Saturday, September 12, 2015

This week at the library; or, It's the circle of library life

WE HAVE A SINK!!!
What's going on; in my head and at the library
  • Monday off for Labor Day
  • Tuesday programs begin again! I was deathly determined to finish those dang lexiles, since the printer had defeated me on Saturday and I did!
  • Wednesday was the second day of school, which means that the middle schoolers (and their chrome books) began drifting in). Of course the wifi was spotty. I'm never sure if it's the connection or user error...
  • Thursday I wandered in to work around 11:30. Things happened. 50 people came to Lego Club. More things happened. Pattie and I ran Tap to Play, our playing with ipads program. Only one family came, but they stayed for over an hour. I had a chance to test out the Osmo and then I wandered in and out, talking with my aide and getting stuff read, while Pattie hung out with the kids and her two ipads. Conclusion - the Osmo is amazing (my teen aide can't wait to check it out) but generally too hard for kids under 5.
  • Friday I had off b/c of working two Saturdays in a row.
  • Saturday was the Ice Age Trail mammoth hunt. We had about 50 people, our biggest group ever! You can see photographs from this year and previous years online.
Programs
  • Toddlers 'n' Books (2 sessions) (Ms. Pattie)
  • Books 'n' Babies (Ms. Pattie)
  • Lego Club
  • Tap to Play
  • Mammoth Hunt! with the Ice Age Trail Alliance
Some projects completed/in progress this week
  • Lexile project truly finished (until it's time to update them all again next year)
  • Spanish collection development (re-cataloging, weeding, ordering)
  • September book order
  • Staff scheduling for October
Professional Development
  • Some left from last week
    • One of my favorite patrons who I have labored over high lexiles many years. She's getting into historical romance, but definitely not ready for (or interested in) bodice-rippers. I spent an enjoyable time on Saturday picking out books for her - Luxe, Matched, Georgette Heyer, Robin McKinley, and Rosemary Sutcliff. Her sister wasn't there but is into the dramatic/angst genre right now, so I recommended Three Little Words as something that would supply both the angst and the more positive outlook her mom would prefer. Never really went through the Lurlene McDaniel stage myself, but I get it!
    • Teen boy really wanted another book by Jennifer Nielsen, the only ones in our entire system were The False Prince and The Mark of the Thief (which he's read). I tried a lot of different books - Catherine Fisher's Relic series, Dragon and Thief, Garth Nix, and he finally picked Brotherband Chronicles for himself and reluctantly took Catherine Fisher. Of course, later on I realized there actually are two more books after The False Prince but nobody owns them so I tipped off our cataloger to get those for YA.
  • Very tricky reader's advisory - kid likes Sfar's Little Vampire and wants only graphic novels that are like that one, spooky but not scary? His mom would like him to try some chapter books. I convinced him to take How to Train Your Dragon (even though he was skeptical that it didn't look like the movie), Mal and Chad, and Notebook of Doom. Now that I think of it, I should have tried Labatt's Sam mysteries.
  • Fancy Nancy chapter books
  • New Oliver Jeffers and Tom Lichtenheld (also recommended Chopsticks)
  • Recommendations for a 12 year old girl who likes animals and mysteries - Gilda Joyce and Kiki Strike
  • Voracious fantasy reader - put Tournament at Gorlan on hold and recommended Cinda Williams Chima and Incarceron. And then I gave him Skulduggery Pleasant when he came back.
  • A Dragonbreath fan! She was doubtful when I told her about Hamster Princess until I described it, and now she's definitely going to read that one next.

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