we mark the call number with permanent marker on the CD case AND the CD).
Now — once the Library is set up, you use the CHECK OUT and CHECK IN buttons in the bottom-left corner.
First — highlight the item being checked out (I type the Call Number in the SEARCH Bar at the upper-left corner of the workspace and hit TAB, the desired item should then highlight )
Click CHECK OUT — It will open a data entry window asking for a Name, Check Out Date and Due Date — It defaults to the current date, you decide the due date. All you really have to do is look up the student name — click the magnifying glass, I usually enter the first three initials of the last name and press TAB — it should bring up your student (or at least get you CLOSER to their name in the database) — highlight the name you want
Click SELECT
Click OK — You’re done!
To check it back in, click on the desired item (or search for it), it will highlight it
Click the CHECK IN button — a dialogue box opens and asks if you would like to check this item in — you click YES and you’re done!
I really hope this makes sense and helps you out!