Literacy Resource

This is a picture of the back of my fifth grade classroom. This is where most of the kids read during "read-to-self" time. There is a carpet and a few bean bags in which the students take turns using. The literacy resource I would like to highlight in this picture is the classroom library. This is about half of the classroom library. There are buckets that have specific genres. Besides having the usual genres such as Science Fiction, African American Literature, etc., my MT has books separated by author and book series as well. She has the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, Babysitter's Club, Jerry Spinelli, and so on. These are not only books that fifth grade students enjoy, but they are being made available for the students.
When you think of being in an urban school, it is known that resources are low and aren't always readily available, the fact that this teacher has a huge library in her classroom with current books that are interesting to many of the students is quite incredible. If a student likes reading books by the same author, there are options. If the student likes reading a certain genre, there will be books available for those students as well.
Although I think this is a very important literacy resource for the classroom, I believe that this classroom library could be used much more efficiently. If the students had time to look for books and "check them out" in the classroom library for their read to self time, that would be more useful. I often see the students reading the same books over and over again during their silent reading time. I also feel as though she should have checked their books out to see what kind of reading level the books are, and if they match up to the students' proficiency level, their read to self time would be utilized much more efficiently. I think that my MT should keep track of the students' books that they use, as well as give the students' time to find a new book. I also think that daily, during read to self time, my MT should take 5-10 minutes to read with a student and ask questions such as, "What has happened so far?" "Why did you choose this book?" "What types of books do you like to read?" "What do you predict will happen next?" Then, I think she should recommend a different type of book that challenges the student and maybe takes them out of their comfort zone so they can get a new perspective on literacy.
All in all, I think that this classroom library has a lot of potential for students to move up in their reading levels, as well as enjoying literacy.