This week at the library; or, Blah

My double amaryllis bloomed though

Happenings of the week

• Monday
• All alooooone. People were sick or had time off or were working at home. I mean, I was not LITERALLY alone, but my cohorts abandoned me. Long staff meeting.
• Tuesday
• Toddlers 'n' Books (2 sessions)
• Bookaneers
• I did Toddlers 'n' Books for Pattie - I used my outreach storytime and then threw in little puppets to go with the "walking, walking" song. Large groups at both sessions (relative to the sessions), lots of new people, several screamers. I always figure that's how you know they're having fun, if they scream when they have to leave!
• Large group for Bookaneers with several new kids.
• Wednesday
• Winter Wigglers: Obstacle Course (Jess)
• Outreach Storytime: Get up and move! (5 sessions)
• Jess did the parts of the obstacle course we didn't do last week - activity stations. Now I'm sick. I warned the kids and they hugged me anyways. More bills, sorting books, and started working on a big remote collection project. I'm trying to decide if making book lists for these projects would be helpful or a waste of time.
• Thursday
• Books 'n' Babies
• Messy Art Club: Valentines
• Very busy. I managed to only cough on a few people.
• Friday
• I worked for about three hours - got my desk partially cleared off, cleaned out some paperwork, and some performers booked. Then I went to Walmart and bought supplies.
• Saturday
• Have a Heart (Pattie)
• This was Pattie's big Valentine's party - I worked the desk and lent her an aide. It was very busy.

Projects

• My main project this week was putting together a huge remote collection (about 400 books) for a teacher doing inquiry projects for several full grades. I have been selecting, placing holds, and processing boxes and boxes of books, helped out by our circulation staff!

Professional Development

• Learn@UW class: Child development, library space, and behavior (week 3)
• Learn@UW class: How do you manage that: Issues in youth services management (week 2)

Voices of the Kids from Book Club

• Squirrel in the House by Vivian Vande Velde
• Three kids liked it, thought it was funny. One 3rd grader said it was too long.
• Yeti Files
• Kids said they liked it but didn't have much to say except one 3rd grader that it was too short (yes, same person as above).
• Brief discussion on how much everyone loves Wimpy Kid
• More fans of The Buddy Files by Dori Butler
• New books that met with the most approval were Little Dog Lost and Bea Garcia My Life in Pictures
• Thrilled reader found a sequel to Gold Medal Mess which we just read. Very excited.