This week at the library; or, I have run out of clever things to say

Back to school display, created by aide

Random Thoughts and Commentary

• August 31 is the last day to win fame and fortune (or at least read lots of awesome books) as a Cybils panelist! Apply now!
• No programs this week, but they will be starting soon! Last week I met briefly with my director and we decided to cut back a little on the amount of publicity I was generating for the schools, so I only had a few more days' worth to complete and then I could get started on actual program planning, or keep working on it, since I've sort of been fiddling with it for a while. I finished the publicity on Tuesday, and then starting cleaning out the accumulated stacks of stuff behind my desk while I thought about programs. I have piles of recyclables, stuff jammed back onto the shelves, etc. I usually clean out at the end of each semester, but that hasn't happened for a while.
• I finished cleaning out EVERYTHING on Friday. It took forever and I was miserable when I finished (we're having a heat wave. I was sticking to the reference desk on Thursday, kid you not) but I am so glad I finished. If you are friends with me on facebook, you can see the pictures of my beautifully clean office (-:)
• One of my new stealth programs, or maybe it would be better considered a marketing venture, is display cases. I really love the libraries that have some kind of display cases where kids can sign up to display their creations and collections and my director was open to the idea, but when I looked at the prices for cases I just about fainted! However, after a little thought I realized we had some cases in our lobby that would work during the school year (we put the adult srp prizes in them in the summer) and I made a flyer, found a waiver for kids to sign, and ran it by the staff for any issues. I put all the flyers up last Friday and now I'm waiting anxiously to see if kids will sign up, although they probably won't see it until school starts next week.
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  I also put up a contest for the teens, to see who gets the ARC of Wild Card by Simone Elkeles that I got from Charlotte's Library. Will they see the sign? Will they participate? Who knows...
• Imagine the worst Monday, where everything goes wrong, the patrons are grumpy, and weird stuff happens constantly. That was this week. We have an increasing problem of mysteriously missing holds, lots of grumpy patrons, and staff who are still exhausted from the summer.
• Finally, this is what the schedule looks like for the fall.
• Monday
• 10am Coffee Kids and Conversation (Pattie) or Homeschoolers
• I get to work at noon.
• 12-5, off desk time in office (or twice monthly staff meetings, about 1-2 hours)
• 4-5 Tail Waggin' Tutors (monthly)
• 5-8, information desk
• 6:30 Tiny Tots (Pattie, twice monthly)
• Tuesday
• 10am, 11am Toddlers 'n' Books (Pattie)
• I hand out registration stickers at the door and work the children's desk 9-5
• except for my monthly visit to three kindergarten classes in the morning, 10-12
• Wednesday
• 10am Preschool Interactive. The plan is to have 4k groups visit twice a month, on those days I will be working with them to check out books and do the art project from about 9:30 to 10, then they'll join everyone for storytime at 10, and leave when the families start the art project.
• I have a monthly afternoon visit at 1:30 to a 4k class and Middle School Madness, 3-4:30 (monthly
• Otherwise I'm at the children's desk from about noon to 5, unless I've been pulled for the information desk.
• Thursday
• Books 'n' Babies (Pattie)
• I come in at 9:30, unless I'm doing my two monthly visits to a daycare, in which case I come in around 10:45.
• Information desk 12-2
• After school clubs 3:30-5
• Clean-up. In theory, I leave at 5:30. In reality...
• Friday
• We Explore is irregular now, 2-3 times a month. Pattie does one of the We Explores.
• If I'm not exploring, I'm at the children's desk 9-5.
• Unless I've been asked to close, and then I'm on the information desk 3-6
• Or I'm working Saturday, and then I just work a half-day on Friday.
• Our cataloger is doing Teens on Screen on the 4th Thursday of the month and I have a few outreach and other one-time programs as well. I also will have visits from the two closest elementary schools and possibly the special education school. I have really scaled back this year!

And a little collection development. I put in my last order in November and I decided to put all the replacements in that order. I have been saving them up all year and it's a little depressing to realize that I have an entire month's order worth of replacements. So now I have to decide which books to replace and which to let go...

• 10 little rubber ducks
• our copy was icky and falling apart. yes.
• Twelve terrible things
• Well...it got ripped and so it's gone. It was quite popular, not terribly so, but definitely checked out. But..is it the kind of thing people will come back and ask for? I feel not. no.
• Adventures of Tintin: Crab with the golden claws and Shooting star
• I have a couple of the old 3-in-1 editions and they are literally falling apart. These aren't huge circs, but I do have enough fans to make it worthwhile replacing them, which I'm doing a few at a time. yes.
• Airplanes, DK
• I have some hideously outdated airplane books. yes.
• Amelia Rules, the meaning of life, what makes you happy, whole world's crazy
• I am really kind of mad about these books. I bought them, in the new hardcovers, from BWI shortly before they went out of business. They have total crap bindings and fell apart almost immediately, but I can't return them to a business that no longer exists! I am replacing them so that if they fall apart AGAIN I can return them to Baker and Taylor with a hotly worded note. Atheneum, your bindings suck. furious, but yes.
• Angry Birds playground animals
• I'm a little annoyed that the hardcover feel apart after we'd only had it for about a year, but I'm investing in the library bound anyways. yes.
• Armadillo from Amarillo
• Personally, I wouldn't bother, but it's a BOB book and was in really bad condition. yes.
• Baby bear Baby Bear what do you see (board book)
• We're down to one picture book with 44 circs. yes.
• Bear wants more
• Literally fell apart. yes.
• Berenstain bears and too much tv, count their blessings, in the dark
• We had a collection that had pages ripped out. I'm replacing the grimy bound picture books as well with cheap paperbacks for the tub. yes.
• Betsy-Tacy
• We had 2 copies, neither of which was circ'ing. I deleted one and kept the classic Lenski cover, but that's still not going out, even though I put it on my "check out a lonely book" display for a month. So I'm replacing that one with the treasury of the first four books, with a newer cover. yes.
• Big machines by Karen Wallace
• I'm replacing a bunch of my paperback easy readers with hardcovers. They were in pretty bad condition. yes.
• Biscuit, Biscuit and the baby, finds a friend
• Missing or falling apart paperbacks. yes.
• Black Beauty
• I'm not so sure kids really read these classics, but the copy we had was really icky and my director requested that I replace it. yes.
• Book that eats people
• One of my two copies fell apart. yes.
• Boxcar Children, Boxcar children 5-8
• My hardcover of the first book fell apart, so I'm getting 2 copies of the paperback to replace it. I'm also replacing our weirdly warped hardcovers with paperbacks. yes.
• Brown bear brown bear what do you see
• I have two copies of the hardcover, a board book, and a book and puppet. I'm replacing a different board book version, the seek 'n' slide one, and getting a paperback copy of the book with cd included to go in the toy bag (the cd disappeared). Hmm. Do I need more Brown Bear? Yes.
• Cactus's Secret 1
• Some foul fiend stole the first volume. Grrr. Yes.
• Capture by Kathryn Lasky
• Fell apart. yes.
• Chicken sisters
• It fell apart, or was ripped, or went missing or something. Yes, it's Numeroff and Brett but I have so many...is this really classic? Will people ask for it? They never have before. no.
• Chocolate War
• Does anybody get assigned to read this in school anymore? It's a classic I suppose. Our copy was a grimy paperback and I guess I have to replace it since it's gone. yes.
• Cirque du Freak: Allies of the night, Living nightmare, Killers of the dawn
• These keep getting stolen, left in the rain, falling apart, etc. yes.
• Clifford and the grouchy neighbors
• Tub books don't last forever. yes.
• Complete Chronicles of Narnia
• Personally, I think these things are unwieldy, but some people like them and they always check out when BOB times comes around. We had two copies and I deleted the most worn, so this is a replacement for that. yes.
• Cool castles
• I had 2 copies and one fell apart. yes.
• Courtney Crumrin, coven of mystics
• I keep going back and forth on continuing the replace the old bw paperbacks with the new hardcovers. I think they circulate better than the old bw do, although those are my personal favorites. yes.
• Dinosaur's day by Ruth Thomson
• Another paperback DK easy reader to be replaced with a newer, hardcover copy. yes.
• Diving Dolphin by Karen Wallace
• pb DK. yes.
• Dolls' House by Rumer Godden
• We had two copies, neither of which was circ'ing. I kept the classic one with the Tasha Tudor cover for a while, but I can't get it to circ. So, I'm deleting that one and ordering a copy of a newer collection from the UK, illustrated by Jane Ray, and hoping it's more popular. yes.
• Don't look behind you, I know what you did last summer, Killing Mr. Griffin, Stranger with my face
• I pulled a bunch of Lois Duncan to replace with newer covers earlier this year. Right now, I don't have any in the teen section so I'm trying just to replace a couple of the classics with paperbacks. yes.
• Dora saves the enchanted forest etc.
• Tub books don't last forever. yes.
• Ducks in a row
• Somebody scribbled in this easy reader. I like Jackie Urbanovic, so yes.
• Ear the eye and the arm
• I think my copy checked out...once in the last ten years. However, my director feels it's a classic, and maybe it will go again if I get a new cover. should I keep it in teen? Hmmm. yes.
• Fat kid rules the world
• Our copy of this has been missing for years and no one has asked for it. I thought there'd be more interest after we bought the movie, but no. The movie itself hasn't circ'd much. no.
• Figure skating
• Like all sports books, gets outdated fast. am replacing with a newer book in paperback. yes.
• Frandidate
• Missing or fell apart, can't remember which. yes.
• Frindle
• I'm down to one copy. yes.
• Gabby and Gator
• One the one hand, this was quite popular and I really like James Burks. On the other hand, the hardcover fell apart really fast. Well, I'll try it one more time...yes.
• Glass by Ellen Hopkins
• Periodically, I'll realize that all my Ellen Hopkins are missing. This one has been lost since 2011. yes.
• Goodnight sweet pig
• This checked out about 30 times from 2007 to 2010, when somebody checked it out and never brought it back. It's not coming back. Again, plenty of circs, but nobody has asked for this for over three years. no.
• Hands by Lois Ehlert
• Our copy, the book in the shape of hands, was falling apart. This is the newer edition. I don't know if it will be as popular, but I'll try it. yes.
• Henry Reed Inc.
• On the one hand, Henry Reed doesn't check out much and especially not this one, b/c it's a hideous brown library binding with frayed edges. On the other hand...I love Henry Reed and I'm not getting rid of the other titles anytime soon. I'm going to backorder the prebound of this and hope for the best. yes.
• Hidden by P. C. Cast
• Another one I have to regularly order b/c evil people steal them. However, I hate to put out the money for a hardcover when it will probably just get stolen again. I'm going to wait until next year and replace it in paperback. yes 2014
• Hooray for fish
• We loved this board book so much it fell apart. yes.
• I want to be a ballerina
• pb DK easy reader. yes.
• Identical by Ellen Hopkins
• Hey, somebody brought it back! I am amazed. no longer needs replacing!
• If you give a pig a party
• Checked out in 2008 and never returned. sigh. yes.
• I'm mighty
• Never did find out what happened to this. yes.
• In the realm of the never fairies: the secret world of pixie hollow
• I kept moving this around, trying to find a place for it, and then it finally fell apart after a gazillion circs. I'm going to replace it and put it back with the chapter books. yes.
• Iridessa lost at sea
• I'm planning to rejoin the paperback series with the chapter books at some point and then i'll think about replacing missing disney fairy books. no.
• John Deere Big Digs and Construction Sites
• I deleted some old construction books and was trying to replace them. Not sure if I can actually get this - Baker and Taylor's "available copies" are sometimes just dream copies that don't actually exist, but I will try. yes.
• Joy the summer vacation fairy
• I decided not to replace these. I buy new series all the time and when the old ones fall apart...no.
• Judy Moody predicts the future
• This is a second copy to join or at some future time replace our paperback. it's a BOB book. yes.
• Kiss for little bear
• Another worn out paperback easy reader
• Ladybug girl and bumblebee boy
• This is a popular series. yes.
• Last Olympian
• I'm trying to get 2-3 copies of each of these and I ordered a box set earlier this summer, so I don't need another copy right now (although I probably will next year) no.
• Liar by Larbalestier
• We had this such a short time I feel like nobody really got a chance to read it before it was stolen, but...time moves on. no.
• Life-size sharks
• One of our copies fell apart and the other isn't looking so good. I'm just going to get one more right now. yes.
• Lion the witch and the wardrobe
• I am down to 0 copies! Ordering 2 more. yes.
• Lon po po
• It's a BOB book, which is why it fell apart so fast. yes.
• Look and Find Disney Fairies
• These things fall apart so easily, but the kids are nuts about them. yes.
• Magic tree house; Monday with a mad genius, Tonight on the Titanic
• I try to keep at least 2 copies of each book. yes.
• Mal & Chad: Food fight
• The paperback binding is crap, I'm replacing with a library bound. Expensive, but worth it. I hope. yes.
• Maximum ride 5 (the manga)
• Someone found it water-damaged on the shelf. yes.
• Medusa plot (39 clues)
• I don't remember what happened to this, but yes.
• Monster magic (wonder woman)
• Sometimes these little paperbacks from Stone Arch are great, sometimes they just fall apart. I don't know why. I think I've replaced and repaired this one twice, but I refuse to spend $20 on a prebound copy! replacing in paperback again. yes.
• Morganville vampires, Glass houses and dead girls dance
• All I'm missing is Glass houses, but the only available copy is an omnibus. This is another one that every time I think I have the whole series somebody takes off with one. GAH. yes.
• Munch Munch
• These are clip to your stroller mini board books (Maisy). People love them, but we're always losing the little holders and this time we lost the whole book! no.
• Nanook and Pryce gone fishing
• Torn beyond repair, must have. yes.
• Nate the Great; Phony clue, Goes undercover, 
• Replacements for falling apart paperbacks. yes.
• Nim's Island
• My paperback is in horrible condition, but the only copies apparently in print have the awful movie cover. I'm going to try to backorder a prebound copy with the original cover, but I'm not deleting my paperback until I'm sure I can get this one. yes.
• Nightschool 4
• These seem particularly susceptible to water damage for some reason. yes.
• Off road racers (Cars tub books)
• tub books aren't forever. yes.
• Otto the book bear
• Must have. yes.
• Outsiders
• Our old paperback is ratty to the extreme, but I don't know that this one is any better. It has a pretty blah cover. well, I'll get it anyways. yes.
• Owl Moon
• BOB book, ours was icky. yes.
• Pendragon, merchant of death
• Every time I think I have all of these I find I'm missing some. replacing in paperback. yes.
• Perfect
• Another missing Ellen Hopkins book. yes.
• Picnic by McCully
• I'm slowly going through the picture books, deciding which ancient and tattered copies to weed and which to replace with new copies. i use this one a lot in book bundles, so yes.
• Pigs in pajamas by Maggie Smith
• This was a review copy which we liked a lot, but it fell apart after a few months. nothing special, so not replacing. no.
• Pokemon Diamond and Pearl 8
• These make my head hurt, but the ones that do have specific numbers I try to keep the whole series. yes.
• Princess Pigtoria
• This was cute, but forgettable. no.
• Puppy Mudge
• paperback easy reader, yes.
• Rabbits
• Suddenly realized I had no wild rabbit books. Took forever to find something to buy. yes.
• Rainbows
• Somebody asked for rainbow books and we only had one horribly ancient thing from like the 1960s. yes.
• Risky Rails (Thomas tub book)
• Tub books aren't forever. yes.
• Sarah plain and tall
• I'm down to one book and it's a BOB book. yes.
• Scars by Cheryl Rainfield
• This has been stolen..twice now? Or maybe it's been a while since I replaced it. Anyways, it's worth replacing. yes.
• Shadow of a bull
• Personally, I feel that this newbery book should fade into the mists of time. i doubt any kid will ever read it. our current hardcover, in horrible condition, has gone out twice, over 10 years ago. however, it is an award winner and so i am replacing it with a paperback so we at least have it. yes.
• Should I share my ice cream
• Found it, so we don't need a replacement. no.
• Smile by Telgemeier
• I had 2 copies and one was stolen. I need 2 copies! yes.
• Spider and the fly (illustrated by DiTerlizzi)
• Not my cup of tea personally, but it's a BOB book and ours was falling apart. yes.
• Squirrels
• Like the rabbits, realized I didn't have anything but one ancient rodent book. yes.
• Star wars legacy 9 (monster), Clone Wars adventures 8
• I bought a bunch of Star Wars comics a few years ago and they're slowly disappearing or falling apart. yes.
• Star Wars clone wars character encyclopedia
• Kids love these DK star wars books, but they just don't last! So frustrating. I am trying to stop buying them and get other Star Wars stuff instead, but it's hard. I am going to let this one go and dream every night that Papercutz gets a Star Wars franchise license. no.
• Staying fat for Sarah Burnes
• Crutcher doesn't really check out much in my library, but this one fell apart (not from excessive circ though) so I'm getting a replacement. yes.
• Stone Fox
• BOB book. yes.
• Stories Huey tells
• Our copies just don't circulate. I am replacing with this one, which has a great cover, and hoping I can find the others, maybe through Amazon, if this one starts circ'ing. yes.
• Summer of my German soldier
• Can you tell I'm updating classics? No circs at all, but the new cover might make it go out again. I read this book and...did NOT like it, but it isn't the type of thing I'd like anyways. yes.
• Sweet and spooky Halloween (disney)
• tub books do not last forever...yes.
• Syren
• Was falling apart, but we repaired it. will see if i can wait a while longer before replacing. no.
• Tale of Despereaux
• No one has noticed yet that we are down to 0 copies, but it's only a matter of time. Plus, it's a BOB book. yes.
• Thor's big adventure
• have you noticed i replace a lot of tub books? they only cost about $2.5 and we get at least 30 circs out of them. well worth it, imo. yes.
• Tracker by Paulsen
• I moved all the Paulsen books to the juvenile section and am slowly replacing the really hideous-looking ones, which includes this. yes.
• Trains by Hubbell
• it fell apart. yes.
• Trip to the zoo by Wallace
• DK paperback easy reader. yes.
• Trucks go by Steve Light
• These board books don't last well, but they're so popular I replace them anyways. yes.
• Tugg and Teeny jungle surprises
• fell apart after less than a year. i won't buy any more books from this publisher, Sleeping Bear Press, if I can avoid it. no.
• Vapor, rain and snow
• replacing old rainbow book
• Whale talk
• again, Crutcher isn't a huge circ but some things you just have to have. yes.
• When will this cruel war be over (dear america)
• fell apart. These just sit on the shelf and then one kid will come in and check them all out, so worth replacing. yes.
• Wolf who cried boy
• fairly forgettable imo, but it's a BOB book. yes.
• WWE triple H
• missing DK easy reader. I just bought a new book on WWE wrestling, but it's probably still not enough. yes.

And that's the list! I may add a few more things before November actually rolls around, but that's the bulk of it.