Blog

Reading shelves and reorganizing the reference section transcended over into this week of my library work. The end of the week many patrons came in for various reasons, speakers, computers, books and class visits. There was nothing extraordinary happening this week. I am learning a lot about organization as it relates to book/shelf size, also to dress down when shelving because you will get “down and dirty’. Freshmen checked in the classroom set of “Monster” by Walter Dean Myers and the Seniors eagerly checked them out (they had been waiting for them for two weeks).

My task this week in the library was to re shelve books in the Fiction, Reference and Biography sections. While working in the Reference section I learned that it was not very organized. I asked the LIS about it and she said it had been that way since she had been at the school. She figured the rationale for the disorder was due to book size, and that is why the previous LIS had it that way. All of the shelves are the same size so she left it that way. During my work in the library there was quite a bit of activity, and the LIC was utilized well. There were two classes there, a senior class working on their. Capstone projects and a class of freshmen who were brought in by their English teacher for an orientation to the LIC. I attempted to show the LIS and one of the teachers a video on animoto.com that would aide in their presentation, but our technology was not suitable to accommodate the idea.I assisted the LIS with a printer issue, between the both of us we figured it out. A student came in after school for help with a Power Point Project on the book Monster, which I assigned and teach every year. I was delighted to help him in the library setting.

This week we had a short school week as a result of the short fall break that all can appreciate thus far in the in the school year, ending the first nine week marking period and half of the first semester. Library work this brief week entailed the continuous process of re-shelving books to the appropriate shelves, assisting the school librarian with preparation of a field trip for the school leadership team to attend the National Civil Rights Museum, Public Forum.

After the school leadership team departed with the librarian, I was honorably mistaken for the school librarian by an MCS worker who informed me that he would be updating the wireless connection in the library. He asked “Are you the library person”? I smiled and said no I am just assisting her right now, and asked him if I could help him with anything (as if I could he was tech savvy, enough so to be installing a wireless system) during my time of service in the library for that period. He did not really need my help so I politely continued shelving after he was set up at a computer work station.

I also learned how the librarian handles gift items to the school’s collection. She basically has a form to be completed for each donor. Then the items are review and researched for appropriates for patrons and the environment. If the items are found to be suitable they are processed via Atriuum and added to the book holdings and listed at no cost. The school librarian did admit that gifted items can be a headache.