Public librarians know the drill.
The first two students to reach the library take out everything that circulates on the subject, leaving nothing for the other 58 kids to check out. Several libraries have added an assignment-alert page to their Web sites, but I haven't heard of any that report much success getting teachers to use them. Even when school librarians ask the teachers in their buildings to let them know about upcoming assignments, so they can make sure materials are ready, teachers often forget to let them know. And then I'd hear about all the things they had to do every day. Now, I certainly don't want to add to the load of expectations that teachers haul around in the Era of Standardized Tests.