Week One...Done!

Well, I have officially survived my first week as a new librarian. I had a great week, and I can't wait to go back for more!

Everyday was different but seemed to get easier as the week progressed. I have 5 wonderful student aides who have been great at doing tasks that I needed to delegate (such as cutting out and delivering laminated items, making office runs to get stuff from my box, sorting out flyers for the book fair, etc.) I've spent much of this week cataloging new (or donated) books which is a lot more time consuming than I thought it would be--there are quite a lot of steps! I got 48 done this week though so I'm hoping to have them shelved by the end of next week.

I got to experience "picture day" procedures for the first time. It was a crazy busy day, and I got next to nothing done that day because I ended up facilitating most of the classes through. The photographers were there when I got there and were packing up when I left at the end of the day--it was a looooonnnnnnggggg day for all of us!

Starting Tuesday I will start having classes come up for library orientation. I haven't quite finished it yet, but I've been working on a video that introduces most of the information in a more fun and interesting way than me just chatting about the process. I've had to think through how I'd like things to run now that it is my library, but I've also been in contact with the former librarian quite a bit to find out how she used to do things. We have a new policy in our district that allows students to bring their own technology to use at school. This is beneficial for me because I have been putting QR codes on the back of some of the books so that students can find book trailers about the stories they want to read. Its a slow process but its coming together a little at a time.

I assembled a display of the Texas Lonestar List books that we have and I hope to have pictures of that posted soon. I am wanting to sit down and plan a theme for each month so that I'll be more prepared and can put together a more concrete library marketing plan. It is important to me that the students WANT to come to the library so I'm trying to come up with fun and interesting ways to draw them in.

I'll admit I've been a little bit lonely at times this past week. The solitude is nice for a while but I'd be lying if I said I didn't look forward to my student aides coming in so I'll have someone to talk to. Our first week is Gimme 5 week which means the schedule is wonky and most everybody is confused about where they need to be each day. This week starts our first "official" week of school so hopefully the dust will start to settle a bit.

At any rate, the library is starting to feel more like my own space and less foreign. Some of my former students stopped in to see me (and some gave me a tongue-lashing for changing careers on them) but it seems that everyone was happy to see me whether it was as the librarian or not. :)

My next big adventure is the Scholastic Book Fair that starts the 12th of September. I could have chosen to change the date to a later time, but really I'm fine with just jumping in and going for it. I've never run a book fair myself before so I hope that things run smoothly and that its not too overwhelming. I visited with the director of library services for the district this past week and she told me she was surprised I was going ahead and doing it this early in the year and that some new librarians decided to change their dates. I just feel like I need to jump in with both feet and not fear it, so I will keep on keeping on!

I am LOVING my job! I have a smile on my face when I drive to work and I don't feel the stress that I was feeling when I was teaching. I start Grad School classes again on Monday so I'm sure the stress will come, but for now I just look forward to the next adventure.

The Sunday Before...

I really didn't have plans for being at work on the Sunday before the school year starts, but after the shenanigans with the laminator on Friday I was feeling a little un-prepared so I trekked up this afternoon.

My "to do" list has a plethora of things to do on it, most of which I need to prioritize. No this blog is not one of the things on the list but I really do want to document my journey into librarianship and so I've made it an important goal.

#1 thing on the list today?? Create a display in the glass case outside the library that has something to do with heroes (our theme this year is Be Your Own Hero) and as I am the librarian, I thought I'd try to work something in having to do with literary heroes. There are a few things I'm short on right now: 1) Time. 2) Resources. 3) Sleep. 4) Creativity. (Okay, maybe not the fourth one-I have LOTS of ideas just running low on time and resources right now and I'm tired so its making me feel less creative.)

Here's the case BEFORE the makeover:

I found a quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson that I liked that really worked. I blew it up and made a banner out of it on Publisher (you can't see the cute caped man that is on either end from this pic, but there is a graphic.)


I had polled my Facebook friends for people who they considered literary 'heroes' and used some of their suggestions. I found a stack of frames in the back room and used them to create the display. I not only show a picture of the book cover, but I found photos of the characters themselves.

Its simple, not flashy in any way, but its a start. Its definitely better than a blank, ugly display case, right?

My Husband is Amazing...

This doesn't have much to do with the library, other than it is a beautiful item to have decorating the desk behind where my circulation desk sits. My wonderful husband sent me flowers on Friday, and they came right after the disaster with the laminator.

I'd never seen Rainbow roses before today and I have to say, I think I have a new favorite! They are gorgeous!! He put the sweetest note with them, and it really just made my day so I had to brag a little bit on him. He's an awesome husband, a great dad, and he knows how to make a new librarian feel at ease. I love you hubby!

Librarian VS. Laminator Lesson

During this week, I've gotten little accomplished in the way of actually BEING a librarian up until today. Staff development was good, but not entirely conducive to working in your space more than a little at a time (unless you stayed after school, which for me is not an option because I have a small child who I want to spend as much time as possible with after school.) I was able to check out a bunch of equipment to teachers, assist some with technology setup, answer questions (and get some answered) about the library and things within it, and generally had a nice day...with ONE exception...

While I was at lunch I got an email (on my Droid) from a teacher who said that the laminator was jammed because she'd failed to notice the lamination film had run out and had proceeded to put something through it. I emailed her back and told her I'd take a look when I got back, and then proceeded to enjoy my bar-be-que. :)

What I thought would be a fairly easy fix ended up taking 2 hours and the assistance of 4 additional friends to fix. Not only did the paper have to become un-jammed, but I also had to learn how to install the new rolls of laminator film onto the machine (previously the only person who knew how to do this was the former librarian.) I had intended on using my time this afternoon to decorate the library in the "Hero" theme that we have at school this year but due to the time spent on laminator maintenance I will be returning to school tomorrow morning (yes, Saturday.) I have a burn on each of my thumbs from accidentally bumping the heated rollers on the machine. And while it wasn't my IDEAL way of learning how to reload the laminator, I DID learn a lesson from it (a kinda painful one.)

Many many thanks to my friends Holly, Jennifer, Marisol and Christy for your assistance today. I know you had better things to do than do some on-the-fly laminator maintenance but I sure did enjoy the laughs that we had (you helped me keep my sanity today!)

Groupless...

For the last 7 years I've been a teacher, and I've always felt a 'part' of a group. For 6 of those years, I've been blessed to be a part of the Elective team at my school--a fantastic group of people with hearts of gold who would cut off their own pinky to help you.

I've discovered that by not 'teaching' (in the traditional classroom sense) I am kind of without a group. I am my own entity of sorts and I have a feeling that it will take some getting used to. Not that I think I'll ever be lonely! Other groups have gladly taken me under their wing (thanks ELA and MATH!) and I'm an 'honorary' Elective member still. I am going to be part of the leadership team though, so I'll be aware of the comings and goings around campus.

This week is inservice week for my district and tomorrow is my "library boot camp" with the other newbie librarians. I'm hoping to get a lot of my questions answered so that I can feel a little more ready to begin next week. I like trainings that are more tailored to my discipline--not that I walk away empty-handed from the campus trainings, but a lot of what we have to do doesn't always apply directly to being a librarian.

*As a side note--I just have to say that I'm exhausted! During the summer I rarely drink a lot of soda--usually just my cup of tea in the morning and sometimes a can of soda on occasion. I wasn't really thinking about my intake yesterday when I downed 3 small cups of coffee and 2 big cups of Dr. Pepper at lunch. I couldn't sleep last night!!! And today my stomach felt torn up--very acidic! I learned my lesson though and stuck to my one cup of coffee at breakfast and sweet tea at lunch. I drank water the rest of the afternoon so HOPEFULLY I'll sleep better tonight!

Lets Start At The Very Beginning...

...a VERY good place to start... (sorry...can you tell I've been reading Julie Andrew's memoir?)

At any rate, this is my newest blog, one that I decided I needed to document a variety of librarian-related activities since I am now, and hopefully forever, a librarian.

I'd like to say this adventure began a few weeks ago when I accepted my new position, but really it has been a long time coming. I love to read, and I love books. As a child I used to keep "check out cards" tucked away into my own books so that if I decided to loan out a book to a friend I'd remember who had it and for how long. Really they were just index cards with stickers and my name on it, casually handwritten in my elementary school chicken scratch but it made it feel organized and professional (OBVIOUSLY something that has run deep within me for a while now...)

I've always liked organization and systematic ways of keeping things in order. I prefer alphabetization, color-coding, indexes, and other varieties of keeping messes looking, well, less.
So after 7 years of teaching I decided it was time for a change and told my loving husband of my plan to go to Graduate School to be a librarian. He looked at me, blinked a few times, and said "whatever makes you happy, pretty lady."

I'm now 4 classes in (12 credits) and LOVING it. I don't always love the assignments, or the time that they eat up, but those lovely 12 credits have gotten me to where I wanted to end up, which is in a room full of books. :)

I, the underdog, with ZERO actual library experience (except for as a patron) went out on a limb this summer and interviewed for a library job when the librarian at the school where I work accepted a new position, leaving an obvious and lonely hole in our building that needed to be filled...by me. :) Knowing full well that if I didn't get it, I would still have a lovely teaching job waiting for me, I swallowed hard, asked for an interview, blathered on-and-on about how I'd be perfect for the job, and then I waited. For...8...long...DAYS...

I won't lie...I REALLY wanted the job and I am NOT good at waiting for an answer. I love my school and I love my students and I really do work with some of the BEST teachers in our district and I knew that no matter what that would remain the same even if I didn't get it. But I did! So here I am...and now my adventure begins...

Thus far I've done some reorganizing and straightening up. Putting a little 'Amy' touch to things (lets face it, I'm a little OCD and like things to be organized before I can start anything new.) The library at my school is gorgeous and spacious and I am really excited about it! There are things about it that I would like to change or organize differently, but that will come in time. Until this week I wasn't able to get onto the circulation computers for 2 reasons...1) They had a virus from last spring. 2) I didn't have a login for the system we use. There really wasn't much (other than unpacking and reorganizing) that I could do.

Most of my work right now revolved around the school's theme for the year, which is "Be Your Own Hero." I have a gorgeous display case that I am slowly but surely working on but to be honest it hasn't all come together yet. I'd like to focus on 'literary heroes' instead of the traditional Superman or Wonder Woman type heroes (though graphic novels absolutely will be highlighted and displayed in the library.) I'll post pictures as the year progresses of the displays but right now its just a big open glass-shelved playground for my mind to run rampant in.

I survived my first library-related inservice today. It was called "Digital Rigor" and focused heavily on making sure that we are holding technology-users to a high standard. Technology use should not be feared but embraced, but in schools it is crucial that we are not just teaching kids to regurgitate information but absorb and use it. I saw a lot of REALLY bad examples of how technology can be used to make information look 'pretty' but not educational or full of content. I enjoyed meeting other new librarians and spending time with my librarian friends as well!

I am learning quickly how wonderful this field is and what a great profession I've chosen to become a part of. I have had more positive comments, feedback, and felt entirely embraced by the librarian community and by the staff at my school. I freely admit that I am a learner, and that there will be times when I will NOT know something. But isn't part of my job to seek out information and learn how to use it? :)

Until the next adventure,

Amy