Sunday, June 1, 2025

This month at the library (yes, a whole month)

Columbines in my garden
(I didn't plant them there, that was their own choice)

Programs
  • Paws to Read
  • Family Storytime
Visiting a school class
Outreach
  • High school graduating seniors
  • 5K-5th grade at three elementary schools
    • Blend of class visits, field trips, and hired performers.
Self-Directed Activities
Reading "Butt or Face"
to graduating seniors
  • Scavenger hunts
  • Read and Grow
Meetings, Hosted events, etc.
  • Managers' meetings
  • Birthday book club (school district)
  • Head Start family night
Notes
  • This year was the first time we visited the graduating seniors at high school. It's muggy and hot - next year I shall bring a fan. I read them Butt or Face (mostly it was just 50 seniors yelling BUTT at the top of their lungs, but they enjoyed themselves), talked about library resources and what kind of libraries they might use as they move forward in their lives, and then we updated and issued library cards. We need to have a second computer next time - we had two people but only one computer and it got backed up. We also gave out stickers and I need to remember to put the flyers out in the lobby with the library cards.
  • 2nd grade field trip. I fell in love with Don't trust fish and I don't want to do tours b/c of our upcoming renovations, so I did a fish storytime and activity with this class, about 20 kids. I did forget to put tape down on the floor to mark out the children's area. Can't wait for renovations...
  • As well as class visits and field trips (some of which had to be rescheduled b/c some people are wimps and can't handle refreshingly cool rain and wind) my staff and I organized the basement. We are not going to actually clean, due to the potential risks of what's down there, but we did wade through a lot of dirt and dust and we still have quite a few loads to haul up to the dumpsters.
  • I also did some preliminary planning for next year's programming, in view of renovations and changes in the school district, and I'm working through updating the juvenile beginning chapter book collection.

cleaning basement


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Monday, May 26, 2025

Picture book neighborhoods: Birds, Fiction and Nonfiction (with a mention of amphibians)


   Having finished the general animals section, I'm now moving on to the specific animal categories. I'm skipping the amphibians, cataloged as AMP, because it's a very small section of only 30 titles. The main thing to note about this section is the current popularity of axolotls. Moving on to birds!

  This is generally divided into fiction and nonfiction, with a couple popular categories (hummingbirds, raptors, and penguins) having specific call numbers. Most of this section is nonfiction and penguin books. There are currently ~120 titles in this section.

Nonfiction and Fiction Authors
Highlighted titles, fiction and nonfiction
Other titles in this neighborhood I have reviewed in the past


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Saturday, May 10, 2025

This month in the collection: April 2025


What even is time? As you can see from the late date, this month was super busy and I didn't get a monthly new book spotlight out.

Library Pinterest - new materials
purchased for or added to the library collection
**not yet purchased, but it's on a list!

Board Books
Picture Books
Early Readers and Transitional Chapters
Beginning Chapter Books
Juvenile Fiction
  • The enemy's daughter by Anne Blankman
  • Marshmallow and Jordan by Alina Chau
    • Paw Prints prebound replacement
  • Into the wild by Anh Do
  • House with a dragon in it by Nick Lake
  • Outsider kids by Betty Tang
  • Serge & Roscoe by Len Vlahos
Juvenile Nonfiction
  • Earth day and the environment by Kate Messner
  • Scat by Anita Sanchez
  • Fun with nature by Mel Boring
    • Replacement. I always have requests for this.
  • Power to the parasites by Chelsea Wood
    • Purchased with a collection-specific donation
  • Voices and votes: How government works in Wisconsin
Teen fiction
  • Rebellion 1776 by Laurie Halse Anderson
  • Love Report 3 by Beka
  • Tear this down by Barbara Dee
  • Resist by Alan Gratz
  • Rival Darling by Alexandra Moody
  • One wrong step by Jennifer Nielsen
Young Adult
  • Blue Lock 17
  • After life by Gayle Forman
  • Block'd by Brian Hawkins
  • Among serpents by Marc Gregson
  • All better now by Neal Shusterman
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Sunday, May 4, 2025

This week at the library

Programs
  • Teen homeschool hangout
  • Paws to Read
  • Family storytime (2 sessions)
Outreach
  • Lakeland school
Self-Directed Activities
  • National library week scavenger hunt
  • Read and Grow
  • Construction Hangout
  • Open Storyroom/Construction Hangout
Meetings, Hosted events, etc.
  • Managers' meeting
  • Staff development day
Notes
  • We're winding down programs and getting ready for field trips. I actually went on a trip this weekend and I have a week off - I'm going to focus on catching up on all my reviews, so you publishers who are waiting on me, they're coming next week!
  • I'll also be posting a single monthly post for May instead of weekly posts. We will have minimal programs (just my school colleague doing a couple weeks of storytimes and Paws to Read - see adorable puppy above) and will be focusing on field trips, cleaning the basement in preparation for renovations, and getting ready for summer.
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Monday, April 28, 2025

Picture Book Neighborhoods: General Animals, Fiction and Nonfiction


  I'm continuing my posts on the picture book neighborhoods, section by section. After the favorites and classics, next up is the Animals. I love nonfiction, especially science and animals, and this is a favorite section of mine. However, I will note that, especially in the picture books, Dewey numbers do NOT denote strict nonfiction vs. fiction - they are categories. There are plenty of items in the "nonfiction" Dewey numbers that are informational or that I just wanted in that section for ease of use.
  The first part of the section includes general nonfiction and fiction about animals. There are two Dewey numbers - 590 for general animals and 591 for eggs/animal babies. I've tried to make the animal fiction in this section primarily realistic, not anthropomorphic animals, although some of them do talk. I've also found that general animal books that might otherwise go in the juvenile nonfiction do better in this area. There are a couple major authors and then some specific titles I'd like to highlight.
  Some especially prolific authors have had titles weeded and not replaced and some, like Nicola Davies, had or have very popular titles that are sadly out of print. There are currently ~150 titles in this section.

Nonfiction Authors
Fiction Authors
Highlighted titles, fiction and nonfiction
Other titles in this neighborhood I have reviewed in the past
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Sunday, April 27, 2025

This week at the library

My hyacinths are doing well this year.
Do not talk to me about tulips. Or squirrels.

Programs
  • Family storytime
  • Homeschool Hangout - safety presentation
  • Teen Advisory Board
  • Family storytime
  • Teen engagement
Outreach
  • 1st grade Library on the Go storytimes (3 sessions)
Self-Directed Activities
  • Read and Grow
  • Reading scavenger hunt
  • Pokemon Hangout
Meetings, Hosted events, etc.
  • YS planning meeting
  • Managers meeting
Notes
  • What even is time? People were sick, plans were made, outreach was cancelled, field trips were scheduled.
  • When I sent out field trip scheduling invites to one school I phrased it so badly that they thought I was telling them there were no field trips this year. Thankfully, one of my staff checked in with them and I still have time to schedule them. I need more sleep.
  • I finished a bunch of small collection updates - juvenile magazines, Spanish, Parenting, etc. I'm still working on some other sections and getting shelves labeled and a concrete plan made for our upcoming renovations (my small part I mean, not all of it thank wombats).
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Sunday, April 20, 2025

This week at the library

Scilla hiding under a pot,
surrounded by even
more evil invasives
(ground elder)
Programs
  • Paws to Read
  • Family Storytime
  • 4K annual event: Incredible insects
  • Family Storytime
  • Teen Engagement
Self-Directed Activities
  • Read and Grow
  • Book-themed scavenger hunt
  • Construction Hangout
Meetings, Hosted events, etc.
  • 4-H meeting
  • Girl Scouts
Notes
  • Our grant process is involving a lot more work than any of us had expected! So many potential changes under discussion, lots and lots of measuring, etc. We hope to have a finished plan for the public in the near future though. I'm also deep in summer planning; we don't do a lot of programs and we're certainly not doing a lot this summer, but I have a ton of small updates for our summer reading itself, school field trips to coordinate, and our very complicated desk schedule. I'm also working on a bunch of collection projects. I took Thursday "off" and we were closed Friday.
  • I have not stopped blogging! I am still working on my category by category overview of the picture book neighborhoods. However, I want to link to all my past reviews and I am updating, reformatting, and transferring them to Flying Off My Bookshelf. I also have a big stack of review copies ready for reviews but, as above, I am incredibly busy. Hopefully once we get into summer things will slow down a little, but it is more likely that I won't really get a break to catch my breath until next year.
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Sunday, April 13, 2025

This week at the library

Chevy had a motor
that just didn't stop!
Programs
  • Paws to Read
  • Family Storytime (2 sessions with my associate. Bat theme)
  • Sewing workshop - no attendees
Outreach
  • 3K-4K outreach storytimes (5-6 sessions)
Self-Directed Activities
  • Read and Grow
  • Book-themed scavenger hunt to coincide with National Library Week
  • Pokemon Hangout
  • Homeschool Hangout
Meetings, Hosted events, etc.
  • Youth department summer reading meeting
  • Managers' meeting
  • Staff meeting aka measuring party
Notes
  • Measure, measure, measure. It was not what I would call a party, as it involved a lot of staring at diagrams, measurements, blueprints, and numbers and constantly going back and forth and measuring things. Far too much like geometry. However, I don't particularly like parties and I have had much more miserable social experiences, so there's that. It's quite a process but we hope there will be a final plan we can make public in the near future.
  • I am in full swing of planning/scheduling summer so I was not really very upset that the folks who registered for sewing didn't manage to make it. My associate covered storytimes and did a marathon of outreach storytimes - our regular storytime provider, a colleague from the school, is involved in a new testing (Act 20 for those of you in WI) and getting ready for the big annual 4K party next week.
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Sunday, April 6, 2025

This week at the library

Programs
  • Itty Bitty Bopping Bakers
  • Teen Homeschool Hangout (no show)
  • Paws to Read
  • Family Storytime
  • Teen Engagement
  • Youth D&D
  • Family Storytime
Outreach
  • Elementary classes at Lakeland School
Self-Directed Activities
  • Open Storyroom
Notes
  • I was supposed to do an outreach visit on Tuesday, but I just couldn't fit it in and I needed to cover the desk instead so I had to cancel it. I took Thursday and Friday off, but came in for a meeting with our design firm for the grant committee. It was a weird week because everyone was kind of in recovery mode from spring break, we had an election on Tuesday (our local school referendum did not pass, so there will probably be a lot of changes ahead in our partnership with the school district), and I got started on summer reading projects while my staff continued shifting. With Monday being the 31st that seems to have thrown everyone off, not just us, as people showed up for meetings that are usually on the first Monday, or didn't show up, etc. It was the quietest Monday night I can remember in a long time!
  • Exciting things I did on my long weekend - purchased a load of dirt, arranged all the garden pots, distributed the dirt (with help from my upstairs neighbor), cleaned things, thought about cleaning things, caught up on some reading, sorted out some boxes of miscellaneous junk, put off doing laundry.
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Friday, April 4, 2025

This month in the collection: March 2025


I was still purchasing replacements and updates for the picture book neighborhoods this month, but I also jumped over into a new project in high gear; weeding our young adult fiction and creating a new middle school/young teen collection. A lot of materials purchased this month were still replacements and that will continue into April. We also had staff out and various things going on, so it was a small month as far as adding materials to the collection.

Library Pinterest - new materials
Purchased or added to the library collection, unless otherwise noted.
**not yet purchased, but it's on a list!

Board Books
  • Yeah, Baby!
  • Firefighter Flo by Andrea Zimmerman (board book edition)
Picture Books
Early Readers and Transitional Chapters
Beginning Chapter Books
  • Emerald Egg (A to Z animal mysteries)
  • Penny and the tragic voyage (Girls Survive)
    • Just started moving this series to JBC.
  • Bigfoot by Dinah Williams (Unsolved Mysteries - new series)
  • Adrift on the Indian Ocean (Wilderness Survival - new series from Capstone)
Other
  • Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins
    • The first "new" book in our new young teen/middle school section!
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Sunday, March 30, 2025

This week at the library: Spring Break nearly broke us, but we remain standing!

Visiting snakes,
Curious George and Noodle
Programs
  • Family Storytime with snakes (Tues & Thurs)
Self-Directed Activities
  • Open Storyroom
  • Construction Hangout
  • Homeschool Hangout
  • Daycare field trip
  • Craft-o-rama
  • Insect scavenger hunt
  • Read and Grow
  • Reading Explorer
Meetings, Hosted events, etc.
  • Friends Book & Bake Sale
Notes
  • In short, our already skeletal staff lost some bones this week. I got to do payroll for the first time, which was very exciting. I must have done it right because we all got paid lol. There was weirdness, which usually happens when our director is gone. I went all out and finished weeding the young adult area and my staff put in heroic effort and did all the shifting. I even managed to get it down to only THREE carts of books behind my desk, only one borrowed! There are still empty shelves in weird areas, and the youth area generally looks like a hurricane came through, but it will all settle down eventually!
  • What really saved us this week, at least in my department, was that my school colleague was gone last week and so offered to come in for storytime this week! She even sourced some special guests (a teacher with snakes to share) and a great time was had by all 100+ people who crammed into our storyroom. This enabled my staff to jump over and cover gaps in the desk, plus people from other departments who stepped in.
  • Oh, and what weirdness you ask? Well, I was at the library at 7:45am for Reasons on Tuesday and shortly before we opened the cook from the community org that uses our kitchen (they work with adults with disabilities) three times a week came in and said she was sorry to add to our load but... me "WHAT NOW?" and she says "I was in the kitchen and I heard a thump and, well, the clock fell off the wall." This is not a small clock. It is, (or was) almost 3ft in diameter and hangs on the wall in our Community Center. It turns out to have been an interesting mix of cheap and quality, i.e. the frame was all plastic (which broke, ripped, and snapped off) but the face was, you guessed it, glass! Which shattered. All over the floor. I hauled away the broken clock, the cook very kindly helped pick up all the large pieces of glass, then we swept the floor. There was nobody in the room that day besides Tax Aide, and I did warn them not to crawl around on the floor and it got vacuumed that night. I assume. Now that I retell the story, I had maybe better check the floor again, although I'm pretty sure anything still there is completely engrained. However, we do have small children in there this coming Monday... oh well.
  • The week ended with the HVAC going out again, but thankfully the company came, flipped a switch, and it cooled off almost immediately. Hopefully it's still working next Monday...
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Sunday, March 23, 2025

This week at the library; In which we have actual programs

A seagull hovering in the
wind over the lake
Programs
Self-Directed Activities
  • Pokemon Hangout
Meetings, Hosted events, etc.
  • Girl Scouts
Notes
  • I hardly ever do traditional "programs" anymore, not counting family storytimes, which are usually done by my school colleague or subbed for by one of my staff. We just can't get the attendance to make the time spent worth it. However, I did the Very Hungry Caterpillar Party last year, in lieu of storytime, and it worked out even better this year as my school colleague was absent, so we did this on Tuesday and my staff subbed in an actual Very Hungry Caterpillar storytime on Thursday. We actually got over 70 people, despite Unauthorized Shenanigans that required police attention.
  • I took Friday off in mental preparation of a pretty intense Spring Break (our already skeletal staff is greatly depleted - we are very grateful that our school colleague was able to come in and cover storytimes after all so my staff and I can cover desk shifts and help out in circulation). I also spent a large portion of the weekend making candy for our last Friends book 'n' bake sale next week.
  • I started my big slash and burn weeding project of the young adult fiction last week and I'm also slowly getting together a mental picture of what a young teen/middle school collection will look like as new items and replacements come in. It will be very patchy at first, as I'm not going to relabel a lot of things.
  • A lot of collections are in transition right now, which is confusing for staff and patrons, but I can't magically relabel and shift everything all at once!
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Sunday, March 16, 2025

This week at the library; A week of meetings

Teen volunteer hanging
out with our Paws to Read
visitor.
Programs
  • Paws to Read
  • Family Storytime (our school colleague was out sick, staff subbed)
  • Teen engagement: journal-making
  • Family Storytime
  • Teen Advisory Board
Outreach
  • Daycare/preschool/4K outreach storytimes
  • 1st grade Library on the Go outreach
Self-Directed Activities
  • Read and Grow
  • Reading Explorer
  • Scavenger Hunt: Bugs
  • Construction Hangout
  • Homeschool Hangout
Meetings, Hosted events, etc.
  • 4-H meeting
  • Virtual consortium meet-up
  • Collection/shelving measurement meeting
  • youth services department meeting (except two people were gone, so really it was just lunch)
  • 2 virtual meetings to pick the brains of some helpful librarians regarding the new middle school collection
  • Managers' meeting
Notes
  • So many meetings this week. I am still researching and working on my new young teen/middle school collection as well as finishing the last bits of the neighborhood projects. I started my new big weed/project in the young adult. Picture book replacements are starting to come in. I spent some very frustrating hours measuring shelves - I just couldn't get my head around the numbers/formulas I was asked for! Happily, I finally got something that worked as well as made my own data overview.
  • AND I was late to one of said meetings b/c a herd of deer decided to cross the road ONE AT A TIME in the MIDDLE OF THE MORNING. Very annoying.
  • We had a heat wave, more or less (thank you climate change) and the library hvac system did NOT react well. Wednesday - Friday it was ~75 or higher on the lower level around the circulation/info desk and probably closer to ~80 in the youth area, due to the heat pouring in through the windows. I suffered.
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