Feruary 2008

Feb 9th (Sat) /12-5pm/ 5 hours
Feb 11th (Mon) / 3-8pm / 5 hours
Feb 16th (Sat) / 10am - 5pm / 7 hours
Feb 28th (Thur) / 10-11:30 am / 1.5 hours

A lot of my time this month was spent with upkeep and repairs, as well as doing the normal circulation tasks. One of the jobs I had that was ongoing was CD case repair. I pulled damaged cases from the CD racks and sat down with replacements. There were more broken cases than new ones so the job had to be split over a few days after some more new ones were dug out of storage. A few times I had to remove labels and barcodes from the cases. I moved them onto the CD insert so if a new case is ever needed, the labels can be transfered more easily. A few times, due to how some of the newer cases were opened, I had to copy the insert cover and slip the new picture into the case so the patron could see it. Some other jobs I was given were putting genre stickers on children's books and repairing more rips and tears in pages. I found I liked these small jobs because I could get many of them accomplished in one day.

I also did a lot of shelf reading this month. I worked heavily in the regular fiction and non-fiction collections. Shelf organization can be a difficult task for librarians who rely on volunteers to shelve for them. Some don't always know the proper way, or others might get confused where certain items might need to go, or can simply misread a label and put it in the wrong place. I always like to work in fiction, mainly because I get to see what titles there are that I may want to read. I alphabetized first by the author's last name, and then their first names, making sure all of the books were where they should be. I think that task is a lot easier than reading in a non-fiction section. Authors names are usually on the spine and easily visible. In non-fiction, the dewy numbers wrap around the spine and sometimes on the cover so you can't see them easily. And the non-fiction was a lot messier and out of order, as well as packed tight onto the shelves. I started in the back because others had been shelf reading from the beginning dewy section, so there was no point of me doing it again. I was pulling out stray books all over the place - they were so out of order! I remember going back the next day to do more shelving and once again things were out of order. It sometimes feels like an almost futile attempt if it gets messed up again so quickly, but if you don't keep up with it, who knows how bad it could become.

It's not an exciting thing for most people, but when you get more shelving in an area that is packed with books... The teen section shelves were always very tight and it was a struggle to find places to put the overflow. A new set of shelves in the area made me very happy, especially because they were lower and books could be displayed on top. There is a bit of space o one of the walls to display the new books, but it is partially hidden by the other shelves and not always noticeable. A book display is my favorite way to promote good books that may usually get passed over.

I really enjoyed being able to witness one of Charlotte's lapsits. I've always enjoyed reading and playing with infants and toddlers. At this particular one, there were toddlers between one and two years old with their moms. The parents were very attentive and enthusiastic. They held their children or helped them with hand motions during the songs and pointed out different items to them when they had the chance. The theme was about airplanes, which I thought was perfect for the kids (two boys and one girl). Besides airplanes, the books included different kind of vehicles like trucks, buses and even a space shuttle. It was a great educational start to different types of travel.

Her program included a puppet, songs, books, noise making toys, and a stand to display son lyrics for the parents. She started off very personable and asked everyone how they were and if things at home were going well, so they all had a chance to chat with one another. Charlotte then told them about Read Across America. Before she started the actual story time, she put up a rules display for the parents: they need to participate! I thought this was very clever because she did it so seamlessly, moving from one subject to another, especially when explaining what she was doing and why. She told the mothers that they do movement songs and activities to quiet down the wiggles the children may have. She also said that it was okay to interrupt the story to describe things and talk about the pictures in the books. Near the end she was describing how important it was for them to play with their children and read with them, but added how she was preaching to choir because they were all wonderful mothers and knew what they needed to do. It was obvious they all knew each other well and often came to programs.

Charlotte knew repetition was important because she used it often. Her lapsits have a set routine that she follows every week, using the same puppet during the welcome song and the same shaky eggs to make noise. In the beginning she even explains to the mothers why repetition is so vital to their children’s learning process.

Grand total hours: 55.5