This week at the library

One of my dahlias - winnie the pooh collarette - trying to open.

Programs

• Paws to Read
• We Explore Artist Denise Fleming
• Family Storytime: I spy with my eyes
• Maker Workshop: Sewing Softies (part 2)
• Maker Workshop: Quilting (part 2)

Notes

• Meetings this week included a managers' meeting to go over the schedule to the end of the year and a meeting with two of my school colleagues to talk about some collaborative programs, specifically directed at parents, that we would like to try later this year or next year. Productive, but I am still tired of meetings. I also finished a basic template of library information for our county that will be a resource for the county health and wellness strategic plan/initiative that is ongoing.
• We had a lot of new folks this week - some families from neighboring towns came over to check us out (or were brought by friends whose kids are older and wanted their friends with younger kids to visit), and a fun visit from some folks who grew up here and came back with friends to visit their childhood library. They had some fun stories of the original librarian, Mary Bray!
• I needed a break from endless scheduling, so I spent some time actually walking through the children's area and doing some tidying and poking around. I'm still updating the picture book neighborhoods (I got some nice comments on those as well) and looked at some of the areas I'll need to tackle next.
• We made paper for Denise Fleming - we've gotten quite good at this, although it's a bit messy and takes multiple staff to run - had several kids and teens (and one new kid) return to finish their softies and make a new project, although as usual I never get all the same kids back again for multi-part programs, and a small enough group returned for the second part of quilting that I let our awesome new adult services librarian and volunteer run it with no effort on my part. The I Spy storytime was supposed to involve taking the kids outside to look around with their "binoculars" (sections of paper towel tubes taped together) and then coming back and drawing what they saw, but our sidewalk is under construction (which I am SUPER excited about because it will finally be accessible and more or less safe!) so we just played with the binoculars and wandered around the library. I had a belated group of elementary school kids who really entered into the fun of storytime and crafting afterwards.
• I managed to do one webinar/online training, but it was disappointing. Frankly, I could have done it myself and, quite possibly, done it better.

Tentative programming for the fall

• I'm planning to do two weekly programs, a maker workshop and alternating book clubs/D&D. I'll be back-up for my school colleague's programs. I'll also be doing TBD outreach.
• My school colleague will do 3 storytimes a week and 2-3 special programs a month - a STEAM morning and a yoga/fitness program.
• My part-time associate will do a weekly storytime type program, and possibly some outreach.
• I will be borrowing one of the adult associates to do 3-4 outreach programs a month, to our four year old kindergartens - usually they're 3-4 sessions at each school.
• My full-time teen associate will be doing 2 Pokemon Club and 2 Anime club meetings per month, alternating on Tuesdays and Thursdays, D&D twice a month (she's the point person for all-ages D&D), twice-monthly TAB meetings, and teen programs once or twice a month. She also oversees our weekly visiting animal storytime and the junior and teen volunteer programs.