This week at the library; or, Going, going, going, gone - that would be my brain

Programs

• Outreach: Learning Curve

Random Commentary

• Things that happened this week:
• More interviews - I have to make a decision this weekend!
• I knew it was going to happen sometime - a kid dropped his library card down the wishing well.
• Small preschool that visited in April came back to drop off their books and check out new ones. Yay!
• Presentation for United Way - they're funding my Rubber Ducky Readers this year and I am hoping will fund it going forwards into the future, among other things, and while my director would normally go she wasn't available. I wasn't really sure what they wanted, but I hope I didn't get us kicked off the funding list. I have enthusiasm, but no real knowledge of the workings of the library budget. Oh well, I did my best.
• Finished planning summer programs, at least to the extent that I ordered supplies from Discount School Supply and went on a Walmart trek.
• Last week of outreach visits to the daycare I visit every month - I will see them twice this summer, and then we'll go back to our usual schedule next fall.
• It's definite - our town's small Catholic school is closing. I'm pretty sad about this as I just got resource sharing off the ground with them this year and I always enjoyed having classes come over for field trips and to use the library. It was a nice school, but with only 58 students I can understand that they couldn't continue.
• Scholastic booksale arrived on Friday and I was grousing that I was going to have to work extra to set it up and this Saturday would be the second in a run of three that I have to work when I realized...I have an aide! Who is pretty awesome! And doesn't have a game after school on Friday! Guess which high school student is setting up the fair...of course, I still have to work 3 Saturdays in a row and some interrupted shift days which tend to turn into 10-12 hour days, since it hardly seems worth it to drive 20 minutes home, spend an hour or two there, and drive 20 minutes back to work.
• I underestimated how long it would take to set up the fair - next year I need to either not work on Saturday so I can come in all day Friday or get more volunteers or have them deliver it earlier. Or something. Anyways, it wasn't done and I was so starving I didn't want to stay any longer than 15 minutes after we closed, so I'll have to come in early Monday morning to finish setting up.

I also had my yearly evaluation this week. I will admit to being deeply relieved that my director did not have time to put together the library-centric evaluation she has been talking about adding to the city evaluation. Not that I have anything against the idea per se, it is not a bad one, I just want her to test it on somebody else! Anyhow, we also discuss goals and kind of go over the year and discuss any concerns and plans for the future. One of the things we mostly talked about was the future of Preschool Interactive, i.e. preschool storytime. I've worked hard on this program and it's been a big success since I debuted it in summer 2011. But when I found out four-year old kindergarten was going to five days a week starting in fall 2012 I saw the writing on the wall. Sometime around mid-April, Pattie and I looked at each and admitted what we'd both been hoping wasn't true - the three year olds are gone. The spring numbers were still passable - average of 21, which is more than 10 kids, our overall attendance is about equal to last year, our circulation is still up from last year, but it may be time to let this program go.

Unless summer is a complete wash-out and nobody attends (within the realm of possibility, since at least 80% of the four year olds I've talked to are going to summer school in the morning) I will probably keep PI on through the fall, but it's time to start thinking about other programs. More outreach? My director isn't really keen on me being away from the library more. Afternoon storytimes? They have never worked and it's highly unlikely I'll try again. Baby lapsit? We already have a baby storytime program, although this would be somewhat different. I admit I am not much of a baby person, although I think I could handle Mother Goose on the Loose. I'm toying with trying PI at a later time, after 4K lets out at 11am and maybe offering a snack...