Blog

With Black History Month coming to an end, the last full week of February in the library was busy. Students checked out various materials on slavery, African American biographies and text of the same sort. The scanner for the OPAC system was down so I had to key every item that was to be checked out manually, taking a little longer to complete the usually rapid electronic task. After conducting several reference interviews I taught a few students how to evaluate their selected resources. Many students were completing their research projects and papers as well. In addition to servicing patron’s needs the Library Information Specialist and I continued to track equipment in preparation for a possible equipment audit. A Librarians work is never done.

This week in the library I continued working with the librarian to update the new equipment. After trouble shooting with the AMSI ADI Integrated Systems electronic scanner and web based program that monitors and counts electronics and other equipment issued via the library media center I created a notebook to track/document the outgoing equipment from the school. This equipment included computers, monitors, printers, TV’s, DVD/VCR players, scanners etc.

Later in the week I did regular library tasks like managing circulation. I partially cleared the circulation desk of some of its clutter (due to a busy wee) of fiction titles mostly that were checked out by various classes. I also had the opportunity to work with a tenth grade English class that was visiting the library to work on a research project. Their research inquiries ranged from Yellow Fever to slavery. I was able to direct one student to the 600’s to search the shelves that were beneath a decorative figure of a physician, and another I printed out a sheet that contained all the titles that covered slavery. I walked her over to the 300’s then to the 900’s and 92’s. It was a busy week with Black History projects and research assignments in the making to say the least. Students were buzzing for information and excited about the spring time climate change.

Many of the teachers in our school have received new equipment, computers to be exact. This brief week of school (due to inclement weather) my time in the library was limited but busy. Due to the influx of electronics there was much work to be done to make sure every item was accounted for and documented. Reading serial numbers, bar codes and school district numbers filled my time in the library and throughout the school, traveling to various classrooms and offices to locate and label equipment appropriately. I also had the opportunity to get acquainted with the new electronic scanner system that is strictly used for electronics and technological materials. By the end of the week I surveyed the reference section of the library and found it to be plentiful but outdated. The LIS explained that most online resources are used for reference materials and research currently because it is so accessible and current.