Saturday, June 21, 2014

This week at the library; or The Chaos Continues

Programs
Random Commentary
  • Monday: Chaos, staffing issues, hired a new aide, meetings with my director, Middle School Madness - we basically set up the Wii, put up a sign, and had snacks left over from Girls Night Out. About 10 people came, middle schoolers and some parents and siblings. One mom apologized when her younger kids went in, but I told her I didn't care - the sign was mostly so that people wouldn't expect a librarian to actually be showing the younger kids HOW to play Wii. Also finished planning Safety Town, met with organizer for Safety Town, scheduling Safety Town. Exhaustion.
  • Some of my fave patrons came in that evening- two sisters and their friend D, who keeps them all in line. They live up the street and are about nine now, but I still remember two summers ago when they were SO THRILLED to be coming to the library on their own! I love them because they're always so enthusiastic about summer reading and books and coming up to ask me questions! They wanted to check out All The Things I brought to school.
  • Tuesday! Pattie is on an actual-to-goodness vacation so my brave associate took over her storytimes. I thought she did a pretty good job and nobody cried when Pattie wasn't there, which is more than I can say for some of my substitute gigs. Gathered my staff and sundry others I borrowed (with permission!) and we had Angry Birds (which was crazy - I did NOT have enough staff!), then I set up for Safety Town tomorrow and had more staffing stuff to do and finally went home shortly after five. If you are noticing there was no lunch in there, you are correct, which is probably why I felt out of sorts all day.
  • Wednesday! My associate and I arrived early for last-minute set up, then the rest of the staff arrived at 9....and then we waited. Major thunderstorms meant that the kids couldn't get on the buses and so we started almost 30 minutes late. However, despite that, I thought it all went pretty smoothly, although of course there will be tweaks for next year. We never did get all the kids signed up for library cards, but it's hard to work it between end of school and summer school and a lot of parents don't want kids that young to have a card anyways. After we finished, I grabbed something to eat and then 40-60 kids from the local daycare came in. They asked this morning and I was like "sure!" because they don't ask me to do a program (I do separate summer reading for them that happens at their school), they are always super well-behaved, and it's not like they're competing - there are no other daycares in town anywhere close to their size (other one only takes 15 kids). Of course I had nonstop questions at the desk though! And then another smaller group of kids came in from...something the rec department was doing, I dunno. While all this happened I did summer reading and reader's advisory for all the other families, filled displays, and finished planning Friday's program. Finally went home a little after five. PHEW!
  • Thursday! My awesome associate once again came through and did baby storytime (to much acclaim by the families - YES a good baby storytime provider is sooo hard to find - and it sure isn't me), then I went out to the information desk, then I had one of my aides do summer reading and projects (but not actually AT the youth services desk, because that's not in her job description, although she could totally do it) while I grabbed something to eat and dealt with more staffing issues, then completely changed the schedule for the aides - I think this almost ends my staffing issues - and hastily set up for Lego Club, which I didn't get done before it was time to start and I was like "oh, it doesn't matter people show up slowly at the beginning and they can help me set up" and then OMG LIKE FIFTY PEOPLE poured in in the first ten minutes and I stopped counting when I hit somewhere around 80, so...yeah, that was nuts! I didn't leave until six.
  • Friday! Came early because I had to stop and pick up snacks for the program, then I did We Explore, then I did...stuff...then I left at 3:30ish because I've worked an insane amount this week, and anyways I had to go buy hamster food.
  • And the week ends!
What are the kids reading? (A sampling of this week's requests)
  • Lego Ninjago
  • Panda books
  • Girl books (this turned out to be a request for fairy easy readers which was satisfied with the Daisy Meadows easy reader spin-offs)
  • Divergent and sequels, Hunger Games and sequels
  • Wimpy Kid, Harry Potter, Rick Riordan, Dork Diaries
  • Big Nate continues to be my most frequent read-alike recommendation for Wimpy Kid that fans haven't heard of.
  • This is a moose (from my school visits)
  • Rose by Holly Webb (also inspired by my school visits)
  • Girl with the silver eyes (again, school visits)
  • 10 year old who really wants to read books from the teen area that are too old, loves superheroes, ended up with Andy Briggs' hero.com and villain.net
  • Read-alikes for Andrea Cheng's Year of the Baby - gave Dessert by Hallie Durand and Ruth Chew - loved Ruth Chew, back for more
  • Requests for family read-alouds - Paddington, Ruth Chew, Charlotte's Web
  • Moo! by David LaRochelle (recommended to a little sister by her big sister)
  • Spirit Animals, 39 Clues (need to replace, add 2nd copies!)
  • Books for various patrons with special/specific reading needs - Dragonbreath, Kate DiCamillo, Pamela Service, London Eye Mystery, Madeleine L'Engle
  • Walking Dead, which segues into suggestions to read Sixth Gun
  • Captain Underpants (and a lesson on using the catalog)
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